JorgeA

Yeah, my copies are all x64 too. I'll be curious to hear how it goes with you. --JorgeA

LOL, I had to highlight that part! Now for the full quote: Maybe Ballmer and Sinofsky are deep-cover agents from Apple, sent over to Microsoft to destroy it! But really, it just doesn't make any sense. They're expecting the buying public to go for a device that will 1) cost more than other tablets because of the licensing structure, and 2) DO less than a real PC because it won't run regular Windows software, except for Office. What exactly is the intended audience? --JorgeA

Huh -- I hadn't noticed a difference. Now I'll have to go and do some comparisons! For whatever reason, though, none of the three flavors of Win8 that I have will read a CD or DVD if it's not already inserted when I boot up the system. Two of them are on VHD's and the third (the Developer Preview) is on its own HDD partition, along with Win7 which does see DVD's just fine. It's as if I hadn't put anything in the tray. --JorgeA

Here's a perceptive analysis of the challenges Microsoft faces in the attempt to compete with Apple's iPad. I'll be surprised if they adopt such a medium-term view, or if they succeed even if they do embrace some strategy like that. --JorgeA

Intriguing idea, though it could lead to some head-scratching for readers. "There was an exhibit of Windows art at the Undoubtedly infelicitouspolitan Museum of Art..." --JorgeA

With each new build, the look of Windows 8 only gets worse and worse. A palette of pastel colors?? Gimme a break. Where are we, in the first grade?? Maybe I should buy a copy of this OS and use it late at night: it could be an effective alternative to Valium. --JorgeA

That's funny!! --JorgeA

no, this tool is so old. User here often upload xperf traces and the DPC checker driver itself causes high DPC latencies. This tool is made for XP nearly 10 years ago. MagicAndre, I have a question about this. They say on their website: Is it really suitable for Vista/Win7? And a follow-up question: How about this one -- will this tool give more reliable results for Vista/Win7? (These folks do specify that Win8 is not supported.) --JorgeA

Good point! What's different about the way Win8 handles USB keys? --JorgeA

In this regard, the RP behaves just like the other two preview editions in my test PC: it doesn't recognize an optical disk in the drive unless it's already there when the system is booted. That PC has Windows 7 on it as well, and Win7 has NO problems finding a CD/DVD if I put it in there after the OS is up and running. --JorgeA

While researching something else, I came across this discussion of a performance problem for Windows 8. There are questions as to whether the DPC Latency Checker works properly in Win8, but even if we ignore that data, the first eight lines of the chart and the observations at the top of the OP don't exactly put MS's new operating system in a favorable light. And now, for some dark humorous relief, a quip seen in another thread on the same topic: --JorgeA

Yup. Just like you said, that's how Windows 7 became (or could be viewed as) a type of abandonware. I agree completely. Windows 8 Metro is a toy interface for toy devices. It's unbelievable but true that MS is pushing this cr*p on everybody -- and they're being quite smug and sarcastic about it, if xpclient's reports above are to be believed (and I have no reason NOT to believe them). --JorgeA

Mentioning only in passing the patronizing, gratuitous insult about a "clinging delusion," unlike you I will keep to the substance of the issue. "Adapt or perish." Microsoft already tried to get its customers to "adapt" to Windows Me and Vista -- how did that work out for the company? Businesses such as Microsoft are the ones that must adapt to their customers' preferences, not the other way around -- or else run the risk of perishing. Now go back to the First Impressions and Deeper Impressions threads and consider the actual usability problems that we have been reporting (or linked to) with this abomination called Windows 8. You can say all you want for Metro but if speed is your thing, then when it comes to opening the Start Menu nothing beats simply pressing the Windows key. Oh, and the cursor will already be sitting in the search window so that -- as with the Metro screen -- you can start typing the name of the program you want... if you can remember it. The Metro start screen offers no functional improvement there, but (because it takes over the whole monitor screen) calling it up does get in the way of anything else you might be doing. --JorgeA

You know, this was pretty shocking when I first read it, but looking at it again, it doesn't sound so strange anymore. --JorgeA

There's been a bunch of such alternative shells for years. Most of them aren't well known, because there's never been much of a demand, and most of them suck pretty badly too. The feature (replacing the shell) has been used mainly by people who want to lock the system down, allowing a single program to run (a "kiosk mode" of sorts). I don't see such shells taking off anytime soon. If anything people will just stick to older versions of Windows or move on to something else (just like they always have), instead of building themselves a frankein-OS consisting of the kernel of a unusable OS, along with a so-so 3rd party shell nobody uses or has ever heard of, and perhaps some extras bolted-on top of it. Fascinating -- this is a whole angle about OS's that I never knew about! (Or was at best dimly aware of.) Now, based on what you know about Windows 8, to me the $64 question is: is it even possible to replace the Metro start screen with anything like this? (My semi-educated guess is that it is not.) --JorgeA

I'd never heard of it! Just came back from visiting their website. The idea sure is intriguing, although it looks like the most recent version is more than two years old. Maybe the release of Windows 8 with the Metro UI will give 'em a boost. If this thing or something like it could replace Metro (and not merely the classic Desktop), I could see myself actually buying/using Windows 8. Depending on the results of real-life testing... Thanks for bringing it up. --JorgeA

That's definitely not what I'd personally call a step back. CoffeeFiend, This illustrates well why user choice is so important. Personally, I find the wordless taskbar icons harder to use, as they don't immediately convey as much information to me as the wide verbose taskbar buttons. (Another thing I do right away with the Win7 taskbar is to make it short, as those big icons strike me as looking gaudy on top of being uninformative.) I often have 5-7 buttons going on the taskbar, and for my needs it's preferable to be able to see at once what each one is about. My wife uses Win7 and makes extensive use of the grouping function. I find this maddening when she has a problem and I have to troubleshoot -- I feel like taking a machete with me. It's just not the way I thnk! Myself, I seldom have more than 8 items going on at the same time (except maybe for IE tabs). In Vista I just let those stack themselves when necessary... but then it's such a PITA to have to go hunting for the right button in the group that I quickly start paring down the number of open items. The bottom line, of course, is that Windows has been eminently customizable to suit the user's way of working/thinking, but with Windows 8 and Metro this aspect starts getting palpably curtailed. --JorgeA

jaclaz, Thanks for the laugh in an otherwise grim topic! Of all the things for people to get worked up about, though, Comic Sans has to be one of the strangest. --JorgeA

I rememeber that site. By the time I heard of it and sought to see what Bibik had to say, the site was already down. I just tried to visit that site again after several weeks. What a bizarre concept -- requiring a password to get onto a blog!?! How would you even contact the webmaster to sign up?? Guess that somebody doesn't want us to know how to "fix Windows 8." --JorgeA

Agreed! The taskbar is the reason that Windows 3 never worked for me; that Windows 98 was a vast improvement; that Vista topped even that; and that Windows 7 is a step back from that pinnacle. Vista IMHO is the pinnacle of taskbar functionality because it does everything that the Windows 98 taskbar icons do, plus offering a little thumbnail preview of what the contents of the window look like. Thus you have both textual and visual indicators of what the window is, to help you get back to the window you need. Windows 7 is a step back from this precisely because of what you described. Grouping taskbar items means that I need an additional click to see what's open. So the first thing I do when setting up Windows 7 (or Windows 8 desktop) is to ungroup the taskbar items. It hadn't occurred to me to think of Metro as a gigantic taskbar group, but you know, that makes sense! Maybe that's one reason I dislike it so much... Again, right on the money. I can't tell you how many times I've been trying to follow complex instructions on a Web page that involve opening Control Panel to reach some arcane administrative function, and it's been essential to be able to see the instructions at the same time as I'm opening the Start Menu, then selecting Control Panel, and navigating to the correct command. The Metro Start Screen makes that impossible: by the time I've opened the Start Screen, I've already forgotten what the next obscure step was, so I have to close the stupid Start Screen to refresh my memory and hope that I remember on the next try. Also, in my work I often have to compare documents side by side -- for example, a manuscript in Word to a typeset PDF version. The sensible way to do this is to make two windows that are close to each other in size. But that's not possible in Metro. Windows 8 still has the Desktop of course, but Microsoft clearly is pushing things toward Metro and its "simplicity." They're even flattening 3D window graphic effects and eliminating Aero, thus making the Desktop an ever-less appealing environment to work in. I get the hint. --JorgeA

Multibooter, Thanks a bunch for the complete, comprehensive answer -- wow! --JorgeA

What a load of bull! I wonder if "mdc" can explain how it makes me MORE productive to have to click or swipe for every item of information relevant to my work or browsing, instead of simply having it visible. Or to have to click something in order then to bring up a menu, so that finally I can get to the command I need. And speaking of clutter: no, I don't clutter my mind with arcane keystroke combinations involving the Windows key. It is SO MUCH easier and faster to SEE IT. I have more important things to keep track of -- such as THE WORK I'M DOING. I've never understood this obsession with interface simplicity. Simplicity makes things harder to do! But the truth is that for a long time we have had the CHOICE as individuals whether to use a simpler or a richer interface. We've had the choice to go full-screen in Internet Explorer since version 4, at least. But now the morons experts at Microsoft have decided that CHOICE IS BAD and we must all bow to the same god of (false) simplicity. Next thing we hear, we'll find out that this supposed Longhorn developer who's now converted to Metro is designing colored wooden blocks for adults. @CharlotteTheHarlot: Assuming that the mods OK it, it'd be great if you would post those deleted comments! --JorgeA

An incisive review of Win8 RP. The writer shows a wry sense of humor with his dubbing of the new OS as "Window 8" (singular), in honor of Metro. Like so many others, he likes it on a phone or tablet, but not for a desktop PC: And he provides an excellent retort to those who argue that it's not such a big deal to boot into Metro and then click to reach the Desktop: He goes on to report his revived interest in Linux in light of what Microsoft is doing to Windows, while reiterating that it's a fine OS for mobile devices. The author's bottom line echoes what Fredledlingue said a few posts up: --JorgeA

News is coming out that Microsoft is giving in to developers' clamoring for a free desktop development platform in the wake of Windows 8. @CoffeeFiend, @MagicAndre, @jaclaz among others: What do you think? Is this a hard-earned victory; too little too late; something better/worse? --JorgeA

jaclaz, Thanks for putting that video up. It illustrates exactly what I wanted, as a comment to what Freledingue said. Once again, you come through with a masterful search job! --JorgeA