So Windows 8, who's using it?

octafish

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Headdrivehardscrew said:
octafish said:
I'll be sticking to Windows 7 for my desktop, however I'm running the preview of 8 on my new HTPC and Metro is great for just about everything you could want a HTPC to do. Of course no Start gave me problems when I was setting it up, but now...well I was going to buy Win 7 for my HTPC but I'll be waiting and buying a copy of 8 for it now.
Beware - My Metro/HTPC experience has, so far, been a bumpy and not too pleasant ride. As long as Windows Media Player does everything you need for your media playing fun, you might be... happy, I guess. But something just brushes me the wrong way if if my Win8 machine nags me to log in to my Microsoft account every time I just want it to play a DVD or play me some music LOCALLY.

I also have to say what is absolutely off-putting is the fact that for UI elements to magically appear, you have to hover your little mouse arrow over specific corners/regions of the screen - when it takes three or more attempts to bring up the navigation/settings UI elements, I really don't know how I could generate much love for Metro and the murder of the Start button.

What they are trying to do is obviously total control over your machine and your software (programs/"apps", media), adding the OS-dependent marketplace to it. Oh, and then there's that other stuff... when you want to play an online video, there's a button that let's you watch it on XBOX... I still can't follow this one entirely. If I want to watch a video on an XBOX or a phone or any other device, I usually don't fire it up on the PC.
Fair enough. I pretty much just have Metro tiles for WMC, Chrome, Steam and a couple of games from GOG. It is a ***** to setup but I don't actually do anything on my HTPC but watch media and play console ports. Once you get it setup it works well and the big ugly tiles read well on a TV.

I will say this for Win8 it seems lighter and more responsive than 7.
 

Baby Tea

Just Ask Frankie
Sep 18, 2008
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EHKOS said:
I still need to upgrade to 7. Vista is terrible and getting worse as it ages. I'm just waiting to get a new everything to upgrade because it's not worth buying a new OS if the hardware is old and slow already.
Windows 7 is easily worth the upgrade.
I snagged a OEM copy, and it's amazing. No extra crap tossed in, just straight up OS install. My Pentium 4 runs amazing in the Win 7 environment, and that's saying something. That beast is OLD.

If you get it (And you should), grab an OEM copy from somewhere. It's cheaper, and it's not loaded down with needless extras.

More on topic: I haven't got Windows 8 yet, but I HATE what I've seen of the UI. Being able to turn it off is nice, and I'm excited, actually, that it's geared toward lower-spec machines. Crappy machines like mine will gain more life, and newer machines will run like a Kenyan on fire (Very fast).

It's about time MS started thinking that way.
 

wookiee777

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Mar 5, 2012
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Windows 8 is out? I was only vaguely aware that it was even in development. I probably won't get it because I'm angry at Windows 7 for being the worst platform for games over 5 years old. I have seriously considered downgrading to Windows XP or 2000 because it's so annoying.

So unless Win. 8 makes it so I don't have to scour the internet searching for fixes (most of which don't work), then I won't get it.

...Say, how does modern versions of Linux work with older games?
 

evilneko

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culpeo said:
My desktop runs the venerable WinXP Pro x64 and has remained very stable over countless upgrades and hardware configurations. My concern, however, is its slow, but inevitable abandonment by software developers. Also, history has demonstrated Microsoft's proclivity for vastly improving upon drastic changes to their OS in the release following the one in which those changes were made (as Win7 did with Vista). By that logic, Windows 9 should be the one to wait for. But for XPers like myself, that may be a bridge too far. And I'm not really interested in using Windows 7 as a stopgap.

Then again, if Windows 8 is to be priced as aggressively as they say, that alone may be enough for me to hasten my decision.
40 bucks, won't find a cheaper OS outside of linux. ;)

JediMB said:
I won't be in any hurry to get Windows 8, since I don't feel I've had 7 for long enough to justify an upgrade, but the price is definitely right. Maybe in a year or so?
But, the 40 buck option is only available 'til the end of January. Of course, you could just burn the iso you receive and wait.
 

Greni

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Jun 19, 2011
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Will be getting it if prominent features will be Win8 exclusive like DirectX 11.1 and such.

Saw the preview on a friends computer. Damn it felt ugly and needlessly 'stylized'.
 

Axyun

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Oct 31, 2011
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I am cautiously optimistic for Windows 8. It looks to offer a few decent features/fixes beyond the Metro UI but I'll wait and see.

What I don't understand is people claiming to ditch Windows for a Mac or Linux due to changes in a future version of Windows.

"Gee, Windows X has Y feature I don't like so instead of changing my OS to one that is slightly different yet still very likely to be compatible with all of my software and hardware, I'm going to migrate to an OS that will toss all of that into doubt."

Sound logic, fellas. Sound logic.
 

Yal

We are a rattlesnake
Dec 22, 2010
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nikki191 said:
hmm anyone else waiting for a microsoft tablet announcement?
I'm not waiting any more, no. [http://www.microsoft.com/surface]
 

JediMB

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evilneko said:
JediMB said:
I won't be in any hurry to get Windows 8, since I don't feel I've had 7 for long enough to justify an upgrade, but the price is definitely right. Maybe in a year or so?
But, the 40 buck option is only available 'til the end of January. Of course, you could just burn the iso you receive and wait.
Ah, well... until the end of January is still plenty of time.

And, yeah, it'd be easy enough to back it up and install later if I still want to stick with Windows 7 for a while.
 

ElPatron

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Jul 18, 2011
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Ohai guise I'm still using XP, am I up to date?

evilneko said:
Anyone else sensing a pattern here? ;)
You mean '95, 2000 ME, Vista in comparison to '98, XP and 7?
 

evilneko

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ElPatron said:
Ohai guise I'm still using XP, am I up to date?

evilneko said:
Anyone else sensing a pattern here? ;)
You mean '95, 2000 ME, Vista in comparison to '98, XP and 7?
Oi. How dare you besmirch the good name of Windows 2000.



And 98 wasn't good til SE.
 

Vigormortis

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Heronblade said:
I've found I'm better off skipping generations of OS's. Microsoft seems to get their act together on every OTHER release.
QFT.

I honestly believe Microsoft does it on purpose. They rush out a half-finished version of their newest OS platform for people to help them "test" it out. Then, a year or so later, they release the "new" OS which, in reality, is the same OS just "fixed".

Think about it. Before XP there was Millenium edition. (which used essentially the same design platform as XP but was broken) Then, before 7 there was Vista. (which again, used the exact same platform as 7, but was broken)

Now we have 8/Metro, which will likely be followed by an OS that's marketed as "new" but is actually just 8 without most of the bugs.

So I'm like you. I skip every other OS generation. Saves me from wasting money.
 

Xan Krieger

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I'm sticking to XP for the forseeable future. I'll probably be using XP till 2020 or even later.
 

Wicky_42

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evilneko said:
All in all it's probably the least annoying Windows yet. Coming from a diehard 2k fan and grudging XP user like myself, that's some high praise. Also, I've had 8 on my laptop for over a week now--far longer than I had 7 on either of my computers.
Considering you chose to disable pretty much the only feature that distinguished it from Windows 7, I can see absolutely no reason why I would want to use it and not just stick with 7 for the next three or four OS cycles. 7 is great, pretty much bang on and a comfortable upgrade from XP. 8 just seems like a whole load of money for something completely superfluous and not designed for actual desktop users.
 

culpeo

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evilneko said:
ElPatron said:
Ohai guise I'm still using XP, am I up to date?

evilneko said:
Anyone else sensing a pattern here? ;)
You mean '95, 2000 ME, Vista in comparison to '98, XP and 7?
Oi. How dare you besmirch the good name of Windows 2000.



And 98 wasn't good til SE.
Windows 2k =/= Windows ME. 2k was the successor to the NT line of operating systems and was stable and dandy. ME succeeded 98SE and was genuinely horrible.
 

evilneko

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Wicky_42 said:
evilneko said:
All in all it's probably the least annoying Windows yet. Coming from a diehard 2k fan and grudging XP user like myself, that's some high praise. Also, I've had 8 on my laptop for over a week now--far longer than I had 7 on either of my computers.
Considering you chose to disable pretty much the only feature that distinguished it from Windows 7, I can see absolutely no reason why I would want to use it and not just stick with 7 for the next three or four OS cycles. 7 is great, pretty much bang on and a comfortable upgrade from XP. 8 just seems like a whole load of money for something completely superfluous and not designed for actual desktop users.
Except 7 managed to annoy me in a number of ways 8 didn't. It's almost like they read my mind and removed all the things I didn't like about 7, or at least made them easier to avoid.

culpeo said:
Windows 2k =/= Windows ME. 2k was the successor to the NT line of operating systems and was stable and dandy. ME succeeded 98SE and was genuinely horrible.
Tell that to ElPatron, who dared speak ill of the great 2k-san [http://ostan-collections.net/imeeji/displayimage.php?album=2&pos=460] in the thread of a confessed 2k fan.
 

devotedsniper

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Dec 28, 2010
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I tried the dev version and found it ok but it's definitely not designed with the average desktop or laptop in mind. It's too touchscreeny (if that makes sense) it just looks like it should be for touchscreens and I also don't particularly like the fact that it doesn't stay on the desktop, it always seems to switch back to the metro screen when I exit things.

I may put it on my parents machine as there still running xp but I very much doubt that I will use it on my gaming rig.

Oh...and everything's too...square...what did you do to my start button?!?!??!