I downloaded and tried it on a spare PC. Has anyone else tried it yet?
*note this is Windows 8 Developer Preview, it is not a finished product or even in Beta.
Link to Download:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/apps/br229516
My thoughts so far:
The Start Menu/Screen - The Windows 7 style Start Menu is gone, in its place is the what I'm call the Start screen. It is the Metro UI that is used on the Windows Phone 7 OS. It is very snappy, pretty easy to use.
Windows Explorer Ribbon UI - Well if you hate the ribbon you probably wont link it anywhere, but I actually like the ribbon and it is useful here. They added switches for stuff like show/hide hidden files & show/hide extension (like .exe or .jpg).
Applications - There is defiantly a separation between Windows 8 apps and legacy app's (windows 7 and before). Legacy apps all resort back tot he desktop mode to run. Windows 8 apps look & feel like something for tablets & phones although you can see that more complex apps can be made in this new app environment.
The Split Screen - It does work, but right now is only a left/right & 80/20 split. You cant change it so its a 50/50 split or anything...yet. If you use legacy apps they don't know how to work in the 20 side right and you only see a part of the app, but if the Desktop is over here it will just list all the desktop apps that are open. You also cannot split screen two legacy apps, only two Windows 8 apps. Plus legacy apps are all confined to to the Desktop, so you would have to have 2 desktops to even possibly get it to work.
Boot time - Pressed the button, 7 seconds for the post to shows up, disappears at 13 seconds in, I can log in at 29 seconds, Start Screen shows up 5 seconds later. HP Duo-Core 2.4ghz CPU, 4Gb RAM, 800Mhz FSB, SATA HDD, shipped with XP...nothing special. I hadnt installed anything, but it was pretty fast feeling to me, even compared to Win7 which does very well on this same machine.
I definitely would like the ability to have a Classic mode and Win 8 mode. I think the new setup is a pain to use on a desktop setup.
I do think this will also change the way hardware is made...mainly for laptops. I think the laptop and tablet will merge and I think they will become the Asus Transformer. The motherboard, a few ports, and the screen all in one device. Then when you need a keyboard, mouse, CD-ROM and extra USB ports you can buy a separate clam shell adapter for the full laptop experience. Laptops will still be around for full workstations, but I think most users will buy a hybrid device.
*note this is Windows 8 Developer Preview, it is not a finished product or even in Beta.
Link to Download:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/apps/br229516
My thoughts so far:
The Start Menu/Screen - The Windows 7 style Start Menu is gone, in its place is the what I'm call the Start screen. It is the Metro UI that is used on the Windows Phone 7 OS. It is very snappy, pretty easy to use.
Windows Explorer Ribbon UI - Well if you hate the ribbon you probably wont link it anywhere, but I actually like the ribbon and it is useful here. They added switches for stuff like show/hide hidden files & show/hide extension (like .exe or .jpg).
Applications - There is defiantly a separation between Windows 8 apps and legacy app's (windows 7 and before). Legacy apps all resort back tot he desktop mode to run. Windows 8 apps look & feel like something for tablets & phones although you can see that more complex apps can be made in this new app environment.
The Split Screen - It does work, but right now is only a left/right & 80/20 split. You cant change it so its a 50/50 split or anything...yet. If you use legacy apps they don't know how to work in the 20 side right and you only see a part of the app, but if the Desktop is over here it will just list all the desktop apps that are open. You also cannot split screen two legacy apps, only two Windows 8 apps. Plus legacy apps are all confined to to the Desktop, so you would have to have 2 desktops to even possibly get it to work.
Boot time - Pressed the button, 7 seconds for the post to shows up, disappears at 13 seconds in, I can log in at 29 seconds, Start Screen shows up 5 seconds later. HP Duo-Core 2.4ghz CPU, 4Gb RAM, 800Mhz FSB, SATA HDD, shipped with XP...nothing special. I hadnt installed anything, but it was pretty fast feeling to me, even compared to Win7 which does very well on this same machine.
I definitely would like the ability to have a Classic mode and Win 8 mode. I think the new setup is a pain to use on a desktop setup.
I do think this will also change the way hardware is made...mainly for laptops. I think the laptop and tablet will merge and I think they will become the Asus Transformer. The motherboard, a few ports, and the screen all in one device. Then when you need a keyboard, mouse, CD-ROM and extra USB ports you can buy a separate clam shell adapter for the full laptop experience. Laptops will still be around for full workstations, but I think most users will buy a hybrid device.
I wish I had time to load it on my tablet and play with it.
