Windows 8, enough after about 2 hours

[drazgoosh]

I've installed it as my Primary OS and loving it too much to return to Windows 7. Seems faster and smoother to use once you complete the updates and get a hang of the shortcut keys and new features.

[d4rk5ky]

Installed on my vmware, played around with metro and mainly checked out the major changes and then went back to windows 7 :D

[jakem1]

I really they're monitoring this feedback. It's genuine constructive criticism.

Some of it is but most isn't. I'm tired of reading people saying things like "Metro junk", "steaming pile of sh*t", and other worthless comments. Writing off an entire OS because of the omission of a single button is not constructive or intelligent and I haven't seen a single decent objection to why the start screen is a poor replacement for the start menu.

There's really no point having anyone from MS waste their time reading the Win8 threads here at Neowin because they really don't offer any useful, insightful or intelligent let alone constructive criticism. It's a shame really because the thing that originally drew me to Neowin was the quality discussions of previous Windows betas.

[D e v i a n t]

So Disappointed with this boring Desktop Interface that's been around since the Dinosaurs roamed the earth. Clearly MS you have abandoned us Desktop Users and gone to the Mobile Dark Side.

What happened MS to the promise of one the best Desktop UI Interface, not to mention File System:

[Co-ords]

M$ is going to flop BIGTIME on this one! A dreadful interface. I have nothing against change, but my PC isn't a touchpad, so don't make me use it like one. What about closing unused applications? I know about that stupid hand drag thing... sorry it sux! I'm sure under water that it's a great OS, but what I see now, I don't like.

[Arceles]

I've installed it as my Primary OS and loving it too much to return to Windows 7. Seems faster and smoother to use once you complete the updates and get a hang of the shortcut keys and new features.

This sounds a bit of a paid opinion.... but alright, means that all the past users have to learn the new shortcuts otherwise their experience will not be smoother.

[Lee G. Veteran]

What about closing unused applications?

They're easy to close. Put your mouse in either the top left corner and move it down, or the bottom left corner and move it up. Right click on the app you want to close, and click Close.

[9UnknownMen]

This sounds a bit of a paid opinion.... but alright, means that all the past users have to learn the new shortcuts otherwise their experience will not be smoother.

Heck one guy here, claimed his "5yr old neice" picked up navigating the OS in couple of minutes. I expect similar type of claims and bashing those who might be critical of Win8. I was like that when Win7 came out, so I won't be too holier than though. :p

[L1520]

Sorry but I need to say this :

There are a lot of big girls out there on these forums - you're supposed to be techies for f* sake! Grow a pair, get using it properly & you'll learn it's actually far superior to Windows 7 even on a laptop or desktop PC!! Stop moaning!!!!!!!!!!!!

All I read about is people moaning for the sake of it as they clearly cannot be bothered to learn (I disliked Dev Prev for 2 days but stuck with it & after that was fine with it).

Consumer Preview is pretty cool all things considered (apart from excluding UK from the apps that are of most interest to us all).

[Croc Ography]

I also played with it yesterday for about 3 hours and I was extremely disappointed when trying to use the the desktop as a standalone PC. Windows 8 was horribly cumbersome and I cannot tell you how much I missed the start button. I think that although the technology might be ready for the Win8 moniker the interface is not even close.

The new 'start button tile' and its functionality are cumbersome. I can definitely say that I will not be upgrading my Shuttle graphics workstation to Win8 when it is released unless there are major changes.

BTW did anyone figure out how to make groups in what used to be 'All Programs' on the old start button? That new applications page looks really good but doesn't function well at all.

- - -

Oddly enough I think if I were to place this on a tablet I would be happy. Much better than iOS or Android already.

[mak123]

I gave it 1 hour and it was enough for me to NOT like it at all. I'm back to Win7 and I feel right at home. I much prefer OS X or Win7. MS wont get any money from me if Win8 stay that way. It may be fantastic for a touch screen, but it's crap for desktop use. And suddently, it's okay to learn new keystroke to do things? Wow, this seems backward in evolution.

How do you close/quit a Metro app? Do they stay open all the time?

And why do I feel like I'm dealing with 2 OS at the same time: Metro and Desktop? What does Win8 want to be?

ya. its sucks in desktop and laptops.....

i think its most suitable touch screen

[King Lizzle]

There are a lot of big girls out there on these forums - you're supposed to be techies for f* sake! Grow a pair, get using it properly & you'll learn it's actually far superior to Windows 7 even on a laptop or desktop PC!! Stop moaning!!!!!!!!!!!!

All I read about is people moaning for the sake of it as they clearly cannot be bothered to learn (I disliked Dev Prev for 2 days but stuck with it & after that was fine with it).

Some people will love Win 8 and some people will hate it, but everyone is entitled to their opinion. Just because it fits the way you use your computer and you like it doesn't invalidate genuine gripes and concerns from others who haven't had the same experience. When you talk about "using it properly" you've got to the heart of the matter - with Win 8 MS expects people to alter their usage patterns and force themselves to switch to a touch-centric way of doing things which isn't necessarily the most natural way for everyone. There's a big difference between learning/knowing how things work in Win 8 and that actually being a logical way of doing it. From my point of view I've tried to adapt Win 8 to my way of computing to see if could find a way to live with it but in the end it required me to find far too many workarounds just to get basic functionality and as an OS it doesn't really offer me anything more than Win 7.

Consumer Preview is pretty cool all things considered (apart from excluding UK from the apps that are of most interest to us all).

I agree that it's a shame about UK users not being able to access the best apps. A lot of the default ones I took off as I wouldn't need them but I quite fancied trying the Xbox Companion. I tried to get some others from the store but every time an app looks as if it's installed or updated I get a message saying they've failed - not sure why and I've tried multiple restarts as well as deleting and re-downloading.

[simplezz]

I'm wondering at this point why Microsoft doesn't just disable metro by default on x86 and make it optional. That way everyone is happy - WP7/ARM users get the similar touch experience they like on tablets, and desktop users get to keep the traditional desktop if they choose so.

The whole idea of forcing the change on everyone in a one size fits all kind of way is going to anger a lot of users and OEM's alike. Having tried Win8 now, metro isn't so bad, but on a non-touch screen device its appeal greatly diminishes, especially for entrenched users.

[Croc Ography]

Guys, the start menu is old, useless and unnecessary. It's a good thing they replaced it with a better mechanism.

But the problem is it is not better for desktop use. It may be an older UI element function but it works very well. Unfortunately none of my 27 or 30 inch monitors are touch screen,

[GenBlood]

The Windows 8 Preview is "OK" ... not a big fan of the Metro layout. I was able to install a av, firefox, thunderbird and a few games to kill some

time. All installed and worked. Looking forward to the final release.

[Lucas]

I really like it so far I found it to be really easy to use and navigate there is no learning curve at all. The UI is very intuitive and extreamly easy to use. My 5 year old neace got on and it only took her 5 minutes and she was able to navigate around the UI like a pro. I really can't see how people on a Tech centric site are having so much trouble with it. But that seem to be the way it is any more be it games OS or hardware some one will find a reason valide or not to complain bitch and moan! And the reason I have seen in this tread ARE NOT valid!

Yes, because only your point is valid. And it's much easier for a young kid to learn something quickly and intuitively than it is for some people that have been for years used to something completely different.

[jakem1]

But the problem is it is not better for desktop use. It may be an older UI element function but it works very well. Unfortunately none of my 27 or 30 inch monitors are touch screen,

I disagree. It never really made much sense to display search results in the Start Menu and the new Start Screen corrects that issue. Additionally, it made no sense to have gadgets on the desktop where they were obscured by running applications but the Start Screen fixes that by replacing gadgets with live tiles. The Start Menu only offered limited scope to pin and group apps and the Start Screen gives you a lot more screen real estate to do this properly.

The Start Menu made sense when it was introduced in Windows 95 but it's really starting to creak with all the features that have been added to it over the years.

[ArialBlue]

It bothers me that I cannot go back (the back button in the top left corner) by pressing BACKSPACE

[saturnslullaby]

Gotta love the new Task Manager though...!

[Muhammad Farrukh]

Indeed.

The new Task Manager ROCKS. Hands down

[Southern Patriot]

When you talk about "using it properly" you've got to the heart of the matter - with Win 8 MS expects people to alter their usage patterns and force themselves to switch to a touch-centric way of doing things which isn't necessarily the most natural way for everyone.

Exactly what I've been thinking all along. And to everyone here telling us to "learn the shortcut keys": I hate to break this to you, but most normal users (you know, the ones who Microsoft claims they are making this OS for) barely know the shortcut keys that already exist (and have since the 3.1 days or earlier), yet you expect them to learn even more of them? Not gonna happen. The UI seems overly geared towards touch screens and/or keyboard shortcuts, while getting rid of many of the mouse actions that people have been learning since 1995. Wasn't the GUI and mouse supposed to eliminate the need to learn a bunch of keyboard commands? Unlike many (most?) of the people here, I was actually already an adult and had been using computers for over a decade when Windows 95 came out and changed the Windows UI completely,which was the last time such a radical change has been done. Everything since then has been merely evolutionary changes over the course of many years. I remember the steep learning curve that most people had to deal with. I remember the numerous people that I knew that took YEARS to transition from Windows 3.1. Many businesses didn't even transition from it until after Windows 98SE came out. At least back then it was possible to re-enable Program Manager and File Manager for those that needed or were used to them (up until 98 or 98SE if I remember correctly).

[Skwerl]

Compare all of this complianing to what we heard during the transition to Windows 95 and the Start Menu that you all are so fond of. When 95 came out, the world was ending for a lot of people. The sort of research and design decisions that went into the Start Screen concept really hinge a lot on repeated use and wearing footpaths to things you use.

Calm down and give it the time it deserves. It's not easy to make a big paradigm switch overnight. Roll with it and as time passes, you will not only become more comfortable with the Start Screen, but you will definitely appreciate it when you have to go to another machine and go back to using the Start Menu. Two hours is not enough. Two days is not enough. Work through the pains of change for a couple weeks in order to appreciate what's been done here.

[UndergroundWire]

I already know I'm not going to like it based on user feedback of issues. But I will install it on my netbook just for shi*s and giggles. I don't use that crappy hardware anyway and I have enough sense not to install it as my main OS. I would never do something that stupid.

[guru]

played around a bit on my friends touch screen laptop... like everyone says here.. the Start > Metro UI is just effing annoying. The metro apps such as music etc are soo superbasic that it almost seems lke a joke.

Metro implementation on Win8 might be 'fast and fluid' but it is not pretty.. The Metro UI could so easily have been, like active desktop where the tiles are overlayed on desktop itself instead of having separate screen.

IE10 is nice, fast but still no word on extension system. anyway, i think MS messed this one up royally :(

[remixedcat]

I'm using it right now, and I really like it, but I'll probably go back to windows 7 tomorrow. I actually had no problem getting used to the metro UI and really like the apps that they have included. My only problem with it is that I wish it was all Metro and not Metro / Aero.

can you still add the little search thingy to the taskbar??? like how some people have it....