Windows 8.1 Hands-On Preview

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Engadget has posted a hands-on preview of Windows 8.1 that is definitely worth checking out.

Today, though, the OS update is available for anyone to download for free; in fact, because we're oh-so special, we've playing around with it for about 15 hours already. So while that's not enough time to put together a comprehensive review, we feel qualified to offer a few early thoughts.
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So we are still going to have to use the spammy, buggy start menu addons to actually have a start menu.

How lame.
 
Galvin said:
No desktop improvements for themes?
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I think some of the UI eye candy was removed to make the OS more power efficient, without having to resort to enabling/disabling 3D acceleration. Switching between Win7 and Win8 is disappointing in that way since Win8 looks so flat and dead.
 
I've been entertaining the idea of going back to Win7. There's no real killer reason to stay on 8, and the charms bar has been grating on me. I'm neutral on the new start menu; its clunkiness has actually made me faster by encouraging me to search rather than manually navigate the menus.
 
DL'ing now.

I have been on 8 on my primary laptop for months now. Faster than 7, no work issues, spend most of my day on the dtop anyway. Like 7, I RARELY go into a start menu anyway. Dtop shortcuts, taskbar pinned apps. Don't see the big problem here, but whatever.
 
I'll go against the grain and say, sounds good. I use both windows 7 and 8 on two computers and I like both. My only windows 8 gripe is sometimes I do something and Xbox Music comes up, which is annoying, but other than that I am fine with it and used to it. The start button doesn't hurt me that much...I just use search to do whatever i want.
 
I like Windows 8, but not enough to move over to it. Skydrive integration is a real problem for me. I want nothing to do with the cloud for as long as I can avoid it.
 
Looks like I'll wait for Win9 next year...or until they give us what we actually asked for.
 
Remember you'll need to reinstall your desktop apps when the final comes out, likely in August.
 
cesium666 said:
Or you could just hit start and search like any power user should be doing :p
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Power users know where everything is, so no need to search.

I know where I put my keys, so no need to search for them every morning. I know where I put my wallet, so I know where it is in the morning. I know where I parked my car, so no need to search for it.

I know where my programs and files are, just give me a fricken way to get to them without searching.
:(
 
Same old shit now with a start button. More of MS look are our fancy schmancy cloud bullshit. I hate metro and all the apps that are in it. Not a single one that I've found that is better then I already have on the desktop or a simple web browser can't do.

I need a CALCULATOR TO BE FULL SCREEN OMG BBQ FTW WTF.
I fucking hate metro apps they are about as useful as a Heterosexual male in a Lesbian bar picking up ladies.
 
Wrench00 said:
Same old shit now with a start button. More of MS look are our fancy schmancy cloud bullshit. I hate metro and all the apps that are in it. Not a single one that I've found that is better then I already have on the desktop or a simple web browser can't do.

I need a CALCULATOR TO BE FULL SCREEN OMG BBQ FTW WTF.
I fucking hate metro apps they are about as useful as a Heterosexual male in a Lesbian bar picking up ladies.
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Holy shit so don't use the metro apps.
 
Just got it installed on my Lenovo x220t convertible Tablet PC. One really cool thing it did was automatically reinstall all of the Metro apps I had installed on the Windows Server 2012 R2 setup I did Monday night.
 
schizrade said:
Holy shit so don't use the metro apps.
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I agree, people hate just to hate. Yeah Win 8 took some getting used to, but in my opinion, it isn't garbage like everyone preaches, and overall it isn't that different from 7.
 
I'm going to give this a go when I get home. I like the changes and new stuff...and Win8 has grown on me a little anyway.
 
schizrade said:
Holy shit so don't use the metro apps.
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Some Windows 8 functionality does not have separate desktop versions. Metro is often unavoidable without 3rd party replacements, and even then integration is sometimes still a problem.

I'm not disputing that most consumers who buy a system with Windows 8 don't have issues with it, and use it without too much complaint. However, it is a huge problem for the majority of the Windows market, and it's definitely an issue not solved by 8.1. The complaints about it are entirely valid.
 
Meh,

Still a tablet focused OS, with all the energy into tablet style apps. I'll stick with win 7 and Linux for now.
 
Lol, well at thins point it is moot, since most people are apparently unable to install it, or it just flat out isn't working. lol
 
8.1 looks like what I expected in a OS upgrade.

Paint is better, Photo Editor, etc.

Something for my money, not just moving the buttons around.
 
Qinsp said:
8.1 looks like what I expected in a OS upgrade.

Paint is better, Photo Editor, etc.

Something for my money, not just moving the buttons around.
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Or just giving your icons newer colors symbols.
 
Microsoft can take this pos os and stick it where the sun don't shine ! I am not some sheep that will use a main os that is bloated with cloud bs. Heck I won't even use steam or the lates bs office with all that cloud bloat. When I purchase something I want to be able to keep my information private and be able to resell the software. It's this kind of mentality that keeps many people using torrent sites :) Sad nowdays people that actually pay for movies, games, business software etc get screwed over by all the drm and cloud bs. I for one never get screwed if you know what I mean muahahaha
 
pxc said:
Some Windows 8 functionality does not have separate desktop versions. Metro is often unavoidable without 3rd party replacements, and even then integration is sometimes still a problem.
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There's very little that is on the Windows 7 desktop that still can't be done in the desktop in Windows 8. Even launching apps and searching are possible on the desktop without the Start Menu but yeah, that's not the Start Menu.

In 8.1 the only biggie I see right now is Search in terms of having to deal with full screen if you want to see all the results in the Search Hero, which is actually kind of cool in that it's a search of web and local results. For some reason the side overlay list isn't picking local files, it did in the leaks, looks like some kind of bug.
 
yelsewshane said:
Microsoft can take this pos os and stick it where the sun don't shine ! I am not some sheep that will use a main os that is bloated with cloud bs. Heck I won't even use steam or the lates bs office with all that cloud bloat. When I purchase something I want to be able to keep my information private and be able to resell the software. It's this kind of mentality that keeps many people using torrent sites :) Sad nowdays people that actually pay for movies, games, business software etc get screwed over by all the drm and cloud bs. I for one never get screwed if you know what I mean muahahaha
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Erm... kay.
 
yelsewshane said:
I am not some sheep that will use a main os that is bloated with cloud bs.
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I think for most end consumer users there's a TON of advantages to this so call cloud bloat. All of my Metro apps were automatically reinstalled from the Windows Server 2012 R2 install I did the other day and on top of that the apps that save to the cloud, all the data was there. When you think of all of the pain and hassle people have gone through over the years backing up data and reinstalling apps one at a time manually, there's no way that most people would want to continue down that path and not take advantage of what the cloud can provide.
 
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