If we kept on with "tradition" and "keeping things as they are", consumers would have no clue how to use a computer, geeks and nerds enthusiasts would still be using a timeshared mainframe and a teletype to talk to it and power users would still be flipping toggle switches and using punch cards/paper tape. Oh yeah, and those wanting to program would also be using machine language, BASIC, COBOL or FORTRAN and also be unable to port applications from one system to another.

@linuxlove

I think that's fairly different than the situation here since we're talking about an interface that people have used for years and years after all

The only reason to change something, is to make it better, MS did not make anything better by removing the start menu

I respectfully disagree. I think the Start Screen is a better choice for the average user.


The interfaces he mentioned were used for just as long as the Taskbar/Start Menu combo, if not longer.

Alright, I finally managed to install a build of Windows 8 (RP) on my laptop without the DVD. Booting from ISO or USB would result in setup asking for a driver... Extracted the ISO to the new partition, used EasyBCD and voila, it finally works!

I've said in some other topic that I'll try Windows 8 just to see wheter it's possible to get rid of the Metro UI (I wasn't precise enough, I meant Start screen) and then decide if I'll get it or not. Luckily, I found a pretty decent way to go back to the start menu, and it's called Classic Shell, I'm using it along with AskVG's skin for 7-like start menu. It works great, even though the menu itself isn't the exact copy of the one from Windows 7. On startup, I also still get the start screen for about a second but then classic shell switches to the old dekstop.

Now onto what I think of the release preview. I'll start with the good things:

• Ribbon Explorer
• Out-of-the-box ISO mounting
• New login screen
• Updated Aero
• Updated Task Manager
• Pretty much everything else except the Start screen

That is all great and I think Microsoft has made decent progres with the above.

Now here's what I don't like:

• Start screen (obviously)
• Metro apps
• Boot time
• Some minor bugs

Start screen is something I'll probably never accept because it simply doesn't suit me best. I use the start menu frequently and it works just fine -> no need to replace it with something far less useful IMHO. Start screen takes up your whole screen, which I don't like because I multitask all the time. Same goes for metro apps; they take up your whole screen, therefore you can only run on at the time and there's no other way of closing them than ALT + F4. That's reserved for phones and tablets, not PCs...

You may wonder why I put the boot time on the bad list. Well, things is everyone's been praising it as a major improvement, claiming it takes around 10 seconds to boot. Guess what? Doesn't happend to me, it takes about equal time to start as 7. I don't know, maybe I need to somehow enabled this super fast startup, in which case it still sucks. Maybe it's just my laptop, who knows... RAM usage, on the other hand, is apparantly lower than that of 7, as it only uses around 20% (compared to 30% on 7), though the system itself doesn't feel any more responsive than 7. In fact, if you don't use start screen and Metro apps, it has a very strong 7-like feeling that I expected.

There are still some minor bugs, such as the IE tab bug, which stretches the tab to nearly entire screen width, but other than that nothing major that (should) worry me too much.

------------------------------------------------------

So to sumarize the above, I will be getting Windows 8 when it's released (according to rumors, it'll be very soon), but I will use Classic Shell instead of Start screen and Metro apps due to the above stated reasons. Other than that, I think it won't be such a flop afterall, but I guess many people will have the same issue of getting used to start screen and Metro in general. Some will succeed, some won't and 'll go hatin all over the thing... Kinda like Vista, though Vista was a little worse but still not nearly as bad as some people exaggerated.

So thats's pretty much it. BTW, this was written from Release Preview...

PLEASE NOTE: All that's written above is merely my personal opinion that I aknowledge you may disagree with. It's completely OK and understandable if you do so, but please don't go A-hole and start making lame posts about how I hate Windows 8 (because I don't), how I can't let go of the start menu and simmilar lame sentences. I respect other people's opinions, so I expect others to respect mine. Thank you.

Small note. The boot times were for a device with an SSD, and resuming from the new Hybrid Shutdown (or whatever they're calling it. It's basically Hibernate with some improvements). My average boot time for Win8 on a 7200RPM drive from a cold boot was 30 seconds or so, which is an improvement over my Windows 7 install.

Well, so much for that... :/

Just a small tip on this one. You can close apps in three ways in Windows 8:

Alt + F4

Move the mouse to the left side of the screen, reveal the app switcer, right click on the app and press close

"Grab" the app from the top side with the mouse and move it to the bottom of the screen

And for the "aero snap" for metro apps, simply "grab" an app and move it to the left or right side of the screen.

Another annoying thing I discovered is the fact you can open most of Metro app when UAC is not on default level. Even though I don't use Metro apps, it's still dumb because I can't try other ways to close them that SotirisMichail suggested... :/

That might be so but then it's also worth mentioning that Windows is being used on a much larger scale too.

Okay, that's a fair point. But like I said earlier, change is only really bad thing when it makes everyday tasks harder for EVERYONE, which Windows 8 doesn't do. There WILL be a learning curve, obviously. There is for any new technology or gadget. But overall, I think users will find that common tasks are much simpler and easier to perform in 8 than they were in 7.

Does anyone know if you will be able to upgrade the RP to the full when it launches? As afaik upgrading from Dev preview and consumer preview is unsupported.

Sorry if this has been asked before.

Well, today I found something intersting and strange. I can use Hyper-V on RP... I can actually create and run Virtual Machines. On Windows 7, when opening Hyper-V Manager I could only connect to a remote VM... I guess this is a new feature?

I'm going to install it this weekend (last weekend, I worked to some extent with the Windows Server 8 beta).

Also, I'm going to keep my eyes out for any RTM Candidate builds of Windows 8 that are somehow released onto the Internet, in case there are any.

Yes, as are the rest of us who like Windows 8.

Apparently its going to be released on 17th-20th of July-so I wouldn't expect it on the internets before then.

Source?

Rumours. I can give the link, but its still only rumour.

EDIT: Link: http://www.neowin.net/news/windows-8-rtm-build-reportedly-8500-announcement-coming-late-july

Lol, WZor and Canouna: claiming things before they even know them... XD

Nevertheless I have heard some rumours way in advance, and then things actually happen exactly as it was rumoured. Usually they are wrong though-but I still like realistic speculation.

Well, it's kinda funny since WZor says RTM build is 8500 and canouna says it's a build from 86XX range... And AFAIK RTM candidates are already from 8501 to 8506, so techincaly they're both wrong...

And canouna stole his information from Win8China, just like he does for MOST of his stuff.

how to install it because it says my hard drive and 3 to offline while the bios see

im looking for a dutch language pack for my windows 8 RP where can i download this.

Search for "Language" in the RP's Start Screen. "Add a language" should be one of the options. Do it through there.