Review: Windows 8, the hybrid OS has arrived

re-installed Win 8 today for the 4th time.

really liking it so far.
it seems a little faster and snappier than W7 on this 5 years old duo-core.

beside Metro, which i don't mind, there doesn't not seem to be that many new features compared to Win 7.

under the hood, that might be a different story, and apparently the security is more robust on W8 than W7.

at 40$ for the download copy i might just go for it.

 

I think that offer is still only for systems manufactured after a certain date?

 

you must be thinking about the 15$ upgrade for people who bought new machine this summer.

40$ is the upgrade price (download copy) for people coming from XP/Vista/W7.
i think the deal is available until the end of January 2013.

 

Ahh, you're correct. I mixed the offers up. Well, even if I wanted 8, my system doesn't support Secure Boot, so there would go some of the new protection right there.

 

unfortunately, my old motherboard does not support UEFI as well.

i'd like to install a 64 bits mobo/cpu later on next year.

i'm wondering if i bought Windows 8 Download Upgrade Version now for my 32 bits machine if i could transfer the license to a 64 bits machine later on?

 

Some of this may help you out: http://www.zdnet.com/how-the-new-windows-8-license-terms-affect-you_p2-7000003028/

 

tnx m8!

most helpful!

 

Quite welcome

 

i went and bought the download version.
for 15$ more i checked the option to have a DVD shipped to me, which has both the 32 and 64 bits versions.

more tips here:
http://www.ghacks.net/2012/10/27/windows-8-upgrade-from-32-bit-to-64-bit-system/

 

My opinion about windows 8 is better reflected by the following article
http://www.digitaltrends.com/computing/what-i-love-and-what-i-hate-about-windows-8/

As for the question that most people have (microsoft included)
"will windows 8 be a success?"
The answer is tricky... It will surely sell like crazy, at least for the first 2 weeks and until 31 January 2013. (actually must have already sold some millions the very first day, since the upgrade offer of 15$ did not ask for any verification of any kind;... damn I missed it )
But the real gamble of microsoft is if this will help them penetrate the the mobile market. If it does it will be a success, if not microsoft will have a hard time since a lot of people will be alienated, so it is possible that they'll start to adventure versus linux and apple. And if this happens they'll lose in both the mobile and the desktop front.

Personally for my currents pcs I see zero reasons to upgrade. It adds almost nothing to what windows 7 already has and at the other hand toggles a lot.
As for the faster boot times... I don't get the big fuss, windows 7 in all my pcs included my netbook loads in max 30 seconds from cold boot, in 2-3 seconds from sleep and in around 7-10 seconds from hibernation.

Bottom line most people (me included) will buy a license or two, not because windows 8 is that great but because they can afford it as long as the offer stands. On the other hand buying a new pc with a touch screen is where windows 8 and metro really makes sense.

ps.If microsoft really wanted it to be a big success and convert most people to it, should keep the price low (as it is now with the offers) and make up from the loss in revenue through their app center, or better yet make the license for person (up to 3 or 5 devices) and not for machine.

Panagiotis

 

Those of you who have installed Windows 8, can you comment on the availability of Applocker or SRP?

 

Looks like AppLocker is in Win 8 Enterprise only, but SRP is available in Pro. Some discussion here:

http://social.technet.microsoft.com...l/thread/14cb0b1e-20e9-4c10-9061-3b77a96b23cf

 

Is MS word 2007 compatible with windows 8? I got this info when I ran MS upgrade assistant in vista. Please can someone have a look at it?

http://img688.imageshack.us/img688/6783/capturejac.jpg

 

I installed, updated, and ran MS Office 2007 in the release preview of Win 8 without any problems. Seemed to work fine.

 

Thanks for the clarification

 

I had installed 8 when it was released to TechNet and after a couple of weeks got frustrated with it and went back to 7. However I tried it again a couple of days ago and am liking it so far. Now that there are some updated drivers and more apps I have a better opinion of it.

 

I don't understand it, but a great many people seem to be surgically attached to their digital devices. I don't know what they are doing, but they stay busy doing it lol.

Personally I think win8 is geared towards the general users, not business or power users/geeks. I think MS expects this to be just another touch screen gadget, with many of the same uses as the mobile devices, plus the added bonus of being able to do other things. If people use win8 as much as their mobile devices, the plan will work. So why not make the PC be like a mobile device as much as possible since people seem to like them so much.

Rather than using some little tablet to check email or watch a youtube video, I would rather have an interesting and useful gadget surgically attached and keeping my attention. For instance, I would like to buy a modern version of those X-Ray glasses they used to sell in the back of comic books.... now that is something I could focus on

Sul.

 

Have you seen the Netflix app? It really is impressive.

 

Can anyone tell me the meaning of "Operating System context in which process is running"?

I see it in my W8 task manger few of the processes having Vista/7.

Sandboxie, Avast - Vista
Chrome, Firefox - W7

IE10 - W8

Does it make any difference for the programs running with lower OS context?

 

Probably some compatibility feature.