When Windows 8 Consumer Preview was released last week, I immediately grasped what Microsoft was trying to do…connect the desktop to the tablet to the smartphone. I loved the idea, and I liked the Metro interface. I hoped for a great experience so I could recommend it highly.
Well, it is early days yet…but so far, not so good. I have had Windows 8 up and running on my Netbook computer for 3 days now…and I am not in love. Darn! I wanted to be, too. Now, I admit my Netbook is my slowest, least powerful computer in my arsenal, but Microsoft said it would work…and it does…partially.
First, it took almost 4 hours to download it and get it up and running. I thought Microsoft said it would be quicker. I installed it right on top of my Windows 7 system, so maybe that does take longer. But after it was up and running, some of the Metro buttons would do nothing. The mail, contacts, calendar and weather apps would not work. Later I got the weather to work by installing it from the Microsoft App Store. But even though I uninstalled and reinstalled the mail app (of which calendar and contacts are part), it still does not work.
So, bottom line is some of it works and some of it doesn’t. It isn’t an issue as I can still get to my desktop and work normally. And I don’t want to sound too negative as parts of the OS work just fine. But I feel like the author of our very first story here…there is no reason to change unless you are going to get a Windows 8 tablet.
But I am not done testing and am not willing to give up. I still like the concept and will keep on playing with it. Sometime in the next week, I will install it on a more powerful computer, this time using the dual boot method. It is early days yet, so stay tuned for more updates. I am not writing it off yet.
Oh, and by the way, if you go to Windows 8, there is a huge learning curve, as it is not like anything Microsoft has done before. With the start button now gone, you will struggle at first. Believe it or not, I had a devil of a time trying to turn the computer off. It took some experimentation and an article on the Net to help me out.
As for today’s updates, I tried to minimize the Windows 8 stories and give you info to help you right now. So let’s get going… JRC
Windows 8: Something old, something awkward
Though Windows 8 introduces some nice new features, they're minimal. If you aren't planning to get a touch-enabled tablet any time soon, Windows 8 should be near the bottom of your wish list. But if you're considering a move to a Windows-based tablet, you'll want to dive into Windows 8 with both feet.
A Million Downloads for Windows 8 Preview on First Day
Whether or not Windows 8 will be a hit, the consumer preview released on Wednesday is flying off the virtual Relevant Products/Services shelves. Microsoft Relevant Products/Services tweeted Thursday that the consumer preview hit a million downloads within one day of its release.
Microsoft extends consumer support for Windows 7, Vista
Microsoft recently tacked on five additional years in the form of Extended support for all editions of both operating systems for individual users. Full support for every edition of each OS will now last for approximately 10 years from release date, pointing ahead to January 14, 2020, for Windows 7 and April 11, 2017, for Vista.
Office 365: Office in the Cloud still promising?
In a hardworking, digitized world, it’s hard to imagine tools more sought after than those that show up reliably on any portable device and work well — or at least as well as advertised. Whether Microsoft’s Cloud-based Office 365 is that tool — in fact or even in potential — is still an open question.
The Pirate Bay tosses all torrents
One of the Internet's largest torrent-downloading sites is no longer offering torrents, but that doesn't mean the site is being shuttered. Now users can access files with magnet links.
What is OLED TV? Why You Should be Excited
By now you've probably heard about OLED, or organic light-emitting diodes. LG and Samsung both revealed potential models at this year's CES, with the LG winning CNET's Best of CES Award. Make no mistake, this is the most important advancement in TV technology in over a decade, and a vast improvement over both LCD and plasma.
How to Manage Your USB Devices Better
Most of us probably have a number of USB devices for our PCs. In fact, the USB port has become almost a universal way to attach things. If you are like me, you could use a convenient way to manage and keep track of all those gadgets and devices. And that is just what a free utility called USBDeview from NirSoft provides. It is a device manager specifically for USB devices and has a number of quite useful functions.
Smithsonian turns to 3D to bring collection to the world
A new effort under way at the world's largest museum and research institution could eventually mean more of its 137 million objects will be publicly available, even if just via 3D digital models.
Best Free Microsoft Downloads
There are literally thousands of free utilities available from Microsoft but they are buried so deep in so many different sites that it is almost impossible to find them. In this list we've assembled the best freebies we could locate, all in one (very long) convenient list.
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