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Windows Developer Preview shot
By AlexandrePh
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As many, I'm highly interested in any new versions of Windows, and especially in the one that will take over the excellent Windows 7.
So I instantly downloaded 'Windows Developer Preview' that has just been released (just for my birthday
), and I thought it would be interesting to post a screenshot for all to see. Both for showing it to those that are not going to test it, but also to discuss about it.
Here are my first thoughts :
For now there's good and bad things, and the experience is not perfect with the bugs that appears sometimes (the first time it started, I had a full green screen, the background and metro icons were there but invisible, nice bug ! ^^).
The important thing I think is that it opens a wide range of possibilities that will sure be exploited by everyone, there will be as many Windows apps as there are in the Apple Appstore, but they will be made for our desktops !
My main concern is to test another version where you could actually customize the metro start page, with different backgrounds, and different kind of icons, to get something more appealing than this ^^ I want to easily create metro-style icons for all my apps, to avoid having a nice Internet Explorer next to a ugly Firefox ^^
And the main problem for now, to me, is ergonomics, look how hard it is to restart the pc next to 7 ?! The shortest way is ctrl+alt+del... that's a huge step back I think. The interactions between start page and desktop are bad as it is now... And I wish I had an easy possibility to actually end the processes of the applications that are launched, and not keep them all launched in the background, taking all the RAM (I think about the time when I'll have Photoshop + Illustrator + Dreamweaver + etc... mostly !! Or we're going to need 16go RAM at least !!
An option to start the pc directly on the desktop would be great too, but I think it will appear anyway.
And finally, I HATE the ribbon
, why would I need this hundreds of options at all time, the omnibar in Windows 7 was the best (and I even delete it via the msstyles ^^), it's another step back to me...
But I'm still positive about it, it's close from Windows 7 but opens more posibilities, that's finally something new in the desktop universe
What do you think ?
Wallpaper : Elein
So I instantly downloaded 'Windows Developer Preview' that has just been released (just for my birthday

Here are my first thoughts :
For now there's good and bad things, and the experience is not perfect with the bugs that appears sometimes (the first time it started, I had a full green screen, the background and metro icons were there but invisible, nice bug ! ^^).
The important thing I think is that it opens a wide range of possibilities that will sure be exploited by everyone, there will be as many Windows apps as there are in the Apple Appstore, but they will be made for our desktops !
My main concern is to test another version where you could actually customize the metro start page, with different backgrounds, and different kind of icons, to get something more appealing than this ^^ I want to easily create metro-style icons for all my apps, to avoid having a nice Internet Explorer next to a ugly Firefox ^^
And the main problem for now, to me, is ergonomics, look how hard it is to restart the pc next to 7 ?! The shortest way is ctrl+alt+del... that's a huge step back I think. The interactions between start page and desktop are bad as it is now... And I wish I had an easy possibility to actually end the processes of the applications that are launched, and not keep them all launched in the background, taking all the RAM (I think about the time when I'll have Photoshop + Illustrator + Dreamweaver + etc... mostly !! Or we're going to need 16go RAM at least !!
An option to start the pc directly on the desktop would be great too, but I think it will appear anyway.
And finally, I HATE the ribbon

But I'm still positive about it, it's close from Windows 7 but opens more posibilities, that's finally something new in the desktop universe

What do you think ?
Wallpaper : Elein
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Tried Windows 8 myself, then switched back to 7. The whole killing processes thing is extremely irritating. As far as I could see, there was no way to close any of the little boxes on the main metro page. They only "suspended". The only way to close them was to open up Task Manager, find the processes, and then kill them. I definitely agree with you that that is a step backwards.

ive been using your soft 2.0 theme 4 along time and win 8 preview looks way worse to me...hope u gonna do a win 8 version of soft theme when its released 
cuz i really hate that sharp corners on windows or buttons especially on a desktop os...it may look good on mobile but on desktop a bit rounded is better...

cuz i really hate that sharp corners on windows or buttons especially on a desktop os...it may look good on mobile but on desktop a bit rounded is better...

Oh right, I forgot to mention it, here you go : [link]

It's Windows Developer Preview, so it's a preview version of Windows 8, yes, but not even Beta.
Yes it's close from Windows 7, but I think it's good that way, Win 7 is a good OS to work with when Metro is not that good (for now) professionally.
(If only I had better teachers I should be able to speak German too, but I'm not
)
Yes it's close from Windows 7, but I think it's good that way, Win 7 is a good OS to work with when Metro is not that good (for now) professionally.
(If only I had better teachers I should be able to speak German too, but I'm not


Still too much but something like 150/200Mo LESS of ram with the same apps launched, so it's good nonetheless. I usually have between 950Mo and 1.1Go used with Foobar, Firefox and Vuze, but I haven't checked on startup yet.
The problems are the Metro apps that will stay open if you don't go end their task yourself in the task manager... (new and nice by the way) Which include Internet Explorer 10 and all its tabs.
I still have to make some "stress tests" when I found time, I will test with Photoshop in future days. My problem (in a way) is that it's installed on a small (40Go) hard drive, when the OS already needs 20Go for the install, plus I've tried to install some games, download, etc... so I don't have any place left for Photoshop right now
But on the other hand, it's installed on an almost 10 years old low Maxtor in IDE, and sincerely it runs really smoothly.
And there is also some bugs for now... So it may get even better in the future.
The problems are the Metro apps that will stay open if you don't go end their task yourself in the task manager... (new and nice by the way) Which include Internet Explorer 10 and all its tabs.
I still have to make some "stress tests" when I found time, I will test with Photoshop in future days. My problem (in a way) is that it's installed on a small (40Go) hard drive, when the OS already needs 20Go for the install, plus I've tried to install some games, download, etc... so I don't have any place left for Photoshop right now

But on the other hand, it's installed on an almost 10 years old low Maxtor in IDE, and sincerely it runs really smoothly.
And there is also some bugs for now... So it may get even better in the future.

I've just made a little test while eating, now that I've got almost the same essential things installed on Windows 7 and WDP.
After 10 minutes of a fresh start without doing anything, Win 7 used 1,00GB or RAM, after the same time with WDP : 730MB !
For now there's more bug than Windows 7 (well, I don't see any bug in Win 7 ^^) so it's hard to compare the two, and I know WDP has been installed very recently compared to Win 7, but it seems a bit faster. And note that my C: drive is 96% full, which might not help
After 10 minutes of a fresh start without doing anything, Win 7 used 1,00GB or RAM, after the same time with WDP : 730MB !
For now there's more bug than Windows 7 (well, I don't see any bug in Win 7 ^^) so it's hard to compare the two, and I know WDP has been installed very recently compared to Win 7, but it seems a bit faster. And note that my C: drive is 96% full, which might not help


Here it is : [link] 


I've been playing around with it myself and I can say it does offer up tons of opportunities for the future of Windows. That said it really does feel like the focus is tablets and touch devices- if you're on a conventional desktop you're simply jumping through hoops for things that should be (and were once) simple. The ShutDown/Restart example is a key one. Start-Shut Down has long been de facto; however now it's Charm Menu; Settings, then over to the other side of the screen for the Power Button, THEN finally you can hit Shut Down.
M$ have been making the same mistakes for a while now; trying so hard to dumb it all down for the users of today. What about the users who don't want to turn it on just to look at facebook? What about businesses? Can you really see anything productive being done in a "Metro-Style" "App"? Full-Screen immersive Word Processors are pointless when you can't have it alongside the pdf you're referencing and a webpage of info! Sure the kids'll love it- have their twitter and facebook in their... face! but what do the rest of us get; the same old desktop experience, but with poorer abilities to quickly launch the programs and tools we use and need!
I'm excited for it, don't get me wrong; and on a tablet- Great OS! But they really need to not forget their loyal desktop users, and definitely not forget their current place as a workstation / domain client OS!
M$ have been making the same mistakes for a while now; trying so hard to dumb it all down for the users of today. What about the users who don't want to turn it on just to look at facebook? What about businesses? Can you really see anything productive being done in a "Metro-Style" "App"? Full-Screen immersive Word Processors are pointless when you can't have it alongside the pdf you're referencing and a webpage of info! Sure the kids'll love it- have their twitter and facebook in their... face! but what do the rest of us get; the same old desktop experience, but with poorer abilities to quickly launch the programs and tools we use and need!
I'm excited for it, don't get me wrong; and on a tablet- Great OS! But they really need to not forget their loyal desktop users, and definitely not forget their current place as a workstation / domain client OS!

Good point, and that's also my fear since Windows 7, Windows is getting more and more user-friendly, more easy to use, but also go all the way to family usage and quick users (the one that play cards and go to facebook like you said).
With Windows 8 it's clear that it will be even worst on this side, I see it and I really don't like it too.
Now there's one thing that I understand. Being a designer, I see everyone around me that want a "professional" computer, and what do they choose ?... Apple !... Does anyone think Windows is a "professional" OS ? I don't think so. Does Microsoft should change that and make Windows more professional than MacOS, they already loose this fight
So I think they're on the right way, and they do what people will want in the future.
For now, people will fear the change as usual, but in 3 years they will love it. An OS has to be developed with touch today, that's for sure, and maybe in 5 years it will have to be developed for a camera like kinect, because it will be wanted.
I'm always amazed by the huge number of people that turn on their computer (sometimes even an iMac 27"...) only to play cards and check emails... Now all these users will have a huge square with their favourite app directly on the start screen, and it will be the same no matter what technology they use. That's what people want, that's what my father explain to me without even knowing the existence of Windows 8 ^^
For us, we'll have to learn the keyboard's shortcuts ^^ to start a search without touching the mouse for example, and quickly choosing the category, to sear an app or on the web directly. In a way it could also be the same as before, go click the start logo, don't mind the start screen and begin type the name of your app and it will be there.
About the apps, for now they're very basics, they look like phone app, but I believe some "desktop" app will appear and will be more interesting, independent developers will make better things than Microsoft for sure ^^
But of course Photoshop or Dreamweaver for example will never become Metro apps, so the desktop has to stay at least as good as Windows 7, and for now I'm satisfied with it.
I'm back on Windows 7 anyway, I'll wait for more about Windows 8, I believe it will continue to evolved in a good way.
With Windows 8 it's clear that it will be even worst on this side, I see it and I really don't like it too.
Now there's one thing that I understand. Being a designer, I see everyone around me that want a "professional" computer, and what do they choose ?... Apple !... Does anyone think Windows is a "professional" OS ? I don't think so. Does Microsoft should change that and make Windows more professional than MacOS, they already loose this fight

So I think they're on the right way, and they do what people will want in the future.
For now, people will fear the change as usual, but in 3 years they will love it. An OS has to be developed with touch today, that's for sure, and maybe in 5 years it will have to be developed for a camera like kinect, because it will be wanted.
I'm always amazed by the huge number of people that turn on their computer (sometimes even an iMac 27"...) only to play cards and check emails... Now all these users will have a huge square with their favourite app directly on the start screen, and it will be the same no matter what technology they use. That's what people want, that's what my father explain to me without even knowing the existence of Windows 8 ^^
For us, we'll have to learn the keyboard's shortcuts ^^ to start a search without touching the mouse for example, and quickly choosing the category, to sear an app or on the web directly. In a way it could also be the same as before, go click the start logo, don't mind the start screen and begin type the name of your app and it will be there.
About the apps, for now they're very basics, they look like phone app, but I believe some "desktop" app will appear and will be more interesting, independent developers will make better things than Microsoft for sure ^^
But of course Photoshop or Dreamweaver for example will never become Metro apps, so the desktop has to stay at least as good as Windows 7, and for now I'm satisfied with it.
I'm back on Windows 7 anyway, I'll wait for more about Windows 8, I believe it will continue to evolved in a good way.
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