Windows 8 Developer Preview Downloads

[GregL]

Windows 8 Developer Preview Downloads.

If you have an extra PC around (I don't), give it a look.

[bozo]

Haven't checked out Windows 8 yet..believe there are beta versions being released end of this month -- will probably throw it on a machine for test run.
I'm guessing you can run in virtual environment and perhaps the only major change since win7 is the user interface and support for ARM so vmware or virtualbox will do the trick for x86 versions, perhaps QEMU can load ARM version...we'll wait and see.

Interesting to see MS are in the process of writing windows for ARM chips, primarily the mobile market but looks like we could see a revival in ARM workstations running windows..

any thoughts on this? I rarely use x86 ASM for anything now a days unless the code needs to be small or fast so it shouldn't be a problem to compile C into program for any architecture...not bashing assembly programming, just think if ARM had even 20-25% of Windows user market, might be problem ... how to react? rewrite your programs in ARM or not bother with it?

i think i'd be the first to buy an ARM workstation if made available. Had already been looking at SGI machines not that long ago but they seemed a little outdated for the money.

[Bill Cravener]

Hi Greg,

Some of us already have, it sucks!! :tdown

http://www.masm32.com/board/index.php?topic=18034.0

[GregL]

Bill,

Yeah, look at the date of my post, I posted this when it first was available. 

I think mixing Metro and standard Windows is a mistake. I think they should separate them. I love Windows Phone 7 and I think Metro would be great on tablets. I don't think it's so great on the desktop.

[Bill Cravener]

Bill,

Yeah, look at the date of my post, I posted this when it first was available.

Sorry Greg, I need to start paying attention. :bg

[dedndave]

the problem i see is, MS will jam it down our throats
when they were selling Vista, you could not find a new computer with XP on it, for example

[GregL]

Dave,

I'm sure that's exactly what will happen.


On the other hand, maybe it will work OK. The tablets will be able to run traditional Windows apps and the PCs will be able to run Metro apps. Although there is a much greater advantage with the former.

[MichaelW]

the problem i see is, MS will jam it down our throats
when they were selling Vista, you could not find a new computer with XP on it, for example

I was and still am convinced that Microsoft had no viable choice. I believe that they, along with many of the hardware manufacturers, were threatened with massive lawsuits if they did not do something about the rampant piracy.

And what I recall with Dell is that after Vista became available they still pushed XP, and for something more than a year XP was still available.

[Bill Cravener]

when they were selling Vista, you could not find a new computer with XP on it, for example

Dave, surprisingly you can still search places like Tigerdirect, Amazon, ebay and others and still find new systems with XP Pro installed.

[sinsi]

Well the beta is supposed to be released soon (end of the month?), but one positive I like about it is startup/shutdown times.
I installed the preview on a Q6700 and it boots in less than 5 seconds (after the BIOS takes about 15) and shuts down in the same time.
Wireless speed seems to be faster than with win7 as far as copying files goes, though still not anywhere near good...
The funny thing for me about metro is that there's a scroll bar, you can't just click and drag the desktop sideways ::)

[Bill Cravener]

I wish I could place a bet on the outcome of Metro, like Windows Me and Windows Vista I'd bet money on the fact Metro too will be a flop. PC, Tablet or otherwise, it'll be one big flop. . . .Scroll right, duh!

[dedndave]

i get the impression that MS thinks they are going to make touch-screens popular on the desktop - lol
i can't imagine how fast your arm would get tired

there is no "one-OS-fits-all" - and if there is, there probably shouldn't be

[Bill Cravener]

i get the impression that MS thinks they are going to make touch-screens popular on the desktop - lol

I occasionally have to work on engineer computers (CAD designers Graphic Artists and such) and they do a lot of finger touching on the screen I guess to point out different things and whatever. The first thing I do is clean the screen because a pet peeve of mine is dirty creasy monitors, that and the crud I often must deal with on keyboards. It can be nasty at times!  :bg

[GregL]

I have a tablet and I got a touch-screen stylus for it, it works great, no grease. :bg

[MichaelW]

Engineering, CAD, and similar applications used to use light pens, but I imagine that was also extremely tiresome because you had to support the weight of your outstretched arm while trying to make precise movements.

Perhaps Microsoft is expecting to produce a hardware accessory that takes your mouse and keyboard inputs and directs a robotic arm with a finger on it to transfer the input to the touch screen. They could name it ItelliFinger :bg