Windows 8 will be available Oct.26 2012

NubyCanuby_OFC · Post by **NubyCanuby_OFC** » Thu Jul 19, 2012 4:47 pm

http://windowsteamblog.com/windows/b/bl ... le-on.aspx

Upgrades will be $39.99 for XP, Vista and Windows 7.

normalicy · Post by **normalicy** » Thu Jul 19, 2012 7:39 pm

Yay....... (can you hear the sarcasm).

Executioner · Post by **Executioner** » Thu Jul 19, 2012 8:35 pm

Why is it so much cheaper than 7? Can desktop systems use it?

vwkess · Post by **vwkess** » Thu Jul 19, 2012 10:17 pm

Executioner wrote:Why is it so much cheaper than 7? Can desktop systems use it?

Yes you can. While it was built as being touch friendly, it works great on a desktop as well. I have been using it since the consumer preview came out and I love it. Using another PC with 7/Vista/XP/Linux/OSX feels so... clunky now.

Post by **FlyingPenguin** » Fri Jul 20, 2012 8:01 am

I've been running it on a 3 year old laptop.

Don't let all the negative posts bother you. Win8 is just Win7.5 under the hood.

It works fine as a desktop OS. You don't ever need to use Metro apps if you don't want to EXCEPT that, Microsoft does force you to use the Metro start menu and has killed the classic start menu.

Now the metro start menu is quite usable, once you get used to it. People complain about how jarring it is that the Metro start menu fills the screen, but on the other hand it displays 100 or so links and also supports animated tiles which will replace desktop gadgets (so for instance you can check the weather or CPU usage by bringing up the start menu without having a widget running on the desktop all the time).

The complaint that power users (like me) have, it we just want the OPTION of having the old classic start menu if we want it. But as other power users have pointed out, power users are also people who aren't afraid to customize their OS. A lot of power users use start menu replacements like Launchy or Rocket Dock (I love Rocket Dock).

There are also classic start menu replacements for Win8. I'm using Classic Shell (I recommend you all bookmark it for your friends or clients who buy Win8 systems and want the classic start menu back: http://classicshell.sourceforge.net/

There is also a hack to bypass the metro welcome screen. On my Win8 rig it just boots straight to the desktop and gives me a start menu now.

In the end, it'll probably be a non-issue. Most people will get used to the metro start menu, the rest of us will hack it to have the old start menu.

Meanwhile maybe we'll finally have a version of Windows that actually works well on a tablet, which is a good thing.

-------------------------
EDIT

New Classic Shell 3.5.1 includes a setting to skip the Metro desktop on boot, so no need to hack it yourself.

renovation · Post by **renovation** » Fri Jul 20, 2012 2:27 pm

were you get your upgrade pricing from ?

Executioner · Post by **Executioner** » Fri Jul 20, 2012 2:57 pm

FlyingPenguin wrote:I've been running it on a 3 year old laptop.

Don't let all the negative posts bother you. Win8 is just Win7.5 under the hood.

It works fine as a desktop OS. You don't ever need to use Metro apps if you don't want to EXCEPT that, Microsoft does force you to use the Metro start menu and has killed the classic start menu.

Now the metro start menu is quite usable, once you get used to it. People complain about how jarring it is that the Metro start menu fills the screen, but on the other hand it displays 100 or so links and also supports animated tiles which will replace desktop gadgets (so for instance you can check the weather or CPU usage by bringing up the start menu without having a widget running on the desktop all the time).

The complaint that power users (like me) have, it we just want the OPTION of having the old classic start menu if we want it. But as other power users have pointed out, power users are also people who aren't afraid to customize their OS. A lot of power users use start menu replacements like Launchy or Rocket Dock (I love Rocket Dock).

There are also classic start menu replacements for Win8. I'm using Classic Shell (I recommend you all bookmark it for your friends or clients who buy Win8 systems and want the classic start menu back: http://classicshell.sourceforge.net/

There is also a hack to bypass the metro welcome screen. On my Win8 rig it just boots straight to the desktop and gives me a start menu now.

In the end, it'll probably be a non-issue. Most people will get used to the metro start menu, the rest of us will hack it to have the old start menu.

Meanwhile maybe we'll finally have a version of Windows that actually works well on a tablet, which is a good thing.

-------------------------
EDIT

New Classic Shell 3.5.1 includes a setting to skip the Metro desktop on boot, so no need to hack it yourself.

What are the requirements for win8?

Post by **FlyingPenguin** » Fri Jul 20, 2012 3:15 pm

No different than Win7. I'm running the Win8 preview release on a 3 year old Acer Timeline laptop that originally came with Vista and then I got a free Win7 upgrade for it. This laptop is VERY underpowered - it has an Intel single core Core Solo 1.5GHz CPU. I bought it originally because in trade for the lame CPU, it got an incredible battery life of 7+ hours (and it still does). I replaced it with a newer Acer TimelineX with a Core i5 dual core CPU that gets nearly 9 hours battery life, and blows it away on performance, and that's what I use as my primary work laptop. The old Timeline sits on my office desk at home as a spare laptop for around the house.

As I said before, Win8 is basically Win 7.5. If anything, I notice Win8 seems to run slightly snappier on this laptop than Win7, but that may be just because it's a new and very clean OS install. They did remove a few services from Win8 so it's actually a bit less bloated than Win7, and improved the performance of some of the kernels.

Performance-wise, Win8 is a good OS. I'll probably buy one Win8 upgrade because, as an IT Tech, I feel I should have at least one PC running Win8 for troubleshooting client issues. I'll probably install it on that old Acer Timeline.

I see no compelling reason to upgrade from Win7 to Win8 on my main workstation, however, or on my main laptop. There's also no way I'll put it on my wife's PC - she is only just getting used to Win7 after having retired her old WinXP PC.

I don't see any problems recommending a new Win8 PC for home use, but I will keep my business clients on Win7 for legacy app compatibility. Half my clients are still running XP because a lot of office management software (like medical software) still runs better on XP. The sad fact is that office management software publishers are VERY slow to upgrade compatibility to a newer OS, and they can afford to dictate what OS you use.

I suspect that Dell and HP's business divisions will continue offering Win7 as an option for a long time to come. Enterprise users are slow to migrate to a new OS for good reason.

I expect adoption will be slow with businesses, as usual, but home users don't care - they buy whatever is in the store for a good price. I just wish they'd give us a simple way to enable the old start menu for those who prefer it. I suspect I'm going to be installing Classic Shell on quite a few client's Win8 PCs after the end of the year.

Post by **FlyingPenguin** » Fri Jul 20, 2012 3:24 pm

Some other good news. You WILL be able to perform a clean install of Win8 using the Win8 Upgrade media.

http://www.dslreports.com/forum/r273270 ... 8-Upgrade-

NubyCanuby_OFC · Post by **NubyCanuby_OFC** » Fri Jul 20, 2012 6:32 pm

renovation wrote:were you get your upgrade pricing from ?

Here:
http://windowsteamblog.com/windows/b/bl ... 39-99.aspx

EvilHorace · Post by **EvilHorace** » Thu Oct 11, 2012 12:14 pm

Anyone else planning to jump on this soon?

I want to get a 128GB SSD for my older Dell Laptop via Crucial and install Win8 on it (verses Vista which is there now). Seems like a plan and not too costly either.

Post by **FlyingPenguin** » Thu Oct 11, 2012 12:35 pm

ANYTHING is better than Vista. I don't understand why, but Vista continuously thrashes the hard drive and it definitely affects performance.

For $40 for the upgrade version, I'm planning on buying at least one copy of Win8 and installing it on a laptop I use here in the house. I have the preview version running on it now. It does seem to be better optimized for power saving and performance on laptops than Win7.

However I am using the Classic Shell app to get the start menu functionality back and bypass the Metro desktop.

You CAN install Win8 clean by booting from the DVD.

EvilHorace · Post by **EvilHorace** » Fri Oct 12, 2012 6:36 am

You CAN install Win8 clean by booting from the DVD

The upgrade version will be available as a DVD for $40 and will you be able to do a clean install on a new drive?

If not, I'll have to either re-stall the original Vista software first on the new drive or try Crucial 's data transfer kit (which by some reviews doesn't work).

Today, Newegg's offering a Win8 pre-order but it's $70 (72 hour sale).

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductLi ... ws8-_-LCWA

Post by **FlyingPenguin** » Fri Oct 12, 2012 7:57 am

From everything I've read, if you boot from the upgrade DVD instead of running it from Windows, it allows a clean install. Google "Windows 8 Clean install from upgrade". That's what I'm planning on doing.

EvilHorace · Post by **EvilHorace** » Fri Oct 12, 2012 8:53 am

...but will it be available as a upgrade DVD for $40 vs upgrade download online?

So far, it's looking like the DVDs will be $70.