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back to article Windows 8 unleashed! Midnight launch for world+dog

Microsoft has finally launched its new touchy-feely Windows 8 and Windows 8 RT operating systems, along with grandly opening its Windows app store; they'll all be available beginning 12:01am on Friday in a rolling rollout that's likely to mean a minute after your midnight, wherever you are on God's green earth. "Windows 8 is a …

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  1. Anonymous Coward
    Meh

    Another day another dollar

    And another try by MS. Let's see what happens. We will have a pretty good idea how this OS will fare once people have been playing with it for a couple months. My expectations are....well......VERY low.

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    1. Anonymous Coward
      Reply Icon
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Another day another dollar

      It's just Windows 95 all over again:

      Oh noes....it looks totally different I hate it.

      Now everybody is crying to keep an interface that hasn't really changed since Win95. I bet that come the next interface change in a few years people will be saying exactly the same thing all over again - I want my Win 8 interface back.

      Nothing much changes

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      1. Lennart Sorensen
        Reply Icon
        Thumb Down

        Re: Another day another dollar

        Well no. There is a difference.

        In the past every new user interface thing Microsoft did to windows was pretty much an improvement. Not sure about ribbons yet, but they are not awful.

        The Windows 8 changes on the other hand are awful. It is unusable. Everything has become confusing, difficult to use, and much more effort to do what you are used to doing.

        Windows Vista was: Nice interface, shame about the performance issues.

        Windows 8 is: Nice performance, shame about the interface issues.

        That's a huge problem. I hope Windows 7 stays for sale for a LONG time. I hope Windows 8 last no longer than Vista did when the replacement comes out.

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        3. Anonymous Coward
          Reply Icon
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: Another day another dollar

          "The Windows 8 changes on the other hand are awful. It is unusable. Everything has become confusing, difficult to use, and much more effort to do what you are used to doing."

          My experience - irrespective of any personal likes/dislikes for Win 8 - is that the Metro interface was a doddle to use. But where I was unsure I just swore then poked and dragged all over the place until something unexpected or seemingly random happened. After about 45 minutes I was quite satisfied and using it quite happily. The kids had no such problems. I wouldn't put it on anything up from a tablet though.

          The one thing I do like about it is the look of the UI. The 'rounded corners and glossy icon' look (as seen everywhere for an eternity) is old, tired and boring and is about as exciting and aesthetically pleasing as a dose of gonorrhoea, so in this respect it's nice to see something different

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          1. Lennart Sorensen
            Reply Icon

            Re: Another day another dollar

            I think the new UI is ugly. It reminds me of lotus notes from many years ago (which also had giant solid colour boxes and was an atrocious user interface). And if you don't have a touch device (and really how many of those have you seen around on a desktop), then the interface is just plain clumsy. The simple test the register posted today quite accurately represents exactly what I would expect to see happen. It is a confusing mess of an interface and clearly not well thought out. The primary interface MUST be designed for the primary input devices of the majority of users, which is a mouse and keyboard. Microsoft can add new stuff to make touch interfaces easier to use, but they have to keep the majority of users happy, and windows 8 won't do that. The tabletpc features in vista (and to some extent XP tablet version) worked quite well and in no way interfered with using it without the stylus. That worked.

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      2. Goat Jam
        Reply Icon

        Re: It's just Windows 95 all over again

        There is a difference. When '95 came out, computers were still a new and not well understood beast. Computer users then did not have long entrenched usage patterns and expectations.

        Nearly twenty years later things are much different.

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        1. Anonymous Coward
          Reply Icon
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: It's just Windows 95 all over again

          "Nearly twenty years later things are much different." Somebody bitter about not completeing a certain card game still!

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    2. Anonymous Coward
      Reply Icon
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Another day another dollar

      Did you even watch the presentation? if you did you wouldn't be so negative. It looks like a very good hardware design and a lot more powerful than Android or iOS tablets.

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      1. Dan 55 Silver badge
        Reply Icon
        Windows

        Re: Another day another dollar

        I should hope that desktops are a lot more powerful than Android or iOS tablets.

        Shame that the GUI for desktops is being reduced to something as powerful as Android or iOS tablets.

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      2. RICHTO
        Reply Icon
        Mushroom

        Re: Another day another dollar

        Yep - Sunspider Java test is over twice as fast on Windows RT on Surface as on the iPad 3!

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        1. Richard Plinston
          Reply Icon

          Re: Another day another dollar

          > Sunspider Java test is over twice as fast on Windows RT on Surface as on the iPad 3!

          We need to add reading problems to your list of inadequacies. No review claims _over_ twice as fast.

          """That's nearly twice as fast as the latest iPad and nearly as quick as our record holder, the iPhone 5"""

          http://www.engadget.com/2012/10/23/microsoft-surface-rt-review/

          """The Surface notched a solid 347 on the Peacekeeper browser benchmark, which is just slightly lower than the iPad's mark of 376 but better than the Vivo Tab RT's 338. However, it took just 1,037 milliseconds to complete the Sunspider JavaScript test, far quicker than Safari's time of 1,696 on the iPad."""

          http://www.laptopmag.com/review/tablets/microsoft-surface-rt.aspx

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        2. calumg
          Reply Icon

          Re: Another day another dollar

          So in other words, due to Windows bloat, you need twice as powerful hardware to deliver the same kind of experience. What about iPad4?

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        3. Robert Carnegie Silver badge
          Reply Icon

          Re: Another day another dollar

          "Sunspider Java test is over twice as fast on Windows RT on Surface as on the iPad 3!"

          Java isn't available on Windows RT, or on iPad 3 - as far as I know. So I assumed you were joking, but I see that you've confused Javascript with Java. A lot of non-professional people do that, but in that case, benchmarks aren't really for you.

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      3. Avatar of They
        Reply Icon
        Thumb Down

        Re: Another day another dollar

        Hardware design is irrelevant other than does it work without overheating, can I hold it. Camera's and SD cards are only imnportant if you use them, but every user has to put up with the interface.

        IF the surface JUST had the stupid tiles / hubs / icons / metro thing. Then is might be okay, but to have both is the problem for me. The version of win8 I used had 3 installs of internet explorer (metro, 32bit, 64bit), to shutdown was four menus in two different formats. that is the problem, it has no sense of itself and fails to be both 'new and innovating' or 'supporting the old interface' (lack of start button) That is what is crud about win8.

        And having windows that change their colour depending on your background is just silly.

        I don't buy a desktop or laptop based on whether I can skate board and I don't use web cams, I use it so I can play games and work in 'office' with as little amount of effort as possible.

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  2. Gr0nk

    - Mr Ballmer, you remind me of a twat!

    - What twat?

    - The twat with the power?

    - What power?

    - The power of Hoodoo doo-doo

    - Hoodoo doo-doo?

    - You do.

    - Do what?

    - Remind me of a twat!

    - What twat?

    ...and so on ad infinitum...

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  3. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    In before

    the Register's committed bunch of jihadists come in and say how horrible everything Microsoft have ever done or ever will is.

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    1. Steve Davies 3 Silver badge
      Reply Icon
      Holmes

      Re: In before

      the Register's committed bunch of jihadists come in and say how horrible everything <insert name of company in article is about> have ever done or ever will is.

      There fixed it fo you.

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    2. qwarty
      Reply Icon

      Re: In before

      At least we don't need to socialise with the miserable old gits who take pleasure from putting a negative slant on everything they see. Unfortunately you weren't here quick enough to post before the low esteem/expectations guy and the twat commentator.

      Positives. Windows 8 and RT have already stimulated some creativity in new notebook and tablet designs. Apple have countered by bringing forward the x2 performance new new iPad. No idea what Google have lined up for Monday. At last there seems to be some competition returning to the PC business less of of the same old, looking forward to what the fresh thinking brings in 2013.

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      1. sabroni Silver badge
        Reply Icon
        Happy

        Re: In before

        Optimism? Are you new here?

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    3. hplasm
      Reply Icon
      Windows

      Re: In before

      Late to the party aren't you?

      Must be Microsoft.

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    4. RyokuMas
      Reply Icon
      FAIL

      Re: In before

      ... and that's just the reporters: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/10/25/reg_kb_surviving_windows/

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  4. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Someone please tell me why MS never included an EXPERT / NOVICE toggle button in the windows UI?!

    Question:

    Someone please tell me why MS never included an EXPERT / NOVICE toggle button in the windows UI?

    I can't be the only one baffled by this????

    #1. I'm so bored expending wasteful energy helping out girlfriends, friends and neighbors every time they buy a new PC problem or have a problem. WHY DO I ALWAYS HAVE TO :-

    A. Uncheck hide extensions for known file types.

    B. Change all default file folder views to DETAILS view!

    C. Show hidden files and folders.

    D. Hide unused folders in the left-pane of explorer and expand necessary ones etc.

    E. Disable bland security notifications and endless tray icon balloon notifications.

    F. Change System settings to 'Adjust for Best Performance'.

    #2. And why is there no toggle button for a Safe PC Mode where the following are all disabled :-

    A. All SCHEDULED TASKS including Facebook Voice, Google, Adobe, Java Updaters.

    B. All unnecessary SERVICES especially the most hacked: VNC Server, MS SQL, Remote Access RDP.

    C. All Registry Run / Runonce key commands.

    D. All browser add-ons & plug-ins in all installed browsers especially the most cracked: Flash & Java!!!

    #3. Why don't large MS customers force them to include a switch to revert W8 to W7 mode? After all 3rd parties have already coded shell revisions. It seems strange that something so fundamental is always left to 3rd parties to do! If this flexibility existed then I'm sure windows would sell out. Instead MS keeps shipping its software with the same its-our-way-or-the-highway arrogant attitude. I'd love to see MS staff getting calls late in the night to fix their neighbors PC!

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    1. Anonymous Coward
      Reply Icon
      Anonymous Coward

      The title is too long. Re: Someone please tell me...

      Upvoted, but re 2A: People still have Java on Windows desktops?

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      1. NB
        Reply Icon

        Re: The title is too long. Someone please tell me...

        Some of use do play minecraft ;) Whilst I hate java with a passion most people can only aspire to, there are (unfortunately) still some quite decent applications that are written in it. I've worked to eliminate java based programs from my desktop so that now I'm only left with minecraft and I've disabled it in my web browsers but it's still there. Lurking like some kind of hideous ghost of christmas past.

        2 1
      2. Anonymous Coward
        Reply Icon
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: The title is too long. Someone please tell me...

        1. Keepvid.com for saving YouTube vids as Firefox FLASH-Saver Add-ons don't always work!

        2. 360 Photos Viewers. Many seem to be written in Java?!

        Re: 'The title is too long'... Agree, but there's no longer an 'edit' option?!

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    2. sabroni Silver badge
      Reply Icon

      Someone please tell me why MS never included an EXPERT / NOVICE toggle button in the windows UI?!

      I can't believe the massive number of upvotes for the guy who's first impulse when asked to help someone with a pc is configure the whole machine exactly like his work pc. Your gran doesn't need hidden files to show, or file extents or most of the other stuff you're moaning about. If you just fixed the problem without reconfiguring the machine it'd take a lot less time...

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      1. Gr0nk
        Reply Icon

        Re: Someone please...and so on and why is the title now too long?

        @ sabroni

        He was suggesting a toggle button to do it all at once. Very good suggestion, don't know why it never occured to me. But in case you don't know, when we - probably most of us - work on various significant others' machines, we want to see file extensions, hidden and system files, all folders etc etc. You appear to have totally missed the meaning of the comment. You toggle expert features on. Fix machine. Toggle expert features back off. Perhaps you thought it was something to do with duffle coats?

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        1. Anonymous Coward
          Reply Icon
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: Someone please...and so on and why is the title now too long?

          Thanks for acknowledging!

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        2. sabroni Silver badge
          Reply Icon
          Unhappy

          Re: He was suggesting a toggle button to do it all at once.

          Well maybe if he had your command of language I'd have understood what he was on about... I got sidetracked by the massive winge...

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      4. Anonymous Coward
        Reply Icon
        Anonymous Coward

        If you just fixed the problem without reconfiguring the machine it'd take a lot less time

        Mmmh, thanks for the knee-jerk comment. Sorry but have to question the depth of your troubleshooting skills.. Its not about customization its about the lengths you have to go to sometimes to troubleshoot windows problems. Got asked to fix a PC once that was inaccessible just after windows start-up. The machine was used by kids of the household for Java / Flash games and randomly browsing the web. So a malware / virus hit was probable.

        The problem was diagnosing it from the sheer amount of Updaters, Scheduled Tasks and Run-key apps launched simultaneously at startup causing a system hang. In short I needed to temporally disable everything non-essential, but leave networking on. In the and, it turned out to be a Symantec update that had turned rogue and crushed crucial windows DLL's!

        Logging in using an Expert Toggle mode would have meant 15 minutes of work with help from Sysinternals Promon and the MS Depends app. But with no Expert mode it meant hours of painfully renaming files in a command window using educated guesswork.... A colleague of mine once designed an Expert Toggle mode for our firm. It worked well and saved countless hours of unnecessary labor! But it would take someone like Mark Russinovich @ MS to write an all encompassing Tool that worked everywhere every-time for everybody!

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        1. sabroni Silver badge
          Reply Icon

          Re: If you just fixed the problem without reconfiguring the machine it'd take a lot less time

          Tell them to take it back to the shop. Job done.

          0 1
          1. Anonymous Coward
            Reply Icon
            Anonymous Coward

            Re: If you just fixed the problem without reconfiguring the machine it'd take a lot less time

            Yeah family like it a lot when you tell them that and Girlfriends even more!

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            1. Anonymous Coward
              Reply Icon
              Anonymous Coward

              Re: Yeah family like it a lot when you tell them that

              It's called tough love!

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  5. AceBitbucket

    Boring

    Yawn. Wake me when something important is announced.

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    1. Mage Silver badge
      Reply Icon

      Re: Boring

      yes, this is a bit meh ...

      Unless it totally tanks. That would be amusing. But as yet I'll largely ignore it.

      RiscOS release for Raspberry Pi is more interesting.

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  6. lardheppus
    Windows

    I can hardly wait to not get it.

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    1. Anonymous Coward
      Reply Icon
      Anonymous Coward

      Why wait?

      I've already not got it. I'm also toying with the idea of not getting another.

      21 0
  7. Primus Secundus Tertius

    Is there an emulator?

    Does Windows8/ARM have an emulator available? On which one could load non-ms applications.

    Or has MSFT forbidden such things?

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    1. hplasm
      Reply Icon
      Happy

      Re: Is there an emulator?

      I hear it has a Windows emulator- well hidden though.

      1 0
  8. Stephen Channell
    Flame

    Windows 8, the first Microsoft OS since DOS that needs a keyboard

    I have a Microsoft Partner licence that included Windows-8, so I put in on the touch-screen computer in the kitchen. My kids moved the wireless keyboard because “it was in the way”.. but that’s fine ‘cus Windows-8 is touch oriented, and Windows-7 worked really quiet well without mouse or keyboard, but…

    This utter, utter, shite software is the first Microsoft OS for 25 years that actually requires a keyboard! Accidentally open a Metro-app on a touch-screen PC without a keyboard and your only option is to hit the power button (or go and hunt-down a keyboard).

    I thought the biggest change with Windows-8 was that my kids would play Angry Birds, but no, the biggest change is having to tape spare batteries to the back of the screen to be sure that the ESSENTIAL keyboard will always work.

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    1. Lennart Sorensen
      Reply Icon

      Re: Windows 8, the first Microsoft OS since DOS that needs a keyboard

      Oh you just drag the metro app off the bottom of the screen to close it. Obviously. :)

      And that is part of why I don't want to deal with any friend or family member moving the Windows 8. it is so completely impossible to know what to do by looking at it.

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      1. Anonymous Coward
        Reply Icon
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Windows 8, the first Microsoft OS since DOS that needs a keyboard

        It's designed more as a touch screen OS. Running it on a non-touch screen device and you're not really the target audience.

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        1. Ken Jongsma
          Reply Icon

          Re: Windows 8, the first Microsoft OS since DOS that needs a keyboard

          On the contrary... This is at least the third attempt that MS has made to break into the tablet/smart phone market. It's very clear that they want to leverage their domination of the desktop market (which is static at best and probably declining in the future) and use that position to try to get into tablets and smart phones.

          I loaded Win 8 RTM on a virtual machine a few months ago and deleted it shortly after. Using 8 on a desktop machine provides zero advantages over 7. There's already been a number of stories about how business buyers are going to pass on 8. With the give away upgrade pricing you can expect lots of press releases about how successful the launch was, but a few months from now it will be clear that 8 is going nowhere.

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          1. RICHTO
            Reply Icon
            Mushroom

            Re: Windows 8, the first Microsoft OS since DOS that needs a keyboard

            Windows 8 boots and shutsdown faster, is more secure, uses less battery, and is much faster than Windows 7 - for instance file transfers, direct-X, etc. I would say thats enough advantages to upgrade, but there are lots more too....

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        2. Stephen Channell
          Reply Icon
          Facepalm

          Re: Windows 8, the first Microsoft OS since DOS that needs a keyboard

          Clearly somebody didn't read the "I put in on the touch-screen computer " before commenting "you're not really the target audience".. because.. err.. actually yes, my touch-screen IS the target audience!

          Sure I could do the flick from the right of the screen but my PC's got a border round the touch screen so I have to jam my finger into the border before flicking, except that don't work unless you've got no nails (1cm long & it don't work) and the patience of Sinclair ZX81 owner.. so utter, utter shite.

          her's a thing, my PC screen is twenty-five times the size of my (great) WinPhone screen, but the phone's the one that makes space for a home icon on the screen. not since the paper-clip has Microsoft done such a stupid thing with the PC UI.. utter utter shite

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    2. Fuzz
      Reply Icon

      Re: Windows 8, the first Microsoft OS since DOS that needs a keyboard

      To get back to the desktop you just drag the charms bar in from the right, hit start then choose desktop.

      or

      drag the window swticher in from the left side of the screen which lets you toggle back to the desktop.

      It's not obvious but there's certainly no need for a keyboard.

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