Windows 8: The 'out of the box' experience (screenshots)
by Zack Whittaker | September 15, 2011 4:02am PDT | Image 1 of 47
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Windows 8: The out of box experience
Microsoft released its Windows Developer Preview earlier this week -- the next generation Windows operating system -- specifically for developers. But anyone can burn a copy and run it on a test machine, should they wish to.
Jump ahead to find the new Blue Screen of Death, also roaming cloud profiles and the new 'Start menu'. You can search, see new notifications and see your new Control Panel. See what happens when you switch from Start to desktop, and see where Microsoft is pinching ideas from Apple.
So many rumours have gone around, and so much has clearly gone into the next version of Windows, known as 'Windows 8'. But what does the 'out of the box' experience look like?
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looks ugly and clunky - would not even consider it on my PC - even if it had a touch screen (my PC, that is). Why does MS have to make W8 look like a enlarged Iphone???? Guess i'll be sticking with XP for a lot longer.
@goldenpirate@... Technology has moved past you I guess. Only cynical people who don't WANT something new/innovative would stick with XP for personal use for this long. It's time to move on and try something new or stop commenting.
@jmckay417 I have an iPad, a Windows 7 and and I still like XP best. I am checking out the ISO though.
@jmckay417
It has nothing to do with technology or innovation. It is just user interface. It is different from Windows XP. Comparing to what is available in the market it looks clunky and un-userfriendly.
It has nothing to do with technology or innovation. It is just user interface. It is different from Windows XP. Comparing to what is available in the market it looks clunky and un-userfriendly.
@jmckay417
Ugly and clunky, however high tech, is still just ugly and clunky. I would not want something so hideous on my computer screen however high tech it is supposed to be. There are other high tech and higher tech alternatives, the ugly and new Windows is not required.
If you view all the pictures in the article the only picture with any beauty is the first and all that beauty is blocked by a big square block of puke green. All the other pictures in the article of Windows 8 are hideously ugly.
I have said this before, if the next computer that I purchase comes with windows 8 on it I will pay extra to install something other than windows 8. I could not go though my day looking at that horrible screen when there is no need for it to be so visually unappealing.
Ugly and clunky, however high tech, is still just ugly and clunky. I would not want something so hideous on my computer screen however high tech it is supposed to be. There are other high tech and higher tech alternatives, the ugly and new Windows is not required.
If you view all the pictures in the article the only picture with any beauty is the first and all that beauty is blocked by a big square block of puke green. All the other pictures in the article of Windows 8 are hideously ugly.
I have said this before, if the next computer that I purchase comes with windows 8 on it I will pay extra to install something other than windows 8. I could not go though my day looking at that horrible screen when there is no need for it to be so visually unappealing.
@jmckay417 i guess you are the only one who has brains.. i am suprised to see someone talking about xp being better than windows 7.. shame on all. really looks like technology ha sjust passed quite a lot of people... windows 8 is just so far. what do these guys want.. something easy i guess dont want to use brans eeh..
@goldenpirate@... I agree 100% - MS looks like they are trying to compete with a phone :-D. Windows 7 UI is nice, Linux KDE is better.
Heck, Ubuntu Unity and Gnome Shell are better... Well, doesn't look like Linux community has anything to worry about with this release :-D.
Heck, Ubuntu Unity and Gnome Shell are better... Well, doesn't look like Linux community has anything to worry about with this release :-D.
@LinuxRocks
That's your opinion.
Let's see if it's the Year of Linux this time, I'm guessing no and it will still remain a hobbyist OS, in terms of the desktop hovering around 1% market share.
I know I shouldn't feed the troll, but this constant blithering about Linux is just annoying.
That's your opinion.
Let's see if it's the Year of Linux this time, I'm guessing no and it will still remain a hobbyist OS, in terms of the desktop hovering around 1% market share.
I know I shouldn't feed the troll, but this constant blithering about Linux is just annoying.
@LinuxRocks Oh please, another Linux idiot shouting from the rooftops of irrelevance. Linux is a joke. I also find it hilarious how a Linux has the audacity to claim Linux has nothing to worry about from Windows, considering Linux can't even manage 1% market share, against Windows 90% market share.
@johndow1 Every year is the year of Linux according to this idiots, yet it can't manage more than 1% market share. Not matter how often these tools yell "Linux is great," nobody will listen. If they were listening, Windows 7 wouldn't have sold over 420 million licenses.
@LinuxRocks
Last time i tried Gnome and KDE (a few month ago) i wasnt too impress by the lack of finish of those user interfaces.
I dont think windows neither has anything to worry about linux interfaces. We still wait for those never to be seen Year of linux.
Last time i tried Gnome and KDE (a few month ago) i wasnt too impress by the lack of finish of those user interfaces.
I dont think windows neither has anything to worry about linux interfaces. We still wait for those never to be seen Year of linux.
@LinuxRocks
Yep, I guess Linux will continue to dominate in PC sales. You're funnier than the guy still using XP!
Yep, I guess Linux will continue to dominate in PC sales. You're funnier than the guy still using XP!
@LinuxRocks Linux users have a lot to worry about with this release; Microsoft's made a list of most of the advantages Linux had over Windows and incorporated them: an app store, KDE copy dialog, mounting ISOs and virtual HDs, being able to run a copy of your desktop on a flash drive, toggling between a desktop and tablet interface, integrated PDF reader, native virtualization tools, KDE's "plasma" HTML5 + Javascript desktop apps, etc. The only thing it really missed was virtual desktops.
@ johndow1 It's already been the year of Linux as the Linux kernel has captured the majority of the smartphone market and many other areas from servers to routers.
@jhammackHTH The "joke" is powering your web server, your phone, your car, your router, your tv, etc. Companies like Disney/Pixar, DreamWorks Animation, Sony, ILM and other movie production studios produce films with it and The Matrix, Titanic, Gladiator, Superman Returns, What Dreams May Come, Cats and Dogs, Shrek, The Perfect Storm, Prince of Egypt, The Road to El Dorado, Antz, Chicken Run, Deep Blue Sea, Star Trek: Insurrection, Fantasia 2000, Men in Black, Hollow Man and other movies have been produced with software running on Linux. In 1998 1 of the top 500 supercomputers was running Linux. In 2011 it's 413. Companies like Facebook, Amazon, eBay and Twitter are running their businesses with it. It's quite clear that Linux isn't going away.
Finally, if you're going to talk about market share, you're just going to invite the Apple apologists to post and proclaim that the iPhone and iPad are perfect solely because of their position in the market. Linux Geek's comments were wrong, but unfair counterattacks don't help.
@ johndow1 It's already been the year of Linux as the Linux kernel has captured the majority of the smartphone market and many other areas from servers to routers.
@jhammackHTH The "joke" is powering your web server, your phone, your car, your router, your tv, etc. Companies like Disney/Pixar, DreamWorks Animation, Sony, ILM and other movie production studios produce films with it and The Matrix, Titanic, Gladiator, Superman Returns, What Dreams May Come, Cats and Dogs, Shrek, The Perfect Storm, Prince of Egypt, The Road to El Dorado, Antz, Chicken Run, Deep Blue Sea, Star Trek: Insurrection, Fantasia 2000, Men in Black, Hollow Man and other movies have been produced with software running on Linux. In 1998 1 of the top 500 supercomputers was running Linux. In 2011 it's 413. Companies like Facebook, Amazon, eBay and Twitter are running their businesses with it. It's quite clear that Linux isn't going away.
Finally, if you're going to talk about market share, you're just going to invite the Apple apologists to post and proclaim that the iPhone and iPad are perfect solely because of their position in the market.
Linux Geek's comments were wrong, but unfair counterattacks don't help. 
@LinuxRocks
Apparently MS is demanding hardware changes that will block your ability to boot up the Linux variant of your choice. That will give Linux fans some pause, as well as ammo to the anti-trust folks.
Apparently MS is demanding hardware changes that will block your ability to boot up the Linux variant of your choice. That will give Linux fans some pause, as well as ammo to the anti-trust folks.
@goldenpirate@...
Looks pretty good to me. For those that don't want the metro style you can bet there will be a classic desktop/win 7 mode as well. MS won't leave businesses behind by only providing metro. I'm confident there will be GPO settings to control this.
Looks pretty good to me. For those that don't want the metro style you can bet there will be a classic desktop/win 7 mode as well. MS won't leave businesses behind by only providing metro. I'm confident there will be GPO settings to control this.
@rob.sharp@... I installed the preview on a VM last night and It is fantastic, I can't wait to install it on my TouchSmart tm2 ( I just need to pick up another HDD for it as I don't want to wipe out my Windows 7 install. I want a fresh install.)
( I just need to pick up another HDD for it as I don't want to wipe out my Windows 7 install. I want a fresh install.) 
@rob.sharp@... you can keep the metro as it does little to help me do my business. If it can configure to a 'working environment' then I'll upgrade to catch the all the other benefits. The preview metro edition is cute but I don't need cute thank you.
@rob.sharp@...
With the dev preview you can nix metro and get the win 7 start menu back with a registry setting. I think you will be able to control this setting via group policy in the enterprise.
With the dev preview you can nix metro and get the win 7 start menu back with a registry setting. I think you will be able to control this setting via group policy in the enterprise.
@goldenpirate@...
If you had actually used a WP7 phone, you would have realised that its UI is light years beyond the iToys. Now everyone will be able to use this smart and responsive UI no matter how much FUD the bloggers put out.
As to XP, my condolences.
If you had actually used a WP7 phone, you would have realised that its UI is light years beyond the iToys. Now everyone will be able to use this smart and responsive UI no matter how much FUD the bloggers put out.
As to XP, my condolences.
@tonymcs@...
Tried one and was very surprised.
Now if I can find one with 4G and up to date hardware.....
Tried one and was very surprised.
Now if I can find one with 4G and up to date hardware.....
sharkboyjohn-
Your right that the main Win7 interface is there and improved upon,ready to be of use for none touch-screens on release?
Your right that the main Win7 interface is there and improved upon,ready to be of use for none touch-screens on release?
@goldenpirate@... LOL! An XP user calls this ugly and clunky? You aren't even remotely believable or credible. Because not even you are stupid enough to believe that BS.
@goldenpirate@...
only reason people stuck on xp was cz of vista fiasco.
it took too much of resources to install and run....
win 8 can run on ny system tht runs win7...but is more efficient thn win 7..
only reason people stuck on xp was cz of vista fiasco.
it took too much of resources to install and run....
win 8 can run on ny system tht runs win7...but is more efficient thn win 7..
@goldenpirate@...
XP? Really? You're hilarious.
XP? Really? You're hilarious.
@kris_stapley@...
MS fanboys are as ugly as Linux idiots or Apple addicts.
MS fanboys are as ugly as Linux idiots or Apple addicts.
@goldenpirate@... yeah here on XP for years to come ..hehehe
long ago in America they used to say -- aint broke dont fix it
long ago in America they used to say -- aint broke dont fix it
@goldenpirate@... xp is good vista did suck but 7 is way ok
@goldenpirate@... Agreed. I no like any version of windows.
They all too complex to learn
They all too complex to learn
@goldenpirate@...
Please insert "This developer preview version of Windows 8" into all your comments. It adds perspective to your point.
Please insert "This developer preview version of Windows 8" into all your comments. It adds perspective to your point.
Why do I get this nagging feeling in the back of my mind that MS is forgetting about PC's ?
@Tburg2 Did you miss the part where you can easily switch between the Metro UI and the classic desktop view?
@jmckay417 VERY easy switch!!!
Metro, on a PC default to classic.
I really don't see any reason to switch from Win 7 here, even if I were to buy a non-Android, non-Apple tablet. Much ado about nothing.
@justthisguyyouknow The only reason to switch would be to get the benefit of having a PC/Laptop with a detachable monitor
HAHAHA, Looks like Windows Phone(y). Can't beilive this is where MS has gone.
This makes Ubuntu Unity look like gold! No thanks, I'll stick to a real UI - KDE :-D.
What a joke!!!!
This makes Ubuntu Unity look like gold! No thanks, I'll stick to a real UI - KDE :-D.
What a joke!!!!
@LinuxRocks
Don't worry linux will continue to be 2nd fiddle or would it be 3rd or 4th fiddle?
Don't worry linux will continue to be 2nd fiddle or would it be 3rd or 4th fiddle?
@rob.sharp@... On the desktop, that may be true, but as everyone else in every other area of the industry moves to Linux, at least I will have some company .
. 
@LinuxRocks On the desktop, that may be true, but as everyone else in every other area of the industry moves to Linux...
Ah.. Servers.. sure, you'll have plenty of company. But then again, when running servers, the UI is much less of an issue anyway. So what was your point again?
Ah.. Servers.. sure, you'll have plenty of company. But then again, when running servers, the UI is much less of an issue anyway. So what was your point again?
@LinuxRocks Based on your username I didn't expect any other response. A lot of Linux trolls in these Win 8 articles I must say...
@LinuxRocks - With all due respect (take that as you will), will you please stop this kind of posting? It helps nothing and no one especially those who, for whatever reason, use GNU/Linux desktop operating systems. Even though GNU/Linux desktop OS users are only around 1% there are still millions of us and have you happened to notice that 99.9% of us are NOT haunting these types of forums and comment threads with the sole (and often fanatical) purpose of trashing Windows just for the sake of doing so? Do you think you're helping us at all? No. you're not. So you can you can either decide to grow up and start writing these comments of your in a more mature and courteous manner or you can just stay as you are and go away. We Linux users don't want you and we certainly don't need you.
That being said, I use the 64-bit version of Linux Mint Debian Edition with the older Gnome 2.0 interface as my main desktop OS. This is my choice and it doesn't mean Windows 7 or the Developer Preview of Windows 8 is any better or any worse in comparison and I can pretty much guarantee that in my experience, the majority of Linux desktop users would agree with me. In that light, I also have Windows 7 Pro (64-bit) installed on another partition on my hard drive and I fully intend to install the DP of Windows 8 as soon as I have time to do so.
That being said, I use the 64-bit version of Linux Mint Debian Edition with the older Gnome 2.0 interface as my main desktop OS. This is my choice and it doesn't mean Windows 7 or the Developer Preview of Windows 8 is any better or any worse in comparison and I can pretty much guarantee that in my experience, the majority of Linux desktop users would agree with me. In that light, I also have Windows 7 Pro (64-bit) installed on another partition on my hard drive and I fully intend to install the DP of Windows 8 as soon as I have time to do so.
Might take a while to get used to the new interface but I may give it a shot
yeah, i've been hearing that song about linux for years.
So... you was installing Windows 8 and you got your first BSOD at the installation process? LOL!!
@diegocr Stay with the times. This preview is copied from Tom Warren of winrumors. It has gone viral among all MS bloggers. They inserted it here just to show how much user-friendly MS is now.
@diegocr To be fair, I did prod and poke it a great deal during. You know that mid-install SHIFT + F10 trick? Yeah, that'll do it. I've installed it on four machines and it worked fine on three.
It is neither a tablet nor a PC OS. It is not natural like a tablet OS should be. Even Android is much more smoother. At the same time, they are no longer consistent with the User Experience for PCs. MS was pretty consistent from Win95 till now. I don't understand who they are trying to please. I am a a middle aged techie, but I can tell you this one has a steep learning curve. Nothing works as it currently does in XP or Win7. The classic desktops' Start button is an example - it launches tiles and frustrates you no end. You download some application, such as the Chrome browser, and it gets added to the end of the tiles list. I can see this tiles list growing like Rapunzel's hair, and navigating it using a mouse is just not a good idea. There is a saying about the crow that wanted to walk gracefully like a swan. It ended up forgetting how to walk like a crow while never learning how to walk like a swan. This is the impression one gets when you stop admiring the eye candy and start doing something useful. If you though UAC in Vista was a bad idea, then just wait for the slippery tiles for you to slip on
and we're gonna use it to pound nails. We don't care what you call them; they're nails. Because we have a hammer.
Not natural? As a user of WP7 for nearly a year, I totally disagree. Comparing it to Android or Apple's crowded desktop of static icons shows both of those cut down OSs sadly lacking.
As an old techie pushing 60, I'm really surprised at the fear of change that seems to grip younger techs. Frankly, if you can't see the benefits or admire the design, you don't really deserve it
As an old techie pushing 60, I'm really surprised at the fear of change that seems to grip younger techs. Frankly, if you can't see the benefits or admire the design, you don't really deserve it
@tonymcs@...
To me the UI looks like mindless graffitti. Just another perspective. MS trying to produce an OS that is everything for everybody will end up with nothing for anybody.
To me the UI looks like mindless graffitti. Just another perspective. MS trying to produce an OS that is everything for everybody will end up with nothing for anybody.
Iinstalled the test Win 8 and I think its a piece of garbage - I like windows 7 -I do not like the touch screen on a PC or laptop -allways haveing to clean the screen - plus my monitor is about 2feet away - I installed a program that makes win 8 work like win 7 - So then you have win 7 so why would anyone upgrade to win 8
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