win8 Poll: Windows 8 Experience (How do you like it?)

[Steven P. Administrators]

"I AM BALLMER AND YOU WILL LOVE WINDOWS 8!"

Inspired by the Windows 7 experience thread, which is now unpinned and locked, we have put together a Windows 8 satisfactory poll.

Vote!

Leave your comments below.

Some facts:

• Windows 8 is version 6.2 (9200)
• Signed off RTM - August 1 2012
• Handed to OEMs - August 2 2012
• Released to MSDN/TechNet - August 15 2012
• Released to Retail - October 26 2012

[Roger H. Veteran]

So far been loving it, just need me some more time with it but after the last 2hrs, i can say it's pretty sweet :)

Installed it on 3 systems now, even an older Dell Latitude XT Tablet and that works "good" so far.

[Gaffney]

Waiting for a video to see differences between RTM and Release Preview.

[+virtorio MVC]

I really like it. I have the Start Screen set up the way I like it, it's fast, all my programs work and I really like the RTM theme. Still haven't come across any "Modern" apps I'd actually want to use on my non-tablet computer. But it's early days.

Something went wrong with the install the first time (upgrade install), and it got stuck in a loop of going into recovery mode, and it saying it was unable to fix the problem. Restored a backup and tried again and it worked (which is why I gave the install 2/5).

[Noir Angel]

So far, 5/5 on the first 2, compatibility is excellent and the install process is quick and easy, but I only gave 3/5 on the last one as I simply cannot stand the start screen and I think the themes are absolutely horrible

[brlmedia]

clean install was painless (the "hi" you see at the end of install is cute) IE10 (metro) is working great. installing all my programs now, data moved back in.

looking forward to playing with it today!

[ahhell]

Has anyone tried doing a Win 7 -> Win 8 upgrade yet? If so, how successful was it?

[Nick H. Supervisor]

4/5

4/5

2/5

The setup was easy enough with only a couple of hiccups which had more to do with the laptop than the OS.

Compatibility is also a 4/5 because anything I tried to install seemed to work without problems. It doesn't get 5/5 because it was impossible for me to test everything for compatibility with the short time that I was using it.

2/5 for the features. It's not because I found features to be missing compared to previous versions of Windows, but rather because while all the features that I would normally use may have been there, I found them very difficult to find.

Providing I can fix up this laptop soon, I may give the Windows 8 trial a go and see how it has improved. I'm pretty sure the above scoring won't change for me though.

[Dapen]

It feels more complete but some things I'm unsure how they were passed by testing. Things like padding in text boxes in the apps and the title colour staying a near black when using a black window colour. It's a good upgrade from WIndows 7 but it still feels unfinished in areas.

[Max Norris]

For the most part pretty happy with it. Speed and compatibility is excellent, so far everything works and pretty quickly at that. Experience wise it needs a bit of polish in a few areas yet, but for a first release that's to be expected. Start screen I'm quickly falling in love with. (Mostly, again needs a few tweaks.) Think the only thing I'm probably not very happy with is the default desktop theme... but then again I pretty much hate the default theme in any OS regardless, waiting for the third party modders to get busy releasing.

[BajiRav]

Installation: 5/5 (Installed in <10mins on a non SSD system)

Compatibility: 5/5 no problems whatsoever

Features: 4/5

some of the necessary apps such as Music, Video, Photos, Messaging and Mail still feel unfinished. (for example, the Mail doesn't pick up my custom highlight color)

I like the new start screen customization option, that really makes it look better but they should still provide an easy option for custom backgrounds.

Desktop themes is a hit-miss, I don't really play around with this stuff anymore but the default unfocused windows are difficult to tell apart when they overlap.

[soup4you2]

No problems upgrading from windows 7,

I have noticed one annoyance though, The desktop version banner remains. So am i forced to seeing

Windows 8 Enterprise

Build 9200

on the desktop from now on? or is there an easy method to disabling it. It's a legitimate copy that I downloaded from Technet.

[iampedro]

I haven't been able to get it to start up on my computer for some reason or initialize the upgrade inside of windows 7 ultimate 64 bit.... Any suggestions?

[Xilo]

Get rid of start screen and metro and this would be the best OS MS has released.

[CG-88]

I just wanted to post this

http://www.theverge.com/2012/8/16/3246185/this-is-my-next-windows-8

Awesome review from a mac user! :) Gives an amazing image of the endless possibilities of next gen UI

[Xilo]

I just wanted to post this

http://www.theverge....-next-windows-8

Awesome review from a mac user! :) Gives an amazing image of the endless possibilities of next gen UI

You mean a completely awkward paradigm that is completely cumbersome on a desktop/laptop?

[CG-88]

I still defend the usability of w8 on a desktop, but lets not get into, will clutter up another thread

I just thought it was a good review of a surface application of W8, best one I have read tbh. :) thats the only reason I posted it

[Tilt090]

it looks like a toy.. like you get lego for the first time or a video game for the first time. seems directed at 4-12 age group. the next gen of computing.

[BajiRav]

I just wanted to post this

http://www.theverge....-next-windows-8

Awesome review from a mac user! :) Gives an amazing image of the endless possibilities of next gen UI

I just finished reading that, it is written rather nicely and balanced.

[McKay]

Aside from a few issues its fairly smooth sailing. However I can't the Window frame colours, they all look horrible with my wallpapers, plus if I have it dark, I cannot read any writing in the title bar.

[jakem1]

I just wanted to post this

http://www.theverge....-next-windows-8

Awesome review from a mac user! :) Gives an amazing image of the endless possibilities of next gen UI

Thanks for the link. It's nice to read something positive about the possibilities that Win8 offers without having to read through all the same nonsense about the Start Screen vs the Start Menu.

[SuperJediMedia]

The interface is VERY VERY UGLY, as I posted in another thread. I PREFER CIRCLES. All these squares look like crap!

At least on Windows 7, and prior, desktop icons can be transparent and any shape you want!

[Joshie]

The interface is VERY VERY UGLY, as I posted in another thread. I PREFER CIRCLES. All these squares look like crap!

At least on Windows 7, and prior, desktop icons can be transparent and any shape you want!

Yes. And desktop icons in Windows 8 can still be transparent and any shape you want.

Fun fact: desktop icons for Windows 8, 7, and before would highlight with a rectangle whenever you'd actually select them. The rectangle is always there. It's just more visible on the Start screen.

[EmbraceNext]

I have a MacBook Pro Retina I use for home and work. I deleted my Windows 7 yesterday and installed Windows 8. I absolutely love Windows 8. It is different and some workflow changes are in order. As human nature we are resistant to change and this is a pretty big one for our everyday lives. I am sure quite a few people will want Win7 back just like everyone wanted Win 3.1 back after their upgrade to Win95.

I am excited. Even though it looks touch based so far, its a great experience with a mouse and keyboard. One tip I would give is learn keyboard shortcuts. Give it some time and you will be way faster in Win8 than Win7. Another thing I like is that Microsoft went their own way with this. Great job by them. Its probably to early to say this but its almost like this is MS 2.0 or the rebirth of MS.... whatever the case it I love this direction.

[firey]

Tried installing on an old pc, wouldn't go due to lack of virtualization. Ended up installing Arch instead and it runs flawlessly. Installed on a virtual machine on main desktop. Find the UI to be a major step back. The lack of transparency, the blockiness (not very smooth), and the full screen launcher feel like the progress made with vista and 7's ui was scrapped for something easier (which I don't like, nor find easier in som respects).

Install was mindless (which is good). I know without hacks the Start menu won't return, the "Modern UI" start screen, and squared borders will remain, but I like many others I'm sure would prefer a MS Built solution. I think the UI is 100% my reason for staying with 7, and probably will do so until the above is either rectified, or 7 becomes obsolete, at which point I will likely make the full move to linux.