Windows 8 entering prerelease in "coming months"

[etdragon]

Windows 8 entering prerelease in "coming months".

[newsimage]http://static.rankone.nl/images_posts/2011/08/DNU712.jpg[/newsimage]Windows 8 is about to launch itself into prerelease state. Yesterday, Microsoft President Steve Sinofsky posted a blog about the new operating system indicating that the prerelease version will be making its way to some folks “over the coming months.”


Read the full article here: [http://www.myce.com/news/windows-8-entering-prerelease-in-coming-months-50201/](http://www.myce.com/news/windows-8-entering-prerelease-in-coming-months-50201/)


Please note that the reactions from the complete site will be synched below.

[ivid]

Great, just as Windows 7 gets some decent market share.

Really, what does MS have to offer with Windows 8? They don’t know how to innovate, so it will just be another Mac O/S rip off. I know, it will be more tablet friendly. Who cares. Why market a whole new O/S version for the PC platform for the sake of making a decent tablet O/S at the same time ? (MS has stated that mobile/tablet O/S is a big reason they want to get Windows 8 out ASAP)

Haven’t they learned from XP that once people like the O/S they don’t want to upgrade unless they really really need to ?

[paulw2]

Win 8 will most likely have more eye candy and remove even more user friendly features as they did with Win 7…

[mciahel]

[QUOTE=ivid;2600259]Great, just as Windows 7 gets some decent market share. [/quote]Hm. MS business model is to sell software
So, something new has to leave the factory to keep the wheel spinning.

Really, what does MS have to offer with Windows 8?
Windows 8. Security updates. Support for the consumer versions of Windows 7 ends in Jan 2015 (only one year after XP), see http://support.microsoft.com/lifecycle/?p1=14498
Business versions last longer, support wise.

Haven’t they learned from XP that once people like the O/S they don’t want to upgrade unless they really really need to ?
They have learned. Thus the revised support time frame.

Michael

[Sean]

I wonder if the infamous good-bad cycle will continue for the average user:

[ul]
[li]Windows 95 - Good[/li][li]Windows 98 - Problems[/li][li]Windows 98SE - Better[/li][li]Windows ME - Problems[/li][li]Windows XP - Good[/li][li]Windows Vista - Problems[/li][li]Windows 7 - Good[/li][li]Windows 8 - Let’s see :)[/li][/ul]

For me, this cycle hiccupped. Windows 95 and ME worked pretty well, although ME was a resource hog. Windows 98 and to a less extent 98SE regularly crashed, most often while writing a CD (back when CD-R’s were £1+ a piece and my 2x burner took 40 minutes to write a full CD). Windows 2000 and XP were both pretty rock solid for me, much more so than 95 & ME. I’ve seen nothing but problems with Vista, including SP1. Vista SP2 is pretty solid though and less resource hungry than Vista SP1 and without an SP. Windows 7 is rock solid for me and more so than my experience with Windows XP.

[olddancer]

If 8 follows the pattern of Bloatware of Microsoft, Minimum requirements;
16 gigs of ram (remember when a 1 gig drive was too huge to fill?)
3.2 ghz 6 core cpu
1 gig of video ram
100 gigs free space on your drive
Unlimited funds for hardware upgrades.

[rexroach]

Vista SP2 is rock solid before that not so much

XP is to open to being attacked by design so unless you are confident to can keep a lid on it avoid.

Windows 7 runs well most of the time but if there is a problem seems to be less revoverable than earlier os’s (i miss repair install)

[Dee]

[QUOTE=olddancer;2600397]If 8 follows the pattern of Bloatware of Microsoft, Minimum requirements;
16 gigs of ram (remember when a 1 gig drive was too huge to fill?)
3.2 ghz 6 core cpu
1 gig of video ram
100 gigs free space on your drive
Unlimited funds for hardware upgrades.[/QUOTE]Windows 7 will run reasonable well on an Atom with 2GB of ram and a 30GB HDD, and runs very well on a E6600 with 2GB of ram.
Windows 8 is said to require no more resources than Win7, but that doesn’t mean I will update to Win8 when it becomes available

[alan1476]

I am very happy with the 2 Windows 7 64bit Ultimate and the 1 Windows 7 64bit Pro that I have, I don’t think I will be updating to Windows 8 anytime soon.

[Wombler]

[QUOTE=alan1476;2600814]I am very happy with the 2 Windows 7 64bit Ultimate and the 1 Windows 7 64bit Pro that I have, I don’t think I will be updating to Windows 8 anytime soon.[/QUOTE]

Same here Alan although I’m only running the Home Premium 64bit edition.

I can’t see me upgrading though unless they come up with some really dramatic or killer new features but I think Windows 8 will be more of an evolutionary change rather than a revolutionary one.

[B]Wombler[/B]

[alan1476]

[QUOTE=Wombler;2600835]Same here Alan although I’m only running the Home Premium 64bit edition.

I can’t see me upgrading though unless they come up with some really dramatic or killer new features but I think Windows 8 will be more of an evolutionary change rather than a revolutionary one.

[B]Wombler[/B][/QUOTE] I think that Microsoft better sell all the Operating Systems they can before Google comes out with their free OS and puts them out of business.

[mciahel]

[QUOTE=alan1476;2600814]I am very happy with the 2 Windows 7 64bit Ultimate and the 1 Windows 7 64bit Pro that I have, I don’t think I will be updating to Windows 8 anytime soon.[/QUOTE]

[QUOTE=Wombler;2600835]Same here Alan although I’m only running the Home Premium 64bit edition.

I can’t see me upgrading though unless they come up with some really dramatic or killer new features[/QUOTE]You both will upgrade. MS has already determined that the consumer versions (including Home Premium and Ultimate) won’t get any updates after January 2015.

Michael

[Dee]

[QUOTE=mciahel;2600887]You both will upgrade. MS has already determined that the consumer versions (including Home Premium and Ultimate) won’t get any updates after January 2015.

Michael[/QUOTE]aha, but Windows 10 will be out by then.

[mciahel]

[QUOTE=Dee;2600889]aha, but Windows 10 will be out by then. :)[/QUOTE]
Hm. You mean, they will skip Win9? Good point.

Michael

[Wombler]

[QUOTE=mciahel;2600887]You both will upgrade. MS has already determined that the consumer versions (including Home Premium and Ultimate) won’t get any updates after January 2015.

Michael[/QUOTE]

I meant in relation to my existing hardware.

In all likelihood I’ll probably have a new machine before 2015.

[B]Wombler[/B]

[mciahel]

So you will upgrade hard- and software
Hehe

[Wombler]

[QUOTE=mciahel;2601050]So you will upgrade hard- and software
Hehe [/QUOTE]

Yep!

That’s the natural progression of things here for me.

I tend to use the hardware I have for quite a while then eventually the desire to upgrade everything becomes overwhelming.

ATM I’ve only got used to Windows 7 and Windows 8 doesn’t seem to offer any Earth shattering improvements.

Having said that though we’ll not have a true idea of what the final feature set will be until it’s close to being released.

Who knows, I might even change my mind!

[B]Wombler[/B]

[AllanDeGroot]

[QUOTE=rexroach;2600799]Vista SP2 is rock solid before that not so much

XP is to open to being attacked by design so unless you are confident to can keep a lid on it avoid.

Windows 7 runs well most of the time but if there is a problem seems to be less revoverable than earlier os’s (i miss repair install)[/QUOTE]

I’ve never bothered with “repair installs”

My personal motto has always been
"there is no backup like a cloned copy of an OS installation
on a spare hard drive"
(this is actually my second motto right after “Hard drives are cheap”)

With this you can be back up and running in about as long as it takes you to locate a #2 phillips screwdriver to swap out your system drive.

I ALWAYS have a clone of my OS that is less than 7-10days old
(and favorites and settings are backed up seperately as well)

as for windows 8? I’m sure there will be a learning curve, but the other thing I see is that the prices on Windws 7 is already falling.

At this point I’ll only buy Win7pro. because I’ve never yet paid $200 for a single OS installer…

But I’m nearly the poster child for “NOT an early adopter”

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