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Feb 15, 2008
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Calgary

Windows 8

Anyone downloaded the Windows 8 Developer Preview yet?

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/apps/br229516

I did. Other than the half-baked stuff that's intended for tablets and such, the core of it actually looks like an improvement over Win7.

Diskless installation was pretty much the same as Windows 7. Unlike Ubuntu, it did not offer a nice and easy way to install to an iSCSI target.

Just like Windows Server 2008 and Win7, it has a bug in it, where it will try and route all iSCSI requests through the default gateway, rather than directly to the iSCSI server on the same subnet :( . Only going in and fixing the routing table in Win8 actually corrects this problem :( .

IE 10 seems to be more fluid than IE9.

Multi-monitor support is better. Only very minor changes have been made to the GUI (other than the tablet stuff -- which hopefully can be disabled!).

All my hardware except for my Nvidia graphics card was detected and drivers installed out of the box. Windows8 downloaded Nvidia drivers from Windows Update.

Remote Desktop into a Windows8 machine works like a dream! It actually sends the Aero desktop over the network (to my Win7 computer!)!!!!

People running Linux/Samba servers to share Windows files will need to cajole Win8 to even recognizing the machines through the network.

Anyone else have any experiences?
TodayHello wrote: ...The Banks are smarter than you - they have floors full of people whose job it is to read Mark77 posts...
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Jr. Member
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Dec 23, 2010
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I was going to download it yesterday but did not feel like installing all my stuff again & thought it may just be unstable so did not want to take the chance & I like win7 works for me great, hope win8 works for u.
Deal Guru
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Nov 27, 2005
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Mark77 wrote: Remote Desktop into a Windows8 machine works like a dream! It actually sends the Aero desktop over the network (to my Win7 computer!)!!!!
This functionality has been available in Windows 7 since SP1. It's part of RemoteFX. You just need to have 32-bit color depth enabled in RDP settings.
Sr. Member
Feb 7, 2009
568 posts
73 upvotes
I installed it on my N270 netbook and on my main desktop (for a bit before I reverted back because I can't reinstall everything). Windows 8 remains on my netbook as it provides a much greater improvement in performance over Windows 7 on a netbook.

Things I've noticed over the past 3 months:

Significantly faster boot times (36 seconds vs over 90 on Win 7). Less RAM usage.

Generally better looking UI, smoother, slicker, nice apps (that doesn't work on a netbook's screen because the resolution is too low)

When connected to a touch screen monitor, the apps come alive. IE10 is a far better browser than IE 9, and it works much like a tablet's browser. The scrolling is smooth, the pinch zoom works perfectly (unlike any other browser right now that does the crappy normal zoom). However, it is not polished. On a netbook, these functions are smooth, however, there is a 1 second lag between the touch and the response that does not exist when running on more powerful hardware (such as on my quad core).

I do not like the new start menu. I want to see all my programs. The search function is badly designed (if i search for a setting, I got to click that section to see the search results. Windows 7 displays everything right away)

The driver support is amazing. It is light years ahead of any previous Windows. Everything just works. No need to manually install drivers for anything but if you have a NVIDIA/AMD GPU for maximum performance.

The new task manager is so much better. It finally shows the name of the process, not the filename. Shows CPU, RAM, disk and network usage, and all nicely color coded. This is what task manager should of been. One drawback however is the new task manager is resource heavy on slow computers like netbooks. It uses 15-20% of a netbook's CPU just to run it.

The whole UI is just a lot more friendly. Even when it blue screens, it doesn't blue screen like other Windows versions, but it shows a nicely animated picture saying Windows has crashed. On a dual monitor setup, you can change what screen the start menu shows up (convenient), and the taskbar is automatically duplicated (so convenient).

Even though this is the developer edition, Windows 8 is a far better and advanced OS than Windows 7. This will be Microsoft's revolutionary OS - much improved UI, driver support, speed, resource use. That is how a computer should be: fast, nice UI with no need to worry about drivers.

Once Microsoft polishes Windows 8 with optimizations and some bug fixes, Windows 8 will be by far the greatest improvement Microsoft has ever done for an OS.
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Feb 15, 2008
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chengbin wrote: The driver support is amazing. It is light years ahead of any previous Windows. Everything just works. No need to manually install drivers for anything but if you have a NVIDIA/AMD GPU for maximum performance.
When Win7 was brand new, was this not also the case? Most driver problems are encountered when you try and run an older OS on very new hardware, right?

As for disabling the touchscreen-style interface and going back to what might be considered a 'traditional' Win7 interface, I found this link (and registry change):

http://www.oostdam.info/index.php/secti ... -metro-gui

Unfortunately this registry change also changes the Task Manager to something that resembles the old one. So the changes that it generates are quite considerable.
Once Microsoft polishes Windows 8 with optimizations and some bug fixes, Windows 8 will be by far the greatest improvement Microsoft has ever done for an OS.
I don't know if I'd go that far.....

One thing that annoyed me was that, when reviewing the list of wireless access points, it no longer would tell me what kind of WAP I was connecting to, the SSID, or the security level involved. Unlike Win7.
TodayHello wrote: ...The Banks are smarter than you - they have floors full of people whose job it is to read Mark77 posts...
Sr. Member
Feb 7, 2009
568 posts
73 upvotes
Mark77 wrote: When Win7 was brand new, was this not also the case? Most driver problems are encountered when you try and run an older OS on very new hardware, right?

When I first installed Windows 7, I had to install the video card driver right away, otherwise my resolution is 800x600. I never had that problem on Windows 8. I was at native resolution as soon as I finished. Many of my motherboard drivers were immediately available for first use, such as WLAN, ethernet, sound, peripherals, etc. Yes, Windows 7 had some of the drivers, but you have to wait for it to install and sometimes restart. On Windows 8, it seems like the drivers were already installed, and I can immediately use everything.
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Feb 15, 2008
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Okay, I think I've found a bug or two, relating to shutdown behaviour on iSCSI mounted boot volumes. I'm not a Microsoft guy (I mainly do Linux and have contributed patches). How do I report these to Microsoft?
TodayHello wrote: ...The Banks are smarter than you - they have floors full of people whose job it is to read Mark77 posts...
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Jan 31, 2007
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Tomorrow Windows 8 Consumer Preview is being released. I've already backed up all of my files in anticipation. I'm hoping this OS will be as light and stable as they say it is, or so help me God it's back to Windows XP until security updates for it end in 2014!
Vista 64 has served me well the past few years, but I'm due for a change. Whether that change is forward or backward will be determined tomorrow. Good luck to everyone downloading Windows 8 Consumer Preview.
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Aug 9, 2010
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JohnyBGood wrote: Tomorrow Windows 8 Consumer Preview is being released. I've already backed up all of my files in anticipation. I'm hoping this OS will be as light and stable as they say it is, or so help me God it's back to Windows XP until security updates for it end in 2014!
Vista 64 has served me well the past few years, but I'm due for a change. Whether that change is forward or backward will be determined tomorrow. Good luck to everyone downloading Windows 8 Consumer Preview.

Mega failure.
Sr. Member
Jul 13, 2009
932 posts
63 upvotes
Mark77 wrote: People running Linux/Samba servers to share Windows files will need to cajole Win8 to even recognizing the machines through the network.

I've had a awful time setting up shares in a way that's easy and acceptable to me. :(

Samba and LDAP play terribly together.
Webdav using LDAP can't be mapped natively as drives in Windows.
NFS can't be used with home versions of Windows.
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Oct 20, 2010
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Austin, TX
I really don't care for any GUI enhancements in the next version of Windows. I run a dual openSUSE/Ubuntu box, with the former being run since it was known as SuSE 8, and its latest version being the best distro yet. Only when really needed, I had a Win7 partition for certain programs. Now I run an old WinXP license on a VirtualBox installation which works just as well.

The problem with Windows? It's the WinSxS folder. They have not been able to fix the gross inefficiency of that thing. The more you install and uninstall software on a Windows machine, the more that folder bloats and grows, like what happens to a bed-confined morbidly obese glutton getting his fix from a bucket of fried chicken. I had a 30 GB partition reserved for Windows, solely for installing programs on that OS (all personal data are kept on a dedicated partition separate from the OS partitions, thus acting as a repository): 13 GB were being eaten up by that folder alone, and only 2 GB for programs and 5 GB for OS files. Now with today's cheap cost of HDD space and mass proliferation of 750GB+ hard drives, this may be but a minor inconvenience, but inefficiency is inefficiency. It's particularly more important for users of SSDs to have an OS with efficient data storage use and file management. I understand the rationale behind that folder, and although its existence has suppressed many of the crashes stemming back from Win98, its existence a piss-poor 'solution'. In WinXP, its behavior is not as nasty.

The only time I'll give a new Windows installation serious consideration is when the Microsoft gang decides to fix this issue by finding an efficient solution to the dll hell problem. I hope this will be considered in Windows 8.
The sea is behind you and the enemy is in front. — Tariq ibn Ziyad
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Jul 10, 2008
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Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh i have to wait till tonight to try it out
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Jan 20, 2009
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I tried it a few months ago, looked ok but there needs to be an option to turn all the tablet-orientated touch screen crap OFF that is easier/quicker then a registry modification. In my opinion.

I will have to look at the RDP changes, any improvements or additional functionality there is welcome.
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Mar 28, 2006
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Isn't the WinSxS folder contains hard-link? But I don't know why Explorer counts the space usage twice, it is very misleading and confusing.
flight878 wrote: I really don't care for any GUI enhancements in the next version of Windows. I run a dual openSUSE/Ubuntu box, with the former being run since it was known as SuSE 8, and its latest version being the best distro yet. Only when really needed, I had a Win7 partition for certain programs. Now I run an old WinXP license on a VirtualBox installation which works just as well.

The problem with Windows? It's the WinSxS folder. They have not been able to fix the gross inefficiency of that thing. The more you install and uninstall software on a Windows machine, the more that folder bloats and grows, like what happens to a bed-confined morbidly obese glutton getting his fix from a bucket of fried chicken. I had a 30 GB partition reserved for Windows, solely for installing programs on that OS (all personal data are kept on a dedicated partition separate from the OS partitions, thus acting as a repository): 13 GB were being eaten up by that folder alone, and only 2 GB for programs and 5 GB for OS files. Now with today's cheap cost of HDD space and mass proliferation of 750GB+ hard drives, this may be but a minor inconvenience, but inefficiency is inefficiency. It's particularly more important for users of SSDs to have an OS with efficient data storage use and file management. I understand the rationale behind that folder, and although its existence has suppressed many of the crashes stemming back from Win98, its existence a piss-poor 'solution'. In WinXP, its behavior is not as nasty.

The only time I'll give a new Windows installation serious consideration is when the Microsoft gang decides to fix this issue by finding an efficient solution to the dll hell problem. I hope this will be considered in Windows 8.
Banned
Mar 16, 2012
106 posts
3 upvotes
MONTRÉAL
windows 8 wow i am excited, i hope it gonna be a good windows like 7.

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