I am finding my self drawn in your direction here Paul having run win8 now on a vm I am getting vary used to the metro start and new features and also finding even without a replacement start menu the desktop side of win8 just as accessible as 7 its just a matter of becoming familiar with the navigation. Yes i do miss the areo in desktop but that is about the only thing that bugs me, I can live with that ! I Find myself about ready to make the change to win8 as my main OS
I'm using Windows 8 Pro as my primary operating system. I didn't like it at first, but know I love windows 8. So yes I'm using it
I am giving a fair fight... one day without thinking about it and being brave, I took my main Hard Drive out of the PC and used a new hard drive... installed Windows 8, installed all the programs I used and restore my data from backup.. I customized the start menu to my liking (dumping all those pestilent applications to the nearest trash bin ) and created the shortcuts a needed instead.. everything is working great.. I am on my second week on using exclusively Windows 8.. I like it, its fast and seems to do the job well, I am getting used to the start menu (which I dont see unless I need a specific application.. Like Puffingmad said and I do agree to this point: "i do miss the areo in desktop but that is about the only thing that bugs me" I dont miss the start button as I thought I would... so I can live without it. I am trying to forget Aero... so far so good.. but my old hard drive is still there waiting... just in case.. as a reiminder of an old/good/nice past... hopefully eventually I can reuse/format that hard drive!! if I decide to keep Win8 for good...
After, what, 17 years with the Start button since Win 95, I'm glad to see a change. I really like Windows 8 and the Metro interface and don't regret the upgrade.
I missed aero at first to, but after using 8 for awhile with having aero. its not so bad. I actually think its lighter on resource's without aero. So far Though I'm glad they didn't give aero, A good OS doesn't need a fancy interface. Does anyone remember Windows 98? Such a plain look. but it was a fantastic OS. Maybe After people get used to it Windows 8 Will be the next 98?.
I don't like 8 at first. Reasons: -ugly -the new start menu is just too much for me -legacy boot menu is gone, the new one is fancy but not for dual boot purpose But after few tries, I would use 8 as main OS, since -more responsive than 7 on the same hardware (not sure if it's just me) -editable win+x to fit in personal shortcuts -legacy boot menu is still there just need to be enabled Now I just wish some kool vs will be available for free
As soon as we have activation solutions for Windows 8 and Office 2013, I will use them as main OS and Office suite. Maybe, I will find a way to get Start button back as well
Installed it yesterday and today I decided to stick with it. Only a few minor annoyances but nothing too serious (charms bar, share, why is it there?).
One week now using win 8 without a start replacement as main OS and its growing on me everyday even without the replacement start is a good OS I think a lot of us are set in are ways and don't like change or having to move away from what we are familiar with. Windows 8 gets my vote now 100% A word to all "Give it try, get used to navigating it and enjoy the new features" You might end up loving it
Now I've used Windows 8 since the RP intensive. First in VMs then the RTM on a tablet device (on a Kupa X11 - only drawback is, that Intel hasn't managed yet to code a proper usable grafic-driver for the GMA600 not even for Win7 - shame shame shame on Intel) and then so one Month ago on my main system. After the first hurdle of the new usage-patterns in the Metro-interface and getting very used to it, I found that I am quiker with Win8. Basicly I'm only one press of the Windows-key away from starting an app (or desktop-app) or a glace of an updated Tile to see whats new. I even sometimes wanted to do close some desktop-app with the Metro swipe down . So for me the metro-gestures need to be in desktop-apps so used of them I got On the backend side I now depend on StorageSpaces and on the fully built-in (has to be activated in the Futures of Win8) HyperV-Environment. With HyperV I have a full VM-solution directly built in Windows - so no need anymore for VmWare or similar. The only one that realy don't like (subjective feeling which in almost all cases couldn't verified objectifitly or facts based on a mere guesing game of slfeproclaimed "experts") Windows 8 are journalists (good news are bad - no intersting or contorverse story to write, seemingly bad story or bashing of a leading and sucsessfull company - high attention of readers and envie of people), competitors (hardly before known Valve - Steam owner), people who are stuck in the past or people who are very easy influenced by before mentioned "opinion-makers"
Using Windows 8 as Main OS without Media Center as its not working for me, videos are degraded. But all in all happy with Windows 8, just need Office 2013 and its complete.
Currently I am using Windows 8 Pro x64 with an upgrade license. However, I did not perform an internal upgrade (from Win7) but instead did a clean install from the downloaded iso. The first thing I bumped into was that I could not just use any old Win8 Pro iso; I had to use the one offered as a download by the upgrade option. I learned that my (upgrade) license will not work with the official RTM iso's, and attempting to activate these with my license resulted in a message telling me my license won't work. So I went ahead and downloaded the upgrade iso offered when you purchase your upgrade license, and this of course did work. So for any fellow noobs concerning Win8 licenses: no, you cannot use an upgrade license on just any Win8 iso. My Win7 installs of the past were highly tweaked and customized (many hundreds of reg tweaks, custom visual styles and themes), and these were integrated into the iso's I made, so at first just installing Win8 vanilla did feel like stepping back in time a bit. But I found most of the tweaks I used for Win7 did still work for Win8 as well, so I applied them. I tried some of the Win8 VS's currently out there, but they are few and not very appealing yet (plus half of the ones available are not free but for sale). The main problem I was wrestling with at first was the whole Metro debacle; not so much the Metro start screen (although that too) but the Metro App feature. Personally I have no intention of using any Metro app or using the app store on my desktop PC. So after performing some reg tweaks to disable UAC, editing some policy settings, etc., I finally shut down Metro and am running most things as administrator. I don't, however, run straight from the hidden administrator account, but use my original account created upon install but with elevated powers. I just wanted to run Win8 like I was running Win7, and wanted Win8 for the many supposed optimizations, not for access to an app store. I finally think I've accomplished that. To go straight to desktop and use the classic start menu I use Classic Shell 3.6.2 which just came out, as I did my OS install yesterday. I did have some problems getting my new install to behave properly. I had been running a 4.6ghz overclock on my system, but when I installed Win8 (I actually installed it twice since I had to do a BIOS update and wanted to see if it made a difference) I kept having display driver crashes (ATI/AMD card, amdkmdap would crash). Many times when this happens it is due to an improperly configured overclock or otherwise improper hardware drivers, so I tried to weak some settings in the BIOS, selected a different profile for the RAM, etc., but I couldn't get everything to become completely stable. I did not have an AV or anything like that installed yet, but I did try different drivers and tweaking startup items in the OS, and it looks like FINALLY I have gotten Win8 stable with the 4.6ghz overclock. Needless to say, I did a system backup and a BIOS OC backup, because I don't want to have to go through all that again! I'm not sure if the problems with my OC had anything to do with Win8 (as the OC was solid in Win7), and/or if the BIOS update I did later messed with it, or if it is a combination of the two. But according to the BIOS update some changes were made to increase stability and performance for Win8, so I felt I had to apply it. I do believe that Win8 in some ways is still in its infancy and is perhaps not as stable yet as Win7, which is why some people wait until SP1 to adopt any OS, which is probably a wise thing to do. I'd like to say something toward the hype of Win8 being faster than Win7: maybe this is true on some (slower) systems, but frankly I have not found Win8 to be any faster on the desktop. Perhaps shutting down and starting up has a slight edge, but it's not much on my system. Performing daily tasks like starting up Photoshop or flying through locations via explorer really doesn't trump Win7 at all. In fact, I find that interface-wise Win8 can lag a tiny bit more at certain intervals than my tweaked out Win7 installs did. So if not for significant performance increases, then what is the attraction toward Win8? It's a new toy, so there is that. But the other interest, besides speed, would be increased stability. So far, my installs have not been very consoling on that front, so I don't see any immediate gain on the stability front as of yet when compared to Win7. But, that aside, I'm still going to give Win8 a bit of a longer try. For me right now, having pretty much subdued to monster called Metro (start screen and Metro app capability), I'm finding that Metro really is a very aggressive overlay, and I really wish Microsoft would have taken a more modular approach. As I and many others have proven, you can pretty much get Win8 to behave for a desktop system, but the hardships one has to go through to achieve it are simply unnecessary and a bit disrespectful toward customers on the part of Microsoft. I use my desktop system to be productive and run high-end applications, and Metro (any of it) has no place in my computing, nor will it have. I will only tolerate it on tablets or touch devices, not on my desktop PC. There is really no use for it, unless you want to get in the app store. But there is so much desktop software aimed at productivity that I see no need for store apps. In case you didn't know: when you disable UAC as I did you can't run Metro apps. I further disabled access to the app store as well through tweaking policies. I do hope once MS feels satisfied they have conquered part of the touch market and secured itself there, they will go more modular in their development of Windows 9. I understand MS had to make an aggressive move to not fall any further behind in the touch market, but next time it has to be Desktop time again, you hear me? I guess I'm going to leave the automatic coloring function on that syncs the explorer border colors with colors found in the wallpaper you use. The reason is, the border now being opaque (no more Aero, sniff...) it is like almost no one color looks good on just any background. So it's better to just let Windows choose the colors that match your current wallpaper. Luckily they kept in transparency for the taskbar, or it would really look quite badly. So for now I'm sticking with Win8 a bit. I'm going to run some intensive software on here to test compatibility and stability, and run some VM's as I have never tried that in Win8 yet, and we'll see how it responds. But when Win7 SP2 finally comes out, I may switch back again if Win8 hasn't been fully satisfactory. So far, Win8 (after grueling tweaking) has behaved OK, although to say I'm in love with it would be an large overstatement. Peace! ::EDIT:: The system instability does seem to have been due to the BIOS update and having to re-configure the overclock. Did some more tweaking and now passed IntelBurnTest several times. Now it's time for some heave Win8 testing
I think I'll stick with W7... for me no aero in w8 make it the desktop ugly... w8 will be on VM for now...
Day by day i think to give it a go.... but no way, metro Apps are ugly and useless, to much empty space in it, with no background personalization at all... i mean almost matching with theme... And installing Windows 8 to trasform it into Windows 7, no sense thanks, 8 is not themeable as 7, no aero, i will remain with 7 for a long long time, Microsoft will build new os completely on Metro?? It's choice, we have Linux and Apple.... for tablets Android is 1000 times better, with a lot of apps, open source, fully customizable, well around the world tested and used on phones and tablets, and know what??? Cheaper and better, why i have to pay more just for having a Windows logo on it?? For that is already the silver Apple which is more fashion and well spreaded round the world
It is true that Win7 has been and will be a very good OS. I may return to it after running Win8 for a while. But vanilla Win7 isn't all that great either, for me to have it as functional as I like I had to tweak it a lot too (although on Win7 that is much easier than on Win8, it has to be said). But yeah the need to upgrade to Win8 when on desktop PC, there really is no such need at all. Win7 is really better/easier for desktop PC. But where would forums full of people like this be if no one would try and test? I certainly would not say that Android is 1000 times better for tablets... I like Android, I have an Android tablet and a smartphone with 4.x on them, but as far as serious applications for tablets go Android is not very strong. When Surface Pro and other tablets come out that can run Win8 (not RT) and Office and have nice keyboards, it will blow any Android out of the water, and any iPad too. Just think how useful that is going to be in the workplace as well. No, Win8 on tablets is going to be a very, very strong combination.
After using Win 8 Pro (now Win 8 Pro WMC ) for nearly 3 month as primary os, i love it. Working on the PC of my flatmate with Win 7, is like working on a museum relic now, all feels very slow there now.
Well, my assessment for now is that Win8 sucks after all. I really tried... installed it several times in VM when the previews came out, then installed the RTM, then got the upgrade license and performed two installs. For pure desktop use, Win8 is not as good as Win7 is right now. Too many quirky little things, even after trying to shut down UAC and Metro completely (for as far as possible). Does not appear as stable as Win7 yet. I had Photoshop installed and after a while on 2 installs starting PS from the desktop shortcut, there would be an odd lag. But when I started PS directly from the .exe it would not lag. I've verified this over 50 times and it's annoying as hell. I thought it was the install or drivers, but over several installs it reoccurred. Other thing is that sometimes Metro start screen won't be skipped when using Classic Shell which is the method I prefer. So then you're stuck on Metro start while Metro doesn't work and nor do the apps, so then you got to CTRL-Alt-Del to get out. Also, there is definitely more lag going on with explorer and performing certain actions when compared to Win7. I think this may be due to it being a new OS or immature drivers. I tried running straight from the built-in Admin account but no difference when doing that. So all this leaves me feeling like Win8 is just not very well suited for desktop use and now I see why Apple chose not to seek to unify their OS's too much. Then again, MS sought to make quite a leap, and on certain devices I think it will be great, but at this moment I truly feel the Desktop has been compromised. I do hope they come to their senses when they build Win9 so that they will give power back to desktop power users. The way things are with Win8 right now, it honestly is just a hassle and a very unnecessary one. So after having giving Win8 a thorough try, I am going back to Win7. In fact, I'm in the process of building an up to date Win7 image to install from so I can get everything back in order on my PC and get some work done. We will just tolerate MS during this Win8 period so they can claim their place in the touch market, and wait for Win9 to correct the obvious wrongs of Win8's approach. Even if something is understandable, it can still be very annoying