Any takers on Win 8?

[Timman_24]

Are any of you guys going to install Win 8 on your system when it launches? I played around with the dev preview and I see no reason to "upgrade" right away. I haven't been following recent news, but if the start button stays as-is, I may stick with Win 7 as long as possible (until games require a new OS) and continue to use my Mac for everything other than gaming.

The future seems uncertain for MS. A lot of games are coming to OSX and with steam hinting at a Linux push, anything is possible. MS seems to be behind in everything other than the traditional PC OS. Splitting the difference between a dedicated PC OS and a tablet OS seems to be a strange move, which forces concessions to be made by for both devices. IMO, they should have done something along the lines of Apple. Two completely separate, but complimentary OS's. Then again, MS may be ahead of the curve by combining them together.

I'm not looking forward to a wall-o-icons on my 27" 1440p screen though.

[kpxgq]

ill switch when all my hardware gets stable drivers

[James]

I will be upgrading all of my systems except for my HTPC when Windows 8 comes out. (I don't want to have to pay extra for Media Center)

Honestly I've been using it on my laptop for about 4 months. The start screen is useful if you customize it. But I haven't even done that. I don't know about anybody else, but my main interaction with the start menu is "Windows Button + start typing to find something". That works just the same as it did before. So I don't lose or gain any functionality from that particular feature. I love the new metrics (file copy, network, CPU speed, task manager, etc.) that are involved in the new system. I love the new wireless menu sliding in from the side, it's actually extremely useful and more informative vs. the Win7 version. On the server side I am impressed that almost every single server technology has been redesigned from the ground up to supported clustering as a native rather than a hacked-in feature set. (We desperately need this at my job, but we won't convert to Server 2012 until probably 2016 sadly, our loss.)

I like the faster boot times, I like that my entire laptop has native drivers in the OS, including the fingerprint reader. Caveats: Not having a touchscreen I have done nothing in the "metro style" programs and applications. I do everything from the desktop as I do now, and Windows 8 has not changed my workflow at all.

The one negative: I use as complex a password as Microsoft will let me. (In this case, 12 characters randomly generated. Limit caused by GFWL client). Using the Live sign in means typing that password every time I unlock my computer. (I could disable this, but it's good security). Right now, I love it because I use the fingerprint reader to sign in. If I didn't have the fingerprint reader to auto-input my password, I might not use the whole Live account sign-in thing.


TL;DR version: Yes, I'm upgrading. I like the speed improvements and small changes that make things easier, and nothing they've changed negatively impacts my workflow.

[Nabby]

I see no reason to upgrade. I'm not a fan of the tile icons and I use snap all the time and it not working on the metro interface causes me issues. Unless I can switch to Windows 7 style UI I will not bother for a very long time.

I am the IT Manager in an environment that has around 400+ Windows machines and we have decided to skip Windows 8 in the near term. It will be very costly to retrain the average user how to use a PC all over again. It was enough of a fiasco switching the finance department to IE9.

[kujoe2002]

I don't like the new interface. It reeks of imitation and they will pretend its their own unique design and coding.

[vertices]

I will eventually be using as my primary OS, not yet though. I'm having trouble liking this one, and this from a guy who loved Vista. Metro or whatever you want to call it these days is here to stay.

[Timman_24]

I will be upgrading all of my systems except for my HTPC when Windows 8 comes out. (I don't want to have to pay extra for Media Center)

Honestly I've been using it on my laptop for about 4 months. The start screen is useful if you customize it. But I haven't even done that. I don't know about anybody else, but my main interaction with the start menu is "Windows Button + start typing to find something". That works just the same as it did before. So I don't lose or gain any functionality from that particular feature. I love the new metrics (file copy, network, CPU speed, task manager, etc.) that are involved in the new system. I love the new wireless menu sliding in from the side, it's actually extremely useful and more informative vs. the Win7 version. On the server side I am impressed that almost every single server technology has been redesigned from the ground up to supported clustering as a native rather than a hacked-in feature set. (We desperately need this at my job, but we won't convert to Server 2012 until probably 2016 sadly, our loss.)

I like the faster boot times, I like that my entire laptop has native drivers in the OS, including the fingerprint reader. Caveats: Not having a touchscreen I have done nothing in the "metro style" programs and applications. I do everything from the desktop as I do now, and Windows 8 has not changed my workflow at all.

The one negative: I use as complex a password as Microsoft will let me. (In this case, 12 characters randomly generated. Limit caused by GFWL client). Using the Live sign in means typing that password every time I unlock my computer. (I could disable this, but it's good security). Right now, I love it because I use the fingerprint reader to sign in. If I didn't have the fingerprint reader to auto-input my password, I might not use the whole Live account sign-in thing.


TL;DR version: Yes, I'm upgrading. I like the speed improvements and small changes that make things easier, and nothing they've changed negatively impacts my workflow.

Question for you. I read a little bit about "storage spaces" in Windows 8. Some are saying they work a somewhat like zfs. Have you messed around with those features? Could you see Win 8 being used as a file server, like zfs linux distros?

[ImaNihilist]

I'm going to be picking up a Sufrace RT probably.

I really like the Windows 8 ecosystem on paper. There are still a lot of parts that seem disconnected, but I guess we'll see how it all plays out.

[James]

Question for you. I read a little bit about "storage spaces" in Windows 8. Some are saying they work a somewhat like zfs. Have you messed around with those features? Could you see Win 8 being used as a file server, like zfs linux distros?

So far I'm only running it on one desktop and a laptop, and both only have a single internal drive (and a mapped NAS drive).

I have not touched storage spaces yet. I'll take a look at it later though. On the server side, from what I've heard the Storage spaces is a lot like a revamped and more robust version of the old Windows Home Server storage design.

*Edit: I didn't think it did the checksumming like ZFS, but I'll look into it when I check it out tonight.

[Timman_24]

I know spaces do not support deduplication, compression, and off-site replication right now, but supposedly MS is working on making it a full solution through updates. It would be fantastic to have enterprise level storage options in a typical Windows install. I'd be completely sold at that point. If they do it right, they could open up a new market for themselves. I'm thinking they are trying to get in on the NAS popularity. I like the idea of finally having a very stable GUI for zfs like systems. The webGUI can be finicky with Nexenta at times.

[LordZordec]

I am much like an 80 year old man or a cat - I DON'T LIKE CHANGE! But if something changes and there are genuine benefits, eventually I will come around and cozy up to the concept. I HATED Windows 7 when it came out, but eventually I started liking it, and now I am a fan. The problem is that I JUST started liking Windows 7 and now there is Windows 8 with a radically different interface.

So, NO, I don't like Windows 8 and you will get my Windows 7 when you pry it out of my cold dead hands.

Fast forward to 2015 - "I didn't like Windows 8 at first, but now I do like it. However, this whole Windows 9 thing is horrible. Nope, not sold yet."

[Nick_B]

I know spaces do not support deduplication, compression, and off-site replication right now, but supposedly MS is working on making it a full solution through updates.

FYI, I'm pretty sure Storage Spaces on Server 2012 does support deduplication right now.

[Terminator64]

Yes, plan on upgrading two laptops and two desktops soon after availability. Plan on using the $39 download option. May even get a couple of extra copies since the price is going up after Jan. My church is not ready yet, but I'm getting them cheap licenses also so when they are ready they have it.

[dyne]

I will be upgrading all of my systems except for my HTPC when Windows 8 comes out. (I don't want to have to pay extra for Media Center)

If you get the digital upgrade version for $40 you can also get Media Center for free.

http://www.winsupersite.com/article/...omotion-143592

Additionally, Microsoft announced that those who upgrade to Windows 8 Pro through this special promotion will be able to purchase the Windows Media Center add-in pack for free during the promotional period as well. Microsoft previously said that Media Center would be made available to Pro users for a small, as-yet-unannounced fee.

Personally, I'm getting it for the $40 price even if I don't install it for a bit. That's just too good a deal until January. You can also set the desktop tile as the 1st tile so when you log in and hit ENTER you're automatically in the desktop environment anyway.

[Timman_24]

I've heard that the media center add on will be free.