Windows 8 Beta

On a single screen setup, i am not liking metro (when not in tablet mode) ..... on a 12" screen its too big, and "messy" ...... is there anyway to "swipe" through the metro start screen rather than using the nav bar on the bottom..

heatlesssun said:
I don't know why people are over looking the enormous potential for using the Start Screen as notification dashboard, lots of productive business opportunities here.
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W.Feather said:
On a single screen setup, i am not liking metro (when not in tablet mode) ..... on a 12" screen its too big, and "messy" ...... is there anyway to "swipe" through the metro start screen rather than using the nav bar on the bottom..
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When other apps are running you can swipe from the the left edge left to right, works beautifully but not with a pen,that gets turned into a pen flick, you have use touch.

You're about the First person that I've seen that doesn't like the Start Screen on a tablet, I think the UI is perfect for a tablet but the doesn't work with a pen alone.

There are some things to work on but so far most everything is working wonderfully on both the EP121 and QX9650 based desktop I've installed Windows 8 on. My biggest problem has been on the EP121, no game will run in full screen, must be a video driver problem as I've tried out the same games on my Windows 8 desktop and they work perfectly.
 
You miss read me, i said in tablet mode it is just fine, but when using it as a laptop, i'm not a fan.

as it stands now i am "stuck" with pen mode, the touch is a little wonky with Win 8 (no recognization at any corner where as win 7 recognized it enough to calibrate)... probably partially due to the cracked top layer on the screen (dont remember what the hell its called)

So i can use a pen flick to scroll? that will make it a nice bit easier

heatlesssun said:
When other apps are running you can swipe from the the left edge left to right, works beautifully but not with a pen,that gets turned into a pen flick, you have use touch.

You're about the First person that I've seen that doesn't like the Start Screen on a tablet, I think the UI is perfect for a tablet but the doesn't work with a pen alone.

There are some things to work on but so far most everything is working wonderfully on both the EP121 and QX9650 based desktop I've installed Windows 8 on. My biggest problem has been on the EP121, no game will run in full screen, must be a video driver problem as I've tried out the same games on my Windows 8 desktop and they work perfectly.
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W.Feather said:
You miss read me, i said in tablet mode it is just fine, but when using it as a laptop, i'm not a fan.
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My bad. Have you tried calibrating the pen in Windows 8 yet? The pen thus far on my EP121 works just as well as it did in Windows 7. In fact overall I think it works better, handwriting recognition in the TIP feels a bit faster and more accurate though nothing like a night and day difference.
 
Stone Cold said:
Microsoft dumbed down the taskbar in Windows 7, and in Windows 8, they've shoved the taskbar into a closet.
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I think task bar I think was much improved in Windows 7 in Windows 7, the pinning and jumplists stuff is wonderful and in Windows 8 the task bar is much more multiple-monitor friendly. And it works SO much better on a touch device.
 
that music in that video makes me think of another much sadder video which always makes me cry..
the one where Roger Williamson Dies and Chris Purley Cant save him. its horrific.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3mz3ZzSXyWM <- version without requiem for a dream, or tower or whatever it is
edit: its an old school formula 1 crash vid
 
Had no issues with pen other than the Wacom drivers were not installed by default on the disc...so i had to go out and get it (strange since the 2740p was mentioned in some release somewhere i think)


heatlesssun said:
My bad. Have you tried calibrating the pen in Windows 8 yet? The pen thus far on my EP121 works just as well as it did in Windows 7. In fact overall I think it works better, handwriting recognition in the TIP feels a bit faster and more accurate though nothing like a night and day difference.
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Found another thing.....Win 8 doesnt seem to fully support 2 batteries (atleast I am unable to see how much % is left for each battery seperatly..)
 
heatlesssun said:
I think task bar I think was much improved in Windows 7 in Windows 7, the pinning and jumplists stuff is wonderful and in Windows 8 the task bar is much more multiple-monitor friendly. And it works SO much better on a touch device.
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That's why MS dumbed down the task bar in Win7. Weak-users don't use the task bar far switching tasks, especially between multiple instances of the same tasks (e.g. several folders open at the same time), but they only as a shortcuts bar to launch applications. With Win8, Microsoft has taken the next logical toward removing the task bar.
 
Stone Cold said:
That's why MS dumbed down the task bar in Win7. Weak-users don't use the task bar far switching tasks, especially between multiple instances of the same tasks (e.g. several folders open at the same time), but they only as a shortcuts bar to launch applications. With Win8, Microsoft has taken the next logical toward removing the task bar.
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I'm still not getting this. As far as I'm concerned the task bar in Windows 7 is much more functional than prior versions and it's been enhanced even a bit more in this developer release of Windows 8.
 
cold&damp said:
Chevrolet Announces new LS10 Engine. New Features Include 500hp, 100MPG, 60% more versatile in fitment into a variety of platforms, and more compatibility with economy vehicles.

In a never before seen move, Chevrolet is offering to GIVE AWAY evaluation copies of the engine so that their technical partners and home car builders can start getting used to usage of the engine in a variety of development scenarios, and building wheit own vehicles based on the new design.

*Two Days Later*

Chevrolet is now saying that they are not interested in the massive amount of negative feedback that they are getting over the vehicle that they decided to give the new engine away in.

"We had plenty of them lying around, and the point of the thing was the engine, not the styling of the car. This vehicle was not meant for daily use."

They have received a mass of negative feedback about the new look of the vehicle from drivers who are simply interested in driving the newest thing, and who don't realise that the promotion was a purely an exercise to allow developers to adapt the new engine into vehicles of their own design, and NOT INTENDED FOR DAILY USE.

kOKpt.jpg


Disable metro:

http://www.neowin.net/news/windows-8-how-to-re-enable-the-classic-start-menu
(Task manager and stop the "immersive wallpaper" to remove the giant date and time display.)

btw: if anyone thinks i am drinking the kool-aid on this one, i use linux only.
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Ironically, the development environment is completely void of metro, which I think lends to the idea that metro is unusable for a professional
 
tpfaff said:
Ironically, the development environment is completely void of metro, which I think lends to the idea that metro is unusable for a professional
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I don't think anybody expected there to be a metro version of Visual Studio...I am failing to see the irony. It would simply be impossible to include the hundreds of different options and features in Visual Studio in the metro UI.
 
tpfaff said:
Ironically, the development environment is completely void of metro, which I think lends to the idea that metro is unusable for a professional
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Yet you see articles all the time pumping how great iPads are for business. Microsoft is tying to fuse touch with the classic desktop, not replace it. Clearly full screen touch apps will never replace tools that require high precision like development tools, that's not the point. But there are tools that professionals can take advantage of like web browsers and apps running in those on the go.

This is not a zero sum game.
 
W.Feather said:
Found another thing.....Win 8 doesnt seem to fully support 2 batteries (atleast I am unable to see how much % is left for each battery seperatly..)
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0.o

I haven't had that issue, and I run with two batteries. Where are you checking? Are you clicking the battery icon in the notification area?
 
GushpinBob said:
Has anyone tried this developer preview on a laptop with a i910/915 chipset? I've noticed that there is no way to turn off the HW accelerated desktop even with the basic theme enabled. The last two Windows operating systems came with a WDDM driver for the aforementioned chipset, though it didn't support Aero due to missing hardware features i.e. a scheduler or something.
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Well, finally got my hands on a 6 year old laptop with the old intel chipset. The results are pretty interesting:

unledfxh.png

unled1ail.png

unled3pa.png



That's right. Aero w/ transparancy on an i915. I thought it wasn't possible.
However, this is with Microsoft's base video driver as no WDDM driver exists for the i910/915, which means no resolutions beyond 1024x768 (this laptop uses a 1440x900 panel btw) and the performance is absolutely terrible. Still, I find it funny that this chipset failed to meet the requirements for WDDM, yet here's a basic video driver proving otherwise.

edit: fixed 3rd image that didn't load.
 
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GushpinBob said:
Well, finally got my hands on a 6 year old laptop with the old intel chipset. The results are pretty interesting:



That's right. Aero w/ transparancy on an i915. I thought it wasn't possible.
However, this is with Microsoft's base video driver as no WDDM driver exists for the i910/915, which means no resolutions beyond 1024x768 (this laptop uses a 1440x900 panel btw) and the performance is absolutely terrible. Still, I find it funny that this chipset failed to meet the requirements for WDDM, yet here's a basic video driver proving otherwise.

edit: hmm, third image isn't loading. will fix when imgshack gets their act together.
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You found my team's feature ;)
 
Is it just me, or does the new (at least in this dev preview) default Aero UI skin look like a bad WindowBlinds skin?
 
griffinhart said:
with the mouse.. Right click the icon, at the bottom of the sreen will be an option to "unpin" it. This will remove it from the start screen.

With touch, touch and hold a tile, start to drag it until a dark frame appears around it and let go. The unpin option will appear at the bottom of the screen.
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simple as that!. thank you.

i am willing to give windows 8 a try, i gave windows 7 a try but got used to it (hated the "super bar" as everything used 1 click more then XP ever did)

So,as i see it, Metro is basically the new "super bar / task bar" i may ve able to get used to this :d
 
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Maybe this was said, but the one thing about Metro is that its very much like the Xbox Kinect interface.

Kinect for Windows anyone?
http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/um/redmond/projects/kinectsdk/

I wouldn't expect the same device, but rather one targeted that the workspace immediately in front of your monitor with finger tracking incorporated which some people have even hack the existing Kinect to do.
 
Everyone knows the 910/915 chipset can handle Aero. The issue was that intel refused to release a WDDM driver. It looks like MS finally took matters into their own hands. Good news, because I know tons of people with centrino laptops from 2005/2006 with this chipset who will be able to run Aero in Windows 8 assuming nothing changes. In fact, I would say this is probably one of the most common chipsets out in the real world, and the fact that it didn't support Aero in Vista and 7 was a big part of what kept people from upgrading.
 
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Anyone else have trouble getting Windows 8 to load after the install process when it says it is detecting devices? It gets to like 17% and then freezes.
 
On my A660 toshiba...... I like it.will run this until next release. Metro is a change. I like that the control panel is easy to get to from any windows explorer window.
 
Spartan805 said:
Metro is a change.
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That's it in a nutshell. It's different and I think that people look at it for ten minutes, see the smart phone like UI and dismiss it but really have no idea what it is that they truly dismissing.

I think Microsoft's strategy here is right on the money and what impresses me the most about what I've seen thus far is the development platform.

And yes the new Windows Explorer is very nice, it's much easier to gut to stuff, the ribbon working well.
 
heatlesssun said:
That's it in a nutshell. It's different and I think that people look at it for ten minutes, see the smart phone like UI and dismiss it but really have no idea what it is that they truly dismissing.

I think Microsoft's strategy here is right on the money and what impresses me the most about what I've seen thus far is the development platform.

And yes the new Windows Explorer is very nice, it's much easier to gut to stuff, the ribbon working well.
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I'm torn on it. I think for a desktop PC, it's annoying. I don't need a bunch of huge buttons scattered all over the place. It does't seem very intuitive for using a mouse. It was very clearly made for touch screens, something I don't see myself having on my gaming PC any time soon. On a tablet I can see this being fantastic.
 
For those complaining about the Metro UI and everything isn't tailored to a mouse/keyboard: understand that this is a dev preview, Milestone 3, which is before the beta. The UI isn't completed. This is so developers can get a head start on developing Metro apps. I am sure that the UI will be refined to make it a lot easier to use a mouse/keyboard by beta.
 
Another thing that doesnt seem to work right:

Onboard physical buttons on a 2740p...

The wifi toggle switch will change colors if you use it (amber -> off, BLue -> on), but no change in windows......the mute touch button is always amber(meaning muted) regardless of if it is actually muted or not....still workign out kinks
 
Ur_Mom said:
For those complaining about the Metro UI and everything isn't tailored to a mouse/keyboard: understand that this is a dev preview, Milestone 3, which is before the beta. The UI isn't completed. This is so developers can get a head start on developing Metro apps. I am sure that the UI will be refined to make it a lot easier to use a mouse/keyboard by beta.
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This is the most likely situation. The classic start menu *is* included in the developer preview, so in all likelyhood, MS will re-enable it for the final release.....
 
Viper87227 said:
I'm torn on it. I think for a desktop PC, it's annoying. I don't need a bunch of huge buttons scattered all over the place. It does't seem very intuitive for using a mouse. It was very clearly made for touch screens, something I don't see myself having on my gaming PC any time soon. On a tablet I can see this being fantastic.
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If the new Start Screen were just a bunch of big buttons I'd agree, but live tiles are capable of so much more and with this that can be useful on the desktop. I do agree that more needs to be done to make it more desktop friendly especially in terms of the non-Metro applications. The Start Screen needs folders and a way to perhaps customize the Start Screen so that it mimics the look of the Windows 7 Start Menu.

But the underlying concepts behind Metro are very powerful and useful for not only tablets but laptops and desktops. Just needs some refinement and of course apps that fully utilize the power of Metro.
 
Hmm, another plus to this: The touch stick on the 2740p doesnt "drift" as much/at all in win 8 while it did in win 7 quite often.....

the new start menu is starting to grow on me, though this 2 battery thing is annoying, and my bat life is no where near what I got within win 7 ..... (though i gues i shouldnt compain much since i am getting a full days use still...but damit i want 2 or 3 days w/o charging)
 
Yeah, people are making WAY to much of the new Start Screen. Needs some work obviously but in using Windows 8 heavily over the last week it simply isn't as desktop unfriendly as some people are making it out to be. One of the things it desperately needs however are folders or groups or some other say to segment it.
 
this one is very confusing, well more difficult to figure out .....

is there a way to make "folders" on the start screen? I dont want a cluttered start screen......but if i want to use several programs on a semi-regular basis....i'm stuck with a ton of icons on it......

anyone find a way to do this ? my google fu is turning up nothing


edit: just read the rest of heatless's post and saw it referenced my rant above about the same thing
 
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