Articles about Windows 8

If you’ve installed Windows 8 Consumer Preview, you can’t have missed a glaring omission. The familiar Start button is gone, something that has fazed many users who have taken the plunge and decided to test drive Microsoft’s next operating system.

If you're feeling lost. There is hope. Start8 is a remarkably simple, yet nonetheless remarkable, free tool that can be used to restore the Start menu.

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I don't dislike Metro, as indicated in my Windows 8 Consumer Preview review. That doesn't mean everyone will, or even should embrace the new user interface. Early reception to Metro is mixed. I think Windows 8 has great potential and may be a market success, but Microsoft should listen to those people complaining about the "reimagined" UI.

Microsoft should pull back from its Metro frenzy and take a more commonsense look at how real users do things. There needs to be better intergration between Metro and the desktop motif. Rather than view the desktop simply as a legacy environment and put all their "eggs" in the Metro "basket", Microsoft should give more priority to the "old way" and to better integrating the two UI motifs so they flow as one. Windows 8 is one operating system, not two.

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Today, Parallels updated its Mac virtualization client to support installation of Windows 8 Consumer Preview. Parallels Desktop 7 also supports OS X 10.8 "Mountain Lion" Developer Preview. Microsoft released its test OS last week and Apple last month. Mountain Lion is expected to release in late summer and Windows 8 a month or so later.

Parallels Desktop 7 for Mac also offers a utility for downloading, as well as installing, Windows 8 CP. The virtualization software released in September, followed by several feature-enhancing updates, including support for new operating systems.

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Lots of people are talking about Windows 8's new Metro UI, following last week's release of the Consumer Preview. Metro has a great deal of potential, but compared to the desktop motif it still needs some tweaking before many Windows users will appreciate it.

Like many other enthusiasts or developers, I downloaded Windows 8 Consumer Preview last week. I have the luxury of running the operating system on a tablet, opening up the full range of capabilities.

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You can find many reviews about Windows 8 Consumer Preview. This one is different because I set out to understand how Windows 8 performs for a blind person who must use keyboard shortcuts to navigate. I am sighted but tested the operating system thinking about my blind nephew.

My review focuses on navigation of the new OS using keyboard shortcuts and no mouse. It is not aimed at partially-sighted or low-vision people who use a mouse and may actually benefit from the larger icons. Neither do I evaluate how screen readers such as JAWS will read the screen contents once the correct location is reached. I suspect that the makers of JAWS and other screen reader software will have lots work to do before their programs will work well with Windows 8. I hope that isn't the case. But my guess is that it will be.

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Two is enough. Windows 8 and Windows on ARM.

Based on a registry key found in Windows 8 Consumer Preview, there are potentially nine different editions coming later this year: Windows 8 Starter; Home Basic; Home Premium; Professional; Professional Plus; Enterprise; Enterprise Eval; Ultimate; and ARM. The six Windows 7 editions already are too many. Nine is bad gone way worse and shows that Windows 8, for all the courageous changes, is too much about the past way of thinking. Microsoft is looking back at the old PC model rather than looking far enough ahead to the cloud-connected device era.

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That's the official count as delivered rather surreptitiously via the Building Windows 8 twitter account. I guess some things just can't wait for a press release or blog post.

The tweet: "One day later...one million downloads of the Consumer Preview".

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February 29 is the day I waited for for a long time. I downloaded the Windows 8 Consumer Preview to test out the work Microsoft has done so far, and I am very impressed. There are still some rough edges, though, but I like what Microsoft is doing. Strangely, I seem to be one of the few people that actually "get it".

As a designer, I am perfectly on board with anything that allows print and digital to come together in interesting ways. Mike Kruzeniski, who is a Creative Director at Microsoft, gave presentation "How Print Design is the Future of Interaction" at SXSW 2011 discussing this convergence. In interactive, content is important. We are quickly moving to a time where the lines between print and interactive content are blurring. And herein lies the problem with Windows 8. I refer to Metro, Windows 8's new motif that is receiving mixed reaction from testers.

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Windows 8 Consumer Preview is a very interesting look at where the operating system is going next, in particular with features like the new Windows app store, but of course it’s also a beta and needs to be treated with caution. Especially as it can’t be uninstalled should things go wrong.

If you only want a quick look round at the Windows 8 highlights, then, the safest approach is to install it on a VirtualBox virtual machine. You won’t have to spend time freeing up a laptop or creating a new partition, and can browse the new Metro interface in a window on your desktop: far more convenient.

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Microsoft has released betas of its various Visual Studio 11 editions -- Ultimate, Premium, Professional, Test Professional and Express -- along with Team Foundation Server and the .NET Framework 4.5.

And of course it’s no coincidence that the latest version of the IDE has arrived on the same day as the Windows 8 Consumer Preview. Visual Studio is all about developing for Windows 8, and its integrated tools for publishing directly to the new Windows App Store will make it much easier for developers to reach a potentially huge market.

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I must be candid. The best product reviews come from you. You're the audience BetaNews reaches, and you use software in real ways that no benchmark can measure. So once again, I ask for your review -- this time Windows 8 Consumer Preview, which is now available for download as upgrade or in a virtual machine.

Your first impressions will matter to other readers, or even a thorough review. Please comment to this post. I'll collect first impressions/short reviews into a separate post. However, I'd love to run your review, with name, photo and bio instead. Please email joe at betanews dot com to contribute a review. To everyone: Please provide specs on your test systems, which will be valuable reference for other Consumer Previewers.

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Okay, everything is going Metro with Windows 8, right? The new, tile-like user interface is the hottest thing to ever come to Windows, right? Not so fast. Businesses need to be cautious when choosing which new applications should be designed for Metro and what apps should be designed for the desktop. Why?

In IT, change often isn't a good thing, and Metro brings lots of it.

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In addition to the Consumer Preview of Windows 8, and the betas of Visual Studio 11 and the .NET 4.5 framework, Microsoft on Wednesday also released the beta of Windows Server 8.

With this version of its popular server software, Microsoft is concentrating on a few key areas: multitenant virtualization, simplified multi-server architecture, cloud management of sites and applications, and simplified, cross-platform access providing "the full Windows experience anywhere"

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Yesterday I asked: "Will you try Windows 8 Consumer Preview?" It's here, and many of you are rip-roaring ready.

Windows 8 is Microsoft's most important OS release since XP and quite possible ever. The company is reinventing Windows for the cloud-connected device era. There is major emphasis on mobility and syncing you across devices. The new Metro UI revives and fulfills Microsoft's Active Desktop concept attempted in the 1990s and abandoned by Windows XP's launch in October 2001.

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We told you that Microsoft today announced the release of its Windows 8 Consumer Preview, and made it available to download for anyone interested. Well, where do you get it?

While it’s not tagged as a beta, the Consumer Preview is still a prerelease edition, unfinished and incomplete, so you need to be very careful where you install it. It’s also much closer to the finished product than the Developer Preview, though, and includes the Windows Store amongst many other interesting new features, so if you’d like to see where Microsoft are going next then it’s well worth a look.

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