Windows 8

Had a quick play around on the beta of this earlier and it's rather unconvincing.

The new 'Start Menu' is quite frankly sh*t with all the different coloured app buttons and once I went to the desktop it took me literally 10 minutes to figure out how to get back to the damn thing and I'm actually studying I.T. so I'd hate to see how the average user deals with it. Don't even get me started on the dragging the window to the bottom of the screen to close it. Oh and that bloody fish gives me the shits.

Anyone else had a look and if so what are your thoughts? Can see this being the new Vista myself.

I've tested some of their (Microsoft) new educational stuff which I think I still can't talk about because I signed a confidentiality agreement. The stuff I have used was pretty cool now in fairness, was very well done.

I dunno about the OS tho, as I haven't seen or used it to be honest! I'll probably be moving to Mac once my current laptop gives up too so I doubt I will get to see too much of it either.

Is Windows 8 just too-futuristic if you get me? Like they tried to change too much too soon?

I think they've tried to cater too much to the touch screen, tablet PC market with it tbh.

I think they've tried to cater too much to the touch screen, tablet PC market with it tbh.

That's exactly it but they're also trying to give all of their software the same feel. For example, anybody with an (updated) Xbox 360 will know that the dashboard changed to those coloured panels (also to cater for Kinect) and the Windows phones are the same:







I understand why they've done it but I'm not sure I'm a fan.

I dunno about the OS tho, as I haven't seen or used it to be honest! I'll probably be moving to Mac once my current laptop gives up too so I doubt I will get to see too much of it either.

Do plenty of research first, mate and try to get unbias opinions. I have two cousins, one a web designer and another who was the director of a company that monitors web traffic for marketing companies and both ditched Apple a while back saying they were sh*t. I don't know sepcifically what the problems were but I'm assuming they had pretty high end systems. I also have 3 mates (yes I have that many  ) who have MacBooks and ALL of them have had to send them for repair at some point. A lot of people swear by Apple but I'm not sure they're what they used to be.
On the flip-side, another mate of mine is a graphic designer and he won't use anything else, I'm pretty sure JD uses Macs as well.

On the flip-side, another mate of mine is a graphic designer and he won't use anything else, I'm pretty sure JD uses Macs as well.

He does and wouldn't use anything else 

Perfect for touchscreens and tablets.

PC? Stick to Windows 7.

Do plenty of research first, mate and try to get unbias opinions. I have two cousins, one a web designer and another who was the director of a company that monitors web traffic for marketing companies and both ditched Apple a while back saying they were sh*t. I don't know sepcifically what the problems were but I'm assuming they had pretty high end systems. I also have 3 mates (yes I have that many  ) who have MacBooks and ALL of them have had to send them for repair at some point. A lot of people swear by Apple but I'm not sure they're what they used to be.
On the flip-side, another mate of mine is a graphic designer and he won't use anything else, I'm pretty sure JD uses Macs as well.

I know what you mean mate. It's very easy to get sucked in by the advertising and the white look of the actual machines. It will be a couple months down the line anyways and really with the cloud now you don't need a massive size size memory, but having a large one helps. I probably would use it for work too, I want to start DJ'n with a laptop and CDJs, rather than lugging around a couple hundred cds every weekend. So having the one database along with the software on the one device would be very handy, and I think the Mac still comes with its own built in music production app. I studied IS in uni, so being around techy people for a few years certainly helped and their advice is the same as yours. I was actually using both a iMac and a Macbook last year for a year and 6 months through the uni so well used to the systems. To be honest, not much complaints about them.

Ironically enough, I was looking to move to the Windows phone when my contract is up next year, on my iPhone!

As it is only £25 for now, I thought.. why not? I'll only end up getting it some point in the future so might as well get it while its cheap.

Downloading now, hopefully it upgrades with no problems.

Been using it since last night and to be honest its not that bad! It boots up really quick! From pressing the power button I got to the Sign in screen in about 20 seconds. It skips all those computer brand screens that usually show before your computer starts and goes straight to the Windows 8 loading screen.. although I am wondering how I am going to get into BIOS in the future if it skips the screen where you press the key to enter BIOS.. Im sure there is a way though. Ill just have to find out when it comes to it.

You get used to the Metro pretty quickly. I don't really use the Metro though much, its mainly just there to greet you, you'll see little apps with news headlines etc... but once your on to the desktop you don't need to go back to the Metro for anything really. All my programs are working great with it, no real problems so far.

Installation went okay, its very helpful, really simple step by step guide. Only real problem I had was installing a driver for some hardware that it couldn't find automatically, but a quick internet search solved it.

As it is only £25 for now

I didn't realise that! £50 if you want a hard copy though. So often in the past, I've needed to route out my disc to fix one problem or another, I'm not too sure about simply downloading it.