Anyone actually using Win8?

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whufclee
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Anyone actually using Win8?

Post by whufclee »

So last month I finally got around to testing out Win8... I'm not really sure where to start with this review so I'm not going to bother, lets just say I wasn't impressed! I gave it a chance and played about with it for a couple of days but at the end of the day if I want to learn how to use a new OS I'll be learning how to use linux and not this crap. Thinking of these two days I wasted on Win8 really annoyed me and I suddenly realised how much I hate M$. I done a fresh install of Win7 the other day and I think the updates took up more room on my HDD than the original OS, it's little things like that I find annoying. I've been a Windows user since 3.1 and will no doubt continue with my Win7 setup (I have a dual boot on my laptop Win7/Ubuntu) but i really can't see me upgrading to Win8.

Anyway that's my rant over, just wondered whether anyone on here is using it and if so are they happy with it?

Same old M$....
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Dan Dar3
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Re: Anyone actually using Win8?

Post by Dan Dar3 »

@whufclee
Perfectly happy with it, using it since first preview came out on all my PCs (desktop, laptops, umpc), and even upgraded my dad's 7 years old desktop from XP and working even faster (same XP drivers worked just fine). It's faster than Windows 7 and if you get the hang of the start screen it's perfectly fine, on the same old hardware (non-touch). There are a few helpful tips in using it easier, if you want I could show you all I know in a TeamViewer remote session, just send me an email.

PS: If anyone is thinking to take the cheap upgrade offer, do it by Jan 31st.
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows/buy
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/wind ... ture-packs
whufclee
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Re: Anyone actually using Win8?

Post by whufclee »

Thanks for the offer Dan, I may take you up on that. What's the compatibility like? Have you found many programs not working?

I need to buy a touchscreen panel for my media hub so I suppose it would make sense to install Win8 on that, maybe I'll install it on my laptop and give it another go. I already have dual boot of win7/ubuntu do you know if I can add win8 to that?
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Dan Dar3
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Re: Anyone actually using Win8?

Post by Dan Dar3 »

No incompatibilities for me now, although I use it mostly for development and work stuff, no games. Going from preview to RTM I had problems with Juniper VPN, but that's been resolved by a new version of the software. Other things are gone for example, Windows XP Mode, and you can't use it anymore. Windows Hyper-V replaced Virtual PC, but that requires a SLAT capable CPUs now - personally I use VMware Player, and that works fine.

I believe dual-boot is fine, although haven't tried it, see this:
http://www.linuxbsdos.com/2012/11/05/du ... -hardware/
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Albatross
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Re: Anyone actually using Win8?

Post by Albatross »

I was going to ask the same question myself - A mate of mine swears by windows 8, I've read some reviews but didn't try any of the preview releases.
I'll never say never but the chances are I'll probably end up staying with my present Linux mint/windows xp dual boot setup !
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Re: Anyone actually using Win8?

Post by PressY4Pie »

i run windows 8 x64 and its actually good. i expected the usual from m$: garbage, good, garbage good, etc. but i think its good. nothing compared to my arch install but there are some things you need windows for
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Re: Anyone actually using Win8?

Post by Geeba »

Used it a fair bit... I like it... I'm going to treat my games rig to an SSD and go for win8 x64
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Re: Anyone actually using Win8?

Post by asbo »

Well Microsoft have clearly been putting something in the drinking water... :lol:
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BEFORE YOU INSTALL Reply

Post by 2 Bunny »

In a nutshell, it's fast n light, but ugly. If you've got 20 or so minutes, here's everything you need to know before you install Windows 8.
restless
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Re: Anyone actually using Win8?

Post by restless »

I actually like it. Well. I mean its grown on me
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NEW PERSPECTIVE Reply

Post by 2 Bunny »

restless wrote:I actually like it. Well. I mean its grown on me
I know what you mean. Part of me wants to like it, but when I look at all of the stuff that was dumbed down or broken, it's like "paradise lost" :D - you're looking around at ruins of Windows 7's former glory and tipping over blocks and stuff remembering how it was before and wondering if there's any way to bring it back. It's like one of those time travel movies where everything's going 75% okay, and then someone thinks he/she can make it better by going back, and then finds that he/she's made it even worse and has to do a bunch of extra work just to get it to where it was before.
At least that's how it feels to me when I run it. It's like, "why can't you just be more like Windows 7?" :)
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Re: Anyone actually using Win8?

Post by ltdanno360 »

no i havent spent much time on windows 8 yet ..
my nephew has it on his laptop he got for christmas
and has alot of issues with it
and its hard for me to use windows
cause i have used linux cence highschool
some 14 years or so
but i do have a hard drive i keep windows 7 on just for
programs that have No other way to use then i have to come over to the Darkside for a few hours
then its Back to Debian *linux :mrgreen:
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Re: Anyone actually using Win8?

Post by chunk1982 »

Dont like it, wont use it! If I didnt have to use windows for certain programs I use wouldnt even install windows at all
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Re: Anyone actually using Win8?

Post by whufclee »

Well after Dan said it was good I thought I'd give it another go and I have to say once you find the little tweaks and get used to the new tablet style layout it's actually a really good operating system. Unfortunately there's a few things I just can't get working on it (the main one being my touch screen monitor) so for the time being I've gone back to Win7. I have kept a backup image of it though so if/when they fix the hardware issues I've encountered I may well go back to it as it would be perfect for my touchscreen monitor (if it worked!). Yes maybe I was a little harsh in my initial review and it's easy enough to get it to look like Win7 if you want to. Hope they can add support for my IR touchscreen panel, if they can do that then I will most likely go back to it.
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Dan Dar3
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Re: Anyone actually using Win8?

Post by Dan Dar3 »

@whufclee
Should try Windows 8.1 Preview, final version will be available in October.
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/wind ... w-download

See if it solves your touchscreen problem, you have a better chance of having this resolved if you test it and report it in preview.

It's not only faster (for me at least, been using it on all my PC/laptops, some as 5-6 years old - both at work and home since it came out), but also has a few other UI changes:
http://www.howtogeek.com/167013/how-to- ... esktop-pc/
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Re: Anyone actually using Win8?

Post by whufclee »

Cheers mate, might give that a try. Just getting a fresh build of win7 setup first so the missus can use the htpc again but once thats sorted I'll definitely put it on my to do list.
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Dan Dar3
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Re: Anyone actually using Win8?

Post by Dan Dar3 »

Not saying this to start a flamewar, people can use whatever they want, but I've used Windows from back in the day (3.1 and every version since, a few desktop and server editions), I worked with Unix powered green dumb-terminals in college and even coded for them, I used a few Linux flavours and releases since (currently also using Linux Mint 15 Olivia for Android development, Nexus emulators work faster on Linux than on Windows, somehow I blame on the actual implementation), but I couldn't go back from Windows 8 to Windows 7. Hibernate / resume is faster, logon is faster, generally everything is faster, I like the new Explorer (toolbar buttons and again faster), I've got everything I need either pinned in my taskbar or on my desktop, I barely use the search screen for the occasional search (in fact I actually like the full screen search for applications) and I stay on desktop about 99.9% of the time. Anyone telling you can't use Windows 8 for work or whatever you used it before, he/she's well biased and they just like to dig their heels in and stick to whatever they think it's best. You should try it for yourself, leave any preconceptions aside and use it - don't compare the OS itself, compare how well or easy you can do what you need to do.

Hell I even upgraded my dad's 7 years old PC from Windows XP to Windows 8 (x32) when he asked me to (he heard about XP being retired) - remotely, in fact he did the installation, I watched his screen through a laptop's webcam and told him what to do :-) - installed Windows 8 with the same XP drivers that came with his PC, showed him a few things on how to use it, haven't had to help him since (he's using it to browse the web send emails, video chating with family and friends, writing the occasional document, and working away on editing his videos from his travels :-) Oh yeah, and he's 69 years old and not very computer literate, all he pretty much knows is what I told him, and as long as he knows the steps, he's fine with it.

I choose an OS for whatever it does best, I have no preference - if I can do something faster and easier on whatever you give me, I'll use it. That's why I say, give it a shot, try it for a few weeks, see what it does best FOR YOU, then make a choice. If you didn't like an OS, at times, give it a shot again, they evolve - if I wouldn't have done that, I would be using Linux today based only on the initial experience I got back in the day :-)

That said, I definitely recommend imaging - you can image an existing installation, try whatever OS you like for a while, don't like it or doesn't work, revert back to EXACTLY what you had before. It saved me lots of time installing and re-installing - see this group of 3 posts on Macrium Reflect Free for Windows (read them in reverse order), hope they are useful (took me quite some time to write :-)
http://dandar3.blogspot.com/search/label/Backup
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Re: Anyone actually using Win8?

Post by restless »

I actually like windows 8 and its easy to forget about the 'start screen' and the full screen apps
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Re: Anyone actually using Win8?

Post by spicemuseum »

restless wrote:I actually like windows 8
Team, quick! Sound the alert! We've found him!
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Re: Anyone actually using Win8?

Post by cashonly »

I use a iMac at home with latest osx (10.9), a laptop running win7, and at work i use a laptop with latest ubuntu. i think windows 8 is not ready for me. i've played with it but dont liked it.
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