Database Users

Windows Phone 7.0

http://gizmodo.com/5471805/windows-phone-7-series-everything-is-different-now

As the Gizmodo article says on multitasking:
1. It has the ability.
2. we going to make sure that 3rd parties can bring their value to the user even when the app is not running. Live tiles are an example. Data feeds in the hubs are another example.
Which means that the multitasking will be different from what we know. As an example we now know the task manager and as on XP we now the window is back or minimized. On this only the core of the app will be active and will send the data to another UI (Tile) or to the HUB...
How free this will be??? We will see.
But if they limit it and it's not hackable than I will buy an iphone or Go to android...
They can't build a such strict OS when they have all these different HW platforms that need OEM SW on the BKGRD... How they will solve this??? Not to mention Mobile Phone providers...
So i believe we all panicking without a reason. But it's good in case they had Multitasking off... they have time to turn it on after seeing all these...
Didn't they made a survey??? They only asked iphone user's??? tststs
I don't think they want another VISTA on their Hand's...

Ah well, it'll never work properly on our HD's so we will all need new devices for Win7Mob.

Plus apps from WM 6.1 and 6.5 will not work

wont work?
Hi, I dont see any reason why it wont work on our HD's, there may be performance issues but it should work, you underestimate the power of the XDA cook...!
also, Later reports suggest that all apps will be backward compatible albeit with a UI change.
dont rule out win7 yet...!

stoolzo said:
Hi, I dont see any reason why it wont work on our HD's, there may be performance issues but it should work, you underestimate the power of the XDA cook...!
also, Later reports suggest that all apps will be backward compatible albeit with a UI change.
dont rule out win7 yet...!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The HD doesnt have a capacitative screen, required for Win7Mob. Slow cpu, and slow flash ram under minimum spec again.
I'm sure a light version of 7 could be ported, but it would be so slow, there wouldn't be any point in it.

stuntdouble said:
The HD doesnt have a capacitative screen, required for Win7Mob. Slow cpu, and slow flash ram under minimum spec again.
I'm sure a light version of 7 could be ported, but it would be so slow, there wouldn't be any point in it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
only time will tell

"Which means that the multitasking will be different from what we know."
which sounds very much like notifcations like iphones do which is not really multi-tasking

Rudegar said:
"Which means that the multitasking will be different from what we know."
which sounds very much like notifcations like iphones do which is not really multi-tasking
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, that night be a problem for some people, there may be ways around this though, we'll have to wait and see or stick with 6.5

wp7 impossiple on hd even impossible on hd2

hoss_n2 said:
wp7 impossiple on hd even impossible on hd2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's not "impossible" for the HD2, as it's going to be officially released for that phone.

Adobe Air on Android sample application - here!

Found this apk while scouring the Adobe Blogs:
http://coenraets.org/blog/2010/05/sample-application-using-flex-and-air-for-android/
Looks very cool. Can't wait to see what comes out of this after the announcement of public prerelease of the air for developers.

Please correct me if I'm wrong, air allows devs to write software in air's code and its then capable of use on various platforms...Is this the main use of adobe air? So devs don't have to write programs separately for each platform....

Yes I think so.

DMaverick50 said:
Please correct me if I'm wrong, air allows devs to write software in air's code and its then capable of use on various platforms...Is this the main use of adobe air? So devs don't have to write programs separately for each platform....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Pretty much it in a nutshell. If you look at the AIR applications available for desktops then potentially these may be able to be ported to Android without much effort.
The applications for Android should rocket and the diversity of what can be run on the system increased too.
Flash based games are probably going to be high up the list for most devs I suspect. Did you try the sample?
It's pretty interesting. The videos of the possibilities are inspiring too.

+1 for all the possibilities that AIR now brings to the Android dev scene
<off topic>
+100 to Christophe for using The Office as his test database.
Good to see Kelly Kapoor, Michael Scott and Angela on there
</off topic>

karthikjr said:
+1 for all the possibilities that AIR now brings to the Android dev scene
<off topic>
+100 to Christophe for using The Office as his test database.
Good to see Kelly Kapoor, Michael Scott and Angela on there
</off topic>
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah , really cool little app. Pretty funny seeing The Office characters in it.

I got a game I made called Spate running using AIR, the performance is better than I expected from a phone but the game is unplayable as the boxes become like 4mm wide when shrunk down to a mobile screen size

eedok said:
I got a game I made called Spate running using AIR, the performance is better than I expected from a phone but the game is unplayable as the boxes become like 4mm wide when shrunk down to a mobile screen size
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Post the apk so we can have a play. How much work do you need to do to modify it to work on the smaller screen?

Here's the web version:
hxxp://geekswhoshower.com/webgame/8
and here's the apk (requires the AIR runtime from the link in the OP):
hxxp://dl.dropbox.com/u/168938/Spate.apk
The biggest issue with resizing the game is I contracted out the artwork for the game, and it was a one time contract so I'd have to contract out the art again, and the high scores were a third party library that doesn't work with AIR, so I'd have to code one of those too. Plus I have a bunch of other projects going so this was more of a see if I can do it more than anything, and it's exciting how easily the game ported over, and how well it runs.
EDIT: not mod approved so I can't post links, change the xx's to tt's

Quite a good little game. It runs fairly well until the pot fills up and there are a lot of objects on screen.
It would be nice if it could run in portrait too.
I suppose it depends how much effort and cost is involved from your consultants to see what you could launch on Android Market.
Stick it out there for 59p and see what happens.

markouk said:
Pretty much it in a nutshell. If you look at the AIR applications available for desktops then potentially these may be able to be ported to Android without much effort.
The applications for Android should rocket and the diversity of what can be run on the system increased too.
Flash based games are probably going to be high up the list for most devs I suspect. Did you try the sample?
It's pretty interesting. The videos of the possibilities are inspiring too.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just to be explicit, so people can create Android applications without writing even a single line of Android code?
I've tried dabbling with Android coding, but the framework-specific stuff frustrates me.

Paul22000 said:
Just to be explicit, so people can create Android applications without writing even a single line of Android code?
I've tried dabbling with Android coding, but the framework-specific stuff frustrates me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is true, that version of Spate was made without adding any new code, so if you know how to make flash applications it's pretty easy to turn them into android apps with this

Since Multitasking is the thing android boasts, why does it suck so badly?

Why couldn't it be more like the Palm Pre? I mean even my jailbroken iphone could pull off some multitasking that looked damn close to the pre.
I think the biggest thing I hear about android is it's got real multitasking (which works and I love), but I don't see why they couldn't make it better, or at least better looking. It's based on linux and there are some pretty snazzy graphics out there for that.

Personally, having used the jailbroken multitasking solutions on previous iPhones I didn't find them that great or graceful. The Palm Pre is still the king of multitasking hands down.
Android is working on it. Gingerbread will bring an improved UI with more flashy animations/graphics. For now, holding down the Home button is an acceptable method.

sfox8 said:
Personally, having used the jailbroken multitasking solutions on previous iPhones I didn't find them that great or graceful. The Palm Pre is still the king of multitasking hands down.
Android is working on it. Gingerbread will bring an improved UI with more flashy animations/graphics. For now, holding down the Home button is an acceptable method.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I found one or two apps for my old iphone that looked damn close to the pre, and worked pretty damn good on my 3g.
I know 3.0 is going to be a UI revamp, but who knows if the evo will ever get it. ;(

Hrshycro said:
I found one or two apps for my old iphone that looked damn close to the pre, and worked pretty damn good on my 3g.
I know 3.0 is going to be a UI revamp, but who knows if the evo will ever get it. ;(
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you haven't already, purchase Powerstrip. It's one of the most useful Android apps ever.

Mecha2142 said:
If you haven't already, purchase Powerstrip. It's one of the most useful Android apps ever.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
sidenote, i dunno if i'm just retarded or what, but i installed power strip and i am unable to get the shortcut to work. i have it set to a double tap of the home screen. nothing happens when i do this. what am i missing??

I think you're supposed to double click the home button

Hrshycro said:
Why couldn't it be more like the Palm Pre? I mean even my jailbroken iphone could pull off some multitasking that looked damn close to the pre.
I think the biggest thing I hear about android is it's got real multitasking (which works and I love), but I don't see why they couldn't make it better, or at least better looking. It's based on linux and there are some pretty snazzy graphics out there for that.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What's wrong with Android multitasking?

acrh2 said:
What's wrong with Android multitasking?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
^ this
I don't get it, OP

PLESTIUC said:
^ this
I don't get it, OP
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
neither do i. i would like a explanation what the evo is not doing.
you compare the pre to be the king of multitasking? windows mobile (touch pro2 which is with me daily in addition to my evo) multitasks beautifully and so does android in my experience with android (hero from launch day and win mo since 2002). just the other day i was on a call , was updating some apps and using tapatalk on a forum. i even had lookout scanning the apps as they were installing.... (4G area). phone did not hiccup... stock non rooted. thats multitasking to me...

I use MultiTask Manager, and it's totally configurable and display the following:
- Running Apps
- Recently closed apps
- Fav Apps
Also you can hide apps that you don't want to see, max number of apps, background and much more.
I have the icon on my main screen
Is free.

PLESTIUC said:
^ this
I don't get it, OP
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It sounds to me like the op is only concerned with how asthetically pleasing multitasking is. The fact that android doesn't have the pretty cards animation that the webos and jailbroken iPhones have means it sucks. That seams silly to me. Wanting nicer animations is fine, but saying that multitasking sucks because of the lack of these animations is silly.

k2snowboards88 said:
It sounds to me like the op is only concerned with how asthetically pleasing multitasking is. The fact that android doesn't have the pretty cards animation that the webos and jailbroken iPhones have means it sucks. That seams silly to me. Wanting nicer animations is fine, but saying that multitasking sucks because of the lack of these animations is silly.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If that is the case, then the OP doesn't understand the design philosophy behind Android multitasking.
1) All apps are loaded into memory from the get go.
2) Task managers are unnecessary, just pick whatever app you want to switch to, and start it to switch to it. Hence the last 6 used apps menu when holding down the home key.
In a sense, Android multitasking is intended to be superior to any other implementation - there's no need to be even thinking about it. It just does its thing.

I like multitasking on Android way better than the Pre. First off it works without me having to worry about what's open, second I never get an error telling me to close apps even though no cards are open. Third it just works on Android. palms system is nowhere near stable yet, and backgrounder on iPad has closed apps so often that multitasking was bad.
Sent from my EVO using Tapatalk

I as well fail to see a problem with Android's multitasking abilities.

same....OP please elaborate.

I understand what the OP means... I have BOTH and the Pre DOES BEAT Android in multitasking capabilities.... I'll give u an example
On my Evo, I use Tweetcaster a lot...let's say I need to open up ZumoDrive and share something... I hit home, then open programs then open up ZumoDrive... If I wanna go back to where I was prior (Tweetcaster, looking at a persons profile), I hold the home button...and select Tweetcaster from the recently used apps, and it reopens the app from scratch, forgetting about where I was previously. That's just 1 example (that I happened to think of right now, but there's others) Another would be, try downloading a mp3 from the web browser and playing it...then switch apps... The song stops (unless u play it from the music player)
And the problem with the jab at WebOS saying well, you don't get too many cards errors in Android; well wouldn't exist b/c well for 1, the Evo has a 1GHZ processor and 512MB Ram... Compared to my original Pre (non plus) with much slower CPU; that's a no brainer that the Evo would be able to handle the tasks more effectively, (yet the GPU performance on the Pre is better, go figure)
But, it does sound like the OP was referring more to the way it looks... while, I don't care what it looks like... I just want it to work better.

steb0ne said:
I understand what the OP means... I have BOTH and the Pre DOES BEAT Android in multitasking capabilities.... I'll give u an example
On my Evo, I use Tweetcaster a lot...let's say I need to open up ZumoDrive and share something... I hit home, then open programs then open up ZumoDrive... If I wanna go back to where I was prior (Tweetcaster, looking at a persons profile), I hold the home button...and select Tweetcaster from the recently used apps, and it reopens the app from scratch, forgetting about where I was previously. That's just 1 example (that I happened to think of right now, but there's others) Another would be, try downloading a mp3 from the web browser and playing it...then switch apps... The song stops (unless u play it from the music player)
And the problem with the jab at WebOS saying well, you don't get too many cards errors in Android; well wouldn't exist b/c well for 1, the Evo has a 1GHZ processor and 512MB Ram... Compared to my original Pre (non plus) with much slower CPU; that's a no brainer that the Evo would be able to handle the tasks more effectively, (yet the GPU performance on the Pre is better, go figure)
But, it does sound like the OP was referring more to the way it looks... while, I don't care what it looks like... I just want it to work better.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I agree with the mp3 thing. It's annoying. I think there must be better mp3 players out there.

Try Quickdesk. You won't be disappointed.

Yeah I've experienced that problem with the mp3 player. I've noticed it varies from App to app. The standard music app will stop sometimes, as does Xiialive - but Last.fm app seems to be extremely stable - never had it stop regardless of what I was doing. I don't think there's anything wrong with holding the home button - it works nicely but I am more concerned about how programs function while in the background. As I mentioned it seems to vary from program to program, and the are said to be revamping the standard music program, so I guess we can keep our fingers crossed.
I doubt it will be much work to fix but I agree, they need to step it up a notch in this respect.

steb0ne said:
I understand what the OP means... I have BOTH and the Pre DOES BEAT Android in multitasking capabilities.... I'll give u an example
On my Evo, I use Tweetcaster a lot...let's say I need to open up ZumoDrive and share something... I hit home, then open programs then open up ZumoDrive... If I wanna go back to where I was prior (Tweetcaster, looking at a persons profile), I hold the home button...and select Tweetcaster from the recently used apps, and it reopens the app from scratch, forgetting about where I was previously.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
But that isn't a good example because that isn't what should happen with the current paradigm. I've left countless programs and come back to exactly the same spot when I return. Something else is going on there. How many programs are you using in between these two? Are you waiting a bunch of time? Maybe Android closes out programs after a certain period of inactivity.
steb0ne said:
That's just 1 example (that I happened to think of right now, but there's others) Another would be, try downloading a mp3 from the web browser and playing it...then switch apps... The song stops (unless u play it from the music player)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This one confuses me. I can play music with something other than the music player and switch apps without the music stopping no problem.
If I were to offer one easy change to the current UI, it would be to put a little circle or star on the icons next to the programs that are still processing in the recent apps list. That's the only issue I can see. I can't tell which ones on that list are closed and which ones are still open.

[Q] TRUE Multi Tasking

Will android ever get REAL TRUE Multi Tasking? not the app switching that it has now but real multi tasking like webos and bb playbook os, would developers be able to add this somehow to tablets on their own? or could we port other os like webos and bb os to our tablets when wanting or needing true multi tasking

Rodriguez92 said:
Will android ever get REAL TRUE Multi Tasking? not the app switching that it has now but real multi tasking like webos and bb playbook os, would developers be able to add this somehow to tablets on their own? or could we port other os like webos and bb os to our tablets when wanting or needing true multi tasking
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
android already handles asynchronous threads. that' is "REAL TRUE" multitasking. and android already has background processes running along with apps running in the background.
on a mobile device, there isn't enough screen real estate to show two apps running, so that's never been a priority for android, it's not a case that it can't do it.
as for tablets, i'm sure if not already, it's coming.

I meant multitasking like have a youtube video running n writing an email at the same time. In android if you switch out of youtube the video pauses even though it stays running un the background. I would like things to keep running as if I was still in that application. On tablets im not talking about mobile devices.
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA Premium App

MarkusPO said:
as for tablets, i'm sure if not already, it's coming.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
if you really want that,buy a laptop. tablets are in an early stage of development. as an early adopter you need to put up with the tech while it's being developed.

I have a laptop n a desktop that's not the issue but if my tablet is just as strong as some laptops why not be able to do these things. Im just asking can we port or will we be able to do it at some point if you didn't realize the question.
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA Premium App

Rodriguez92 said:
I meant multitasking like have a youtube video running n writing an email at the same time. In android if you switch out of youtube the video pauses even though it stays running un the background.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's a feature. YouTube intentionally pauses playback, but it does not have to - it could play in the background. So Android has "REAL TRUE" multitasking, but YouTube doesn't use it that way you want.

so what about videos on the device can those keep playing? one thing on the playbook that i really like and was hoping we could get on android was being able to do one thing when your device is plugged into your tv on the tv n doing something else on the tab for example playing a game on the tab n watcxhing a movie on the tv thats playing on the tab

I'm not sure about that, but I think there is no API for displaying something on a TV, so if you have some kind of TV-out in your device, it'll probably just clone the main screen. But speaking of multitasking, it's possible to play video and some game simultaneously - it's just impossible to display and control both of them

MarkusPO said:
android already handles asynchronous threads. that' is "REAL TRUE" multitasking. and android already has background processes running along with apps running in the background.
on a mobile device, there isn't enough screen real estate to show two apps running, so that's never been a priority for android, it's not a case that it can't do it.
as for tablets, i'm sure if not already, it's coming.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Android is naturally single threaded. You can handle asynchronous threads, but your context is manually set ( yeah your global vars will get clobbered, unless you handle context switches). You dealing with stacks? You even hear of recursion?
I can prove it to you in an app.
Take mail, build two accounts with different pwds and hosts.
Start a long download on one.
Try a short download with the other.
The asynchronous top level will allow the context switch, the single threaded android bottom end will loose context while spinning on a lock.
Java was outdated 15 years ago ( great graphics on a sparc station), but needs guts now.
The interpreter loader would have to be able to build data structures dynamically, so as to allow examples like the above to run correctly.
SO APKS WOULD CHANGE SIZES as they ran.
OR a limit to the number of mail accounts would have to be preset.
OR a monolith APK bundle (htc sense 3 ) would have to be created.
IMHO

Rodriguez92 said:
I meant multitasking like have a youtube video running n writing an email at the same time. In android if you switch out of youtube the video pauses even though it stays running un the background. I would like things to keep running as if I was still in that application. On tablets im not talking about mobile devices.
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA Premium App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Youtube does that on purpose to prevent you from just using it as a music streaming service, you can listen to Pandora or Last.FM while writing an Email or pretty much anything else.

willy900wonka said:
Android is naturally single threaded.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Err... Android is single threaded? ;-) I think you meant "apps for Android" instead of "Android" and "single process" instead of "single threaded". Of course apps are multi-threaded. Same for Android OS - it's not only multi-threaded, but even multi-process.
But you're right: most of Android apps use only one process, so one context, etc. It's possible to run your app in several processes, but you can't spawn them whenever you want - you have to define each process in AndroidManifest.xml.
You should take into account that multiple processes aren't good, because device uses some RAM for each process you will create. You could run 2, 5 or 8 processes, but when you try to create 10th one, your device will run out of memory and some of your tasks will be killed. But if you redesign your app, so it will manage all of these task in one process, then this will take minimal amount of RAM and will give you exactly the same possibilities.
Of course Android isn't Apple, I think that should be a choice of an app developer, not Google. But they would have to add some API for this and they know it would be totally impractical, so I think they just don't want to waste their time on that
willy900wonka said:
You dealing with stacks? You even hear of recursion?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think you should learn OOP and multi-threaded programming ;-) Recursion? What's the problem? If you run recursion on instance A of some class X and second recursion on instance B of X, then they won't even know of each other.
Single-process doesn't mean there is always one instance of each class. If you use singletons and/or static methods where you shouldn't, then it's your problem.
willy900wonka said:
Java was outdated 15 years ago ( great graphics on a sparc station), but needs guts now.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Err.. what? ;-) Java was created 15 years ago, it's up-to-date language right now and it's still developed quite rapidly. Also if you think about these problems with single-process, then this isn't caused by Java, but Android OS.
willy900wonka said:
The interpreter loader would have to be able to build data structures dynamically, so as to allow examples like the above to run correctly.
SO APKS WOULD CHANGE SIZES as they ran.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have no idea, what are you talking about
willy900wonka said:
OR a limit to the number of mail accounts would have to be preset.
OR a monolith APK bundle (htc sense 3 ) would have to be created.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
OR learn how to properly write multi-threaded applications ;-)

i assume op has never listened to music while browsing the internet. if that isn't "true multitasking" then i don't know what is
anyway, i think this thread was a mistake on op's behalf

willy900wonka said:
The asynchronous top level will allow the context switch, the single threaded android bottom end will loose context while spinning on a lock.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Locks only apply to concurrency, no?
An interesting discussion about how to manage Binders and IPC and Threads at the native level I found:
http://groups.google.com/group/andr...hread/thread/532f2ec1d17eadf/5cb6a1491fb23274
I'm not very well versed at the low level stuff, but having Threads and Binders and IPC would indicate to me a multi-threaded environment.
This is a quote from Diane Hackborn who's one of Android's framework engineers:
(from 2009)
...multiple processes is a key aspect of Android and making it relatively easy to deal with that (mostly so far at the system level) is important.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So yeah, process scheduling has to occur at some point when you only have one processor, and it seems you can grab a nasty deadlock via native code, but none of that implies single threadedness. This is obviously not to mention Binders and IPC/AIDL and Threads at the Java level.
Anyways this thread sparked my interest to read about this stuff more, so thanks all you guys for that. Now I'll never fall asleep
Edit: also found this interesting overview of Bionic (Android's version of libc)
http://www.netmite.com/android/mydroid/1.5/bionic/libc/docs/OVERVIEW.TXT

why upgrade to windows 8?

I am really fail to find any reason to use windows 8 in any form .
i use now windows 7 x64 and i really fail to see how windows 8 is better other then that ugly stupid Metro thing good only in tablets.
some minor fixes and changes but i won't do a clean install just for that.
So please light me why Microsoft even made it?

mri.project said:
I am really fail to find any reason to use windows 8 in any form .
i use now windows 7 x64 and i really fail to see how windows 8 is better other then that ugly stupid Metro thing good only in tablets.
some minor fixes and changes but i won't do a clean install just for that.
So please light me why Microsoft even made it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
First off its no % faster its X faster ie text rendering is like 10X faster etc.
The new start screen is far more productive.
You can use 16bit installers on 64bit os
better hardware support
way more secure
more stable
better power management uses fraction of the battery
built in hardware acceleration across the whole OS
better graphics handling
cleaner os that gets less clutter by design
You can save your entire system to a usb stick for working remote sites
better memory management
faster booting programs - crisis was half the time, auto cad was 1/4
boots faster including instant boot - with the correct hardware
wakes from sleep almost instantly (less then a second on an old Centrino laptop)
SSD support is far better - faster
AND YOU DONT NEED TO USE METRO APPS!!! If you don't like Metro don't use it! If you want to give up on vastly better faster more secure more stable system because you prefer to search a list instead of looking at a grid of tiles then so be it. And all that for a few quid as well, I don't get this hate i really don't please someone actually explain it to me! Why is it such a bad thing? Surely its only a cosmetic thing as other then that its much much better for a pile of reasons i have listed in other threads and at worst its on par. Surely you love of a list to sacrifice progression is just odd and you cant then argue its about productivity as for a ton of reasons win 8 smashes any other version out the park on that.

I would never pay full retail for it but for $40... this is a major upgrade to the OS in terms of stability and performance. Also, you don't necessarily need a clean install (i hope for microsoft's sake).

-Copy and delete jobs can now be paused. Yeah. You'll be missing out on a feature that simple if you don't upgrade.
-Multiple copy/delete jobs now take up a single window. No longer will multiple copy/delete jobs clog the task bar with multiple instances.
-Realtime, background backups with multiple states (So you can access every single version of a file there ever was on your computer)
-Backup to network hard-drives
-The $40 upgrade will net you Windows 8 Pro, even if you only have Windows 7 Home Premium. That means you'll get all the extra stuff like encryption and a maximum 192GB of RAM, rather than 16GB.
-Integrated social networks/mail/calendar/etc
-Cloud synchronisation of OS settings
-Simple and clean recovery options
-File copy jobs are now like 2+ times faster
-Faster in all aspects. Less CPU usage, less RAM usage, faster file management.
-Absolutely no intrusion from Windows Update. Ever. No pop ups or anything.
The boot times truly are astonishing. My Windows 8 Release Preview notebook with 7200rpm hard drive boots faster than my Windows 7 with SSD, even though the notebook's installation is older and the hard drive is more full.
Every boot, unless you restart due to an update, is sort of a hybrid between hibernation and full shutdown. Drivers and system files in a loaded state are saved to the disk, and immediately transferred into the RAM at boot.
UI navigation is faster than Windows 7, too. I only used the start menu to search. I never actually used All Programs because it was too slow and small to navigate, and got clogged with readmes and other stuff.

aegixnova said:
UI navigation is faster than Windows 7, too. I only used the start menu to search. I never actually used All Programs because it was too slow and small to navigate, and got clogged with readmes and other stuff.
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I avoided the all programs because it took way too many clicks to get anywhere. But on Windows 8 its just a "click" or two of the scroll wheel and you're there (depending on how you arrange your start screen).
Though what bugs me the most is that when you install a program it pins so many shortcuts to the start screen (probably devs have to fix it themselves). For example I installed solidworks last week and it put 15-20 icons on there for all of its settings and edrawings crap.

SSD faster??
I'm running two vortex 3 raid 0 will this be faster?
Sent From Nexus 7 XDA Premium HD App

mri.project said:
I am really fail to find any reason to use windows 8 in any form .
i use now windows 7 x64 and i really fail to see how windows 8 is better other then that ugly stupid Metro thing good only in tablets.
some minor fixes and changes but i won't do a clean install just for that.
So please light me why Microsoft even made it?
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w8 is a downgrade for you. just enjoy what you have

ohgood said:
w8 is a downgrade for you. just enjoy what you have
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Please explain your comment instead of just putting up FUD! How in any way is Windows 8 a downgrade from 7? We are open to talks both ways but your comment is just inflammatory negative and plain wrong without any valid argument or point!
I would really love to hear your views on WHY it is a downgrade please share. I have yet to find anyone who can say why other then "I don't like the way it looks". You seem to be very direct with your point so you must have reasons! come on share them or are you just a troll?
---------- Post added at 07:41 AM ---------- Previous post was at 07:37 AM ----------
adamantell said:
SSD faster??
I'm running two vortex 3 raid 0 will this be faster?
Sent From Nexus 7 XDA Premium HD App
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Yes,
though running vortex in raid 0 is risky they have a fairly high fail rate and yes you get some speed bens of 0 with SSD its not anything like the diff in hhd running it.

lumpaywk said:
Please explain your comment instead of just putting up FUD! How in any way is Windows 8 a downgrade from 7? We are open to talks both ways but your comment is just inflammatory negative and plain wrong without any valid argument or point!
I would really love to hear your views on WHY it is a downgrade please share. I have yet to find anyone who can say why other then "I don't like the way it looks". You seem to be very direct with your point so you must have reasons! come on share them or are you just a troll?
---------- Post added at 07:41 AM ---------- Previous post was at 07:37 AM ----------
Yes,
though running vortex in raid 0 is risky they have a fairly high fail rate and yes you get some speed bens of 0 with SSD its not anything like the diff in hhd running it.
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fear, uncertainty and doubt was not spread by me. also, there was no inflammation involved.
also, when you use "we" instead of "I", you infer a representation of more than one person. I commented to the op, very specifically, and am only speaking for myself. are you speaking for a group?
read the op's original post. he doesn't like w8, doesn't care for the UI, doesn't like the features that are new. very simply, he doesn't need to downgrade to something he's not interested in, and will receive little to no benefit from.

ohgood said:
fear, uncertainty and doubt was not spread by me. also, there was no inflammation involved.
also, when you use "we" instead of "I", you infer a representation of more than one person. I commented to the op, very specifically, and am only speaking for myself. are you speaking for a group?
read the op's original post. he doesn't like w8, doesn't care for the UI, doesn't like the features that are new. very simply, he doesn't need to downgrade to something he's not interested in, and will receive little to no benefit from.
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We if ref the community as a whole, generally if you go to forums its because you wish to share knowledge and/or talk about the pro and cons of each topic. Clearly your not involved in this collective as you fall into the closed minded I need to spread hate category that plague us.
Second of all you have not put any constructive point still. Yes the OP stated a dislike for the UI but asked past that is there a reason to upgrade so you listing the original concern is not putting forward anything.
Yes there is no need but then there is no NEED to leave XP for a couple years yet but does that mean if I like the look of XP its a downgrade to go to 7 or 8? personally I think the best looking phone is the nokia 8850 does that mean that im on a downgraded phone now I use my Lumia 800 or my One X?
There has been plenty of reasons put forward as to why its a good upgrade look above ie faster, more secure, better hardware support, better graphics support, faster browsing, better power consumption etc etc but I guess there all downgrades to after all who wants to be secure and fast when you can have something older and slower because you don't like the "look" of something you use about 1% of the time.
Also no the fear isn't spread by you its spread by the closed minded, the commenters that look at vids instead of using, reporters paid by Apple a fear of the unknown an unwillingness to change and more then anything else a game dev who stands to lose out after MS offer something better then his silly games store that runs better on 8 then 7.

that was a lot to read. where was your positive input?

ohgood said:
that was a lot to read. where was your positive input?
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It is nothing to do with positive or negative input! Its about that input having substance or meaning and pref with facts or evidence to back it up. To say something is a downgrade when someone is asking for advice from people that have insight when you have nothing to back that up is not only negative and derogatory its also of no help. If you have a valid reason why then by all means share it but as I said, only someone who has not even used Windows 8 for any amount of time would think that the new interface is anything more than a slight change to people that don't want to install metro apps.

lumpaywk said:
It is nothing to do with positive or negative input! Its about that input having substance or meaning and pref with facts or evidence to back it up. To say something is a downgrade when someone is asking for advice from people that have insight when you have nothing to back that up is not only negative and derogatory its also of no help. If you have a valid reason why then by all means share it but as I said, only someone who has not even used Windows 8 for any amount of time would think that the new interface is anything more than a slight change to people that don't want to install metro apps.
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again, the op said he didtn like it.
is it not fairly easy to understand that using something you like less , is a downgrade?
no matter how much paint you put on a pig, its still a pig.
now, hold her horses, this is -not- a comparison to w8. this simply means , no matter how much you point out how great something is, if someone doesn't like pig.... they just don't like pig!

ohgood said:
again, the op said he didtn like it.
is it not fairly easy to understand that using something you like less , is a downgrade?
no matter how much paint you put on a pig, its still a pig.
now, hold her horses, this is -not- a comparison to w8. this simply means , no matter how much you point out how great something is, if someone doesn't like pig.... they just don't like pig!
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Click to collapse
using your own analogy, pigs are very often miss understood animals, many people who don't like pigs would like them if the bothered to get to know them

dazza9075 said:
using your own analogy, pigs are very often miss understood animals, many people who don't like pigs would like them if the bothered to get to know them
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mannnnn, you're goooooood.
works for me! now convince the op
I'm lazy, if someone says they hate pigs, I just let em eat fish. or birds. or whatever.

I use my pc purely for gaming and Web browsing. I use my mbp for everything else as I prefer osx for productivity. Those things listed don't seem to help much for Gaming. I have ssd sata3, will speeds improve? Also ultimate 7 already allows me to back up to a network hdd. I haven't read much good about gaming.. Gabe Newell didn't seem to like what win8 had to offer. Thoughts?
VZW-S3 on CM10 via tapatalk

so i read this thread yesterday b/c i was thinking of upgrading to W8... just installed it, and aside from something going wrong and me having to do a clean install halfway through installation which means i lost all my existing files, this thing is AWESOME!!! takes a moment to get used to... but having the option to use the normal look is good to have on there!! now time to install all my programs again lol
---------- Post added at 10:30 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:28 PM ----------
also forgot to mention... is there anyway to integrate gmail instead of this microsoft email stuff?? being an android user, my stuff is heavily sync'd already in that area and i think it would be great to have similar integration to this too!!

the1dynasty said:
so i read this thread yesterday b/c i was thinking of upgrading to W8... just installed it, and aside from something going wrong and me having to do a clean install halfway through installation which means i lost all my existing files, this thing is AWESOME!!! takes a moment to get used to... but having the option to use the normal look is good to have on there!! now time to install all my programs again lol
---------- Post added at 10:30 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:28 PM ----------
also forgot to mention... is there anyway to integrate gmail instead of this microsoft email stuff?? being an android user, my stuff is heavily sync'd already in that area and i think it would be great to have similar integration to this too!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Mail app is trash for gmail (kind of like hotmail and yahoo for android - they suck). Same with people and messenger for facebook. It's better to use the desktop sites for these. Calendar is nice for viewing google calendar, it puts reminders on your lock screen and live tiles. Though if you want to change anything I would suggest using the website again.

thanks... i guess what i was referring to was the whole integration part... pictures, mail, im, etc... but i guess its not that big of a deal really... chrome installed fine and i just use that anyways... still some getting used to... but it's nice and i love the smoothness and speed of this!

aznguyen316 said:
I use my pc purely for gaming and Web browsing. I use my mbp for everything else as I prefer osx for productivity. Those things listed don't seem to help much for Gaming. I have ssd sata3, will speeds improve? Also ultimate 7 already allows me to back up to a network hdd. I haven't read much good about gaming.. Gabe Newell didn't seem to like what win8 had to offer. Thoughts?
VZW-S3 on CM10 via tapatalk
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Click to collapse
Gaming and web browsing see a big improvement. That said I would wait till you get the final build drivers out for your graphics card as with any new system.
Games boot times and load times are massively improved, cutting some load times in half already (will get faster as drivers and updates come). Not only that most comparisons also see a reasonable diff in fps and that is on beta graphics drivers. On top of that you get some cool features like cross platform live integration and xp points. You get live chat without needing some clunky background software eating your resources. Also if you set up the backup features right if say you accidently over save a game you can roll back to any date the save file (there was a really good write up on how this is useful http://www.pcpro.co.uk/blogs/2012/08/03/how-windows-8-file-history-saved-my-career/ ). Don't listen to Gabe he is just kicking off because he sees the MS store as competition to his own and so is trying to manipulate the market into running an OS that again forces users into his store, nothing more than that!
Also browsing is improved though not as much as I would of like but even a small improvement is better than non. most notably is that test is now rendered with hardware acceleration as well as everything else. You deffo wont see a decrease here and its worth a note that its much more secure esp in metro browser (but then you lose plugin support but will ask if you want to flip to desktop so you don't lose anything really as it will just flip when you ask it to).