Recommended Posts

http://www.bing.com/?win8start=1

The beta is now officially known as the Consumer Preview.

Awesome. Weren't they planning to make the daily image on bing an HTML5 video. Wonder what's taking them so long.

LOL, MDL breaks any brain trying to read thru the posts, even for canouna, over half of his posts are just blah-blah's

image_164.jpg

OK, back on topic, seems the "start thumbnail" is just like the win7 taskbar thumbnails, it shows the appearance of the current start page, when click on it, you get the start page

image_165.jpg

And language selection is available(I guess it's just wave0)

image_166.jpg

Awesome. Weren't they planning to make the daily image on bing an HTML5 video. Wonder what's taking them so long.

Actually, it *is* an HTML5-based video (though it opens just fine with FF10 final).

I originally opened the page in da Fox - just to see how it would handle it.

Actually, it *is* an HTML5-based video (though it opens just fine with FF10 final).

I originally opened the page in da Fox - just to see how it would handle it.

Yes, I'm aware of that and the link works fine with Firefox. But I was more curious about why they haven't made it a day to day thing for the homepage.

http://www.microsoft.../09-23Bing.mspx

I have been temporarily in the UK for a few months, so maybe they have already turned the feature on in the US as the article suggests, because the homepage is still a daily static image over here.

First Windows 8 'Consumer Preview' preinstalled apps revealed

Microsoft's Windows 8 "Consumer Preview" is nearing release and the company is putting the finishing touches on the preinstalled application list. We have learned from sources familiar with Microsoft's plans that the company will bundle in a number of Metro style applications:

  • Camera
  • Messaging
  • Mail
  • Calendar
  • SkyDrive
  • People
  • Photos
  • Video
  • Music

These applications, and possibly more, will come preinstalled for the Consumer Preview release, and will be updatable from the Windows Store. Mail, Calendar, People, and Messaging are designed to be core Windows communications apps and are not branded with Windows Live. One source has revealed that Microsoft is working to enable SMS support for the Messaging app which operates as a Windows Live Messenger equivalent in its current form. The Music and Video applications are currently branded with Zune, but are built by the Xbox team. We are hearing that this branding will be removed shortly before the Windows 8 release, moving to Xbox Live for Windows as the entertainment brand for Windows 8 Music, Video and Games.

Although the applications are built into the Windows 8 Consumer Preview, Microsoft has not yet made a final decision on whether the apps will be bundled at launch later this year. The company previously removed Outlook Express, its built-in mail client, from Windows 7 and replaced it with the downloadable Windows Live Mail application in a broader effort to separate core Windows apps to make updates easier. Windows Store can handle separate Metro style app updates from the operating system, and Microsoft is said to be considering bundle plans for OEMs along the lines of the current preinstall option for Windows Live Essentials. Microsoft has also built an Xbox Live Companion application, similar to the Windows Phone version, that may come preinstalled in the Consumer Preview version too.

Source: The Verge

Media Center excluded from Windows 8 'Consumer Preview'

Windows Media Center fans will be disappointed to hear that Microsoft has opted to axe Media Center in the "Consumer Preview" version of Windows 8. The software maker originally removed the application from its Windows 8 Developer Preview, released at BUILD in September last year, and explained "Media Center will not be part of the first pre-release builds," at the time. However, Media Center fans expected to hear more during the beta (Consumer Preview) phase.

We are hearing that Media Center will still be included in Windows 8, but that it will remain relatively untouched from the Windows 7 version. Unlike Windows 7, it will be separated into an edition (or editions) aimed at enthusiasts. Microsoft's TV strategy has shifted towards Xbox so the existing Media Center product will be removed from most editions of Windows 8. The separation means Microsoft can eliminate licensing fees that the company and OEMs have to pay for certain technologies used in Media Center, pushing the core cost of Windows down. Microsoft's Windows chief, Steven Sinofsky, hinted at this strategy in a September 2011 blog post, explaining that Media Center is part of "premium" SKUs for Windows.

Source: The Verge

And now MS responds to the above news item:

post-1302-0-97940900-1328716862_thumb.pn

Source: https://twitter.com/...276289286352896

Which references one of their own blogs - specifically the Building Windows 8 blog.

Windows 8 CP Release will apparently be simultaneously with the midpoint of the Mobile World Congress (which is February 27-March 1 at the Hotel Miramar in Barcelona, Spain - is this where Ethan Hunt would stay on a mission in Barcelona?) - a Microsoft Press event dedicated specificaly to the Windows 8 CP will be February 29th from 1500-1700 at the same location.

The blog said that WMC IS going to be in Win8 just not in the first CP we're going to get later this month. This means, at least the way I look at it, as them working on a new verion thats probably going to get a WinRT part or re-code to fully support Win8. I think it's good news at this point.

New build list:

winmain

8195.0.120131-1637

8275.0.120202-1550

8276.0.120206-1425

8277.0.120207-1851

winmain_win8beta

8222.0.120131-1912

8223.0.120201-1910

8224.0.120202-1924

8225.0.120203-1918

8226.0.120206-1902

8227.0.120207-1903

winmain_win8beta_srv

8220.0.120130-2335

8221.0.120131-1900

8223.0.120201-2019

8224.0.120202-2046

8225.0.120205-1937

8226.0.120207-2235

http://soft-forum.ws/threads/microsoft-windows-8-beta-sign-off.31582/page-10#post-219711

anybody know if there is something like the feedback tool in the consumer preview?

There are two things. Either MS are really happy with the OS as it is right now and the consumer preview is to get to know how metro works. Or. I think this is a consumer PREVIEW. and things might change (on the desktop side of the OS). There is alot of time to RC and i hope the RC is presented as a real beta test.

anybody know if there is something like the feedback tool in the consumer preview?

There are two things. Either MS are really happy with the OS as it is right now and the consumer preview is to get to know how metro works. Or. I think this is a consumer PREVIEW. and things might change (on the desktop side of the OS). There is alot of time to RC and i hope the RC is presented as a real beta test.

On the Windows Weekly podcast they had said that the vast majority of beta feedback in win7 and vista were of issues they were already aware of and were in the process of fixing. So, it's speculated that this is the reason they aren't calling it a beta and aren't really accepting feedback.

This topic is now closed to further replies.
  • Posts

    • Microsoft launches Godot Sample to streamline Xbox PC game development on the engine by Pulasthi Ariyasinghe Microsoft today announced a new endeavor that aims to make it simpler for Godot developers to get their products into the Xbox PC ecosystem. Dubbed the "XBOX Godot Sample," this is a new public reference for developers using the open-source engine. This is set to serve as an example of how Microsoft GDK, Xbox Services, and PlayFab can be integrated into their projects. The sample is available now on GitHub as a working example. This covers key features in gaming projects that developers may need to release their projects on Xbox PC, with everything from matchmaking and game sign-in to gamepad compatibility with Godot being covered. This release is being called the first step in giving Godot developers the tools to bring their games over to Xbox PC, with more changes to come based on feedback and issue reports. However, the company was clear that this is not related to bringing Godot projects to Xbox consoles. The engine's open development model stops it from accessing console SDKs due to the requirement of NDAs and legal contracts. Here's how it explained this Godot sample project's focus: This is a source-only sample, not a product. It's MIT-licensed at the wrapper layer; the GDK and PlayFab dependencies still require their own installs and license acceptance, consistent with our other XBOX samples. There is no set update cadence for support or maintenance. We’ll watch the repo, monitor issues, and iterate where it makes sense, but this isn't a commercial release. That said, we’re excited to hear your feedback and see any community PRs, as we evolve this together. This is the first step in bringing Godot for XBOX on PC. We plan to evolve it over time based on what the community tells us is most valuable. This sample is built specifically for XBOX on PC. It doesn’t include support for XBOX Series X|S or XBOX One. If you’re already building for XBOX Series X|S or XBOX One, please talk with your XBOX representative. If not, you can get started by signing up here. Game developers can find the XBOX Godot Sample by heading to GitHub over here. Documentation on how to get started with Godot for building an Xbox PC project can be seen here.
    • I don't understand the vision. Do people really want to buy a new computer from Dell with 6 browsers installed? We all keep asking for Microsoft to stop having so much junk on their OS, and adding a bunch of browsers seems to go against that. Ideally, we would just be asked what browser we want during OOBE but Google is just going to pay Dell a bunch of money to include Chrome. Additionally, would you want your phones to start including all the browsers too when you get them? The only thing I ever wanted was to be able to uninstall IE or edge and I believe you are now able to. I do agree that microsoft needs to chill with their "are you sure you don't want to try edge before you install chrome" ads when going to download chrome.
    • It is notable that around 70% of web browser users choose Google Chrome. However, it is puzzling why anyone on Windows would opt for Chrome when Microsoft Edge is often superior in many aspects and comes pre-installed. Edge collects less data, uses less RAM, and is more optimized for Windows as a native Microsoft product. While some may point to bloat in Edge, much of it can be removed with simple tools, requiring no more effort than installing Chrome. Meanwhile, Chrome reportedly downloads large amounts of AI data (4 GB) without explicit consent. I'm sure you Chrome users love that, or? Here is one example of a tool that doesn't even need to be installed to be able to use: https://github.com/TheBobPony/MSEdgeTweaker Although Microsoft’s aggressive promotion of Edge may be questionable, the browser’s current advantages make it a preferable choice over Chrome today, even if Chrome may have been better in the past.
    • JetBrains rolls out IntelliJ IDEA update with Markdown preview fixes and more by David Uzondu Image via JetBrains IntelliJ 2026.1.3 from JetBrains has landed, bringing several highly requested bug fixes that target common UI glitches and terminal rendering issues. If you run tmux inside the integrated terminal, the IDE no longer renders the cursor above the active line. The Markdown preview bug, which was fixed in this release, had annoyed developers for quite some time, as the preview pane failed to render images saved outside the project directory. Instead of displaying the actual image, the IDE simply showed a broken image icon, a problem that stuck around for two years before this update. Over on Windows, developers running WSL can now use wsl.exe to spin up their environments without losing terminal functionality. In previous builds, launching a terminal shell with something like wsl.exe -d ubuntu inside a Windows-based project broke both shell integration and active process detection. Other bug fixes in this release include: An issue where Gradle sync incorrectly reported success as a failure on WSL when using Gradle 9.5.0. A syntax highlighting bug that flagged valid Java for-loop initialization blocks with multiple statements as incorrect. A warning bug that triggered a false non-null local variable alert when using JSpecify annotations. A database generation bug that hid the option to use a DELETE statement instead of a TRUNCATE checkbox. A Kotlin highlighting failure where an assertion error in the Gradle redundant library inspection broke error highlighting. A UI bug where the ComboBox popup lacked a maximum height restriction. A Snowflake syntax error where DataGrip failed to support the "create temp" command. A Svelte syntax parsing failure that incorrectly flagged quotes inside inline expressions. A VCS repository manager deadlock that triggered thread pool exhaustion. A memory leak where the LazyTree component kept all previous versions of a tree in memory. IntelliJ 2026.1.3 is the third bug fix release for the IntelliJ 2026.1 series. The first one landed back in April with a fix for the WSL Python interpreter freeze, another fix for guest participants using Emmet abbreviations, and corrected WildFly server deployment errors.
  • Recent Achievements

    • Collaborator
      Asgardi earned a badge
      Collaborator
    • Conversation Starter
      mobandz earned a badge
      Conversation Starter
    • Apprentice
      fernan99 went up a rank
      Apprentice
    • One Month Later
      nothanks earned a badge
      One Month Later
    • One Month Later
      B2Proxy earned a badge
      One Month Later
  • Popular Contributors

    1. 1
      +primortal
      468
    2. 2
      PsYcHoKiLLa
      243
    3. 3
      Skyfrog
      79
    4. 4
      FloatingFatMan
      73
    5. 5
      Michael Scrip
      60
  • Tell a friend

    Love Neowin? Tell a friend!