I just installed Windows 8.1 64 Bit Professional Consumer Preview.
Bit OT and not really related, but I've seen people mention it as a "Consumer" Preview but cannot for the life of me find out where they are getting the "consumer" part of that. Most of the MS documentation and copy on the subject, including the download page, refers to it as "Windows 8.1 Preview". Is the "Consumer" Preview a different version, or perhaps a name introduced by a badly researched article on the 8.1 preview? (I'm curious mostly because the version I have installed on my laptop identifies as "Windows 8.1 Pro Preview" and don't know if this "consumer" preview might be a later version.
I ran it through the gauntlet.
Considering by your very own words you
just installed it, I find this difficult to believe. Sounds like it would more likely fall under "messed about with it for a few minutes". Enough for a first impression but hardly running it through the gauntlet.
That Start Menu is a joke for desktop and laptop non-touchscreen users.
Windows 8 and 8.1 don't have a Start Menu.
It simply loads the tile screen with your personal choice of tiles.
Yep, the start button works pretty much the same way as 8.0. They just gave it a more prominent image rather than a taskbar hot corner. What you refer to as "the tile screen" is the Start Screen, which replaces the aforementioned Start Menu, and uses the same Tile layout as any "Modern UI" Application.
Inside W8.1 things are pretty much the same as Windows 7.
Actually, this is not the case. Windows 8 (and by extension, 8.1) have made improvements to Power Efficiency and Power management, improved thread pool scheduling for multiple processor machines, reworked the Heap Allocator for added performance and security. It also improves on the existing Back-up tools by introducing "File History", which when configured is practically a local Version Repository for your user files. It also makes it more accessible since it is essentially a case of simply selecting the drive to store the backups on, and then File History will track changes to libraries and your desktop, and record them on the given disk. Could be useful. I'll still stick with PowerArchiver for local data and a DVCS though.
The Charms Bar. Nope, not charming at all.
Any particulars? Personally I only use it for shutting down and changing settings, though usually I defer to just use Winkey+R and enter "control" to start control panel, which usually has pretty much the same capabilities, if not more. It also uses the typical Layered Windows rather than the new UI Style, which some people will likely prefer.
However. I still recommend a third party Start Menu. Desktop users who are busy with whatever their projects or jobs are need to have shortcuts to folders and files. To put shortcuts on the desktop the simplest way is accessing the traditional Start Menu, right clicking your program end choosing "send to desktop (create shortcut)".
I'd say The fastest way (and this applies to Win7 and Vista) is to press the start button and type a few letters to distinguish what you want to launch. On WinVista and 7 you can then hold Alt and Drag any result to your desktop or right-click->Send To->Desktop as Shortcut. Desktop Icons can be useful too here because they get indexed. Primarily this is useful since you cannot always see the desktop and might not want to minimize any applications. Windows 8 seems to follow the methodology Windows XP tried to introduce and sort of chagrin's Desktop Icons. I was able to make a shortcut by right-clicking a result in the Search results, choosing "Open File Location" and from there I could Alt+Drag to the desktop or right-click to send it to the desktop as a shortcut.
I know one thing for certain. Major and small businesses on networks will not be changing from W7 anytime soon. In fact, most of them are still using XP. When the time comes for the "big change" next April 2014 I am certain that most IT departments will move to W7 servers and stations.
Most likely, Assuming they move at all. Most of the problem with Windows 8 in enterprises and corporate settings isn't really related to the Modern UI, but probalby more attributable to Win8 being a off-cycle release due to Microsoft's increased development cadence. My understanding is that 'most' businesses are using Windows 7 at this point, based both on anecdotal information as well as simple extensions of server and consumer OS Shares. According to IDC, about 65% or so of Windows Servers are using 2008 or Later, so it seems reasonable to consider that a good portion of those companies are also using Win7 or later on many of their desktop systems.
Again. If you have tried W8 and are stuck with it AND you don't like it. Sell it on Craig's list, eBay etc. Order a nice W7 64 Bit machine online - you'll be so very glad you did.
How would you get stuck with Win8 in a situation where you can sell it, though? If a system comes with Windows 8 it can be downgraded to Windows 7 through the
OEM Downgrade rights. You cannot sell the OEM copies of the OS without violating the EULA, and it usually tied to the machine BIOS through SLIC.
