Windows 8 - The Bear and Badger

Mod74

Happy Windows Day everyone.

Anyone jumping straight in?

Buy downloadable upgrade for Â£25 here

Also, by default it does not include Windows Media Center. They're clearly taking media in a different direction, but if you run a HTPC, and are planning to upgrade, or just like 'free' stuff, you can download it until January (it will be paid for later)

http://www.wpcentral.com/windows-8-has-launched-grab-yourself-free-media-centre-upgrade

Not the most exciting of threads I know but we had an 8 one on the old place and a 7 one on the old old place that got used

Kow

Not even sure what this is about. Is it for touch screen? Is there any reason to update from 7?

Mod74

The new Start screen is designed mainly for touchscreen use, yes. You can still use it with a mouse and keyboard. What you mainly get is a transformation of your desktop to a more living interactive thing with updates from social media, email, weather etc.

There are some apps that you might find more useful than the desktop versions. I've got a couple for recipe apps that work nice. Imagine a normal program with a nice simple attractive interface.

I also really love the universal search. Type a term and then you just click to search file, music, or even within apps. For example I can type "lasagne" into the box and then tap the first recipe app and it'll search its contents and give results. Then tap the second and it does the same. Then I just click a result and it takes me straight into the section of the app. It's really very clever.

As for worth it, well, that's up to you. It does boot faster and have better resource management so you should see a small performance boost over 7, even if it's essentially the same basic system underneath. It'll be better value than some PC Boost RegCleaner gubbins if you're tempted by those.

Kow

Do you know if there are any of the incompatibility issues that Vista suffered from or is it just a souped up 7?

Mod74

I've not heard of any, but then it's early days. It's essentially the same Win7 architecture because, well, there was nothing wrong with it. I know Nvidia have Win8 certified WHQL drivers out already. In fact if you're on the latest you already have them. I think.

loxdog

I am tempted for 25 squid as it's not too much of an investment. However, I'd be worried about compatibility with pretty much everything. Visual Studio and games being the obvious two for me.Â

I have pre-orderedÂ https://leapmotion.com/Â so I imagine that'd work quite well with W8...

Woodimari

I swear I read somewhere a while back that its not ideal for gamers.

Bollockoff

I'm thick and dumb and stupid to boot. When upgrading to a new OS do I need to backup everything else?

If it's better for gaming than Vista I might as well.

Mod74

Woodimari wrote:

I swear I read somewhere a while back that its not ideal for gamers.

The only person I 'know' who has been using it for gaming is Geoff Gerstmann and he hasn't to my knowledge complained.

Are you thinking about Gabe Newell and Notch saying it was a disaster? That was nothing to do with technical and everything to do with money.

That said, I would always advise not jumping straight into an OS on day one unless you're really keen.

three1ne

Surprised that Â£25 offer for 8 Pro could be applied directly to Win XP/7. Is this nothing much more than a new UI then?

Mod74

Bollockoff wrote:

I'm thick and dumb and stupid to boot. When upgrading to a new OS do I need to backup everything else? If it's better for gaming than Vista I might as well.

Running a back up is probably prudent if you're that way inclined.

As far as needing to, no, it'll just replace the OS and keep all your files/programs. Or you can do what is called a clean install where you wipe everything and then re-install everything. If you have the time and patience that's usually the one that's recommend. Depends how big your backup/re-install task would be.

Mod74

three1ne wrote:

Surprised that Â£25 offer for 8 Pro could be applied directly to Win XP/7. Is this nothing much more than a new UI then?

It's either a UI update or the biggest update to Windows since 95. Depends how you measure things really.

It's being kept cheap to boost adoption, and AFIK that Â£25 offer only lasts till January then it doubles to Â£50

Bollockoff

It would be a hench undertaking backup. I have far too many random assorments of images from the web over the last five years.

Cheers.

Brooks

Have only just installed Win 7. The rule's still 'skip one' for MS OSes innit?

Mod74

Consensus seems to be there's no need to skip this one because it's a pile of broken shite, but if you're not running it on a touch screen or tablet your mileage will vary wildly.

Kow

I'll keep an eye on it but I'm pretty happy with 7 and remember all too well the travesty that was Vista.

AJ

Mod74 wrote:

What you mainly get is a transformation of your desktop to a more living interactive thing with updates from social media, email, weather etc.

Explain this to me, please, I've not heard about it. Unless you'reÂ referringÂ to the Metro stuff as "desktop", in which case I have and you don't need to.

Bollockoff

Stop making fun of my operating system.

Kow

Unoperating system.

Mod74

AJ_ wrote:

Mod74 wrote:

What you mainly get is a transformation of your desktop to a more living interactive thing with updates from social media, email, weather etc.

Explain this to me, please, I've not heard about it. Unless you'reÂ referringÂ to the Metro stuff as "desktop", in which case I have and you don't need to.

I am referring to that yes.

LtPidgeon

It really is fucking shit as an interface, touchscreen or not. Install an application and you get all the crap that you would normally get in the program folder strewn across your desktop.

Frosty

They need to do something with the desktop though. Mine is just wasted space at the moment that's only purpose is for a pretty picture.

Mod74

@Pidg

I've not noticed that being a problem but yes, I guess programs that install a lot of links into the Start menu would need some housekeeping afterwards.

tigersgogrrr

I'm thinking about it.

I really like the look of Win8 and am strongly considering picking up a Surface tablet around Christmas time. Despite not having a touchscreen on my laptop, there's a temptation to upgrade now and have a fiddle (particularly at the low price point). I'm taking my laptop in to a service centre tomorrow and have a completely clean install... so no worries on that end either.

Woodi: I've been reading around on Ars Technica etc and it seems that Win8 is pretty much on a par with Win7 for gaming at the user end.

Mod74

Been having a short play with this. They've certainly improved matters since the consumer preview. The music app is actually usable now. As I have a Xbox Music (nee Zune) pass searching for an artist name brings up a long list with everything available either local or online, from there you just click and play. Could probably do with a smidge more interface work/prettying up though if I'm honest.

I think I may have underestimated the nicety of having a tablet like interface/app structure even on a non-touch screen.

I've just downloaded the TuneIn app and pinned Radio 4 and 5 to my desktop. Clicking them takes me straight to that stream. A decent standalone radio program was something I singularly failed to find before, and there it was just waiting. Lovely jubbly. And yes, I could have just put browser shortcuts to the streams on my desktop but I still find that sort of browser/web app usage cludgy.

Brooks

Is there still Classic mode for those of us stuck royally in our ways?

Mod74

Yes...but it's not the default view, and you can't boot into it automatically.

Rev

Would love a surface. Looks the business.

Mod74

Interesting...for those that are interested

http://lifehacker.com/5955262/use-windows-8-as-a-windows-home-server

Still not convinced you want to upgrade to Windows 8? Here's one more tempting reason t do so: Windows 8 can actually be a great Windows Home Server replacement. It offers most of the same features for sharing, storing, and protecting lots of data on your network.

We Got Served offers a complete guide to building a Windows 8 Home Server, from choosing the hardware and installing Windows 8 to managing user accounts and shared folders. Some features are exclusive, however, to the 360-page eBook, which costs Â£9.99, but you could probably figure those out yourself by looking up those Windows 8 features.

If you're wondering what the differences are between Windows Home Server 2011 and Windows 8, there really aren't much. As Paul Thorrott notes on his SuperSite for Windows, Windows 8 offers data redundancy and pooling of drives into one larger storage pool, and it improves on WHS's storage system. Windows 8 also has great backup features, including file history and push button reset. Documents and media sharing is the same. The only thing that seems to be missing is network health monitoring and remote access (but Microsoft will be releasing a SkyDrive app that will solve the latter).

monkey

Tried to upgrade my Win 7 bootcamp partition to 8. It's downloaded ok but the installer keeps failing at about 33% done every time I run it. I get a "Windows 8 installation has failed" message and that's it.Â

There does seem to be some driver issues with macs (i.e. there aren't any) but this seems to be a few bugs with the trackpad after installation. I haven't been able to find anything about not being able to install at all.Â

Hrumph.

Mod74

Don't Apple have to update Bootcamp to take account of any new OS. Have they done that yet?

Howdy, Stranger!

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