Unknown Windows OS?

[Steve R Jones]

Is anyone here using Windows 8? I don't mean just using it, but has anyone actually tested it out and seen anything good? From what I saw, the Interface seems to be the main point.

nihil is using it...He just doesn't know it. Too much->

<runs and ducks for cover>

[nihil]

Hey Steve,

I know what it is but MS don't actually admit it............."Windows Developer Preview"............ the small print and the build number say Windows 8 though, so why are they being so anal?

However, you have raised a good point for some of the other posters.........this is a pre-beta, and not a formal demo of Win 8. It seem to be to promote other dev software, like build your personalised corporate desktop?

Don't pay much mind to the demo interface as no OEM would ever load it...........hell, the start menu doesn't have the switch off, change user or any of the other nav stuff we have had since Win 2000.

It is useful to me, as it will be a good indication of true hardware requirements.

My next step is to load the 32bit version over Vista..............that box ran Vista as total crap, even though the specs were 100% higher than MS's minimum suggested in all departments.................let's see what this one does?

I shall report back with an update on that shortly...........probably late tomorrow.

Right now I need a

Cheers,

[gore]

I'm not into the whole Tablet thing. Call me old fashioned, but a Computer doesn't look like that. What I've seen of the interface, it seems to almost be made specifically for that.

I know I've seen Bill Gates say a hundred times that Tablets were the Future and all that, but I don't really care. I'll stay with my Desktop / Laptop stuff, and, when I can afford it, REAL Workstations and Servers.

Personally, if I could afford it, I'd have an SGI Workstation. I've been saying it on here and everywhere else for years how my top machine, my DREAM machine, is an SGI. The Computers SGI makes and has made, are...Stunning. I guess that's the best way I can put it.

My Wife has to listen to me go on and on about this for hours. I've also got a folder full of SGI Workstation and Server pics, and screen shots of IRIX. It's like geek pron. lol.

I've talked to a bunch of people who had no idea what an SGI was, and when I showed them pictures, and they saw the cases alone, they'd usually be amazed. And then of course, the tech specs.... SGI was so ahead of their time. The new machines they make, are so beautiful, and amazingly powerful. The machines they made like 10 years ago, still hardly have any competition from ANY PC today.

I could go on and on about SGI, they are in my opinion the best of the best, and no company that makes Computers touches them. Everything from the Octane III Workstations and Altix Servers today, to the Tezro, Fuel, and O2 Workstations of years ago, to IRIX and XFS. They are the best.

They also made the world's VERY first 64 bit Workstation.

[nihil]

This thread has nothing to do with tablet PCs and even less to do with SGI hardware.

It saddens me to see that nobody has recognised an early prototype of an interface to a 16:9 ratio desktop touchscreen monitor.

Microsoft were touting that the new OS would have enhanced touchscreen support, and that is what that annoying frontscreen is all about

Let's face it, you aren't going to load a 3.6GB OS onto a fondlepad are you?

As for the road to the mountains frontscreen.................that's just the BIOS splash screen that has been hijacked............I can turn it off in the BIOS

Apart from that, it seems to be very similar to Windows 7, as in the differences at this stage are pretty subtle. Hey! we have to be 15 months away from RTM, so it will be a while before we see any security or functionality enhancements such as there might be?

@ HYBR|D:

The picture is amusing but inaccurate (photographically speaking). The Windows 95 and 98 boxes are Upgrades. I never found anyone who got the 3.1-95 one to work, and the 95-98 one was another mess.

Actually, the picture should have been 98SE............the original 98 was rather slow and clunky.

Perversely, the only Windows "upgrade" that worked just fine was ME. It didn't upgrade, it just checked for a licenced copy of an earlier Windows and did a clean install. It just looked like it hadn't worked afterwards

I am continuing my testing of Windows 8 (embryonic though it still is) as I have some hardware cannibalisation and refurbishment in mind, and I need to find out what are tolerable hardware specs.

At this stage I have the sneaking suspicion that with Vista onwards it is not the graphics that are important, it is the processor, and that it is not a simple geometric relationship at that.

More to follow..............................

[gore]

I brought up SGI because I brought up my dream box, and happened to be looking at one at the time. Besides, SGI made a few NT and 2000 Workstations, and I HIGHLY doubt Microsoft has done something that isn't NT rebuilt again, so it's somewhat there.

I wonder if Windows 2020, or Windows 15, will still be using NT based stuff... It's weird... I mean the bastard who worked on NT came over from VMS which is just bastardizing anything it touches anyway, and even 7 is based on NT.

You can turn it off in the BIOS, for now. I never figured out why they don't show it load anything. I mean it's one thing to be able to turn off verbose boot ups, but not being able to have one, seems like a bad idea to me. That's one thing I hated so bad about XP, was watching that damn boot up screen. I knew you could change it, but I never left it on long enough to do it. The one I left on mainly was 2000 Professional. That's like their gold product.

Anyone remember windows2000test.com ?

They got bashed to **** with DDoS attacks, and battered to crap, but according to Microsoft, no one ever got in. That too seems odd to me considering all the updates it had that were for remote exploits.

[Cider]

Nihil can test all he wants , I wont touch it till SP1 is out :P

[nihil]

@Cider:

Nihil can test all he wants , I wont touch it till SP1 is out :P

That would be the conventional "wisdom" with MS OSes, and one that I usually follow because I can get a non-SP DVD for half price or less

From what I am seeing so far there is little difference between this and Win7, apart from a few minor bells and whistles. I am ignoring the touchscreen stuff as I don't own one and really don't have any use for them.

I guess it could make integration with 4/5G cellphones and tablets easier in the eyes of users at least?

I have just had to replace my hub/router (twice! ) and when I got round to this box it couldn't have been a simpler process to make a wireless connection...............not so good if you get paid for doing that sort of thing?

I know that there is still a fair way to go, but so far I think that it will be an NT 4 SP6a - Windows 2000 (NT 5) kind of thing. Or if you like, it is Vista SP6

I haven't had a chance to test the 32Bit version on older kit yet.

I seem to recall MS were touting a "TPC" version of 7, so that enterprises could redeploy older kit............ I haven't heard if they have something similar planned for Windows 8 though?

[foxyloxley]

I am ignoring the touchscreen stuff as I don't own one and really don't have any use for them.

you may not have a touchscreen
but the setup / desktop will be the same for all
as the start button access is dead

Clicky
but MS are killing it off 'cos no one uses it apparently :?

so we all get the 'Metro' screen, like a BIG smart phone
and if you have a tochscreen built on, then it will be a touchscreen
if not
then click away with ya mouse as per normal
just go for the icons in the middle of the screen

[gore]

Uhhhh wait a minute.... Microsoft are dropping the Start Button? I have not heard of this. Um...Wow.. I'm almost speechless right now.

This brings up some very interesting points now. If Microsoft drops the Start Menu, what will come from this? Are they going to ditch this in favor of a different type of Menu?

I know that for people who still use Windows as their platform, there are a LOT of VERY interesting Projects that have been started. For example; Two years ago for Christmas, my Mom bought me a new Computer. That was my Christmas Present from my Mom, and I was overjoyed to say the least. In fact I went without sleep that day, and ended up not sleeping on Christmas Eve, or Day, and instead, playing with it.

The Computers I had before this one, were all pretty aged. The fastest Processor I had, was my Laptop's Pentium 4 M at 3.06 GHz, and the most RAM I had, was my Compaq Presario's 768 MBs of RAM, and so you can probably guess that I didn't have much in the form of new hardware.

My Wife had two machines with a Gig of RAM or more, but I didn't. Then She got a new one with a lot more, and a Liquid Cooled CPU, which She now uses.

The Computer my Mom got me, was something I needed badly. She basically told me that She was buying Herself a new Computer, and asked me to come over and help. So I went there, and She basically loaded up the Dell.com site, and said that She wanted a new Desktop, and told me "Basically the Compute I have is crappy, so, Configure the Computer as though it was for you" and I said OK, and got 4 Gigs of RAM. I said more would be better but She wouldn't need more. Then the Video Card, it came with a 256 MB ATI card, HD, and you could get 512 MBs, but my Mom doesn't play games and I hadn't quite caught on, that it would be for me.

The HD, I went with 750 GBs, as I told my Mom She wouldn't know what to do with a TB. The Monitor on the other hand, I get Compliments on all the time; It's a huge Flat Panel HD Monitor, and it's REALLY nice.

It has a 64 bit Processor, which was new to me. Intel Core 2 Duo. I'd never even used one. See, I may have a lot of old hardware, but I don't use Windows a whole lot, so, I didn't need to upgrade. I mean yea, KDE and Gnome BOTH are starting to get REALLY bad for Requirements, but I usually would install other versions.

Like KDE for example; I didn't use KDE 4 much, I'd stick with KDE 3.5.10, which worked fine on older stuff like this. And Gnome, well, I only used Gnome on a few machines.

And even then, I didn't use either that much anymore. I LOVE KDE 3.x but 4? Not as much. Gnome? Well, I just used it for the first time in a long time, yesterday.

I in general use Enlightenment E-16, and E-17, and LOVE it. I also use Window Maker a lot. And FVWM, FVWM2, FVWM-Crystal, and a few others.

But the main GUI I use, is a toss up between Enlightenment, FVWM and it's counterparts, and Window Maker. I Love those, and they don't exactly use a lot of RAM to run.

Hell, I was still using my Mom's first Computer, which was a crappy Gateway Essentials, with a 433 MHz Celeron, 192 MBs of RAM (Because I installed 128 MBs more) and, after the 9 GB HD died, I installed an 80 GB drive. It has ONE CD-ROM drive. No Burner, NO DVD! VERY simple machine, and very dated. It recently died on me, but it had been running BSD and Slackware for the last couple years. No problems either.

In Slackware, if I had that booted up, I'd generally use either Window Maker, or FVWM2. So it was snappy and quick with that. And if I had FreeBSD loaded, same thing, I'd use either one of the FVWM Window Managers, or, I'd use Enlightenment, or Window Maker.

I'm now starting to wonder what they are going to do if they drop the Start Menu though; The Start Menu was an Icon of Windows.

[foxyloxley]

I'm now starting to wonder what they are going to do if they drop the Start Menu though; The Start Menu was an Icon of Windows.

all things come to an end
and everything changes
the new screen will be a BIG smart phone style
and backwards compatability has gone too
dropped with Vista really
the start menu is too small and restricted to do anything with really
and gadgets are also toast, not that anyone really used them, and there was never any real co-ordinated development of them
so apps it is, and as you load and play with them on a phone
so you will do with a PC

and I will be getting Win8 as soon as i can
might even have to save up for a proper i5 CPU
maybe even DDR3

but there will probably always be a way to keep the old ways alive, although it will probably be via VM's as opposed to emulation

and ANOTHER MS Cert pops into my path to be chased down and got
was WAY better when cert path went along MCDST MCSA MCSE routes, the new MCITP with a plethora of additional add in options is feckin me up to say the least
ah well, hey ho and all that