windows 8

[Babu]

Who is going to be a trailblazer and take up Windows 8 at launch?
Adobe seem to indicate that it will be compatible with Lightroom 4.2 and Photoshop CS6.
At this stage, I'm feeling it might be wiser to let the dust settle and check for bugs.
Hopefully, it will be a big step forward and not another Vista.

[Linton]

Hmm, I am going to have a look putting it on my on my desktop after my trip away next week along with some other upgrades to speed things up a bit...I work with elements 11 on vista which is painful sometimes, so we'll see what happens..

[Mark L]

http://www.ausphotography.net.au/for...bout-to-happen

[Cage]

XP PRO was great.

Vista was a real pain. Every update caused me problems.

W7 is pretty good, although my last couple of updates have been fluky.

[ricktas]

I am in no rush. I have had a couple of friends who work in IT ask me if I want them to get me a copy, I have said no. Windows 7 is working and very stable for me. I reckon we will see an increase in desktop touch screens over the next year or so, as from what I have seen of it, using it in a touchscreen environment would make it more usable.

But at present, both my computers are working fine and I see no need to upgrade the OS just cause a new version is out.

[macmich]

i had an upgrade offer of $15.99 and installed it last night
it takes a while to install
but everything is working fine and stable
its taking a bit of getting used to
but if i crack it i will use my desktop with seven on it but this 8 seems easy to navigate
cheers macca

[crazymorton]

I'll stick with 7 until I need to either buy a new PC or reformat.

7 has all I need and should be good for a while yet.

[arthurking83]

I have no plans to rush into Win8 on my desktop either.
Irrespective of whether I update or not, I can't see any real reason to update to Win8 from Win7Pro.

OTOH tho, I'd love to get it going on my tablet, as this is where it shone.
Problem is that my tablet is not old-ish tech and the max screen it's capable of is much lower than the min screen res Win8 requires.
The only way to circumvent this is to hack into the tablet's registry and install Win8 as an update to Win7Pro on the tablet.
That is, it's not a long term solution.
I'll wait and see what new hardware transpires before I commit to a mobile Win8 environment, and Win8 RT is not really something I'm interested in.

Some of the laptop/tablet hybrids that Asus (and any others ) are about to introduce sound extremely interesting products ...... Asus Transformer Book
That's the kind of device I'd like to have access too.

[Pixeltoy]

Win 8 for tablet (full version) isn't available yet. The current tablet version is a slimmed down version. Microsoft 'Surface' is shipping with lite version until later. Full version on a 'Surface' looks promising BUT too long to hit the streets.

[arthurking83]

The current version Win8 RT is not the same as Windows for desktop(x86 or x64)
It's not a slimmed down version, it's a totally different operating system, and won't run desktop software at all.

The apps required on Win RT are currently only available via the Windows App Store.
The problem is that there are hardly any apps available for Win8RT, and you can't install any of your current desktop software, so Win8 RT is in a no mans land limbo.
Basic office software is installed on RT tho.

I suppose it's a matter of time and will whether the software companies see fit to port their wares to both OS types, and I recently read that many software vendors aren't even making x86 versions of their software either, and concentrating their efforts on x64.
This is inevitable really as x64 systems abound now anyhow, and many desktop Windows OS'es will most likely be x64 from here on anyhow.

Windows 8(for x86 and x64) is currently available for download and or purchase(my sister got it yesterday as an extra with her new PC)
What's not yet available is Windows 8(x86 and x64) hardware from Microsoft. The new OS is available as either a download or delivered as a CD/DVD.
I have no idea as to the current availability of other vendors tablet/hybrid hardware with Win8(x86/x64) installed tho.

I have an older Win7Pro tablet, and this is what will not take Win8Pro due to the low screen resolution ..... unless I do the hack.
I may do it, but I just don't know yet. The download price of Win8 Pro sounds good($40), and the ability to boot more instantly(on a tablet) is appealing too .. so maybe I can get a bit more life from the ol Gigabyte yet.

I was more concerned about any attempt to re-install Windows 8 on the tablet more than anything else(the screen itself looks quite ok from memory way back when).
But I just remembered anyhow. I don't do OS installs any more, I use backed up image files of the OS and then re image them onto the relevant hard drive!

[Irru]

Win 8 for tablet (full version) isn't available yet. The current tablet version is a slimmed down version. Microsoft 'Surface' is shipping with lite version until later. Full version on a 'Surface' looks promising BUT too long to hit the streets.

I think you're a little confused.

Windows 8 is released. This is the version that is like Windows 7, and will be installed on desktop, laptop, notebook and tablet PCs. (i.e. Tablet PCs do not get their own version of Windows 8. They get the same version that goes on all other intel/amd driven devices.

Tablets with ARM processors, do get the somewhat limited version of Windows 8, known as Windows RT. And it is also true, as you said, that the Surface Pro (i.e. the Surface which is a tablet PC) is not coming out until next year.

However, there are a number of other tablet PCs from other vendors which are shipping sooner or even now, that do not use ARM chips, and are therefore running the full version of Windows 8. These will run Lightroom and Photoshop straight away, although I'm not certain how well the atom-powered tablets will deal with these sorts of tasks. When I eventually go there, I suspect I will be shelling out for one of the more powerful ones (such as the surface pro). I want enough grunt for LR and Photoshop, USB 3 and full HD video out.

There is an Acer model which ticks those boxes and is very tempting, but I'd rather let other people test drive the tech first.

[Kym]

Windows 8 is not Windows RT.
RT won't run normal windows programs, but rather apps from the new M$ app store.
RT is very confusing as Windows 8 can run on some tablets, but RT of Surface and some others.

[arthurking83]

.....
RT won't run normal windows programs, but rather apps from the new M$ app store.
......

And to add to the confusion. The 'Apps Store' is an amalgamation of all manner of 'apps'(or what used to be referred to as software!

You can purchase CS6 direct from the M$ Store .. but (so far that I've seen) this isn't available through the Aus site, only the US site ... here
At the moment it's a bit of a shambles, in fact it's a lot of a shambles really, there are about 3 apps available for purchase!

I haven't had much of a chance to peruse their sites .. not really interested actually but as already said, your copy of CS6(if the license is transferable) should be good to go on a Windows8 (X86/x64) tablet type device if you already have it.

Windows RT is what iOS is to the Apple world.

Win7 runs on Atom tablets!(that's what I got).
I don't think RT will install on any x86/x64 based hardware tho.

I'd say that any i5 or i7 based Win 8 system should have enough processing ower to run Adobe's software easily enough.

[Bennymiata]

I have an old Macbook Pro whos HDD died, so I am getting it updated now by my IT guy with an SSD and he's putting Windows 8 on it.

I'll let you know what I think of it when I get it back.
It's all loaded up and he's just testing it for a day or 2 to make sure it's stable.

The new interface will definitely need some getting used to though.

[crazymorton]

I have an old Macbook Pro whos HDD died, so I am getting it updated now by my IT guy with an SSD and he's putting Windows 8 on it.

I'll let you know what I think of it when I get it back.
It's all loaded up and he's just testing it for a day or 2 to make sure it's stable.

The new interface will definitely need some getting used to though.

Windows in a Mac. Apple fan boys everywhere are burning effigies of you.

[Wazza999]

I must say as someone inclined to oily sweaty skin, the thought of larger touch screens, with all the finger marks and smudges makes me shudder. The first thing I'd do on a desktop/notebook would be to go back to the icon based desktop - can't see the point of continuously refreshing app 'icons' on anything but portable devices designed for information consumption. We've just migrated from XP/32 to 7/64 at work and I love the fast boot and shutdown, although a lot of my technical software requires administrator mode so it's now two clicks away.

[arthurking83]

For those that think Windows 8 is all about the new touchscreen interface, from my brief experience with it, it's not.

This is simply just another option for interfacing with the OS.

The traditional desktop was always lurking in the background.

Among other things, Win 8 simply introduces a better way to operate the OS if the device has a touch screen.

Win 7 is usable on a tablet, but only barely so... and many times I switch to the hardware mouse like pad instead to work on finely detailed GUI items.

Considering the next best thing since sliced bread is going to be touchscreen laptops(most likely with removable screens, Win 8's new interface options make perfectly good sense!(now).

It's the promise of future generations of computers that will eventually make more sense, with camera based gesture movements, instead of the need to physically touch the screen.
Bill Gates has spoken about this in the past, where his longer terms goal of PC operation was about the Minority Report(movie) style hand gesturing they used to operate the data on the computer.

That is apparently the basis of the XBox Kinetic system .. it's a sort of working prototype of the future of PC control.
The mouse may eventually become an archaic and redundant piece of hardware ... irrespective of how dependent we are on it now .. one day it's time will come to an end too.

Currently Win 7 has some OK speech recognition features, but the only ones that work well are for command and control of programs to do various tedious operations(open, copy, paste, etc) .. dictating to perform text based operations tho is well behind what constitutes a workable system. I think is also part of a grander plan for the future of controlling the PC.

If you haven't tried Windows 7 speech control(should be installed), with some quick training it can work well if you multitask a lot.
Switching between programs, opening files etc... it works OK even with minimal training(x64 based PC)

All you need is a mic and Win 7.
I haven't yet tried it on the Tablet tho, being a lowly dual core Atom based CPU and 32bit, I'm not holding my breath for a pleasurable user experience tho. Touch is enough on that device.