

Windows 8.1 Preview - cyanbane
http://blogs.windows.com/windows/b/bloggingwindows/archive/2013/06/26/the-windows-8-1-preview-is-here.aspx

======
skrebbel
I like it. Nearly all the features shown off in that video make me go "want!".
The additional start screen organizing features are precisely what i'm looking
for.

Now all I want is more and better fullscreen apps. Not the "your favourite
news source" apps. They're bullshit on phones and they're even more bullshit
on PCs or big tablets. Real, useful apps. Like a barebones spreadsheet that
fits in a sidebar. Zen-writing text editor. Extensions for IE-in-fullscreen-
mode. Music player that doesn't suck and doesn't want to be all "cloud".

They're getting real close here. I really hope app vendors follow suit.

(p.s. if you try Win8 without a touchscreen, you didn't really try it at all)

~~~
lurkinggrue
I can't get past the fact that I hate full screen at all.

~~~
untog
Well, Windows 8 probably has the best handling for screen sharing out of any
tablet OSes- the whole "snap" functionality is very clever. Not so for
desktops, of course.

~~~
acturbo
personally, i don't care about Windows on a tablet ... i develop software and
create graphics using a 24" monitor ... i don't like seeing full screen
anything. Windows 8 is a disaster for serious content creators and
productivity professionals like me.

~~~
Freaky
What, all because of a fullscreen start menu? Start8 lets you configure it to
open in a smaller popup overlay if you'd prefer. Or indeed have an old Windows
7 style menu instead.

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ladzoppelin
I actually really enjoy Windows 8 and will probably just wait for 8.1 to be
released. Its cool their listening to their customers but I hope they don't
force the start menu back on everyone. At least boot to desktop will be
awesome considering my "D" key is broken and clicking the "Desktop" tile takes
an eternity.

~~~
jtreminio
How did you type this?

~~~
bennyg
ASCII code for D.

------
RyanZAG
I clicked through to the live feed on
[http://channel9.msdn.com/](http://channel9.msdn.com/) from the link there. I
was right in time for the presenter to click on the new windows button which
makes an incredibly jarring animation of tons of randomly colored tiles pop up
over the screen. The presenter then says "not at all jarring ... not at all
jarring". Sure, right, I think you need to get out of that reality distortion
field - it's not working.

~~~
counterpointer
Have you actually used Windows Phone or Windows 8 for any length of time? The
animations are very subtle on actual devices and work very well with the flat
look.

Can't speak for the animations being screencasted across the internet via
streaming video though which can introduce lag, jitter, FPS drops and
artifacts, especially for fast moving scenes like animations. I'll reserve my
judgment till I install the preview.

~~~
RyanZAG
The full screen, multi-colored tile metro screen is subtle and not jarring?
The one that pops up whenever you want to launch a new program, completely
removing any context of what you are currently working on? Is that what you're
actually saying?

The strange rotating 'subtle' animation you are trying to say makes up for
this just makes it all the worse by putting completely unnecessary 'bling' all
over a workstation.

~~~
untog
So you haven't used it, then?

~~~
skrebbel
Clearly he hasn't.

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philliphaydon
REALLY hope I can turn off the start button.

~~~
mariusmg
Same here. That thing is useless.

~~~
jpreiland
Is its function the exact same as pressing the Windows key (bringing up all
the app tiles/metro UI thing)? I already do that whenever I want to start
something. I tend to navigate using only my keyboard when possible, so when I
open stuff up I just hit Windows key and start typing what I want ("chr" and
then Enter would start Chrome, for example).

The only downside to the technique I use is that they separate Apps from
Settings/Utilities (whatever word they use), so if I want control panel type
stuff, I have to arrow down to that filter to see the search results that I
want. I hope 8.1 consolidates that (or that there's an option to make it work
that way)

Before today I was under the impression that the start button they were
bringing back would be like the Windows 7 start button.

~~~
lurkinggrue
People wanted a start menu that didn't take up the whole screen. They just put
in a button.

I just want less full screen shit.

------
dm8
It still feels like an OS designed purely for tablet computing.

~~~
cyanbane
I think it is amazing a company as big as MS has converged work station,
tablet, phone and Xbox One UIs in such a short amount of time. Not saying I
like all the changes, just amazed at the short amount of time it has taken.

~~~
apalmer
I cant really cosign this one, by converging they shoehorned 2 different UI's
into 1 OS, and dont seem to have given any one of the three groups what they
really wanted.

~~~
skrebbel
I guess it's just taste, too.

I, for one, love the combination. When I'm coding, I'm nearly only in desktop
mode. Browser with 20 open tabs, developer environments, consoles, the whole
shebang.

Then, when I want a break, I hit start and open Twitter or fullscreen IE10.
I'm suddenly on a tablet (with a dock that's always attached, but ok). My
ongoing work is still there but hidden from my view and my mind. I stop using
the mousepad, and browse with touch only. IE10 has a really excellent user
experience on a touch screen, it makes Chrome on Android tablets feel
ridiculously ancient.

Then, when I'm done with HN, private mail, and the weather, I hit Win+D and
_poof_ , my tablet became a PC again.

It may be a coincidence, but Microsoft essentially made a two-mode OS that
precisely matches the two ways I use a computer.

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davidcollantes
Oh dear.

I have used Windows 8 (work on IT, I am forced to). Windows 8.1 seems to look,
and behave just the same as Windows 8. Adoption not happening here.

~~~
iaskwhy
That's curious. If it looks and behaves exactly the same then adoption (as in
updating) shouldn't be a problem.

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ChikkaChiChi
Bing integrated all over the place? Does Microsoft honestly think they'd lost
enough market share that they are no longer viable candidates for antitrust
lawsuits?

~~~
ChikkaChiChi
I guess I'm a little shocked at how willingly everyone just thinks this is ok.
Bundling like this is not in the best interest of the consumer. Why would
interested in artificially inflating a company's market share in an unrelated
space because you forget to disable it?

Are you going to be ok if Microsoft introduces ad tiles in Metro?

~~~
untog
Yeah, what if Apple force-bundled their maps service on the iPhone and gave it
OS-level hooks that no other apps were allowed? We'd all be in upro- oh, wait

EDIT: below was a conversation with rdouble, who decided to delete his entire
half of the thread.

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kryten
Available on MSDN subscriber downloads in x64 ISO form now.

Downloading at a pitiful 600k/sec :(

~~~
moheeb
Maybe this shows a generational gap...but I don't think I could ever consider
downloading at 600k/sec pitiful.

~~~
DanBC
We need some nice speed simulators so people can see what it's like
downloading text over 300 baud; 1200 / 75 bps; 9,600 bps and 14,400 bps.

You can read the text as it downloads. You use interlaced jpegs so that people
can see something while the rest of the image downloads.

~~~
MrDOS
Sloppy[1] is a really old tool that does this. For iOS development
specifically, I've been told of Network Link Conditioner[2], and supposedly,
Fiddler[3] and Charles[4] both includes some of this functionality.

1\. [http://www.dallaway.com/sloppy/](http://www.dallaway.com/sloppy/)

2\. [http://mattgemmell.com/2011/07/25/network-link-
conditioner-i...](http://mattgemmell.com/2011/07/25/network-link-conditioner-
in-lion/)

3\. [http://fiddler2.com/](http://fiddler2.com/)

4\. [http://www.charlesproxy.com/](http://www.charlesproxy.com/)

------
lawnchair_larry
All I see is Metro demos, which I want nothing to do with. Anyone have a list
of the actual features?

~~~
untog
The Verge has a rundown:
[http://www.theverge.com/2013/6/26/4465888/windows-8-1-previe...](http://www.theverge.com/2013/6/26/4465888/windows-8-1-preview-
video)

spoiler: it involves a lot of Metro, what with it being the Windows UI now,
and all.

~~~
FreezerburnV
> and website owners can create separate Live Tiles that can be pinned to the
> Start Screen to access RSS feeds.

That little tidbit really stood out as interesting to me. I seriously hope
that MS does this well, and I can have live tiles for all my favorite sites
that actually update with their new content.

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kryptiskt
Project Spark looks like a fun toy.

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Freaky
Can anyone confirm whether or not this includes ReFS support? That's probably
more important to me than any other feature 8.1 could possibly offer, having
encountered silent data corruption just a few months ago (thanks, WD).

~~~
ayi
ReFS is includes since Windows 8's initial release but only on Server
editions.

~~~
Freaky
Yes, hence wanting to know if it's included in 8.1 preview as it has been in
the leaked prerelease. [http://www.winbeta.org/news/leaked-windows-blue-
build-9369-h...](http://www.winbeta.org/news/leaked-windows-blue-
build-9369-hints-refs-client-support-windows-81)

------
MWil
the video doesn't show a single desktop improvement. as a purely desktop user
(never once having used a metro app), is there anything for me in 8.1?

~~~
pmarsh
Yup, tweaks to what they're calling the "Power user menu" Start+x and Display
Scaling and of course now you can boot right to the desktop.

[http://winsupersite.com/windows-8/hands-
windows-81](http://winsupersite.com/windows-8/hands-windows-81)

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counterpointer
Live video of the keynote at BUILD
[http://channel9.msdn.com/](http://channel9.msdn.com/)

Live blog [http://live.theverge.com/live-microsoft-
build-2013/](http://live.theverge.com/live-microsoft-build-2013/)

Ballmer being his usual trademark excitable self.
[http://d35lb3dl296zwu.cloudfront.net/uploads/photo/image/130...](http://d35lb3dl296zwu.cloudfront.net/uploads/photo/image/13084/20130626-09220688
--IMG_0087.JPG)

~~~
agilebyte
Thanks, always a pleasure to see the monkey man.

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godgod
Will 8.1 still come with the NSA backdoor. If so, I do not want.

Try Linux.

~~~
counterpointer
Honest question, isn't there NSA written code in Linux via the SELinux patches
that were integrated?

~~~
druiid
Yes, but given that it's open-source I imagine if there was a back-door in it,
someone would have found it by now. That said, they could purposefully have
excluded security triggers for vulnerable kernel exploits which haven't been
found yet... but as far as being some direct back-door in it by now I highly
doubt that.

~~~
kryten
Look at the OpenBSD IPsec fiasco and ask yourself that again.

~~~
druiid
Yeah, and weren't those found to be totally and completely false?

~~~
kryten
"possibly" is the answer to that question. They found a few flaws but not
necessarily anything conclusive.

