official Windows 8 Consumer Preview Discussion

[BajiRav]

I like how you left your comment with Happy hunting because that is what Windows 8 is all about. Hunting for options that used to be intuitive and easy to find that are now hidden behind mouse gestures that are not explained to the user.

They seem to want to hide everything behind gestures that make sense on a touch screen but make no sense with a mouse and keyboard. Opera tried gestures in their web browser years ago and it was a failure. We have a mouse to click icons, give us icons for things.

When it takes an experienced computer user 5 minutes to find a simple shutdown button you've failed in UI design. When joe-average gets a hold of this they are going to be so confused. They will reject this much easier than some of us more experienced computer users. Microsoft only had to add transparency to windows and people flipped out can you imagine what will happen now that the start menu is gone and all the legacy software people hold on to doesn't work in Metro which is constantly in your face whenever you want to do stuff.

Metro is the only thing wrong with this OS. I hope so badly that they give us the option to completely disable it. That seems less and less likely with each new build and if that's the case I'll stick with Windows 7 and wait for the fixed Windows 9.

I guess most "normal" people will be just fine but it will be mostly "power users" like you who will find it difficult to adapt.

All "hidden" stuff is just a right click or screen corner/edge away. How is that any difficult that the context menus on Win7?

yea.. i know about that... but u have to look at the contacts to see whose online.

And yes i totally know that. We are not supposed to rate the apps. My problem is that Metro needs apps. Good apps to actually show how powerful it can be. What hurry were they in to release the CP when they havent even tuned the native apps? Even IE10 Immersive is buggy. And thats not an app with app preview written over it.

They shouldve polished the OS alot more before releasing a CP. I am also surprised many big names dont have any demo apps out on the CP. They need app support to win the market. Its just 6 more months to completion. And i think they have a long way to go. LONG WAY.. before this becomes a WIN product. Right now i am not happy with it. my WP7 apps are more productive than the CP apps. Even mail app.

Umm...all metro apps work just fine here, sure they are not fully functional (mail for example) but they are certainly not broken. :/

[ArialBlue]

The start menu is good.

What ticks me off are the Metro apps. - they are slower than doing it using the classical desktop.

[efjay]

Well my personal lowdown is that I'll probably try to stick to Windows 8 despite disliking it for many reasons. I won't however be installing this on my parents computer at any point. To use Metro at a decent pace, you need to use many keyboard shortcuts and I really can't see them taking this on board at all. They don't so much as use ctrl-f4 at the moment. The UI has in a way taken a step back as far as visual usability goes on desktops. Too much stuff is hidden.

What do your parents normally do on a computer that is so much more difficult under Windows 8? I personally think with the tiles front and center this interface would be ideal for my Mum who browses and sends email mostly on her laptop.

I know about those options, that's not what I'm talking about. I want to be able to select multiple tiles at once and move them around, or be able to simply re-organize an entire group's tiles in one click, like with the old Start menu when you could "Arrange" icons.

Could try selecting more than one tile by right clicking and see if that allows you to move them. I remember selecting more than one tile on my tablet but didnt do anything with them, so cant say for sure if that will work.

[Guest]

Umm...all metro apps work just fine here, sure they are not fully functional (mail for example) but they are certainly not broken. :/

Don't forget that half the reason of a Beta release it to get a large amount of feedback from many different configurations. Just because everything works great for you, doesn't mean it does for everyone.

I thought there were no problems on my machine for a few hours and then all of a sudden, immersive UI froze, left it 5 mins but nothing. Now it appears to be fine again.

[Xenon]

My dual boot install has stopped working. It wont except the password. Anyone else having this problem?

[shan]

I have a problem, i don't know how to add my music collection (mp3s) from my hard disk to music player? with local account.

[Muhammad Farrukh]

My dual boot install has stopped working. It wont except the password. Anyone else having this problem?

Working fine here.

Did you do something specific? Or did it just happened randomely?

I have a problem, i don't know how to add my music collection (mp3s) from my hard disk to music player? with local account.

Go to Libraries.

Right click on 'Music'

Click Add and search for your collection

[briangw]

I don't need to play these games with you. It isn't about steps it's about intuitiveness, it is about a GUI that is useless. The old Start Menu worked fine there was no need to take something that used up 1/16th of my screen real estate and make it take up 100%

Some of us don't want live tiles we want a start menu. Microsoft would do good to give us what we want, not what they want us to have. Seriously I'm not going to buy Windows 8 because of this. And I'm pretty sure a lot of other people won't either if the poll on Neowin is anything to go by where 50% of respondents rated it 3 or lower out of 10. There is a huge lack of confidence in this release.

You forget that we at Neowin are just a minority in a large swarm of people. Just because you don't like it doesn't mean 10 of thousands of others don't either. I swear, I've been hearing the same rhetoric since the Windows 3.x/ -> 95 days. I barely even go into the Start Menu anymore when I have the Superbar, Run, and quick launch abilities.

[efjay]

Go to Libraries.

Right click on 'Music'

Click Add and search for your collection

Also if you hit the physical volume key you will get basic play controls for the current list ala WP7.

[King Lizzle]

Turning off computer on Windows 7: Click Start, click Shutdown (2 clicks) or click the arrow next to it to bring up other options and select one of those (3 clicks).

Turning off computer on Windows 8: Open Charms, Click Power to bring up ALL options, select one (3 clicks).

It's not just about clicks but about natural layers. A quick click on the Start Orb then a click on Shutdown was simple and logical. In Win 8 you have to move over to the top right, wait for a charm bar to appear, then go to a settings menu, then go to a power menu. In Win 7 it was one layer away from the desktop whereas in Win 8 it is three layers away. I'm a technical user and it took me almost 10 minutes to find the option - how is a regular user supposed to hunt it down?

There are two places they could have moved the shutdown option that would have been intuitive - a Shutdown charm on the charm bar with small arrow for more power options, or Shutdown button in the top left area of the Start Screen (there's plenty of empty real estate up there for a small button). Either would have been acceptable and a natural place for a user to find those options.

Why did they bury it away? Because Win 8 is designed primarily for tablet devices which will power on/off or sleep via a physical button and so don't need an obvious software means of doing it. Desktop users are getting a sloppy port of a touch interface. MS "no compromises OS" claims don't add up. Win 8 is all about compromises for desktop/laptop users - MS are seemingly happy to throw those users under a bus in order to try and make a real impact in the tablet market.

[freak180]

OH wow. Right click where the orb use to be and you get this little menu

[Muhammad Farrukh]

That has been known for a lot of time now :p

[Xenon]

Working fine here.

Did you do something specific? Or did it just happened randomely?

Go to Libraries.

Right click on 'Music'

Click Add and search for your collection

For my password, the only thing I did was install a couple of programs (digsby, keepass, chrome, itunes) and then reboot.

EDIT I did a quick re-install and I still have the same problem. My password works as I used it on another computer to access my live account.

[M_Lyons10]

I'm really not sure about Windows 8. I want to like it (And for tablet use I do 100%)... But for desktop use, I'm still really not sold. My reservations from the Developer Preview largely remain... I don't like that. I was all ready and gearing up for my next laptop to be Windows 8 but I can't say as I want that to be the case or not. There are things I like, but then there are things that I REALLY dislike and feel will hinder my productivity... I'm not going to be IN Metro all day while I am working, so do I really NEED Metro? I'm thinking no. Windows 7 has the same desktop that I would be using in Windows 8 (Only more user friendly) and lets me focus on my work and not constantly bypassing Metro.

Don't get me wrong, I have a Windows Phone, I very much like the new software update for the XBox as well... But the more I play with Windows 8 the less I like it for regular use. I was confident that they would address a lot of these issues at this point, and they did address a ton. But at the end of the day, it's the UI, nothing else, that is impeding productivity. It really pains me to say this, but I think Microsoft missed an opportunity here. They could have easily brought some Metro elements into the Start Menu without doing all of this, and left this UI for tablet use only. It's pretty, but ineffective... :(

[devHead]

Has anyone noticed that there is no option anywhere to change the fonts of the Windows and Icons. The Advanced dialog that you can get to in Windows 7 taskbar and Windows color dialog is gone. And with GodMode, it's removed as well. There's no place anywhere to change your desktop icon font or the Window titlebar or dialog. Why would they remove that functionality? Is it gone forever or will they bring it back for RTM?

[Wyn6]

I don't need to play these games with you. It isn't about steps it's about intuitiveness, it is about a GUI that is useless. The old Start Menu worked fine there was no need to take something that used up 1/16th of my screen real estate and make it take up 100%

Some of us don't want live tiles we want a start menu. Microsoft would do good to give us what we want, not what they want us to have. Seriously I'm not going to buy Windows 8 because of this. And I'm pretty sure a lot of other people won't either if the poll on Neowin is anything to go by where 50% of respondents rated it 3 or lower out of 10. There is a huge lack of confidence in this release.

No games. YOU said intuitive and easy to use. I'm finding it very much so. Now, I will say this, MS certainly needs to provide a guide/tutorial to some of the more common functions. A Getting Started, if you will. Essentially, the same thing they do with every OS they have come out with.

Also, as far as the 50% of those rating the CP 3 stars or less...

A.) This is a beta. That means that theoretically it's going to get better.

B.) Neowin and other tech blogs are full of nerds, and geeks who consider themselves Power Users. Geeks are not representative of the populace at-large. Niche, minority, etc. Look how many people are still on XP. How many average users navigate their current OSes with keyboard shortcuts? Now, how many geeks do? I'd wager those numbers are relatively few in the former and relatively many in the latter. That's a microcosmic difference between this group and the group that will potentially be mass adopting Windows 8. Not that geeks don't count, they just count less.

Everything that the geeks on this site and others are saying WIn 8 is not is because of change. Gone are some of the things they've grown accustomed to over 30 years of computing. Gone are older ways of doing things. But, these are geeks who aren't representative of the average computer user. So, the poll is fairly irrelevant.

With change comes upheaval, comes fear, comes anger, comes obstinacy. There was an outcry when DOS got stepchilded (made up word) for a GUI, there was an outcry when anti-lock brakes and airbags were added to cars, there was an outcry when 8 tracks were replaced by cassettes and again when they were replaced by CDs. I can list these things all day.

The fact is, it happened. And, you know what people did? They adapated. The same thing will happen here. If you and any others wish to continue using Win XP/Vista/7 until they are no longer supported by future apps, by all means do. No one is strapping a suicide vest to you. As the old adage goes... You can please some of the people all of the time, and you can please all of people some of the time, but you can never please all of the people all of the time.

Happy hunting.

[ady199]

I hate IE, so I use Chrome - I've set Chrome as my default browser but when I click on a link in an email, it opens IE!

How do I get links in emails, to open in Chrome??

Thanks in advance

[Vice]

No games. YOU said intuitive and easy to use. I'm finding it very much so. Now, I will say this, MS certainly needs to provide a guide/tutorial to some of the more common functions. A Getting Started, if you will. Essentially, the same thing they do with every OS they have come out with.

Also, as far as the 50% of those rating the CP 3 stars or less...

A.) This is a beta. That means that theoretically it's going to get better.

B.) Neowin and other tech blogs are full of nerds, and geeks who consider themselves Power Users. Geeks are not representative of the populace at-large. Niche, minority, etc. Look how many people are still on XP. How many average users navigate their current OSes with keyboard shortcuts? Now, how many geeks do? I'd wager those numbers are relatively few in the former and relatively many in the latter. That's a microcosmic difference between this group and the group that will potentially be mass adopting Windows 8. Not that geeks don't count, they just count less.

Everything that the geeks on this site and others are saying WIn 8 is not is because of change. Gone are some of the things they've grown accustomed to over 30 years of computing. Gone are older ways of doing things. But, these are geeks who aren't representative of the average computer user. So, the poll is fairly irrelevant.

With change comes upheaval, comes fear, comes anger, comes obstinacy. There was an outcry when DOS got stepchilded (made up word) for a GUI, there was an outcry when anti-lock brakes and airbags were added to cars, there was an outcry when 8 tracks were replaced by cassettes and again when they were replaced by CDs. I can list these things all day.

The fact is, it happened. And, you know what people did? They adapated. The same thing will happen here. If you and any others wish to continue using Win XP/Vista/7 until they are no longer supported by future apps, by all means do. No one is strapping a suicide vest to you. As the old adage goes... You can please some of the people all of the time, and you can please all of people some of the time, but you can never please all of the people all of the time.

Happy hunting.

It's crazy to me that people here, any people in fact could ever find this good. I mean professionally in my job I design user interfaces for computer software. That is like my entire job and I'm very good at it and everything I know about user interfaces tells me what Microsoft are doing is just wrong. Apple are way way more innovative and they get it that each input device needs its own user interface. They didn't stick Mac OS X's Aqua on to an iPhone and they didn't put iOS on to a Mac. They let the interfaces (Touch and Mouse/Keyboard) stay true to what they are.

The mouse is an incredibly finite pointing device able to click objects within a few pixels. What Metro does is dumb this down in to a clumsy fat finger pointer with huge boxes. It just doesn't make any logical sense. This kind of interface is for tablets and phones not for desktop computers that lack touch screens and that is how my opinion is going to stay.

[Wyn6]

It's not just about clicks but about natural layers. A quick click on the Start Orb then a click on Shutdown was simple and logical. In Win 8 you have to move over to the top right, wait for a charm bar to appear, then go to a settings menu, then go to a power menu. In Win 7 it was one layer away from the desktop whereas in Win 8 it is three layers away. I'm a technical user and it took me almost 10 minutes to find the option - how is a regular user supposed to hunt it down?

There are two places they could have moved the shutdown option that would have been intuitive - a Shutdown charm on the charm bar with small arrow for more power options, or Shutdown button in the top left area of the Start Screen (there's plenty of empty real estate up there for a small button). Either would have been acceptable and a natural place for a user to find those options.

Why did they bury it away? Because Win 8 is designed primarily for tablet devices which will power on/off or sleep via a physical button and so don't need an obvious software means of doing it. Desktop users are getting a sloppy port of a touch interface. MS "no compromises OS" claims don't add up. Win 8 is all about compromises for desktop/laptop users - MS are seemingly happy to throw those users under a bus in order to try and make a real impact in the tablet market.

Now, I can certainly get behind having a shutdown button on the Charms Bar. However, once you know where it is, you know where it is. The thing is, we've gotten used to certain functions. Hitting Start then clicking Shutdown. I would also argue that in Win 8 it's TWO layers from the desktop not three, if we're counting at which point the Shutdown button is revealed. But, that's neither here nor there.

But, take this as anecdotal. Do you know how many people I knew that went from Win 3.1 to 95 or got their first computers with Win 95 or 98 that always hit the Power Button to turn off their computer? Ya know why? They didn't know it was under the Start Button.

Start to most people means you're beginning something or in the case of a machine, turning it on. It was only with Windows 2000 did people start to get the hang of it once they actually learned where things were. The Start Button wasn't initially intuitive either. But, here we are.

Once people figure out a new way of doing things that's when it clicks, no pun intended. That being said, a shutdown button on the Charms Bar itself wouldn't be a bad idea. Or, even in the Jump List that appears when you right-click the bottom left corner.

[Arceles]

It's crazy to me that people here, any people in fact could ever find this good. I mean professionally in my job I design user interfaces for computer software. That is like my entire job and I'm very good at it and everything I know about user interfaces tells me what Microsoft are doing is just wrong. Apple are way way more innovative and they get it that each input device needs its own user interface. They didn't stick Mac OS X's Aqua on to an iPhone and they didn't put iOS on to a Mac. They let the interfaces (Touch and Mouse/Keyboard) stay true to what they are.

The mouse is an incredibly finite pointing device able to click objects within a few pixels. What Metro does is dumb this down in to a clumsy fat finger pointer with huge boxes. It just doesn't make any logical sense. This kind of interface is for tablets and phones not for desktop computers that lack touch screens and that is how my opinion is going to stay.

+1

[Dot Matrix]

yea. And im not running CP again.

Please PM me anybody when MS releases an update for Messenger app to actually see whos online who isnt.

And add feed filter to the people app and we get a few other important apps which are not there ATM.

Windows 8 is all about the Apps. Apps will make or break it. Right now. Apps are broken.

Yes, we know. And Microsoft knows too. When you click into the Metro apps, they do say "PREVIEW APP" at the top. ;)

[grunger106]

I'm not yet decided...

Got a couple of things I just can't figure out....

I get that you can group things on the start screen, but how do you label the groups? (With a mouse.)

Likewise with a mouse, how do you see the current tabs in metro IE?

[Quillz]

Has anyone noticed that there is no option anywhere to change the fonts of the Windows and Icons. The Advanced dialog that you can get to in Windows 7 taskbar and Windows color dialog is gone. And with GodMode, it's removed as well. There's no place anywhere to change your desktop icon font or the Window titlebar or dialog. Why would they remove that functionality? Is it gone forever or will they bring it back for RTM?

I noticed this, too, and pointed it out. Really don't like that we can't customize the Desktop as much as we used to be able to anymore. There is really no reason we shouldn't be allowed to change the system font, for example.

[ESC@PE]

I'm sorry if this was posted before, but I couldnt find any info out about it and perhaps someone here has run into this problem.

I have done a fresh install on my laptop (Dell Vistro 1400) and everything is fine except for the sound. The driver says it is installed properly yet no sound will come out of the on-board speakers.

However, when I plug headphones into the jack, the sound is coming out just fine! I cant seem to find any settings to change anything (though there shouldnt be anything to change but...)

Anyone else experienced this?

[br0adband]

I'm not yet decided...

Got a couple of things I just can't figure out....

I get that you can group things on the start screen, but how do you label the groups? (With a mouse.)

Likewise with a mouse, how do you see the current tabs in metro IE?

On the Start screen, move the cursor to the lower right corner and click on the Magnifying glass to zoom out, then right click on a group, get the option at the bottom to name it. You can also Control+wheel on mouse to zoom on the Start screen.

For 'tab's with IE10 Metro aka Immersive, just right click in an empty space on the screen - the 'tabs' will appear at the top.