Thoughts on the Consumer Preview?

Coke Robot

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So, I installed the CP on the first of this month, and I must say, WOW! Speechless! It's like, ZOOM! :shock: It's stupid fast! Most of the time, it honestly feels like I'm using Windows 7 on a Solid State Drive, it's impressive. Resuming from hibernate is crazy fast, the cold boot time is faster since there are actually few services that automatically start up compared to 7. Shut down is still fast as usual. Some of the metro drop down menus aren't giant anymore. There is an actual way to switch and close metro apps as well.

But I do have grievances though. I was concerned with this when I saw the leaked screenshots of the 8200 build, it seems like the Desktop and Start Screen are segregated. We have to use the touch version of the Charms bar compared to the Developer Preview's Desktop Charms bar. It seems awkward on the Desktop to bring up the Charms. By default, Aero Peek is disable because if it is enabled, you might hide the Charms if you don't bring the pointer up.

I'm not really having a fancy for the black background when you do hover over a Charm. I think it would be a little more cleaner if it were just the icons in white, or maybe whatever color your Start Screen is. And, I want to be able to use the new Start logo, I want go the bottom left and hover over the new Start window.

Seeing how the Developer Preview was for developers to be able to build metro apps, and seeing as how the Consumer Preview will allow for a larger audience to use the metro Start Screen and its improved navigation, I bet there might be next release before the Release Candidate, maybe a General Preview or Consumer Preview 2. I say this because the Desktop has NOT changed whatsoever. It's still Windows 7 with metro meshed on top of it. Some leaked screenshots might show some new iconography, and Windows Server 8 has a revamped UI of the Desktop, so we'll see. I just want to see metro design from top to bottom, from Desktop to Start Screen. That is all.
 

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I also don't like the scroll bars, it's too....old looking. The scroll bars in the Zune Software are much more modern and cleaner looking than in 8.

And the metro UI in Windows 8 isn't doing a great job reflecting the metro design of Windows Phone 7, it's not based on typography. EVERY, bit of text from Start Screen has a box around it when you click it. In Windows Phone, you just tap the text and sometimes it has a slightly hinged metro animation to it to show that's what you tapped on. The PC Settings app kind of has that, but the rest is still based on simple colored boxes to show a click action. I'd rather see those animation from Windows Phone to be like that in 8. Just make the text animate a little, and have the text color change as well to show a click action, it'll look nicer in my opinion as a doctor.
 

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Hi there Coke robot

You do HAVE to keep some things however -- remember this will be used as a DESKTOP OS as well as tablet / phone etc type of OS.

This means that people will still have need to some "Old fashioned stuff" like Cut / Past/move / copy /delete etc with files and apps.
You can't run a workstation OS as if it's 100% like a mobile phone so some things have to stay the same.

Try running Photoshop CS5.5 from a mobile phone with no menus to speak of !!!!

It's a step in the right direction -- once people get used to the navigation its OK -- you don't find many Linux or Apple users complaining about navigation.

I must confess though I don't really like the instability of Android so if W8 can penetrate that market --great stuff.

Cheers
jimbo
 

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It's a step in the right direction -- once people get used to the navigation its OK -- you don't find many Linux or Apple users complaining about navigation.

Well said. :)
 

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Hi there Coke robot

You do HAVE to keep some things however -- remember this will be used as a DESKTOP OS as well as tablet / phone etc type of OS.

This means that people will still have need to some "Old fashioned stuff" like Cut / Past/move / copy /delete etc with files and apps.
You can't run a workstation OS as if it's 100% like a mobile phone so some things have to stay the same.

Try running Photoshop CS5.5 from a mobile phone with no menus to speak of !!!!

It's a step in the right direction -- once people get used to the navigation its OK -- you don't find many Linux or Apple users complaining about navigation.

I must confess though I don't really like the instability of Android so if W8 can penetrate that market --great stuff.

Cheers
jimbo

True, but I'm speaking more of the design than navigation. As of now, Windows 8 is a new interface meshed with an older one. I'd like to see that older aspect to look, well, newer, metro like with metro theme icons and animations and behaviors and not the older Aero design that was based off vista.
 

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    Crosshair V Formula-Z
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    16 gig DDR3
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    ASUS R9 270
    Screen Resolution
    1440x900
    Hard Drives
    1 TB Seagate Barracuda (starting to hate Seagate)
    x2 3 TB Toshibas
    Windows 8.1 is installed on a SanDisk Ultra Plus 256 GB
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    OCZ 500 watt
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    A current work in progres as I'll be building the physical case myself. It shall be fantastic.
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    Arctic Cooler with 3 heatpipes
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    Logitech K750 wireless solar powered keyboard
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It's buggy :(
 

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@smarteyeball, this is a preview, its bound to have a few bugs, thats why MS puts it out for testing,we're the guinea pigs.
 

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Hi there
I'm quite glad in this case to do some "Unpaid" work for Microsoft.
Imagine trying to test out all possible scenarios in a development environment.

Ist it would be totally impossible
2nd you'd miss loads of errors.

If it is as least as good as the developer preview I'll be more than satisfied.

Cheers
jimbo
 

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Hi there
I'm quite glad in this case to do some "Unpaid" work for Microsoft.
Imagine trying to test out all possible scenarios in a development environment.

Ist it would be totally impossible
2nd you'd miss loads of errors.

If it is as least as good as the developer preview I'll be more than satisfied.

Cheers
jimbo

Me too.

It's far better than WDP

:)
 

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    32GB DDR3 @ 1822 MHz (OC)
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    Radeon R9 280X 3GB @ 1180 / 6800 MHz
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    LCD LG 22" + CRT LG 17"
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One big minus I've found now, although nothing to do with GUI or user experience in general, is how the Win8 bootloader handles my Nokia N900 mobile if it is sitting docked and connected to PC with USB when PC is booted: I get "Missing operating system" error on boot, having to disconnect the ophone, reboot and reconnect phone.

Kari
 
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For the first time for along time I,m actually excited, its refreshing to have something totally different to play with. Its got way more function than the DP.
 

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For the first time for along time I,m actually excited, its refreshing to have something totally different to play with. Its got way more function than the DP.

Fianally another person not blaming WCP :)
 

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    Radeon R9 280X 3GB @ 1180 / 6800 MHz
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    LCD LG 22" + CRT LG 17"
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I cant complain I didnt even have any problems with ME and Vista, bet you havent heard that too often.
 

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So, I installed the CP on the first of this month, and I must say, WOW! Speechless! It's like, ZOOM! :shock: It's stupid fast! Most of the time, it honestly feels like I'm using Windows 7 on a Solid State Drive, it's impressive. Resuming from hibernate is crazy fast, the cold boot time is faster since there are actually few services that automatically start up compared to 7. Shut down is still fast as usual. Some of the metro drop down menus aren't giant anymore. There is an actual way to switch and close metro apps as well.

Agreed , boot and shut down speed is way too low compared to Windows 7 on same hardware.
 

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