Windows 8 Dev build

[UniversalTruth]

Basically, font rendering took a big step backwards in Win8 due to yet another compromise forced by running the OS on tablets

That is why I hate it so much. I am not going to use a tablet os on my super duper ultra powerful work station. It's ridiculous.

It's fine with me, I run a CRT

Oh, dear. Isn't it dangerous for your health?

I don't run Windows 8

What are you running? Win 98 or Win XP?

Using win 8 for the last week or so. The kernel seems good, reasonably quick and low memory footprint

Oh, dear. I am so sorry for you. Why don't you try using Windows 7 with Classic theme, Aero turned off?

 

[Arwin]

Basically, font rendering took a big step backwards in Win8 due to yet another compromise forced by running the OS on tablets.

I'm not sure I notice a difference, and I'm working on various screens with Windows 7 and 8 mixed. Will have another look later.

Or are you perhaps talking about the font rendering inside Windows 8 RT apps?

 

[Blazkowicz]

What are you running? Win 98 or Win XP?

I used 98 till 2004 because I hated XP, along other problems (lack of music in DOS games) it did have obnoxious UI features, you know. Yellow dog that prevents you from searching your files if you don't click some bullshit. Pop-up on inserting removable media : "do you want to play videos / browse it / destroy it / automatically run a virus?"

But I installed Windows Server 2003 and it was marvelous : it's a version of XP configured to look like Windows 2000 (but with XP's icons), most all crap disabled, and IE6 unable by design to download .exe files and run scripts.
Later I knew to configure XP in the same way (except IE), it was marvelous too, since it was post SP2 and my PC ran it incredibly fast. Flexible enough with control panel, tweakUI, gpedit.msc and then third party tools and .regs.

But now I run linux. I was giving it away already on computer refurbishments and repairs, so I ate my own dog food. It's worse than Windows. But, Windows is worse than Linux.
If I were a millionaire I'd buy Server 2012, do a Core install (base system with no GUI), look at what can be done and build up from it. Maybe something other than explorer.exe can be used.
Also, a Xen set up with Windows run in a VM with a real graphics card is possible.

Using win 8 for the last week or so. The kernel seems good, reasonably quick and low memory footprint. Alttab & ctrlaltdel do lag sometimes though. One thing is that's bugged me if an apps taking 100 I should be able to kill it instantly (been a bit spoilt on the Mac cause it does react instantly but windows still lags) I installed paint.net and had to reboot machine wtf. I can't uninstall update windows modules. I've tried to disable it but it ignores my request. I've rebooted the win8 machine maybe 20 and about 15 of those I've gotta wait until it installs windows modules. Pita I turn the machine on and can't us it for 1/2 hour.

Lately I think this is the biggest issue with Windows, it's a reboot fest!, this may partly be why SSD are so popular.
In the 9x/XP days, I just didn't do updates, which is unthinkable today - malware just targetted IE and machines not behind a router, when that didn't work so well anymore they switched to real attacks and exploits.

You can kill stuff from the command line. Dunno if there's still the taskkill command in cmd.exe, nice to force kill stuff (with the /F switch), though force killing processes is not nice if you can regularly kill them (not that it matters : force kill that offender if your convenience is more important)
Note that it shouln't be any different than using the task manager to kill, it's just a different UI.

 

[Davros]

Maybe something other than explorer.exe can be used.

It could under xp at least i used to run litestep

 

[Silent_Buddha]

Using win 8 for the last week or so. The kernel seems good, reasonably quick and low memory footprint. Alttab & ctrlaltdel do lag sometimes though. One thing is that's bugged me if an apps taking 100 I should be able to kill it instantly (been a bit spoilt on the Mac cause it does react instantly but windows still lags) I installed paint.net and had to reboot machine wtf. I can't uninstall update windows modules. I've tried to disable it but it ignores my request. I've rebooted the win8 machine maybe 20 and about 15 of those I've gotta wait until it installs windows modules. Pita I turn the machine on and can't us it for 1/2 hour.
I went in with an open mind about the start program stage think ppl are exagerrating how bad it was. Boy was I wrong what the hell were ms thinking OK 95% of the time its cool I'm on the desktop but occasionally it boots me into that part. Even if my screen was a touchscreen I reckon it was would still suck. Sure ms want to push their 'vision' but this is just gonna piss most users off

I've run into the unable to end task thing once. It was pretty annoying. Other than that one time I haven't run into it again.

As to the start screen. I thought I was going to hate it on a non-touchscreen device (hence, why it took me until the end of Jan. to finally install it on my desktop). It's growing on me, however. To the point where I slightly prefer it to the start menu in Win7. The only adjustment I made is that instead of clicking on the start button with my mouse, I hit the Windows key on the keyboard. It's actually now considerable faster for me to start any application.

Going back to Win7, I'm starting to use the Windows key to bring up the start menu as well instead of clicking the button. Unfortunately, I can't pin as many apps to it, and I definitely can't organize them as well as I can with the Win8 start menu. I don't bother to use Modern UI apps on my desktop machine, so the start screen is just a bigger start menu for me on this machine.

The only thing I miss from Win7 now is having widgets on the desktop. It was nice to be able to see the temperature for multiple locations at a glance. But that's minor compared to how much better Win8 is at just about everything else.

Regards,
SB

 

[Mize]

After a few weeks of hating W8 I installed one of those $3 apps to make it like W7 and have been much happier ever since.

Get off my lawn you kids!

 

[zed]

Kill a thread has always worked on win8. Admittedly I haven't used it much. I mean when I press ctrlaltdel. Task man should popup instantly even if another thread is using 100%cpu. I've always used win key for start menu its just bad design how hard is it now to do power off etc. Even start an app and then u decide u want another app. Press the win key and the whole screen jumps back to the first page. Bad design. Its like if I click on a link in an HTML page then go back and the browser displays the start of the page again. Also why can't I customize how many rows of icons I want (perhaps I can but I can't see it) Ideally I wan it to fill the whole screen with icons. I think win9 will be good, cause hopefully ms have taken note of the many complaints about win8 and its very slow uptake. Since like I say under the hood win8 seems very nice

 

[Silent_Buddha]

Kill a thread has always worked on win8. Admittedly I haven't used it much. I mean when I press ctrlaltdel. Task man should popup instantly even if another thread is using 100%cpu. I've always used win key for start menu its just bad design how hard is it now to do power off etc. Even start an app and then u decide u want another app. Press the win key and the whole screen jumps back to the first page. Bad design. Its like if I click on a link in an HTML page then go back and the browser displays the start of the page again. Also why can't I customize how many rows of icons I want (perhaps I can but I can't see it) Ideally I wan it to fill the whole screen with icons. I think win9 will be good, cause hopefully ms have taken note of the many complaints about win8 and its very slow uptake. Since like I say under the hood win8 seems very nice

Yeah, I absolutely agree with the power off options being "hidden" in the charms bar. Rather than having to open the charms bar then clicking settings THEN being able to access the power off options. It would have been far simpler to just put it somewhere on the start screen or at least on the main level of the charms bar. But, this is where Microsoft are expecting users to actually use the power button on their device. Which is fine generally, but if you just want to restart the computer it's a bit of a PITA.

As well, being able to also subdivide icon groups vertically and not just horizontally would be nice to have. But that said, it's still much nicer, IMO, than the old style start menu now that I've used it for a while.

One more thing I'd like changed about the Start menu. It'd be nice if there was an option for it to appear all at once instead of tiles sort of sliding/fading in. Yeah the graphical effect is nice, but I'd prefer just a tad more speed when accessing it.

I'm also wondering why people think the Desktop is a separate application? It's not, the desktop is always on as soon as you start the machine. The Modern UI environment is "on top" of the desktop. This is quite easily seen if a person has multiple monitors.

Regards,
SB

 

[Mize]

IMHO one of the worst things about phone and tablet OSes is the endless app icons with little or limited hierarchy. Why anyone thought bringing this flaw, along with screen fingerprints, to real computers would be a good thing is beyond me.

Touch interfaces are a compromise when a better one cannot be accommodated.

I will say, however, that 8 is snappier.

How can I launch multiple instances of the same application in 8 Btw?

 

[Silent_Buddha]

How can I launch multiple instances of the same application in 8 Btw?

The same way you can in earlier versions of Windows? I don't have a problem launching multiple instances of applications that allow it, just like previous versions of Windows.

Unless you mean Modern UI apps, in which case, I don't know if it's possible for those.

Regards,
SB

 

[Blazkowicz]

Yeah, I absolutely agree with the power off options being "hidden" in the charms bar. Rather than having to open the charms bar then clicking settings THEN being able to access the power off options.

I'm thinking Microsoft maybe did this to force users being aware of the charms bar, it would be conceivable that if power off weren't there then some users wouldn't know of the charms bar's existence at all.
I wonder how many users don't know how to power off anyway and press the power button for 5 seconds every time (based on previous experience with ATX and laptop computers), forcing an emergency hard poweroff every time they want to turn off their computer.

I for one am self-trained to consider the power button to be the equivalent of pulling the cord (I do pull the cord when working on a computer, when I'm at the BIOS screen or DOS or similar situation and I'm going to work on the hardware internals)

 

[Malo]

Why not use the power button how it's intended for years now, to initiate an OS then hardware shutdown?

 

[Blazkowicz]

You have to know about it . Maybe it's a lot more natural for laptop users.
Also, I once tried it and my PC (I think it was mine) just did an OS shutdown without prompt. Or was it a hibernation. It may be fine if you only use Vista/7/8 computers, else it's like you get a random result depending on how the stuff (and maybe BIOS) is configured.

 

[zed]

Is it just me but do most of the bundled basic metro apps suck.

definition of suck =
1. Very unstable // music one crashes usually before a song finishes, photo one often stops with a message (taking too long to startup)
2. very slow startup
3. you cant do much with them

granted Ive really only used photos/music/video apps.
but they look like each ones been knocked up in a couple of hours by some 1st year programmer.

///////////////
whilst writing this, somethings dawned, Im thinking (not really looked into it)
Ive heard metro uses different exe's or its layered behind something. Is this accounting for the performance/stability issues?
the 'cant do much with them' is design, partly due to touch controls (then again the ones in IOS/android piss all over them)
I'll check this out

Sure I can always use diff apps, but I just cant understand if MS are trying to push win8 why the hell bundle such incompetent apps, we laughed about paint/notepad etc but the look truly wonderous to what win8 has

edit -
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_Runtime
so it seems u can use various langs, there does seem to be an extra layer/sandboxing which will incur some perfroamnce overhead

 

[Arwin]

Did you try updating all the apps to the latest versions?

After Modern Mix fixed a bunch of gripes I had with the RT apps, two UI things I hate most about Windows 8 are the Title of an active window being Black text, looks very unreadable, and an active scrollbar being barely visible as well. But some of the default Win RT apps for displaying basic stuff like images and movies aren't always convenient either in a Desktop environment.

Tonnes of things I love to easily compensate for that though - I'm still discovering stuff about the multi-screen support for instance that I didn't notice before (like shortcut key for switching windows around between the two, etc.), the various performance views, the speed graph for copying files, etc.

 

[zed]

My laptop seems to update practically every time I turn it on!
Perhaps the latest versions are greatly different I assume not.
I'll try modern mix. I'm using something similar but I still sometimes get into metro.

Obvious prediction the.
Win 9 will give the user the option of what desktop mode to use

 

[UniversalTruth]

Microsoft has responded to the recent feedback they've been getting that they are backtracking on their vision and not showing confidence in their product by reverting back to old ways when it comes to Windows, like bringing back the Start button. They think they're doing a good thing. Some agree, some don't.

Corporate Vice President of Communications Frank Shaw has taken to the Microsoft Blog to defend the upcoming changes. “In the center, listening to feedback and improving a product is a good thing. Heck, there was even a time when acknowledging that you were listening to feedback and acting on it was considered a good thing.”

Microsoft defends upcoming changes for Windows 8, says it's a good thing

Microsoft begins distributing Windows 8.1 Build 9391 Developer Preview to OEMs

 

[eastmen]

seems a waste. Windows 8 is better in every way over 7 and vista and xp and so on

 

[UniversalTruth]

Yup, definitely.

Market share as of April 2013 says it all

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usage_share_of_operating_systems

 

[Arwin]

seems a waste. Windows 8 is better in every way over 7 and vista and xp and so on

Maybe, but Apps and Desktop apps need to be integrated better. I've payed for Modern Mix, just for having Apps in a Window, and it's really much better.

The start button I don't really care so much for, but stuff like the power-off / sleep needs to be more accessible (keyboard sleep button is better of course, but on my machine it doesn't work - yet).

Also, I want my Desktop to look a bit more polished. Give it some shine and polish. Bring back some of the transparancy stuff for the desktop. And make scrollbars and window titles more visible.