Windows 8 Snippets

Simon · Sep 14, 2011, 15:09:55

If you can...

Rik · Sep 14, 2011, 15:14:40

Be careful, Griff, a hot disc in the lap can cause nasty singeing.

.Griff. · Sep 14, 2011, 15:58:35

Slight mistake on my behalf.. I downloaded the x64 version (I was on automatic pilot) and forgot my laptop was 32bit.

Any way I've downloaded the x86 iso and it's now installing. There's no option at all to perform a clean install but that's not really an issue for me as there's nothing on the laptop anyway.

Steve · Sep 14, 2011, 16:00:26

Sadly there's no way back either,I wonder if it installs to VM

ie http://www.sysprobs.com/guide-install-windows-8-virtualbox

.Griff. · Sep 14, 2011, 16:51:55

I appreciate it's early days but it's not nice at all.

It's an operating system with an identity crisis not knowing whether it's designed for use on tablets or traditional PC's so what MS have done is basically added a touchscreen "frontend" onto Windows 7 and called it Windows 8.

As an example if you click the "Start" button it takes you to a tablet screen with various "apps" and oversized tiles. If you click on the control panel tile for example then it completely abandons all pretence to be tablet friendly and goes back to tradiotnal Windows menu's and icons. If you want to take a simple screenshot and paste it into MS Paint then it's a convoluted trip from traditional windows screens to chucky "press finger here" tiles back to traditional windows menus and so on.

It all smacks of MS wanting a piece of the tablet market and thinking how they can bodge their way there.

Rik · Sep 14, 2011, 17:31:26

Ouch.

.Griff. · Sep 14, 2011, 18:09:47

I managed to install the graphics drivers for my laptop and restarted it.

When Windows finishes loading it present you with a nice photograph of some mountains with the date/time and a wireless network icon. Cue 5 minutes of me clicking the screen, right clicking, clicking on the time, clicking on the wireless icon all to no avail. Then it dawned on me! You have to "swipe" the screen from top to bottom to access the login page. So obvious!! How did I not realise sooner!!

So far I've tried a few of the apps. "Zero Gravity" is a basic game where you use "finger gestures" and "swipes" to move a character around the screen. Not sure how you're meant to do that on anything but a tablet but nevermind.

Next I tried "Piano" which doesn't need much explaining. Suffice to say I can press my laptop screen as hard as I like but the bloody piano won't make a sound!

Then there's "Socialite" and "Tweet@rama" which basically equates to Facebook and Twitter only a lot more basic, lacking features and slow. Quite why you'd want to use either when you can login to the fully featured websites in half the time is beyond me,

And finally my main gripe so far. The escape key "ESC" doesn't seem to perform any function at all in Windows 8. If you start an app for example there's absolutely no way out of it. You could use the Windows key to get back to the "desktop" but that leaves the app running in the backgroup and all the music and sounds still playing through the speakers so the only way out I can find is "ctrl-alt-del" and task manager.

pctech · Sep 14, 2011, 18:14:04

Sounds nasty and is likely to be a nightmare to support remotely.

Think I'll take a couple of weeks off when its released and let my colleagues take the strain

Simon · Sep 14, 2011, 22:59:28

It sounds enough to drive people to an alternative.

Gary · Sep 15, 2011, 08:43:46

Quote from: Simon on Sep 14, 2011, 22:59:28
It sounds enough to drive people to an alternative.

Fondle slabs do seem the way forward for every day computing, and since a few books have now been written on touch screen keypads I think people will get used to them very quickly, although the MS tablet weighing in at two pounds will may be a tad heavy, but great for stopping muggers dead in their tracks, although I expect the finished machine to be less cumbersome.

Having an OS that works on both Desktop and Tablet is a risky venture MS seem to be dipping their toes in to see the temperature.

Technical Ben · Sep 15, 2011, 09:29:20

Touch is not for desktop use. Nuff said.

pctech · Sep 15, 2011, 15:09:55

Personally I'd prefer a slab of Cadbury

(there that's the food reference sorted)

.Griff. · Sep 16, 2011, 15:24:29

Slowly getting to grips with it all now.

Rik · Sep 16, 2011, 16:32:14

Can you make it look like XP, Griff?

Technical Ben · Sep 16, 2011, 16:52:25

Can you make it look like this?

(An old dos navigation program. I forget the original name, but I went into photoshop and put "XP" over the top and some windows folders instead of the old dos ones.

)
Oh, and the date was displayed as "103" as I opened the program in dos box, on an XP machine, and it's such an old program it was not millennium bug proof.

Rik · Sep 16, 2011, 17:03:37

Technical Ben · Sep 16, 2011, 17:11:36

It was one of 2 we used in DOS. One had a blue background with white text, and basically looked like your old file navigation in windows 3.1/95. Just with the limited UI that programming in Dos gave but it worked for copying files and stuff like that. Looked like this but I think ours had more options. http://www.hisys.sk/bbp/bbp-vc.gif

The other was the one I posted, and we used it to make shortcuts to launch games. Really useful and easy.

Rik · Sep 16, 2011, 17:15:07

Those were the days, eh?

Lance · Sep 18, 2011, 14:53:26

It [Windows 8] does all seem a bit 'in your face' with all the big text and panels. If I ever get time, I might try and install it in a VM.

Inkblot · Sep 18, 2011, 14:57:10

I've read somewhere that it will ship with 2 UI's - 1 is 'Mtero' which is the big tiles, optimised for touchscreen that is the one usually shown but the other is a standard desktop, similar to the Win7 desktop. I know which I prefer!

Edit: Not the quote I read but one that says similar: http://blogs.computerworld.com/18946/will_windows_8_be_the_windows_desktops_last_hurrah

.Griff. · Sep 18, 2011, 15:02:11

Quote from: Inkblot on Sep 18, 2011, 14:57:10
I've read somewhere that it will ship with 2 UI's - 1 is 'Mtero' which is the big tiles, optimised for touchscreen that is the one usually shown but the other is a standard desktop, similar to the Win7 desktop. I know which I prefer!

That's correct to an extent.

Like I said earlier it's basically Windows 7 with a touchscreen front-end bolted on to it. (The Metro part)

After using it for a few days I can't see any reason, even slight, why Windows 7 users would upgrade to it.

pctech · Sep 21, 2011, 13:59:45

Do you have to be constantly online to use it btw?

Have you tried to pull the plug to see what happens?

.Griff. · Sep 21, 2011, 14:07:23

Quote from: pctech on Sep 21, 2011, 13:59:45
Do you have to be constantly online to use it btw?

Have you tried to pull the plug to see what happens?

It's installed on my laptop and I've not noticed any issues with it when I've turned off wireless. Obviously certain functions require net access but apart from that nothing drastic happens if you're not online.

pctech · Sep 22, 2011, 10:16:29

Thats good then as whenever I order my new system the first tthing I'll do is scrub the factory installed image and reinstall Windows, I usually disconnect the Ethernet while I do this, install AV and patch it.

Technical Ben · Sep 23, 2011, 10:11:03

Hmmm. At the rate of change, I might stick to Win 9 for upgrading. Unless it becomes a complete ad revenue funded mess.