Windows 8 Release Preview

[SabreWulf69]

I dislike touch in general. Something about smudges overlayed on top of something that is the main visual representation of the system I am operating just doesn't appeal to me.

[Mats]

I don't miss the start button since I have a start key. If anything, I'd miss the start menu, but I'm not there yet.

[Clint]

I'm not surprised, the encryption/DRM modules has probably 'evolved' to steal some more CPU cycles. You got more, they grab more... Same scenario will happen again though, by shifting focus on drivers from win7 to win8 it will be the "fastest" OS eventually. I don't mind actually, when that time comes my XP/2003 installation will give me a even more lean n' mean feeling. Faster in all aspects and longer battery time. I really don't se any value in swiiishy-swooshy UI, does absolutely nothing for my performance behind the keyboard, on the contrary quite annoying...can't stand win7 and wont touch win8 for sure.

Has anyone here installed this yet?
I'm curious, is dpc latency still 5-6x higher?
Mem bandwith still 33% low?

It's not really all about the ui to me, as I don't use the start menu in win7 either.
It's about speed.
I've gotten the cp ver down to a lower amount of running processes then win7, but the speed is atrocious in win8.

I have half a mind to suspect they are doing it on purpose...
The move from xp/2k3 to win7(vista?) was the same, just not as near as bad lol.

[ClockZ]

I have no desire at all to use 8, It just seems clunky on a pc.

[NEOAethyr]

I did a quick search on it, knowing it just came out I probably wouldn't find the answer but I did.

http://www.kvraudio.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=4940982

Initial tests are the same as I found before. DPC latency is 1000us, appalling. There is still no obvious way for first time users to get out of desktop. Startup time is fast, 8 seconds on my laptop with 5400 rpm hdd. I will keep at it but this is a dead duck for desktops. Tablet use only. Bring on Windows 9

A big WTF ms...
It seems more and more that win7 is the last ms os I will ever use :\.
When they slow it down by 33% on purpose, just to make us upgrade our hardware, that is just not cool.
Boot party at microsoft's..., yeah I know that's a bad joke... but they deserve it for being such greedy @ssholes.

Metro is completely useless I think, but it's not hard to make your own start menu using the quickluanch, if you place a folder in there and hold the CTRL key while you left click on that folder in the quicklaunch bar, it'll open up as a menu.
I use my little network monitor prog that I made to skip these user steps, it detects when the mouse is hovering over that location and the left mouse button is clicked, so it knows when to hold the ctrl button down for me.
And this is my solution for the start menu.
Still, metro needs removing, and it's not so easy since after the DP ver.

Then there's the speed prob, which is a deal breaker for me.
I think I would literally have to clock up 1ghz on my cpu to achieve the same speed as win7 (ie thuban 4ghz vs. 3ghz).

If you guys have win8 installed, check the dpc latency and the mem bandwith reported by aida64's benchmark.
Regardless of what you gut out of the os, it's still slow...
There are ways to improve speed of some things, but the overall speed of the entier os is down to it's routines.

There is a service called FontCache, which I believe is responsible for the major slowdowns in menu's, ones like my quickluanch start menu.
I mean major slowdown, I'm not 100% sure that is the service that causes the slowdown for that, but it's one of many I removed and that speed prob went away.

And btw, the driver's make no difference at all when it comes to the main slowdown in win8.
I replaced most of them, there are a few threads out there on diff sites that talk about this prob, with no solution.

[xVeinx]

Are the slowdowns due to anything else? Debugging code possibly still enabled? It is a preview still.

[itznfb]

You know, you can disable unity...I quite like unity though, it's similar to the Windows start menu but it fits better.

Ubuntu is now my preferred OS, and the few Windows programs I need run okay with Wine.

I've migrated from Mint to Ubuntu over the last year or so. I prefer gnome-shell over Unity though. Unity is an improved version of the start menu but it's still slow and clunky. Windows should have in that same direction though. Something that isn't an overlay and that works well on both Desktop and Mobile/Tablet. The Android UI does this well. I have a Transformer Prime which basically switches between a Tablet and PC but connecting or disconnecting the keyboard dock. The UI is a seamless transition between touch interface and keyboard/mouse interface.

[NEOAethyr]

Indeed it's possible.
However I've enabled the debug kernel before on previous os'es and never had such a slowdown.

One thing I do know, I've gotten rid of most of the drm and debugging, as well as the performance counters and such and the speed is still quite wack.
I thought it might be debugging code at 1st, then I realized this is something that has been going on with every odd release of an os that ms has done.
In terms of dpc latency anyways.
Comparing say xp with win7, the latency is probably 3x higher.
But the mem bandwith is about the same when it's clean anyways.

... can't finish the post...
Err crap, I gotta go shopping, bbl.

[crash5s]

There's a reason Linux Mint is one of my fav distro's, specifically because it is almost backwards from this apparent 'future OS' design from MS tch tch tch

This, also it's less resource intensive. I tossed mint on a few dated items and they sprang back to life faster and better than my current "uber" windows boxes.

[SEA]

I'm installing it right now on top of win 8 consumer preview. On this comp i write from.
I'm not fan of metro, but metro does not affect me at all - i use win8 with normal desktop, it is here.
I like several features in win 8.

[Stevethegreat]

Have heard a lot about Win8 the last few months but never tried it. Is it any good or merely a rehash of Win7 for the tablet?

Also does it have any important change under the hood (like for example win7 adding pure SSD support, DX11, etc)? Because from what I can tell 'till now it's mostly Microsoft riding the mobile hype train which should be irrelevant to us desktop users...

[Chickenfeed]

Whats the rough installed size for the x64 build? Just curious if they've leaned things out at all.

[SEA]

OK, installation complete. It was quick, less than 15 min, i'd say 10.
Freshly installed, windows directory size is 10.6 Gb

[Dainas]

Viva la Windows 7!

but seriously, I can easily see Windows 7 becoming the new "XP", we have no reason to move on to the "next and inferior" operating system.

Vista eventually got enough fixes and rock solid stability that made XP a very flaky OS in comparison. Windows 8 looks screwed beyond any redemption, once again some short sighted moron disregarded the fact that people who do real work on their computers don't want their screens covered in greasy fingerprints.

[SEA]

Vista eventually got enough fixes and rock solid stability that made XP a very flaky OS in comparison. Windows 8 looks screwed beyond any redemption, once again some short sighted moron disregarded the fact that people who do real work on their computers don't want their screens covered in greasy fingerprints.

I don't touch my screen... it is 2 monitors, actually: usual 24" monitor, and another one 22".
You are not required to ditch you mouse
Moreover, nobody forces you to use metro. I see it only when i need something there... I use very regular desktop:

[paulbagz]

So what's different? =/

-PB

[Ket]

Biiiiiiiiiiiiiig difference between Unity and Metro. Unity, while being ugly as hell is still very functional and really isn't anything more than a glorified Aero Start menu. Metro on PC is not functional and if it is really implemented on Server then the Windows franchise is in big trouble.

+1. Good old predictable Microsoft though. They never fail with their one good one bad.

Win95 good > Win98 bad > Win98SE good > Win ME bad > Win XP good > Vista bad > Win7 good > Win8 bad.

You would of thought people would of learned by now

[Generic user #2]

i like how people that believe in the on-off always forget w2k

[SEA]

Win95 good > Win98 bad > Win98SE good > Win ME bad > Win XP good > Vista bad > Win7 good > Win8 bad.

Looks kind of wrong...
Win95 good > Win98 bad > Win98SE good > Win ME bad > Win XP average(slow but stable compared to ME) > Vista good(Compared to XP) > Win7 good (Pretty similar to Vista but ligher) > Win8 good(Similar to Win 7 but has several nice improvements in desktop mode).
It is more informative, for example: copy or delete progress dialogs and so on;
Provides more controls everywhere starting from task manager and more when going in depth.
But what i like - it feels even lighter than Win 7.

[mAJORD]

> Win XP average(slow but stable compared to ME) > Vista good(Compared to XP) >

LOL! what?

each to there own though I guess :|

[mstp2009]

Biggest Microsoft FAIL since . . .

MICROSOFT BOB

[Sparky]

ME simply being labeled "bad" isn't accurate. More like 98SE good > ME HORRIBLE > XP good lol

[andressergio]

i just updated then went to clearmgr and delted all the crap that left from update and amazing its very fast and stable

[paulbagz]

i like how people that believe in the on-off always forget w2k

+1

-pb

[SEA]

i just updated then went to clearmgr and delted all the crap that left from update and amazing its very fast and stable

I think the word "stable" can be applied to any version of windows starting from Vista SP1, so it does not describe any difference anymore...
And therefore kind of obsolete and can be still used in context of old windows versions.

LOL! what?
each to there own though I guess :|

Vista is first completely stable windows version.