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Windows 8 Consumer Preview available now


Steve

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This is a lot better than the developer preview.

 

It took about 11-12 minutes to install on my old laptop. Once it booted up it asked me if I wanted to sign into my Windows Live account, so I did, and it automatically knew my name, displayed my photo as my profile pic, started displaying friends' birthdays on the calendar app pane etc. - pretty cool.

 

The Xbox Live stuff is not available in the UK yet. The app store is up and running though and there's about 70 apps in there (including about 15 games) which are all currently free.

 

The SkyDrive integration is really good.

 

I'm still not sure about the mix of the regular desktop and the Metro UI. I do like the Metro UI because of the live tiles, but it seems odd switching between that and a regular Windows 7-style look. This is still an unfinished build though as there's the release candidate coming next. I'll give it 1 thumb up for now, but unlike when I first used Windows 7 and thought "I'll definitely buy this", I'm not getting that feeling with Windows 8 so far.

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It looks pretty nice on that tablet, there are definitely a couple of features I'd be interested in seeing make it to iOS - multi pane display is probably the biggest one. That said, iOS5 still looks like the nicer option. The guy in the video missed a couple of gestures that make iPad feel really nice to use too, swiping the notification centre in and swiping the task bar up.

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Tablets have to be designed for touch ground up, though. Being able to run any windows software is meaningless if you can't control it properly, right? Even the email and calendar software built for the tablet looked a little fiddly. iOS needs some features pretty desperately, like proper keyboard support, peripheral support, better email function, and so on, but in its favour is a fantastic interface...

 

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Tablets: what is point?

 

I still don't understand what the usage situation is. In those demos he says (and everybody knows) that tablets can't do a lot of things that "full" PCs can do. I can't justify spending hundreds of pounds on what amounts to an "intuitive" internet browsing machine. If I want to have a throttled and frustrating gateway to the web I have my phone.

 

I can't imagine that working on Office is much fun on those devices, neither is using and kind of powerful software like a DAW, Photoshop or development tools. They're massively less customisable and even the simplest functions are clunky because you haven't got the advantage of using up to 10 wonderful digits to do shortcuts etc...

 

Seriously - what is point?

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They're not pc replacements, I think that's the key. They will become lighter (ipad2 is still quite heavy) and last longer, and the screens will get better to the point they're the obvious choice for reading devices, video chat, gesture controller for a computer, video player, etc. Rewind to now, and you have to have a use case to find it useful. For a long time mine sat collecting dust because my laptop was quicker, but it's the slowing down that's one of the benefits. Now I leave the laptop in the studio when I go to bed, whereas before it was on my bedside table. The iPad is totally silent and more relaxing to use, so I can wind down much easier.

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Hmmm....understood. But they're less portable than a phone so they're fulfilling a very small niche between "sitting down" and "leaving the house". You're right in that you do need a use case.

 

I realise that I'm guilty of falling into the same trap as those BASTARDS who knocked my premium ice idea: "I wouldn't buy it so it's stupid".

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Now I leave the laptop in the studio when I go to bed, whereas before it was on my bedside table. The iPad is totally silent and more relaxing to use, so I can wind down much easier.

 

The modern day porn mag.

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