Official: Windows 8 RTM in August, Shipping in October

[StevenOtero]

Windows 8 will be released to manufacturing the first week of August, and the first PCs running the operating system will go on sale in late October, Microsoft confirmed today.

http://arstechnica.com/information-...o-go-on-sale-late-october-microsoft-confirms/

 

[masomenos]

And the crowd goes mild!

 

[YosemiteSam]

I'm pretty happy with Windows 7 and I'm note sure I'm going to be happy with the UI changes in Windows 8. I'm going to pass. :laugh2:

 

[CashMan]

I'm pretty happy with Windows 7 and I'm note sure I'm going to be happy with the UI changes in Windows 8. I'm going to pass. :laugh2:

I concur!

BRING BACK XP!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Yeagermeister]

I tried the beta and I sure hope they improved it because the beta was terrible. It would be ok for a mobile device but for a pc.....no thanks.

 

[StevenOtero]

I'm pretty happy with Windows 7 and I'm note sure I'm going to be happy with the UI changes in Windows 8. I'm going to pass. :laugh2:

You can disable Metro

http://www.zdnet.com/blog/hardware/restore-the-start-menu-and-disable-metro-ui-in-windows-8/18767

http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/quickly-easily-disable-metro-user-interface-windows-8/

 

[Duane]

It seems like Windows has good, bad, good, bad, alternating products. Like XP was good, Vista sucked, Windows 7 is pretty good, so Windows 8 looks like it's due to suck.

 

[StevenOtero]

I don't think Windows 8 will suck, but you have a point about the good/bad. It would be wise to wait awhile before jumping ship to Windows 8.

 

[YosemiteSam]

Vista was supposed to be what Windows 7 is. They hadn't had an OS release in a lot of years and well. When you are a public company that doesn't go over very well. So, they were forced to release a half finished OS. That OS was Vista.

It was very similar to the transition release from the Windows 9x series to Windows XP. I'm sure a lot of you remember the horror that was Windows ME. :laugh2:

At least Windows 8 will be an incremental update to Windows 8. From what I can tell, all Windows 8 is, is Windows 7 with a new GUI. Everything else they added isn't really "OS" features. (cloud storage, app store, etc)

 

[arglebargle]

There appears to be a lot of locked down features in W8 (and see?). IE, Microsoft must approve apps and such.

They are making a move to try and leverage their OS into the mobile market, and that may cause some pain for the desktop. Much of the interface is predicated on having a touchscreen. If you don't, the utility of it goes way down.

 

[rantanamo]

interesting that so many focus on metro, when as a desktop or traditional laptop user, you don't even have to use it outside of start menu functions. As a desktop OS, it has been superior to 7 for me even as a developers preview. I use metro about 1% of the time when I need something from the start menu.

 

[StevenOtero]

interesting that so many focus on metro, when as a desktop or traditional laptop user, you don't even have to use it outside of start menu functions. As a desktop OS, it has been superior to 7 for me even as a developers preview. I use metro about 1% of the time when I need something from the start menu.

Yeah, I agree...and with all of that being said Metro can be disabled.

 

[YosemiteSam]

interesting that so many focus on metro, when as a desktop or traditional laptop user, you don't even have to use it outside of start menu functions. As a desktop OS, it has been superior to 7 for me even as a developers preview. I use metro about 1% of the time when I need something from the start menu.

That is because Metro is 85% of what is new with the OS itself. It's a new UI on top of Windows 7.

They did add a few new things like the new volume manager, Windows To Go (which is pretty cool), and the secure boot. (not cool at all)

The rest of the stuff is really just fluff that you can already do in Windows 7. (gesture / PIN logins, Virtual Machines, etc)

SkyDrive and Windows App store are not OS features.

 

[arglebargle]

Okay, if I am not interested in the mobile part of this OS, and don't have a touchscreen, what is actually better for me in Win8 than Win7? I am presently not seeing it, and I can get W8 for free.

 

[masomenos]

Okay, if I am not interested in the mobile part of this OS, and don't have a touchscreen, what is actually better for me in Win8 than Win7? I am presently not seeing it, and I can get W8 for free.

I would stick with Windows 7.

 

[NorthTexan95]

For my organization of about 60 users we had a compelling reason to upgrade from XP to Windows 7. It was a big improvement over XP from a support standpoint and user experience. However, I don't see anything in Windows 8 that is compelling enough to force us to upgrade quickly. As we replace machines we'll slowly rotate Windows 8 in. I'll turn off the new interface for my users.

The biggest benefit to Windows 8 could be running it on a tablet. I'm very interested in the new Microsoft tablet looks when it comes out. If the tablet can be hooked into a docking station so my users can still have a full sized monitor, keyboard, and mouse in their office then it may just replace their laptops. That would be very cool.

For so many years I absolutely loved XP compared to anything that came before it. Near the end Vista was finally working ok but Windows 7 blows away XP. Now when I run across an XP machine I have a disdain for the ancient OS.