Microsoft Questions & Answers

Windows 8 dev preview available for download, share your opinion if you try it

Follow Discussion Posted by Dexter on Sep 14, 2011

Windows 8 developer preview is available for download from MS Developer site and I can't wait to go home and try it out. If you see something worth sharing, please do so in this thread.

Download link: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/apps/br229516

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Level 9 1 Immortal on Sep 14, 2011

I would definately give it a try and post my impressions :)

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Level 4 2 leviathan on Sep 16, 2011

I'm particularly interested if it's got integrated multi-touch gesture control for laptops with multi-touch enabled trackpads? I really think that'll boost up productivity as well as the ease of use. I might not have the time to try it out the proper way, so does anyone installed it already using Virtual Machine in Windows 7? And If so, any tips?

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Level 7 3 I.P.K. on Sep 19, 2011

It's interesting how one OS will be suitable for notebooks and tablets. Whether the interface will be different, for the appropriate device...

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Level 4 4 leviathan on Sep 23, 2011

Ok, so I got it up and running in like 15 minutes. Few things for the installation process that I did:

1. Used the latest available VMWare
2. Chose Windows 7 when prompted for what OS will be installed
3. Disabled the floppy drive (otherwise got an error that reboots the virtual machine)

After the install, you can either use your live account or go local and you will be taken straight to the Metro UI. My first impression is that it could be better. Quite confusing, too.

When I entered the Control Panel couldn't find the way back to the desktop for like 5 minutes. Same with IE. You have to right-click to show the URL bar and the opened tabs. Start menu takes you to the Metro UI desktop, without a choice to go to the desktop view. You have to enter it and then choose your desktop. Can't say whether it closed the running app or not, no indication at all. Also, couldn't find any significant graphic improvements (in the regular view win7 style), which is a shame, really, but I'd love to see something fresh in the final release.

My graphics card wasn't recognized, so the performance were affected and that, somehow ruined my first impression even more. I have to admit it is a dev preview, so all that will be fixed and hopefully the performance will be a lot better.

Well, that's it for now. If I don't delete it in the next 5 minutes (which I am really tempted to do) I'll probably do some more exploring.

Anyone else disappointed?