In-Depth with the Windows 8 Consumer Preview
by Andrew Cunningham, Ryan Smith, Kristian Vättö & Jarred Walton on March 9, 2012 10:30 AM EST- Posted in
- Microsoft
- Operating Systems
- Windows
- Windows 8
Microsoft offers two different methods for installing the Consumer Preview: you can download an ISO that can then be burned to a DVD or copied to a USB stick, or you can use the new online installer to download the necessary files to any Windows Vista or Windows 7 PC. Both 32-bit and 64-bit installation versions are being offered to maintain compatibility with all hardware that can currently run Windows 7—this is likely (but not certain) to be the last 32-bit version of Windows, but we won't know that for sure until we start hearing about Windows 9.
Setup from a DVD or USB drive is virtually identical to Windows 7 Setup—you agree to the EULA, decide whether you want to do an upgrade or clean install, partition your disk how you want it, and after a couple of reboots you’re looking at a fresh copy of Windows. Windows 8 creates a 350MB system partition at startup by default, slightly larger than the 100MB partition created by Windows 7. In Windows 7, this partition was used to store some recovery tools and (if necessary) BitLocker bootstrap information, and it serves the same purpose here—one assumes the extra space is used to store the more complex recovery tools Windows 8 provides.
If you’d like to see what this process looks like, we’ve included an image gallery below.
Microsoft will surely sell physical install media for Windows 8, but they’ve also developed a new and quite excellent online installer for the new operating system. The tool combines Windows Setup along with the Windows Upgrade Advisor tool, which scans your computer for hardware and software and checks its compatibility with Windows 8, and the Windows Easy Transfer tool, which gives the user easy and granular controls for backing up and restoring files and settings—both of these tools were separate applications in Windows 7. The installer will then download a copy of the Windows install media (Microsoft says that this download can be up to 25% smaller than the ISO) and perform either an upgrade or a clean install of Windows. The amount of time this takes will vary depending on server load and connection speed, but Microsoft’s comically indecisive file copy dialog should be able to give you a ballpark estimate.
The new installer is able to upgrade OSes as old as Windows XP (which will preserve only user data), though users upgrading from Windows Vista or Windows 7 will also be given the option to preserve Windows settings and applications, respectively. The Windows 7 setup program also offered to save only user data when upgrading from XP.
Once downloaded, the installer can be used to upgrade the running copy of Windows (the “Install Now” option), but it can also be burned to a DVD drive or copied to a USB stick to create more traditional Windows install media (the “Install on another partition option”). For upgrade installs on supported operating systems, you can elect to save everything from your current installation (personal data, installed programs, Windows settings), just your personal files (most things in your user profile folder), or nothing at all. Another image gallery depicting this tool is provided below for your convenience.
Microsoft has made some additional under-the-hood changes to save time during upgrade installs—where older Windows installers would move user files to another area on the disk, perform the Windows install, and then move them back, Windows 8’s installer uses “hard links” to “move” the files on the disk without actually moving the files physically. The graph below, provided by Microsoft, shows the kind of time reductions you can expect with an upgrade install.
OOBE and Windows Live ID
The Windows 8 Out of Box Experience (OOBE) is a touch-friendly version of what it has been since Vista—it serves as a first-time setup process that makes you give your computer a name, connect to a network, and create a user account.
That last part is where Windows 8 breaks from the past: you can still create local user accounts, but Microsoft really wants you to sign in using your Windows Live ID. Windows will then create a user profile with that username (the actual user folder that was created for my Live ID used its first three letters, a period, and three zeros to make “and.000”—your mileage may vary), and can sync various settings including your lock screen picture, desktop background, bookmarks, browser history, Windows Explorer settings, and a few others to the cloud and between Windows 8 and Windows on ARM devices.
A new Control Panel gives users granular control over exactly what is synced, and IT administrators will also be able to use new group policies to determine whether their users can link their domain accounts with Windows Live IDs (and the kinds of data the users can sync). Data synced to Microsoft's servers is encrypted using SSL/TLS, and new devices associated with your Windows Live ID must be confirmed via the Windows Live web portal before they can access your sync data. If you choose not to do any of this, local and domain accounts will work pretty much as they always have. If you choose to create a local account, you can always choose to associate it with a Windows Live ID later on in the Settings menu.
Once again, we’ve included a handy screenshot gallery for Windows 8’s Out of Box Experience below.
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PopinFRESH007 - Sunday, April 15, 2012 - link
So you are saying Microsoft should have made OSX Lion, but without all the smooth animation nice looking graphics.#1 Full Screen Apps, and they do work great. Also mission control is very fast to switch between programs. When you make a program full screen, it creates it own virtual desktop space so you can fluidly move from your windowed programs and those you like to focus on with the full screen.
#2 I don't know why you would want to force users to change what they like about customizing their desktop just to push a separate disjointed UI.
And the rest of what you said, Apple has managed to do exactly what you described. You can test your programs extensively in Xcode (just like you can in Visual Studio) before submitting them to the AppStore. Apple also thought of the internal software developed by companies and they have an enterprise program that allows you to distribute your private software internally for iOS devices. This isn't needed with OSX yet because it's not a completely walled garden. Watch the video, and compare what you were describing to the information on the OSX Lion page.
http://www.apple.com/macosx/whats-new/#video-lion
Wardrop - Saturday, March 10, 2012 - link
On the page with the "Working with a mouse" section, you probably mention the inefficiencies of the "action bar" that appears at the bottom of the screen when you right-click some things, which replaces a traditional context menu. The biggest problem is that you need to move your mouse a lot further than you otherwise would need to with a context menu. If this remains, I know for sure that this will annoy the crap out of me, especially on a larger screen - it's just one of many examples where a touch-optimised interface has come at a sacrifice to pointer-based devices.Touch optimisation should be complementary to a traditional pointer-optimised interface. I don't understand why microsoft have been so careless with their implementation of a unified touch/pointer interface.
beginner99 - Saturday, March 10, 2012 - link
...is that at least for home use I think it could live and at work we are still using xp and will be upgraded to win 7 sometime this year. Its a safe guess win 7 will be around at least as long as XP.akse - Saturday, March 10, 2012 - link
"Start screen serves as a much more configurable and useful application launcher than the tiny Start menu ever was."I disagree. I don't need a fullscreen splash search feature for the software parser to parse through the stuff I type to the search field.
I probably wouldn't need that start menu either, just a field to type in by pressing win-button and then some list of stuff it finds.
Start menu as an application shortcut as of now in win7 is pretty ok too. It's not too messy and you can easily hide some extra stuff you don't use much under some folders (tools, software etc.). Sometimes i just browse it with mouse if I don't remember what I had installed.
Also you can pin your favourites there or quick bar.
B3an - Saturday, March 10, 2012 - link
You can pin anything the Win 8's Start screen.And searching is far better, you can see way more results. On my 30" monitors i get up to 150 results, with large easy to recognise icons. Compare that to a handful in the tiny cluttered Start menu.
You're just another dinosaur who cant deal with change.
Zaranthos - Saturday, March 10, 2012 - link
If Microsoft has the same attitude as you, insulting their long time customers who don't like change they don't even need, then they'll lose those customers and their money.I could make a full page list of improvements that could be made to Windows 7 and almost none of them will be in Windows 8 or probably Windows 9 for that matter. Trying to shove a new UI down peoples throats won't work out well for Microsoft.
JohnUSA - Saturday, March 10, 2012 - link
I am not a pessimist, but I hate Windows 8 with mouse and keyboard experience.I really believe that Microsoft should have released 2 versions, one for tablet/touch screen users and the second for current desktop/laptop users. The desktop experience is not acceptable to me, so I will never buy Windows 8. Microsoft should go back to the drawing board and re-write Windows 8 just for mouse and keyboard use for users like me, which we are in the millions and the majority of users. I do not want Metro as it makes my life hell.
My demand is simple, I want a good and efficient OS experience, and so far Windows 8 is not providing it.
My prediction is that stupid and stubborn Microsoft is going to be a big loser as many users like me will not touch this abysmal and irritating OS.
dduncan - Saturday, March 10, 2012 - link
in reply to hardware the acer w500 runs the 32bit W8 very good. Message: I am writing this hoping it will find its way to someone that will listen. I use my 7 year old granddaughter as my main ginipig for this experiment but I also took windows to work on a tablet and a small pc for people to try and I tested my wife and neighbor. Here are my results. For myself I use an Iphone (work supplied) a gaming pc at home along with a ThinkPad and a MacBook pro also I have a ipad 2, an Acer a500 and w500 (with windows 8). My experience is windows needs much better track pad support that's the only place a mac beets the window laptop machines. This on a laptop is 80% of my input. Windows 8 tablet is great much better than an ipad and android just sucks. On windows 8 I implore you to do three things. Easily let people chose what desktop to log into. Put the start button back. Make a new start button next to it to get into metro start menu. My reasons are as follows. First my neighbor he is retired, wealthy and smart. Loves the tablet and will buy one. He will not switch to a metro desktop. Can't figure out the business move behind you decision. This is coming from a successful railroad man. My wife uses the windows phone 7 so the windows 8 tablet was very natural for her she liked it very much but prefers her ipad because of weight which I'm sure will change buy the release date and she will probably switch to windows 8 tablet with the right hardware. On the desktop she will not use the metro u.i. even though she knows it. She is a secretary and very fast on a pc but the metro u.i. slows her down to do work. At work everyone loved the tablet with windows 8 so much so that our office manager which is a tech junkie like me ordered the Acer w500 and will have me put windows 8 on it next week. However everyone said no to a windows pc with metro u.i. and no start button. I can't emphasize enough no start button is a deal breaker. Our office always upgrades to the newest operating system. The ribbon in office was enough for them to all learn and there not about to learn a new interface. The big experiment my granddaughter. I let her use whatever she wants and never influence her on her choice. This can be nerve racking when a 7 year old is walking around without a care in the world and a five hundred tablet. She uses any phone android (her mom's) windows 7 (her grandmas) and my Iphone. She is proficient on all and shows us some tricks. It seems a phone is very much a tool for her so she doesn't care what type it is. On laptops she only likes the ThinkPad. I don't know why but she doesn't like to use a cheap Toshiba laptop I got her and she doesn't like the MacBook. On the tablet is what's most interesting. She loves the Ipad, hates android, and jumped right on the windows 8 tablet. In the few days she's got to use it. It seems as though it's her favorite by far. However on the desktop she won't use the metro u.i. and asked why they (you) would take away the way she gets to her stuff. In closing it is my beliefs that if you let internal politics and not consumers decide what the customer wants you will have windows 7 for ten + years like xp and a great tablet os. Very few upgrades and if people have to learn an operating system from scratch mac sales will go up and pc sales down. Very few offices will upgrade. Please just do three things to get a truly NO COMPROMISE (your new slogan) experience. LET PEOPLE CHOSE WHICH DESKTOP TO START ON. PUT THE START BUTTON BACK. MAKE ANOTHER START BUTTON NEXT TO IT TO GO TO THE METRO U.I.SINCERELY: David Duncan
Jyrkz - Saturday, March 10, 2012 - link
first of all id like to point out that I'm a AMD-ATI fan boy, but im not one of does AMD boys that have anger management issues:D i do realize that intel is pwning amd in CPU VS CPU. Sad but true.But AMD has its own GPU(+APU if you know what i mean ), thats where intel will be blown away.
This year ARM will arrive as well. I really hope AMD will beat ARM cause it would really suck if AMD was 3rd in CPU ;).
Anyway, the review was nice! keep up the good work and you all be seeing me around here :D
Pantsu - Saturday, March 10, 2012 - link
"For multi-monitor users, Microsoft provides some extra-wide wallpapers that can stretch across multiple screens, but there’s still no way to use a different wallpaper for each desktop, something that OS X has supported forever."Actually I think it can, at least my W8 desktop has 3 different wallpapers on my monitors.
http://i.hardware.fi/storage/pictures/1024/eyefini...