I wonder if the Windows 8 Release preview will even be different at all the Consumer. Like just bug fixes we won't see perhaps?

Oh there's certainly going to be some changes. Probably nothing too major, just bugfixes and some more UI tweaks. The Beta is supposed to be a feature-complete version of the RTM...

More news, doesn't seem to have been posted yet,
Microsoft has confirmed that there wil be a language-only Chinese edition of Windows 8. This edition, which is cheaper, will enter the Chinese market hoping to fight against the large and ongoing production of counterfeit software in China.

http://www.forumswindows8.com/info/microsoft-confirmed-windows-8-china-edition-indeed-real-246.html

So im getting a new laptop, NOT NEW NEW, But new to me, and i need to know... Should i use windows 8 on it? It wont come with an OS installed but the specs:

AMD Athlon II P340 Dual-Core 2.20 GHz
ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4250
4GB RAM
500GB SATA Hard Drive



Should i run Windows 8 and just get use to it? Or install 7?

I'd go with 8. Should run just fine, and 8 is pretty easy to use with a keyboard/mouse once you get over the whole "big icons are meant to be touched" mindset.

If you want to game, I'd go with 7. 8 is better performance wise but a lot of things need to be fixed compatibility wise and game wise.

Internet Explorer 10 is nice.

There are more UI changes to the metro-style apps on the Start screen
Mail and the UI in Mail is blue
A new News app is red
Maps is a lighter purple
Store is green

from the video of Building Windows 8 - Keeping your family safe in Windows 8
http://blogs.msdn.com/b/b8/archive/2012/05/14/keeping-your-family-safer-with-windows-8.aspx

All the colours of the rainbow... Gotta love distractions!

Metro Applications in Windows 8 Developer Preview does not have close button... ;P

Neither do apps in iOS. You close them the same basic way, by going to an app tray.

I find icons highly distracting. In fact, I find GUIs in general rather distracting, so excuse me while I go install CP/M-86 on my computer.

I liked the desktop interface. Is more intuitive, more practical, with direct and dynamic information (such as weather, for example). I just hope that, in the address bar, you can align text to left ;P

Switching between Metro apps using the left corners or Win-Tab, is slightly easier now that, from Release Preview, there is a text description at the bottom of each Metro app switching tile. Example:

Since Windows 95, the first 32-bit OS, they have included support for the 16-bit app subsystem for really old and ancient apps for Windows 1.x/2.x/MS-DOS like QBasic. Now, 12 years on, it appears that Microsoft is slowly moving on, hiding the subsystem. Those who still have the urgent need to run some old dusty app from the '80s, don't worry, because they haven't killing it - yet. Windows 8 32-bit still has support, but this function is disabled by default. The wizard below shows that you need to enable it.



Unfortunately, 64-bit Windows 8 will have no support for the 16-bit subsystem, for the reasons explained by the Windows team to someone who asked: @BuildWindows8.


I didn't realise that... and Windows Phone still has those mono-colour red/blue tiles. But then again, it won't look so rainbow-like if those apps were running and were on live tiles. By the way, notice how the default Metro Start screen is blue with those multi-circles? They changed it from bubbles. Just thought I'd pop that thought in.

It's about time they killed off 16-bit support in 32-bit Windows.

Hint: 16-bit support in 64-bit Windows was dropped way back in Vista.

I really don't want to dump my (16 bit) "Daily Journal" that has 16 years of entries, good reason to use the W8 32 bit I suppose.

But for most users, it won't make a difference in the world. If it actually helps Microsoft by dropping the support, then I am okay with it I guess, but is there a good reason why they should drop it? I don't know the technical details...

It's outdated? They've been trying to streamline Windows, so removing support for archaic programs actually makes sense from that point of view.

Yea, and perhaps in 12 years' time they're going consider desktop apps as outdated, and then disable, drop and destroy support for desktop apps? Maybe one day full screen apps are going to dominate the world!! [joke]

But then again, the large amount of controversy is the fact that Windows 8 is being trying to be ridiculously differrent from Windows 7. Hardly anyone complained when full screen apps, an app store and integrated cloud support were introduced for iOS, Android, Google Chrome and Chrome OS, and Mac OS X Lion. 'Full screen apps' are dominating the industry at the moment, maybe Microsoft is just trying to keep up. So stop complaining and join them.

--edit: but back in the days of MS-DOS, apps were in full screen anyway.

So far, we seen that Windows 8 Release Preview is going to have a lot of UI tweaks. First they're getting rid of any icon containing the Windows flag logo (look at my avatar. lol). That means refreshing the Windows Update and Setup logos. All apps' controls, including buttons, are Metro-style, and personalize Aero colours' tiles now have actual corners. The back, forward and refresh buttons in Windows Explorer are from IE9/10 desktop's. Several Metro-style apps' tile colours have changed, such as Mail, Videos, Music, Store and News.

Now, they are changing the UI for desktop Internet Explorer 10 Release Preview. The 'Internet Explorer cannot display this website' has been replaced with something useful, so that it offers solutions. Enjoy.

I've said this already before but why exactly should I be willing to just sit back and let them ruin something that already worked fine for me? It may be optional but it's clear that Microsoft want even desktop users to take advantage of this new Metro interface.
The majority of people using Windows will be using it on either a desktop or a laptop with a very small portion using it on tablets. Why would you go against the majority of your customers to instead approach another platform (tablets) and then dedicate yourself to it like Microsoft is doing? And then everyone just sits on their hands telling themself that this "simplification" will work for them even when there's clear evidence of what you already did was faster. People don't seem to realise that Microsoft is most likely going to end up having to choose to either stick to Metro apps or desktop apps in the future otherwise they're going to pretty much end up trying to support two different platforms (Metro and the traditional desktop).

It's clearly not about what users want here but more about what sells well. I can understand that Microsoft is wanting to keep up with the competition but why not just develop a seperate dedicated operating system for tablets instead? They seem to be under the assumption that everyone will just switch to a touchscreen monitor when Windows 8 comes out...

Touchscreens (laptop, desktop, tablet, whatever) are the way of the future. Microsoft is just keeping up with the time. Also, I think it's funny that you think something people DON'T want will sell well ("it's not about what customers want, it's about what will sell well"). I'm sorry that you don't like Windows 8, but that doesn't make it a bad product.

Well guys Touchscreens may be the wave of the future however the future is not here yet. I've seen things come and go and we are headed towards more touch devices however most of that is centered on the mobile area such as cell phones and audio players. The Touch devices are just recreational in which they have no use but for the optional people which is not a bad thing at all but laptops and desktops have always had more uses. That being said whilst desktops have more power they are not exactly portable guys which is where the mobile products are going for ease of use. Everyone is thinking it so I will be blunt Microsoft is attempting to make Windows easier to use because apple made things so nice, sexy, and easy to use. Apple however knows that you cannot merge the lines between a desktop OS and a mobile OS. Thus we will see Microsoft be stupid and try to make a Operating System that attempts to go across all platforms. Respectfully not everyone will be satisfied.

That's my point which you obviously completely missed. It's the attitude Microsoft has...