Windows 8? Seems kinda pointless to me.

[yepimonfire]

So i downloaded and installed the pre-release of windows 8. The only difference i noticed is a major change in the GUI (at times, i'd go as far as to say it was for the worse). Functionality wise, i have yet to stumble upon anything to write home about. It kinda feels to me like they tried taking windows 7, and making the interface feel more like an android OS (wtf?). I just can't take it very seriously lol.

Will post some screen-shots here in a bit, stayed tuned.

 

[adwilk]

Just so we're clear- I do agree with what you're saying... its not a very exciting OS upgrade...

BUT- to be fair... the very fact that you would download and install a pre-release kind of negates having an opinion about it... The OS is designed for ease of use and trouble free computing for the masses. It meets that criteria well in my opinion and positions Microsoft favorably in the computing marketplace in several platforms.

 

[yepimonfire]

Nevermind on the screen shots, can't seem to get printscrn to work. You can find plenty of shots on google though.

 

[avnetguy]

Though Win8 does state some improvements it seems most like a unification OS release so multiple platforms can run the same stuff. I hope to see some good Win8 tablets come out because of this as I'd like to update my aging laptop. And while the ipad is neat (GF has one I use sometimes) it just doesn't do the things I need/want and I don't like the non-upgradeable hardware. I doubt I'll be in any rush to upgrade my desktop(s) to Win8 unless it gives me some really good connectivity with a new tablet.

Steve

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

Just so we're clear- I do agree with what you're saying... its not a very exciting OS upgrade...

BUT- to be fair... the very fact that you would download and install a pre-release kind of negates having an opinion about it... The OS is designed for ease of use and trouble free computing for the masses. It meets that criteria well in my opinion and positions Microsoft favorably in the computing marketplace in several platforms.

just to be clear windows 8 is already at RTM status and RTM are usually same as general release
Windows 8 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

but yea - i'm not in any rush to get it (I have full access to msdn downloads)

 

[jinjuku]

My next computer upgrade will be a Mac. When we do that will will be a zero MS shop. Started this transition 18 months ago. We let our MSDN and partner status lapse.

We have no more Windows servers. Everything is CentOS with Cpanel.

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

We have no more Windows servers. Everything is CentOS with Cpanel.

For web Hosting linux makes perfect sense

 

[jinjuku]

For web Hosting linux makes perfect sense

Makes sense for DNS, IMAP, Zen, LDAP, File and Print services, self published cloud. We really aren't missing MS.

We have a custom Arch Linux build running on the ~$100 Zyxel NSA 320. That box has 512 MB RAM. With our full LAMP plus Qmail we are able to serve up ~ 100-120 local workstation connections via Lighttpd without breaking the 128MB RAM usage block.

We use SSD drive in this and have 8K block reads in excess of 190MB/Sec. Plus the Marvel ARM CPU allows us to do HD encryption in hardware.

So $100 for the NAS box, another $50 for 96GB SSD.

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

Makes sense for DNS, IMAP, Zen, LDAP, File and Print services, self published cloud. We really aren't missing MS.

We have a custom Arch Linux build running on the ~$100 Zyxel NSA 320. That box has 512 MB RAM. With our full LAMP plus Qmail we are able to serve up ~ 100-120 local workstation connections via Lighttpd without breaking the 128MB RAM usage block.

We use SSD drive in this and have 8K block reads in excess of 190MB/Sec. Plus the Marvel ARM CPU allows us to do HD encryption in hardware.

So $100 for the NAS box, another $50 for 96GB SSD.

What's Zen?? Did you meant Xen ??

Sorry for hijacking the thread

 

[jinjuku]

What's Zen?? Did you meant Xen ??

Sorry for hijacking the thread

I mis-spoke. We have Zen running on some desktops that we are hoping to use as a turnkey system.

Also testing Mint. We want to offer some ARM based systems that are minimal in foot print and cost and locked down. The angle we are playing it minimal staff 'computer impropriety'. This is done by offering systems that are white listed internet wise. They can only get to sites that are in an approved list.

 

[lsiberian]

In our client environment Windows 8 makes perfect sense. But we use touch screen interfaces. I still prefer old school, but making Windows 8 uniform between phones and desktops is a very good idea because it allows windows developers to deploy their software easily into mobile devices. MS developer tools are very good and greatly reduce the time needed for building and managing software applications.

 

[dpc]

I'm looking forward to a Windows 8 tablet/laptop hybrid if the right hardware comes along. I'm actually wondering how well a Win8 tablet would work for games like Day of the Tentacle and real time strategies.

That said, I'm absolutely not interested in Windows 8 for home or business use at this point. It just doesn't seem to offer anything I don't already have with Windows 7.

MS makes the best development tools that I've used so I've got to agree with lsiberian there.

On the other hand Valve is working on Steam for Linux. The next year or two could be interesting. We'll see.

 

[jonnythan]

I'm holding out my opinion until I use Windows 8 on a tablet. There's a lot to love about that scenario.

 

[avnetguy]

I'm holding out my opinion until I use Windows 8 on a tablet. There's a lot to love about that scenario.

Ya, this could be the start of something good and I hope they (MS and/or HW vendors) don't mess it up. With free Wifi appearing in many restaurant chains now it's actually become useful for me as I hate the idea of paying monthly for 3G/4G connections.

Steve