Windows 8

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divine_one
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Windows 8

Post by divine_one »

I wonder if any of you have already windows 8. I like to play some classics from time to time, like Heroes, Fallout and Baldur's for example. So, question is if ET and other older games work under this system without any problems? I'm also curious about your opinions on the funcionality and convenience of use. It is worth to buy a laptop with W8, or should i pick one with W7?
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Re: Windows 8

Post by gaoesa »

I haven't tested it. It's not even published yet. But I have only heard bad things about the new interface. For some reason it is dropping the powerfull features of the mouse, or so I heard. They claim it is better suited for touch screens then normal desktop style computers. I repeat that these are not my own opinions as I have not tested. Just some replication of what I have heard. So it could be good as well.
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divine_one
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Re: Windows 8

Post by divine_one »

It was published 26.10.2012. There is quiet pretty collection of laptops with preinstalled W8 to buy already. There are very different opinions about new Windows - the positive, and quite negative. It's hard to say anything concrete right now. I think for now the best option would be to wait to purchase a month or two.
divine_one
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Re: Windows 8

Post by divine_one »

gaoesa wrote:For some reason it is dropping the powerfull features of the mouse, or so I heard.
Windows Mobile, even with support from Nokia, is not so popular as expected. Microsoft taking into long term forecasts of declining sales of PC's turned to touch screens due to the increasing demand of smartphones and tablets. That's the main reason i think.
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gR!ns
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Re: Windows 8

Post by gR!ns »

I installed Win 8 to usb stick few weeks ago. Not used much, but I have run dedicaded ET server on it and it worked fine. Not played any games so that part in unknown to me. That new Modern UI Style, former Metro UI, is something what I don't like in desktop computers. Its a bit annoying that you can't do all things in desktop mode but you have to swich between them. Not much, but still. Well its something what you can get used to. There is no Start menu anymore but its not bothering me cause I have used to use bottom beam only and ofc desktop shortcuts. Otherwise Win 8 feels light and easy to use just like Win 7. My opinion is that if I would buy new PC at now, I would choose Win 7 cause its still supported for years and a bit easier to control in desktop mode.
jussi
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Re: Windows 8

Post by jussi »

Seems like for a PC user Windows 8 isn't giving you anything new unless you like touch screen features with a mouse. If you turn off the "special" UI it's just W7, so games should work on it just fine. I also believe they've tried to reduce the requirements so it should run on older computers fine aswell.
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Salmiakki
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Re: Windows 8

Post by Salmiakki »

divine_one wrote:I wonder if any of you have already windows 8. I like to play some classics from time to time, like Heroes, Fallout and Baldur's for example. So, question is if ET and other older games work under this system without any problems? I'm also curious about your opinions on the funcionality and convenience of use. It is worth to buy a laptop with W8, or should i pick one with W7?
Most of the stuff should work. Note that if you're buying a new low-end computer, there is something called Windows RT, which is a windows 8 'lite', that one DOESN'T run any of the old Windows applications.

Personally, I like the Metro stuff, it fits my usage patterns better than the old W7. I find it odd that people say it's for touchscreens - might be true for tablets, but on desktops it reduces the usage of the mouse, I don't have a touchscreen and am happy they exposed most of the functionality through keyboard shortcuts. If anything, my biggest complaint is that they didn't go all the way - since it's a radical change, it's going to be hated by many anyway so why bother with compromises...
jussi
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Re: Windows 8

Post by jussi »

Salmiakki wrote:
divine_one wrote:I wonder if any of you have already windows 8. I like to play some classics from time to time, like Heroes, Fallout and Baldur's for example. So, question is if ET and other older games work under this system without any problems? I'm also curious about your opinions on the funcionality and convenience of use. It is worth to buy a laptop with W8, or should i pick one with W7?
Most of the stuff should work. Note that if you're buying a new low-end computer, there is something called Windows RT, which is a windows 8 'lite', that one DOESN'T run any of the old Windows applications.

Personally, I like the Metro stuff, it fits my usage patterns better than the old W7. I find it odd that people say it's for touchscreens - might be true for tablets, but on desktops it reduces the usage of the mouse, I don't have a touchscreen and am happy they exposed most of the functionality through keyboard shortcuts. If anything, my biggest complaint is that they didn't go all the way - since it's a radical change, it's going to be hated by many anyway so why bother with compromises...
One reason why we think it's for touch screens is the fact it was first released on phones with touch screens, metro style, that is. After reading plenty of reviews it seems to me that if I update the only new thing I will get is a user interface good for drag features. I don't want those so I guess W8 doesn't really give me a reason to upgrade (even though it is pretty cheap.)

Also does actually any modern PCs actually use ARM-processors? If not then I guess W8RT is just for tablets.
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Salmiakki
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Re: Windows 8

Post by Salmiakki »

jussi wrote:One reason why we think it's for touch screens is the fact it was first released on phones with touch screens, metro style, that is. After reading plenty of reviews it seems to me that if I update the only new thing I will get is a user interface good for drag features. I don't want those so I guess W8 doesn't really give me a reason to upgrade (even though it is pretty cheap.)
Actually then didn't demo it on phones until just a few days ago :) And yes, the *marketing* message is around touch and tablets, since that's where the hype is nowadays, but if one doesn't care about that, you still get the bonuses of the new, memory/CPU friendly architecture (=better performance on equal hardware), store-based distribution (mixed emotions on this one), pretty good cloud integration and many smaller things that are just not mentioned because they are too geeky for the mainstream :) The problem is that people look at the Metro UI as if it was a Windows 7 improvement, which it isn't. Just stay away from the mouse and you'll be fine. Yes. You heard that right. And I don't mean touchscreens - under Win8 I use the mouse only on legacy apps and games, everywhere else, it's keyboard + trackpad for scrolling/pointing. Once you get over the subconscious 'grab-and-use-mouse' reflex you'll be just fine :) Same applies for the Start menu - the problem is in the reflex and not the usability (which was horrendous with the start menu, people just got used to it).
Also does actually any modern PCs actually use ARM-processors? If not then I guess W8RT is just for tablets.
Well, depends on what do you mean by PC - Google/Samsungs Chromebooks already use ARM processors, and that seems to be a trend, considering the new ARMs are actually more powerful than the old Atoms.
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