Windows 8 Consumer Preview Discussion

By Roger H.
in The Fast Ring (Insider Previews)

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Grand Master

scumdogmillionaire

Posted
Posted

Print is now exposed via the Devices charm. So you only have one place to look for all Metro apps (similar to how Search, Share, and Settings now have common entry points so you don't have to hunt around or remember where each app put them).

Thanks, Brandon. I assumed that was the case, but I only see "Second screen" in there. No printer, not even the XPS printer.

Grand Master

NEVER85

Posted
Posted

Anyone have a weird issue with the new bootloader? With the old one, all I had to do was select an OS and voila, it boots up. With the new one, when I select Windows 7, the computer RESTARTS, THEN loads Windows 7. That seems kinda....off.

Grand Master

+Zlip792 MVC

Posted
  • MVC
Posted

We get this at the same time, but we've got dual connection from another colony, so one connection was up at 9 :p

This is our inherent limitations... LOL!!

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Mentor

BetaAddict

Posted
Posted

Been playing with the CP for half hour now. Still getting used to the UI charm bar, lack of the start button, and new shortcuts, so I'm going to reserve judgement on that for another day or two. Overall, I don't see any reason to go back to Win7 at least on a stability or performance-wise as I have been able to install all of my normal programs that I use without using compatibility mode or anything. I'm loving the metro apps. Some of them are pretty simply, but the finance and weather apps is amazing. There is definitely potential to see really good ones as we near closer to RC and RTM.

Grand Master

Brandon Live Veteran

Posted
  • Veteran
Posted

Thanks, Brandon. I assumed that was the case, but I only see "Display" in there. No printer, not even the XPS printer.

Do you see it in IE? I know that it supports print. Mail, however, may not yet. As was said this morning, the apps are in an "earlier" preview state right now.

Grand Master

scumdogmillionaire

Posted
Posted

Do you see it in IE? I know that it supports print. Mail, however, may not yet. As was said this morning, the apps are in an "earlier" preview state right now.

Negative :( Just "Second screen" in there, too.

EDIT: Other devices eventually showed up in IE. That's a start! Not sure why they didn't show the first 5 times after you posted to try it in IE.

Will these apps get updated during the CP, or is this it? I can deal with most everything, except not printing. No POP3 is kind of disappointing.

And is there no "favorites" in immersive IE?

Mentor

beanboy89

Posted
Posted

I've now gotten Client x64 installed in VIrtualBox. Like with Server, the only issue is the graphics driver: "Windows cannot initialize the device driver for this hardware. (Code 37)." Anyone know what's going on here with VirtualBox? I'd love to be able to full screen Windows 8 and test it like that, but I'm limited to 1024x768.

Figured it out! http://www.mstechpages.com/2011/09/17/set-custom-resolution-in-virtualbox-for-windows-8/

u85Og.png

Apprentice

Matt Sharpe

Posted
Posted

OK I have been using this for a few hours now and I really wanted to give it a chance but many aspects are just breathtakingly bad. Here are a few that spring to mind:

  • No Windows Phone integration that I can find.
  • Music and Pictures apps are horrifically clunky and particularly the Music app has almost zero functionality compared to WMP or even Zune.
  • Some "Pieces of UI" (can't think of a better term than that) once dismissed seem impossible to get back e.g. a Download in IE, the Accounts pane in Mail or the Add account pane in People.
  • Where's the list of online-only MSN contacts? Not to mention video chat. I keep wanting to ctrl-tab to my next conversation.

On top of that I am struggling to enjoy the UI, it seems so huge and chunky that functionality has just been dropped left right and centre in an attempt to keep the apps clean-looking.

Finally I am gutted that my Creative X-Fi seems unusable as the Win7 drivers don't install properly. This isn't Microsoft's fault but it added to the overall negative experience so far.

I hope these can all be cleaned up but meanwhile I am left with a pretty crap PC experience and to be honest it doesn't bode well in my opinion. Shame as I was almost starting to get excited!

Grand Master

Rigby

Posted
Posted

Instead the 5 votes giving it a perfect score do represent the majority of Windows users? That's a very interesting view of things you've got going on there.

Also this is Neowin, full of nerds and hardcore Windows fans who would defend it to their dying breath. If its doing that badly here I'm sure it is safe to say that the general public is not going to care for it at all. I believe this is going to be Microsoft's biggest flop since MS Bob.

Grand Master

Ci7

Posted
Posted

That sounds like a "You're holding it wrong" solution. If I want to shut my computer off I should be able to and easily. It took way too long for me to find something so simple as a shutdown toggle and I'm a software developer what hope does the average joe have.

It seems so silly to me that something so basic as turning your computer off needs to be defended. It's like you're under a Microsoft spell or ... dare I say ... reality distortion field?

i guess fastest ready would be to place cmd file on desktop with shutdown command script :)

Grand Master

PGHammer

Posted
Posted

*sigh* Why do people keep saying the same thing over and over about hitting start and just typing? It's like no one even tried to do it in Win8 and they think it doesn't work the same when it does. You CAN just hit winkey and type a program name then hit enter to launch it!!!! What extra step are people talking about?

And in Win8 the taskbar now exteneds to multi-monitors, If you use 2 or 3 or w/e then extend it to all of them and pin apps to it then don't even use the start screen, lots of taskbar space to pin away right there imo.

GP007 - it's that *comfortable shoe* issue.

The folks doing the most complaining got so used to Windows 7's Start menu (despite its Vista ancestry), they give any alternative short shrift.

The new QuickTask menu (right-click in lower left corner) actually *has* most of the stuff that was in Windows 7's Start menu; even nicer, it includes a few items it lacked, such as a separate elevated (Admin) Command Prompt. (QuickTask is new.)

Veteran

micro

Posted
Posted

*sigh* Why do people keep saying the same thing over and over about hitting start and just typing? It's like no one even tried to do it in Win8 and they think it doesn't work the same when it does. You CAN just hit winkey and type a program name then hit enter to launch it!!!! What extra step are people talking about?

And in Win8 the taskbar now exteneds to multi-monitors, If you use 2 or 3 or w/e then extend it to all of them and pin apps to it then don't even use the start screen, lots of taskbar space to pin away right there imo.

Hit winkey and type "device manager" and hit enter

or how about folder options?

Requires extra steps where as before it as 1 unified step.

Experienced

bbfc_uk

Posted
Posted

Installed this on my MacBook Pro and it's running fine, except that the brightness keeps going down (using integrated Intel HD graphics). Anyone else experiencing this, and know how to correct it? I've updated the drivers using Windows Update but it does not do anything.

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