Windows 8 Consumer Preview hits 1 million downloads | Hacker News Reader

Windows 8 Consumer Preview hits 1 million downloads

arstechnica.com

36 pointsevo_917 comments

Just downloaded it and installed it in virtualbox.

First thing I clicked on was Photos, for no particular reason. So, I'm in Photos and there is nothing there for me to do (obviously). I want to go back to the main screen (where I came from) but there is nothing I can do. I'm suck in Photo land. The is nothing to click on that will take me back. ESC doesn't do anything, or any other key for that matter. Right click brings up a Feedback form. How the hell are you supposed to navigate this thing?

EDIT: Hovering at the top of the screen changes your mouse cursor into a hand. I can drag the entire screen which makes it small. I guess the purpose of this is to dock the current application or something.

I still can't go back to the main screen however...

Apart from metro, what are the advantages in having Win8 instead of Win7 in a non-touch PC?

/Just curious

You are expected to use metro, at least some elements of it, on desktop too.

There are a lot of changes to little things; Windows 8 brings a proper 3g/4g manager. Or you can tell it certain wireless networks are "limited" and it won't download updates when connected to them. Lots of little things like that.

All these little things mean I'll probably switch to Windows 8 as my main OS when it comes out, but figure out a way to disable Metro completely.

In using it for all my work for two days now, I have spent the entire dreading accidently launching something metro related - it simply gets in the way of my workflow, and does nothing to help it.

I actually feel like I can move the mouse less. I can do more on the keyboard and just use the scroll wheel on the mouse.

Scrolling the mouse on the start screen scrolls it sideways. This was unexpected to me, but it works well.

The start screen feels like desktop gadgets done right. Being a WP7 user, I like having all the information I need right on the start screen and updated continuously, it's nice to finally have it on the desktop.

Beware that some of the apps crash. A lot. Microsoft Music in particular.

(disclaimer, I'm a MS employee).

some advantages:

* Hyper-V support(http://blogs.msdn.com/b/b8/archive/2011/09/07/bringing-hyper...).

* Refreshing to a clean state without reinstallation. (http://blogs.msdn.com/b/b8/archive/2012/01/04/refresh-and-re...)

* Better support for large disks.(http://blogs.msdn.com/b/b8/archive/2011/11/29/enabling-large...)

* Easier setup(http://blogs.msdn.com/b/b8/archive/2011/11/21/improving-the-...)

* Less restarts after updating.(http://blogs.msdn.com/b/b8/archive/2011/11/14/minimizing-res...)

* A task manager which I certainly like much better.(http://blogs.msdn.com/b/b8/archive/2011/10/13/the-windows-8-...)

* Reduced memory consumption(http://blogs.msdn.com/b/b8/archive/2011/10/07/reducing-runti...).

* Better malware protection(http://blogs.msdn.com/b/b8/archive/2011/09/15/protecting-you...)

Question: On Windows 7, my current workflow for starting applications is:

Widows key + start typing app name

This starts searching the start menu and installed apps. I press enter and bam -- no mouse requried.

Is there something comparable for Windows 8?

It's still the same. The new Start screen doesn't explicitly show a search box, but it'll start searching as soon as you type something.

Yeah I really wondered about that as a UI decision. I'm sure many of the users here will figure that sort of thing out, but I'm curious whether or not my parents will ever discover the existence of that sort of thing.

My parents never noticed the search box in Windows 7, got confused when I mentioned it. Working tech support when my company released Windows 7 laptops to the employees, very few of them understood the search box either.

I think it will take a few software generations before people really "get" it.

In case you don't know where the download page is, like I didn't: http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows-8/iso

Thank you. This is why I came back here after visiting the official download page.

All I was able to find there was an exe-file, which is of little use when I'm running Ubuntu as my main OS..

The only complaint I have so far (more like a WTF thing) is that Mail doesn't do POP3. Otherwise loving it.

Am I correct in my assumption that Windows 8 features a basic tiling window manager?

Depends. If you mean a tiling window manager for Win32 windows, then no -- old Windows apps continue to run as the always did, as overlapping windows within one desktop "space".

The new WinRT APIs and Metro UI offer some variations on tiling windows, however. (They don't support overlapping windows at all; apps are launched full-screen but can be tiled with others within some specific design limits.)

The ability to dock apps on part of the screen is pretty good for multitasking, like IM'ing while browsing without constantly switching apps back and forth.

http://wordament.files.wordpress.com/2012/02/snap.png

Here's a link to the presentation video they had for the launch demoing the new features.

http://cdn-smooth.ms-studiosmedia.com/news/HTML5/FINAL_PRESE...

All the form factors that Windows will be supporting seem exciting for me, especially touch Ultrabooks like the IdeaPad Yoga.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n6jnrRRAcZc&hd=1

Here's a comparison with the iPad:

http://www.theverge.com/2012/3/1/2835346/windows-8-vs-ipad-f...

1 million silly donkeys.

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