Database Users

[Q] VMware View

hey guys i am an absolute noob at all this stuff, but im a uni student with an a500. It really annoys me that each note taking app just lacks in different ways, but none of them are capable for solid note taking for lectures. Im looking for 'MS word' which for obvious reasons will not pop up on android anytime soon, so i was wondering if i could somehow get windows running on the iconia tab. Im not asking for a dual boot or anything, just like a virtual machine or something, but again, i don't want something like splashtop remoted desktop client or anything, because then i might aswell just use my computer. My tablet is on 3.2.1, so if i have to root it, please tell me that aswell. I downloaded VMware view from the market, but have NO idea whatsoever how to get things running. Please tell me if it is another desktop streamer, because thats not what i wanted at all. If it isnt, then could someone please tell me how to use it?
thankyou

check out splash top in the market. It's cheaper on Amazon app store. You can remote connect to windows even over the internet. If you have wifi at school. Fast enough to stream and play computer games on the tablet.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I727 using Tapatalk

colonel187 said:
check out splash top in the market. It's cheaper on Amazon app store. You can remote connect to windows even over the internet. If you have wifi at school. Fast enough to stream and play computer games on the tablet.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I727 using Tapatalk
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Wow, you didn't read his post at all, did you? He clearly said NO splashtop or such.
As for the OP: no, you cannot run Windows on A500 in any meaningful way. Emulating a complete different architechture would simply bring the tablet down to a crawl. Vmware view afaikis for use with vmware server, btw.

This isn't really an answer to your specific question, but have you tried Freenote from the market? It works pretty well for me, and allows for both typing and freehand writing with a stylus. A bit cumbersome until you get used to it, but after messing with it for a bit, I manage a pretty damn fast freehand writing speed with it.
As far as Windows goes, its like WereCatf said...not a thing available that would do what you want. At least not that I can find.

You can't run windows, but you could use supernote, that's what I use.
It's laying around this forum, just do a search.

WereCatf said:
Wow, you didn't read his post at all, did you? He clearly said NO splashtop or such.
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I must have missed that. Thanks for being an ass hole about it.
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colonel187 said:
I must have missed that. Thanks for being an ass hole about it.
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Click to collapse
You're wholly welcome.

VMWare View is not what you are looking for.
View is merely a client to connect and deliver virtual machines from a pre-existing VMWare ESX / vSphere / vCenter setup... which is thousands of dollars in infrastructure and licensing.

The 'next best thing' so to speak would be to run Linux (debian) in a chroot (which is basically a very crude form of virtualization, requiring the two OSes to be similar enough to run on the same kernel)... To run Windoze on a simulated x86 CPU, qemu should work but it'll probably be way too slow (it's slow enough running Android ARM on my 2x2.2GHz machine with hardware virtualization support -- which Tegra doesn't have).
EDIT: The best way to get Linux chroot is to use Linux Installer from the market. Many tutorials on the web tell don't tell you about that, unfortunately.

getting an emulator onto the tablet would waste battery life like crazy.. i see no benefit to running virtualized desktop from the tablet for note taking purposes.
what about just an MS office-like app... OfficeSuite Pro does the job for me with note taking...
it syncs up with google docs / box / and dropbox accounts. paired with my bluetooth keyboard and usb mouse i never have issues taking notes.

First as has already been pointed out emulating windows in order to just take notes is rather stoopid. There are many apps that will let you make and edit word documents quite well. Secondly if you want to do windows things on your tablet, dolphin (or other remote desktop) is the way to go. Hell vmware view is a remote desktop where you are only using a portion of the server. With fast wifi Dolphin is really really nice.

[Q] Installing Windows 8 non-partitioned on primary machine

How stupid is it to upgrade to Windows 8 on your main laptop? I use it for photoshop and microsoft office.
I don't have enough space to partition the drive, but I really want windows 8. I just am worried about regretting it.

I have installed it on my main machine, no problems, runs everything I install, I have Photoshop Element 9 and it runs well. Download the Consumer Preview Setup Program, run it first to see if you'll run into problems, you can either continue to install from Setup Program, this will download and install in a accordance with how you wish to install, or you can download .iso, burn to DVD, just cancer Setup Program and install from DVD, I did it that way. Jim

its always best to install a beta OS on either a different partition or second drive. to make it so you can get another partition you have to shrink the space of the current one.

I can say that Photoshop works fine, i don't use MS Office so can't help you there. A second partition or a virtual machine would be your best bet if your unsure though.

I agree. I set up a partition to test all the programs I currently run. They all passed with flying colors (sorry, no PS or MSOffice ).
Once I was satisfied, I deleted the partition, installed 8 on my primary, and now I'm 100% windows 8 on my PC. Loving it!

guys, c'mon, its a beta! Betas expire!
There may be a way to upgrade to purchased W8 without losing everything, then again there may not, we'll have to wait and see. There's definitely not going to be a way to easily "step back down" to windows 7 or older.
Obviously you can backup files and reinstall some programs, but you have to think about this realistically

Im not sure but is the consumer preview out yet?
Bcoz ive been using the developer's pre on my laptop dual booting alongside win 7 ofc...Since its really buggy.....(I.E: While gaming or using a program accidentally clicking on the bottom left side of your screen(clicking the startup button)will bring u back to desktop.
Might aswell wait for the betas coz it feels like it more in an alpha mode right now!

Developer preview was alpha, consumer preview is the beta & much less buggy & out now.
As for upgrading later to full release, it doesn't take much to back up your documents if you have too.
The consumer preview comes in a couple of different flavours, iso & installer. The installer allows you to upgrade windows seven keeping your documents and programs that are known to be compatible. However, that option didn't work for me when I tried it. It would point to Microsoft making an effort to make migration to windows 8 in the future a lot less painful.

deamoniac7 said:
Im not sure but is the consumer preview out yet?
Bcoz ive been using the developer's pre on my laptop dual booting alongside win 7 ofc...Since its really buggy.....(I.E: While gaming or using a program accidentally clicking on the bottom left side of your screen(clicking the startup button)will bring u back to desktop.
Might aswell wait for the betas coz it feels like it more in an alpha mode right now!
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that's not a bug, that's by design.
and that holds true for the consumer preview as well, which is out now, has been for a while.

How many of you installed it like This:
http://www.hyper-v.nu/archives/hvre...oot-from-vhd-with-windows-8-consumer-preview/
or http://www.hanselman.com/blog/Guide...s8DeveloperPreviewOffAVHDVirtualHardDisk.aspx
When you are done, Just delete the VHD drive I have it running on 2 machines and everything is working fine.

Pumpiron579 said:
How many of you installed it like This:
http://www.hyper-v.nu/archives/hvre...oot-from-vhd-with-windows-8-consumer-preview/
or http://www.hanselman.com/blog/Guide...s8DeveloperPreviewOffAVHDVirtualHardDisk.aspx
When you are done, Just delete the VHD drive I have it running on 2 machines and everything is working fine.
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I would have suggested this too. Safest way to test w8. Gives you access to your main harddrive too. Just make sure ur main partition is ntfs. To make following the tutorial easy.
Sent from my HTC Desire HD using Tapatalk 2 Beta-4

Actually using Windows 8 on a desktop or non touch laptop

First off this is in no way trolling or bashing; but I have installed Windows 8 on both on one of my laptops and PC but I just noticed that I really don't use them that much. It seems that it just doesn't catch my attention and is too much of a bother to try to use the mouse and keyboard to navigate in between the Metro UI and desktop. Now I'm perrty sure that it is awesome on a touch device but I have not tried it yet.
How many people on here actually use Windows 8 on a non touch device on a daily basis? With out getting bored with it?

I am using Windows8 as my second system for daily use. I have installed it on a small partition, so I have Windows 7 and 8 in my pc.
I do not find it to be boring or difficult to use. It is true the first times you are a bit messed, but once you get used to Metro gestures it is easy and really quick to use Windows.
I am not sure how you are trying to navigate between Metro and Desktop or how are you using Windows. But you do not need to access Desktop to open programs. Once you install any program it appears in Metro, just click in the tile and you go directly to Desktop with the program launched. It is that easy.
I hope this can be helpful to you

i've also been using win 8 on my notebook and my desktop since the first preview. haven't had any issues navigating. of course its a little confusing using it for the first time, but after about a day its simple.
Haven't gotten bored of it either. for being previews, they run pretty darn smooth.

i tried using it on my laptop but i got rid of it in favor of ubuntu 11.10
it felt like trying to use android on my laptop(just overly confusing and a pain to use the GUI)
i do however believe windows 8 will kill off the laptop/netbook and all other tablets successfully, just take a x64 based tablet like the acer w500 or an arm based tablet like the transformer prime and put windows 8 on them, you will get a tablet when you are playing, and laptop when you're working

I use (and have used) Windows 8 on my non touch NetBook since Developers preview and love it it's also my primary operating system.
Sent from my LG-LS670 using XDA

I've actually been using it for a while and really find it akward to use on a regular desktop. I am waiting to try and possibly buy it on tablet. I have however tried the Transformer Prime running android and I have to say I was impressed by it; hope Windows 8 is as good on a tablet because I am not an andorid or ipad person.

sinister1 said:
I've actually been using it for a while and really find it akward to use on a regular desktop. I am waiting to try and possibly buy it on tablet. I have however tried the Transformer Prime running android and I have to say I was impressed by it; hope Windows 8 is as good on a tablet because I am not an andorid or ipad person.
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You should buy any windows 7 tab and put windows 8 on it, my plan was to get the Acer w500 tablet and install windows 8 on it. I actually got rid of my android tablet so I can use windows 8, don't get me wrong android is nice on my phone but on a tablet its kind of useless.

There won't be Windows 8 for ARM at stores for buying, it will be installed in tablets only. Keep this in minde

Well, there is a good reason that you aren't using the Metro UI. It was designed specifically for tablets and it adds absolutely nothing to a regular PC. There are not too hard to see that anything except the most basic tasks requires more actions to complete compared to the regular desktop.
Microsoft needs to wake up and realize that they can't have the same UI for touch and mouse.

droidjosh said:
i've also been using win 8 on my notebook and my desktop since the first preview. haven't had any issues navigating. of course its a little confusing using it for the first time, but after about a day its simple.
Haven't gotten bored of it either. for being previews, they run pretty darn smooth.
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Ditto here. I have been using it as my daily OS since the consumer preview to give it a good test and have updated to the release preview. Once you get used to it it just comes naturally. I also have a Samsung Slate 7 I bought to try it on and am using it daily so I have been using both the touch and nontouch enabled. The skydrive integration and the synching of favorites etc is working fantastic.

I've been playing around with Win8 on my own desktop for a while. It's not too hard to get used to, but I've always had a question - what's the point?

Sir. Haxalot said:
Well, there is a good reason that you aren't using the Metro UI. It was designed specifically for tablets and it adds absolutely nothing to a regular PC. There are not too hard to see that anything except the most basic tasks requires more actions to complete compared to the regular desktop.
Microsoft needs to wake up and realize that they can't have the same UI for touch and mouse.
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Click to collapse
Wrong, it brings realtime notifications to the start menu AND the desktop experience as well as reducing the time it takes to find applications in existing start menu program groups. But you strike me as one of those people who took a look at it and said "It's for tablets, will not use" and then never learned how to use it.
Not only that, but you need to wake up and realize that they are the developers, They CAN have the same UI for both mouse and touch and the current implementation as seen in Release Preview works very well for that purpose.
Sent from my LG-LS670 using XDA

I'm using it on my primary PC (dual screen, quad core, 4GB RAM, Geforce GTX460) on a daily basis. I use it with Photoshop/Illustrator/Chrome/Word/Wordpress, as well as various news readers.
It took a few hours to get through the learning curve (back during the Consumer Preview, not since Release Preview--that was easy to adapt to) but I'm confident that I'm actually MORE productive now, and am able to stay on top of things better thanks to deeply integrated features like the People Hub and so on.
Obviously, there's still some ground to cover--the OS is still essentially beta, after all--but all in all I believe it's the most impressive consumer OS I've ever used.
On the other side of things, I'm also beta testing the server in a simple file server role with a dozen users. Nobody's using it as a primary storage device yet, but I have a handful of titles setup to monitor services, alerts, etc, and I really like it. This is likely to make for a GREAT server OS once the major vendors apply themselves to creating Live Tiles that present pertinent information to an administrator upon login .
Microsoft is in a distant lead when it comes to advanced OS design compared to, for example, Apple
sinister1 said:
First off this is in no way trolling or bashing; but I have installed Windows 8 on both on one of my laptops and PC but I just noticed that I really don't use them that much. It seems that it just doesn't catch my attention and is too much of a bother to try to use the mouse and keyboard to navigate in between the Metro UI and desktop. Now I'm perrty sure that it is awesome on a touch device but I have not tried it yet.
How many people on here actually use Windows 8 on a non touch device on a daily basis? With out getting bored with it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

The more I use it the more I can foresee MS sales decline. Yes I have gotten use to some features and so on but I honestly don't see this in a corporate or business environment. But to be fair I haven't tested it on a touch device but non the less this has no business on a non-touch device at all. I don't get it; MS sees the reviews that people post on line and also see that the sales of Windows Phone are moving at a snail's pace and they force a touch screen OS to non touch devices

I've been using windows 8 for some time now, on desktop with no touch (only mouse and keyboard) and i can safely say that everyone who says metro is bad for mouse is smoking good grass and i would like some too...
the extra gestures are only required when you want to shut down your PC only. That's it. the only instance in which you have to do more actions than you would on a regular windows 7.
other than that, the advantages are so blatant it's a wonder nobody mentions them
this is the fastest, most efficient operating system i have ever seen. Does windows 7 load for you in 4 seconds? because that's how long it takes for windows 8 to load on my desktop: 4 seconds. and it is not a state of the ark i7 machine, but an old generation core 2 duo.
The resource management is also oustanding. tasks are launched and executed almost like in a real time system (i sometimes forget windows 8 is not a real time system).
And if you get used to using your keyboard, you will save many of the "unnecessary" mouse gestures.
yes, it takes a few moments to get used to it, but once you've configured everything properly, windows 8 is miles ahead of any other system.

Multiple metro splitting / customizable metro splitting

I didn't find any topic about this. Excuse me if a topic already exists.
Name it as you want, but windows 8 allow us to split the screen and see two metro apps at the same time. I miss the windows' windows ( windows without windows is quite stupid for me ), but I like metro. Is there any way to split the screen many times, horizontally and with different ratios? ( not only 80:20 )
Many thanks.
Inviato dal mio HTC Desire con Tapatalk 2

It's been asked before, but nothing found. The official reason is that using a fixed-width sidebar mode allows developers to optimize their app interfaces for the width of that sidebar, but it would be nice to, for example, have two apps side-by-side in portrait mode on a 1920x1080 monitor (giving about 950x1080 each). I'm sure if such ahack is found, it'll be posted here...

GoodDayToDie said:
It's been asked before, but nothing found. The official reason is that using a fixed-width sidebar mode allows developers to optimize their app interfaces for the width of that sidebar, but it would be nice to, for example, have two apps side-by-side in portrait mode on a 1920x1080 monitor (giving about 950x1080 each). I'm sure if such ahack is found, it'll be posted here...
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Right, many thanks for answering. I'll pantientiently wait. So sorry for useless topic.
Optimization or not, in Win7 I could have A LOT of windows on the screen at the same time. Falling back to 2 in the new version is very disappointing. Samsung smartphones have visual multitasking and my 1920x1080 PC can't have more than two windows? If it wasn't for performances of Win8, I would be on Win7 right now.

Win8 is capable of having an arbitrary number of windows open at once... I get almost no use out of the Metro apps and just do everything on the desktop.

GoodDayToDie said:
Win8 is capable of having an arbitrary number of windows open at once... I get almost no use out of the Metro apps and just do everything on the desktop.
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Yep, desktop is just like win7 desktop, so you can get unlimited windows. But Metro apps are quite integrated with everything and living without them is hard. And I can't see a youtube video while writing a document.

You can't? Word and a browser pointing at YouTube works fine for me...
Seriously, aside from mail (which I only use because it'll connect from outside work's firewall) and Skype (which works great snapped to one side), the only "Metro" apps I use are games (which I would have full-screened anyhow). The music, pictures, and messenger apps are crap. I manage my calendar from the phone and only "use" it on the PC to see and dismiss notifications. I prefer the desktop control panel and OneNote. The built-in PDF reader app is... not great, so I have Foxit. Metro IE is worthless next to the desktop version. Metro remote desktop is OK, but the desktop version is powerful and familiar. Start and the Store are both "metro" but aren't really apps in the usual sense. SSH and such are available on the desktop (I use Interix).
If anything, I'd say Metro apps are the opposite of "integrated with everything". They can't change system settings, and often can't even check them. They have very limited ability to talk to other programs, whereas almost everything on the desktop supports drag&drop, for example. They can't do anything requiring high privileges. They're terrible for browsing the filesystem. They suck for multitasking in general. They can't (officially) launch other programs. They might not be an evolutionary dead end, but they aren't an evolution I'm happy to see. Give me sandboxes, and maybe even a store, but let *me* control the sandbox and let me apply them to desktop software. Give me synced app state, but let everything use it not just the stuff from your store. Give me Vista's Windows Mail instead of this crap. Touch-friendly is great, but even on my Surface I don't so much except games with touch; give me traditional UIs too.

Question before installing Windows 8?

1. If Im running windows 7 64bit, can I upgrade to a windows 8 64bit right from windows 7 without having to format hard drive?
2. If so, can I create a restore point in windows 7 in case I want to go back once windows 8 is installed?
Any other suggestions would be appreciated.

For question 1, yes, this is what I did.
For question 2 I don't know.

SysAdmNj said:
1. If Im running windows 7 64bit, can I upgrade to a windows 8 64bit right from windows 7 without having to format hard drive?
2. If so, can I create a restore point in windows 7 in case I want to go back once windows 8 is installed?
Any other suggestions would be appreciated.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yes you can. the installer will give you options on what you want to keep
no. you must create a restore image on an external hard drive if you want to return back to windows 7

In-place upgrades are possible and are technically a supported scenario, but they are a *terrible* idea. They are, at best, going to save you a bit of time reinstalling apps (even though the install process itself takes vastly longer when doing an in-place upgrade, so I'm not sure it's a net positive even there). At worst, you'll end up with an unbootable system due to an unexpected driver incompatibility or something silly like that, lose all your data, and need to reformat and do a clean install anyhow. The usual result is somewhere in between; your system will be less stable than it should be, will take longer to boot up, some programs won't work after the upgrade and will need to be reinstalled anyhow, and at some point in the near-ish future (six months to two years) your systme will develop odd misbehaviors that will require you to effectively reinstall WIndows anyhow (that's what the refresh and reset operations in Win8 basically do, with or without preserving your files, respectively).
Also, if you opt for a clean install, you'll know you have a backup of all your data. That's pretty valuable. You can (and should; the bit about the upgrade failing and you losing access to your data was not a joke) make such a backup anyhow, of course.
As for being able to revert to Win7, the only way that'll happen is if you back up the whole system drive. Restore points don't work between major versions; if you do an in-place upgrade, you won't be able to downgrade it again short of restoring a backup or wiping the system and instally Win7 cleanly.

I did it
SysAdmNj said:
1. If Im running windows 7 64bit, can I upgrade to a windows 8 64bit right from windows 7 without having to format hard drive?
2. If so, can I create a restore point in windows 7 in case I want to go back once windows 8 is installed?
Any other suggestions would be appreciated.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
After doing an in place Upgrade on my box i hope my story will help you.
I simply couldn't resist the offer MS made 'til 28 Feb 2013 so i downloaded Windows 8 64 Bit to my Laptop and after the Upgrade Assistant gave me a green light and promised except for the ATI drivers everything should work out i started the upgrade. After roughly 4 h the Upgrade process was done and windows 8 ready. Even the mentioned ATI driver was not a big problem because after the initial upgrade windows 8 asked if i would care to update it and did so.
Windows 8 is creating a Backup of your current installation so there is a restore point you can use. I did not try it out and after 2 weeks i deleted the restore Point.
So far so good. The installation wasn't that complicated. Unfortunately after that i could no longer install any Program or update. The reason behind it was that the upgrade process is exchanging something in the users Registry and after that the security checks simply denied me access to the file System. Even booting in recovery mode did not help (just like my Android GBook tablet at the moment ) . Only way to cope this was to create a new User with Admin Rights as a replacement. Doing so one of my document Folders got lost in transition. I still have no Idea what happened but after moving a Folder from MyDocuments user old to MyDocouments user new the Move process suddenly died and the files where gone. I did have a Backup so luckily it was just annoying but still gave me a rough time figuring out what happened.
You will probably be bothered to reinstall some applications (MS Apps will work) and the new interface is something to get used to for a Lot of Developers.
My System turned quiet a bit slower because of the ever running index service etc. Indexing is even denying write access to newly created files quite regularly and you will have to wait for it to finish before file operations are possible. You definitively have to tune system services if you want a system that is not slowing you down.
My final advice after 2 Month using Win8?
Don't do an in place upgrade it if you don't have to. Windows 7 was working perfectly for me. After 15 years of IT Support under my belly (even thou most of it doing Back-office Servers) Win7 felt like an OS that wasn't in the way and did a great Job. Windows 8 will get in your way via slowing down your Box and making steps that were natural in win7 more cumbersome.
Especially System settings are more or less hidden (because the average "dummy" user needs to be protected from it :silly: ) and are hard to find. Turning every entry in your Start menu into an Metro Icon does not Help either. It's just messing up your start screen. Be Prepared to switch between metro and "normal Desktop" quite often if you are still using "older" programs. Even if you don't want to your Program will decide for you .
I think a fresh install helps in that category because it might make it easier to "switch your mind" to the new environment. It will also be a chance to clean your System of old and rarely used programs.
If you still want your Upgrade make sure your Backups are up to date and Working!
Hope this is helping you out.
Cheers
Lanman99

Thanks for enlightening us on the new screw-ups and mishaps of Win8 upgrades. The availability of the downgrade restore point is a new and welcome change, but the rest sounds about right for an upgrade.
Four hours to upgrade (when a clean install takes 15 minutes): check
Permissions messed up afterward: check
Performace actually decreased (even though a clean install of Win8 performs better than a clean install of Win7 on the same hardware): check
Data loss (your Documents folder): check
As for your points re: Win8 itself: first of all, if your only experience with it is based on that abomination of an in-place upgraded system, assume everything you "know" about the OS from that experience is wrong. I've been running Win8 for ~1.5 years now (counting betas) and have never had the problem with indexing service (which runs low-priority and doesn't take system resources that you're trying to use for anything else), data loss from library or folder movement, or any of the other problems you mention. I did try an upgrade install during the betas, but the result was trash - a bunch of features didn't work afterward, and the performance was worse than it should be - and the response when I reported the issues was "do a clean install". Upgrade installs are only *technically* supported; even MS thinks they're a bad idea.
Judging on OS based on an upgrade install is like judging a car model based on taking that car's interior and body, but replacing the engine, transmission, suspension, electronics, wheels, brakes, lights, and wipers with random junk you pulled out of a wrecking yard (without checking the original model) and beat into shape with a hammer and a hacksaw. Sure, it *looks* like it's easier (cheaper than making the needed money to buy the actual model) than buying a new car, and if you're really careful and moderately lucky, it will actually run pretty well and not strand you in the middle of nowhere or burst into flame or something awkward like that. It's going to be a complete pain in the ass to maintain though, you'll end up having spent a ton of time hacking it together in the first place and then keeping it running until you quickly pass the point where it would have been easier to just get the new car, and in the meantime it will never perform as well as it "should" have. Putting a bunch of junk car parts in a BMW body does not mean you're driving a BMW.
By the way, those problems that I didn't have? That even includes the "switching back and forth" thing, because I found it was a lot better to just not use Metro at all. I treat the Start screen the same way I treat the Start menu on older NT6.x versions: an irrelevant graphical thing that pops up for the half second where I type the name of a program I want, in between when I hit the Windows key and when I hit Enter. I pinned my most-used apps to the taskbar. My typical admin stuff is on the Win+X (or right-click the Start button - yes, there is one, it's just hidden until you hover over it) menu. Outlook is a better mail client than Mail, and better scheduling tool than Calendar. Pidgin is better than Messenger. If for some reason I want to log into Facebook, I have this thing called a "web browser" (which runs in a window, with all its features instead of a crippled subset of them, thank you very much).
Metro Skype is good enough I do use it sometimes, although I snap it to one edge of my (very wide) screen so it doesn't get in the way; I've considered going back to desktop Skype anyhow. Desktop SkyDrive is much better than the Metro one. Same for desktop OneNote vs. the Metro version. The only Metro apps I actually use much are games, and frankly I don't use Metro games that often on my main (desktop) Win8 box; why would I, when I could play Eve Online or Civilization / Alpha Centauri instead?

I only had the problem of a few games and visual studio needing a reinstall on my upgraded system. Not one of the other issues mentioned.
Oh, also had an issue where before the update it said my GPU drivers wouldn't work post upgrade, they did and as soon as I upgraded I was able to obtain native windows 8 drivers anyway. My integrated GPU was fine.

GoodDayToDie said:
Thanks for enlightening us on the new screw-ups and mishaps of Win8 upgrades. The availability of the downgrade restore point is a new and welcome change, but the rest sounds about right for an upgrade....
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Abomination is probably a bit harsh (i'm still working on that monster )
Don't get me wrong. I don't wan't to bash windows 8 for the sake of it. I just don't see a urgent reason to advise SysAdmNj to upgrade. Especially not an in-place upgrade. And i definitely agree that a clean install is the first choice to move to any new OS.
BUT surprisingly i pulled the same stunt growing from Vista to win7 on my Dell Studio 17 which went great. I had 1 issue with the on-board camera but other than that my notebook was running better, faster and more stable afterward and that was the primary reason why i tried it again with win7 to win8 on my lenovo. Still i got it working and at least it gave me valuable support experience and it's a dirty job but somebody...
Reason to try Metro is also based on my Idea to stay ahead of my Users. I think Metrostyle systems will be heading in our direction if we want it or not. It is to tempting for the marketing branches of our major OS vendors so i keep tinkering with it.
That "Back and Forth" simply lies in the program designs. It will just take me some time to get used to it, sorry but i'm old ).
Some of my apps (namely Hotmail which became Outlook) are seamlessly integrated and as you already mentioned much better than before most others are still written for WinXP/Vista/7 and will bring you back to familiar havens. Internet is done by a heavily customized FF portable, so carefree covered.
My main critique boils down to System settings Metro style. A lot of settings, tools and tweaks which grew into supporters hands look castrated to fit the average users need. That really is annoying. It looks i have to brush up on system scripting skills to support my colleagues. Thought i could get away with less typing these days :crying:.
...and yes switching a self patched '74 Beetle engine in a 2013 Beamer won't make a Racing machine but it looks funny trying to get away with it .

Right click the start icon on the desktop and there is a control panel link. Just the same as win7

SixSixSevenSeven said:
Right click the start icon on the desktop and there is a control panel link. Just the same as win7
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Yes if you are on your desktop. Starting up Metro won't give you that. You have to switch to your Desktop first. Or activate "All Apps" and sidescroll to Systemsettings. Besides it is not integrated which leads you again to your Desktop.
So System Settings = getting around Metro. The Settings Metro offers are still limited. Which IMHO is not a good way to do it. Yes it sounds nitpicking but if MS decides to get completely rid of our beloved Desktop, Metro is all you get.
But as i said, maybe just getting old...

On the metro start screen if you start typing it automatically fires up search. Type control and usually control panel is right there in front of you. Very quick and metro based.
But I agree, we could do with a native metro control panel.

SixSixSevenSeven said:
On the metro start screen if you start typing it automatically fires up search. Type control and usually control panel is right there in front of you. Very quick and metro based.
But I agree, we could do with a native metro control panel.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In windows 8.2, there is supposed to be the Pc settings with more options like power options in it. This will not get rid of the desktop control panel though
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Maybe I should have created a poll. Should I stay on windows 7 or upgrade?
I dont know now. I'm not crazy about windows 8. I'm fine on windows 7. Thing is most laptops come with windows 8 so I thought I might as well start familiarizing myself more. Although to be honest I think even if I was to buy a new laptop with windows 8, I would just clone that image and just restore a windows 7 image with all my apps etc. That or just change the hdd with mines
But thanks for all the insights.

Win8 does perform better, and has some cool new features (built-in ISO mounting, for example, is long overdue). If you do what I do, and mostly treat it as Win7 that has one more slot on the Taskbar than normal, it's a great OS. There are some things that mildly bug me, like the removal of window border transparency, but that's hardly a big deal.
The Win+X menu (or right-click on Start) can be done from anywhere; you don't have to be on the Desktop already. Selecting the Control Panel from that menu will open up the Desktop-mode Control Panel whether you're in the Desktop, the Start screen, or some Metro app.

I actually prefer the lack of border transparency and the flat colours etc, guess that's just personal preference though.

If you have a spare box--techies should always have a spare box--pop Win8 onto it to play around. If you're happy with Win7, I'd stick with that for your production box(es).
It's OK to skip Win8 (and 8.1). It's a transition rev, and biz won't migrate to it. There'll be more changes when Win9 rolls out next year, so even if you're set on sticking with Win, you can save half the work by jumping on Win9 then, because sure as heck you won't stay with 8.x when 9 is out.
Basically, if it's fun, then do it. If it's work, then don't.

There hasn't even been so much as a hint from Microsoft that there will be a windows 9 any time soon. I think we're in for a few more years of updates yet, windows 8 can still be "fixed".

Microsft stated - over a year ago, I think - that Windows was moving to an annual, smaller-releases cycle. Win8 and WP8 were the first OSed released after that announcement, with "Blue" for Windows and Windows Phone expected later this year (about one year after the W*8 releases). WP9-related job postings, referencing that OS by name/number, have already been posted on LinkedIn as well.