We've updated our Windows 8 Review to include tidbits on the upcoming Windows Blue update. You can jump to the last page to read about it here.
Windows 8 is not a want, it’s a necessity. Not for you, the consumer. For Microsoft.
We’d like to think that somewhere, somehow, a group of user interface experts like to meet up for lunch in one of Microsoft’s (likely) sprawling Redmond cafeterias. They talk about their days, their families, and how horrified they are at Microsoft’s decision—and need—to unify a single user experience across its entire product line.
That’s the real reason why Windows 8 looks and feels like a tablet operating system slapped overtop Windows 7 (with a few tweaks here and there). It is. Users are given no way around it—Microsoft has made sure of that fact. And, in many ways, there’s no way around it for Microsoft, either. The company has decided that users cannot have dissimilar Windows experiences across desktops, tablets, smartphones, or any other kooky gadgets on the horizon, but refuses (or can’t) cut the cord of the traditional desktop experience just yet.
Windows 8 is the natural, necessary hybrid—the last time you’re likely to see the “core” Windows experience of the last decade mashed together with the multicolored, touch-sensitive, “Metro” boxes of the future. A word on that: While Microsoft has elected to not call the tablet-ized portion of Windows 8’s user interface Metro—it’s now just called “Windows 8,” we think—we’ll keep using the old nomenclature just to make this review easier to process.
However, we’re willing to bet you’ll have many other colorful names for your experience with the new OS.
We never thought we’d type the words, “Microsoft has made it easy to install Windows,” but there you have it. Your first introduction into Microsoft’s latest iteration of Windows comes from the previously laborious process of blanking your hard drive and playing the company’s equivalent of 20 questions to install an OS.
Assuming you have a product key—now a requirement to install Windows 8, instead of an after-the-fact input—the installation process looks identical to Windows 7’s at first. Once you’ve set the installer to copy files to your hard drive, Windows 8 is off to the races. A simple, black installation screen gives you pithy updates about what’s happening between your installation media and your hard drive. After that, only five prompts require your attention, including one for picking your PC name and your favorite color and three that relate to verifying the settings for the Windows Live ID you’ll want to link to your installation.
When Windows 8 says, “Your PC will be ready in just a moment,” it’s not kidding. This is the speediest, most annoyance-free OS installation we’ve ever experienced.
To learn how you can install Windows 8 from a USB drive, check out our "Install Windows 8" guide. The article also addresses whether or not you should go with an upgrade or clean install.
Welcome to Metro! Right-click tiles to select them, and then drag them around your Metro desktop to create new columns—it’s a “dumping grounds,” of sorts, for groups of programs.
Up pops Metro, the tiled-box screen that’s easily Windows 8’s most controversial feature. To discuss the strengths, weaknesses, and intricacies of Metro alone could eat up an entire multipage review. So we’ll lead with the biggie: At its core, Metro feels… undone. To put it another way, Microsoft’s treatment of its tiles, Metro’s interactions with the “normal” half of Windows 8, and the lack of customization present in this Hyde to Windows 7’s Jekyll does a disservice to those who want anything beyond an operating system set in “easy mode.”
Metro's People app is a virtual gathering place for just about every contact you'll likely ever have - pulled in from your Google, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Microsoft accounts, for now.
DR_JDUBZ
September 21, 2012 at 11:59am
STFU, NO ONE WANTS GARBAGE XBOX GAMES INFECTING THEIR COMPUTERS!!! After all, they use 10 year old hardware. Sure its fine if you want a cheap all around closed source computer Windows 8 will do fine. IF YOU WANT A REAL COMPUTER STICK TO WINDOWS 7 OR LINUX WHEN STEAM COMES TO IT!!!
MarioJP
October 26, 2012 at 9:28pm
Don't make me laugh with your "if you want a real computer stick with windows 7 or Linux" rant. Windows 8 is definitely polished than Windows 7 especially whats been done under the hood.
I don't mind metro and it is not a steep learning curve like most claim to say about windows 8. Linux is a learning curve when it comes to Sudo this and Sudo that.
You don't ever have to do such thing in Windows when one wants to install third party applications. Your only option that is close to how windows install stuff is the Ubuntu Software center. Otherwise you are better off to use what comes included once you install Ubuntu and don't even bother.
Steam is just a client and it probably end up just like how it is on the Mac. Who cares. But the REAL GAMES are under Windows.
With that said I am prepping my gaming PC for Windows 8 :)
Nimrod
September 23, 2012 at 11:47pm
you must be either retarded or didnt actually read the review. W8 has enhancements for new tech that W7 wishes it did. Its obvious that that non RT version of W8 is specifically designed for power useres with modern hard core hardware. Ill throw the tool on that lets me bypass the metrosexual UI(a minor foot note of the new features in W8) and enjow an OS that actually takes proper advantage of multicore cprocs, SSDs and the new generation of DX. Fanks
Andrew.Hodge
September 21, 2012 at 12:35am
I love how everyone keeps referring to metro as schizophrenic, when the disease I believe they are thinking of is MPD. Even though it isn't really considered a real disorder anymore, I believe qualities of MPD are closer to metro than schizophrenia... Just saying. I understand that we're all quoting what's-his-name, but still...
SkinnyZeroOne
September 20, 2012 at 8:25pm
I sincerely apologize to my fellow Max PC readers for cluttering up space here with my comments that have nothing to do with the article on Win8. Sorry guys.
Keith E. Whisman
October 26, 2012 at 3:58pm
Unless your a spammer its all good, chin up and no need to apologize to assholes that think they own the comments section on MaximumPC.com and feel they have to right to trash anyone with differing opinions than theirs. And fuck the spell checkers out there as well.
Ninjawithagun
October 26, 2012 at 11:13am
Now that we know you are a quibbling bleedheart liberal with no brain matter present to use, your apology is not accepted.
methuselah
September 20, 2012 at 11:03am
Windows 8 is heaping pile of crap that is will fall into the same MS fail category that Win ME and Win Vista did.
I've used every Win O/S since Win 3.11 (yep even Win NT!) and can say this is the first time I'm not going to be the first kid on the block to load up the new version of Windows.
I'll wait for the inevitable "fixed" Windows 9 that will surely come out about one year from Win 8 release.
Personally, I think MPC is getting caught in the hype just like they did for Win Vista. Go back on some of the old issues and you'll see that MPC had the same attitude about "upcoming" Win Vista that it does about Win 8.
lindethier
September 19, 2012 at 5:24pm
I've played around with the preview for a bit and am still intrigued by it. I'll probably upgrade to it a month or two after it comes out.
The speed increase and the other little under the hood improvements seem good.
SkinnyZeroOne
September 19, 2012 at 1:46am
@Silencer
Posted my thoughts in 2 places just to make sure 'Silencer' catches it. Just in case he's in church or at a Romney Rally -
@Silencer - and Only Silencer
You are an absolute A$$HOLE. Go take your God, religion & guns elsewhere will ya please. What are you like 14? Even if you're not - you come off like one you jackass. Bet you live in a small town don't ya.
Go peddle your Republican propaganda on your own facebook page - this is not the place for it. This is a magazine for PC enthusiasts - not Bible Babbling Idiots.
Quit watching FOX news and maybe tune into an episode of "How The Universe Works" - you moron.
At the very least - change your username to something else as you really don't know when to shut up. The more intelligent you try to act - the more of an idiot you sound like.
I actually understand that - Republicans love nothing more than the sound of their own voices.
Holy Sh!t - What a Bonehead.
Andrew.Hodge
September 21, 2012 at 12:22am
Dude, you just made yourself into a bigger asshole than silencer. If you have problems with him making political comments, don't make political comments of your own.
burntham77
September 18, 2012 at 7:23am
Maybe I missed it, but one issue I had with the OS was with desktop shortcuts. If a program did not put on there automatically during installation, adding a desktop shortcut in Windows 8 was a hassle. You couldn't just go the Start screen and use the right click menu to add one. No, you had to add one by hunting through your Programs. Not awful, but not as easy as it was in previous versions of Windows.
What advantages does Windows RT bring over iOS and Android? I know that one thing I do not like about Android and iOS is how content is limited. For example, if I use the Zinio magazine app on an iPad or Android tablet, some content is not allowed on those devices but it is allowed on the Windows desktop version of Zinio. Will Windows RT maintain the same thing as the desktop or will content be regulated much like it is in iOS and Android?
burntham77
September 18, 2012 at 7:12am
"We plan to prepare for the desktop apocalypse by stockpiling copies of Windows ME."
Well now you're just being silly.
whiplash55
September 17, 2012 at 9:28pm
Runs far faster than Win7 the desktop is a improved 7 version and the new features like OS refresh works great. I'm starting to use a few Metro apps and they are improving. I will upgrade even my old i7 920 desktop when the time comes, without hesitation.
People just hate change, even when it has the chance to be an improvement.
Landstander
September 17, 2012 at 7:50pm
Windows 8 needs to be banished back to the infernal hell from which it was spawned.
guntlager
September 17, 2012 at 1:42pm
I set up separate Windows 8 RTM HDD to use on my Mac Pro. I also have individual drives for Mountain Lion and Windows 7 Pro. After installing Office 2010, Quicken, Handbrake, makeMKV, etc. here is what I did to make Windows 8 suck less;
I either uninstalled or unpinned from the start page most of the Metro trash including Travel, Music, Weather and the other useless fluff.
Then I downloaded and installed a start button demo that restored the Windows 7-like start button albeit without the options. Next I configured the app to open Windows 8 to the desktop. After the really ugly logon screen is finished I'm back to the desktop, no Metro at all unless I want to go there.
The Windows 8 desktop looks pretty good. I like the colors, fonts and layout. I do miss rounded windows corners but Microsoft was never able to make them jaggy-free anyway.
The only really bad part of the desktop look is the lack of shadows. Overlapping windows without proper shadows just become a mess of intersecting lines instead of appearing as separate objects. Flat is ugly. On Mountain Lion the window I'm using really looks raised above the rest of the desktop. That's very comfortable and natural to look at.
Will I buy Windows 8? Probably so, I like to fiddle and don't use Windows very much anyway.
Ulrich
September 17, 2012 at 7:22am
I have no interest in buying or upgrading to W8... maybe it will fail just as hard as Vista, and they'll make W9 good.
FreddieG
September 17, 2012 at 5:29am
The hell are you all complaining about, like anyone here has ever actually "bought" a copy of Windows.
methuselah
September 20, 2012 at 11:08am
I'm no one as well since I buy my Win O/S's.
FreddieG - Your just a thief. Oh I'm sure you'll try to sugarcoat, justify, or sidestep your blatant pilfering behind some poor excuses or warped moral code, but at the end of the day you can't get around the fact that not purchasing your software is stealing, exactly as if you walked into Best Buy and grabbed a boxed copy off the shelf and put it under your coat.
Rift2
September 17, 2012 at 12:56am
Even Windows ME is better then this at least you could Install it and had System Restore if it screws up.
Rift2
September 17, 2012 at 12:51am
I can't even install this on my 2003 PC even though I meet the specs but don't have DX NX on my AMD CPU it seems.
stupid OS
spokenwordd
March 14, 2013 at 5:33pm
I bet you wonder why your DVD player doesn't play Blu Rays too huh?
Granite
September 17, 2012 at 2:42am
Hmmm...
You should just stay with Win98 or maybe XP for your almost 10 year old computer, eh?
Now, if that's your only computer...dude, you are way behind the power curve and I wonder what you are doing in MPC.
Perhaps it's time to upgrade?
growler
September 16, 2012 at 11:46pm
I started using Windows 8 Consumer Preview, when it came out in February, 29, 2012. I Had not to much problems with it. The only problem i had was the my Cricket Wireless Modem A600 would not work. All the other programs that i used worked fine.
On May 28, 2012, the Windows 8 Release Preview was released and i updated my system. Windows 8 provided all the drivers for my HP Desktop which came with Vista when i purchased it brand new June/2009.
I started dual boot Vista and Windows 7, but i removed Vista and replaced it with Windows 8 RC.
I use Windows 8, 95% of the time. I love it, it's faster and better than all the other windows Operating Systems.
Windows Vista was a big disappointing, it would crash my system all the time. When I started using Windows 7, it would crash once in a while. Now that I am using Window 8, it rarely crashes. But when it does crash, only the software crashes, not the entire system.
When a software program crashes, it will not open again, you need to restart the computer to start the crashed software again. But all the other programs do work fine.
Overall Windows 8 is a great operating system and I high recommend you to get it.
Vausch
September 16, 2012 at 5:55pm
I give it a month before someone finds a workaround to get the interface of the old Windows back, likely vastly improved upon than what the makers could do.
It's getting odd that customers often wind up being the ones to make something better rather than the people who actually made it. Dark Souls would be the most recent example I could think of.
Damnlogin
September 20, 2012 at 11:11pm
Working on it...It's funny how they completely gutted Aero -.-
CerealKyll3r
September 17, 2012 at 5:28am
There are already two third party work arounds available to disable Metro and re-enable the classic Windows interface.
livebriand
September 16, 2012 at 3:54pm
Microsoft, please take metro (or whatever you want to call it), and shove it up your ass. Windows 8 has some nice improvements, but the UI is TERRIBLE. Has anyone there correlated the fact that Windows 7 was designed with user feedback in mind, and worked well, and as a result had nice sales, but with Windows 8 they're ignoring people and there are lots of complaints? It seems they haven't...
CerealKyll3r
September 17, 2012 at 5:59am
Absolutely! Despite the number of comentators out there who insist other wise, the new interface in Windows 8 just does not work all that well for desktop systems. While it works great for tablets, slates and note books, the same is not true for desktop systems and trying to force the same tablet interface across the board is a bad idea. And FYI to all those drinking the kool-aide out there, this has nothing to do with learning a new interface, again it works fine for other systems, just not desktops. However, there are plenty of other advances in Windows 8 that are worth upgrading for. Better multithreading support, better multicore support, USB3 support, better boot speeds, better hibernation and shut down support, leaner code for a smaller installation foot print and faster install, Windows foundation video library support, 5 times faster computational processing for CAD and math intensive applications just to name a few. So while there are reasons to upgrade, the new interface just isn't necessarily one of them.
Nastyman
September 16, 2012 at 12:16pm
Ya know, I hate it when people try to tell me I am "afraid" of the new os desktop. I am not afraid of it or the future for that matter. I just hate the desktop and refuse to buy the operating system because of it and many other "features" that invade my privacy or prevent me from installing the apps I want.
If Microsoft had any care for the customers they would have simply had a button...one damn extra button when you install the os to select the old windows desktop along with a metro button and there wouldn't be this mess they are now embroiled in.
I would guess anyone promoting the use of the new win8 doesn't work for a living, because they haven't used an os in a business environment. If they do I don't know what they are thinking. Win 7 has a icon on the taskbar that brings up window explorer to get at all your files with one click. How may gyrations do you have to do to get to the same files in win 8?
Businesses are still using XP, why, because it just works....about 50% of businesses in fact are still using it. PRODUCTIVITY is the active word in the business world! XP fills the bill as would win 7 too. The cost is too great to change over every time mickeysoft decides to come out with the latest and greatest in their estimation anyway....os.
When the beta came out I installed it and the first thing I did was to revert back to the win 7 interface using an app I got off the net. I actually didn't see any difference between the two oses....maybe win 8 was a little faster. I actually liked it, then they came out with the latest issue and I hated it because they either disabled the code for win 7 interface or took it out all together. So I nuked the partition and put XP back on....why? It just works and that is what I needed on my basement computer. I could have just as well used Kubuntu in its place. I didn't because I have software I need to program electronic devices with.
Nasty
Neufeldt2002
September 16, 2012 at 9:03pm
Pretty much agree with you.
I hate it too when people say I am stuck in the past, or I haven't tried it, or given it a chance. How much longer should I give it to come to my conclusion? I used it and it does not work for me in my home, and since I make the tech decisions Win 8 will not be supported in my house. This will be the second OS from MS that I won't be using, the first being Vista. And before anyone states anything about Vista, I was on the beta team for it and it was awful, same as Win 8.
einstein1971
September 15, 2012 at 10:39pm
Seriously, when did power user start to mean "last generation"? Sure Murph wants to continue rocking Vista (that's what he said in PC World back in 2009) but I thought we were supposed to be leading the stupid masses into the next generation. If our biggest complaint about something new is that it isn't like something old then we've lost the right call ourselves enthusiasts.
It's a new Start menu. Get over it. The desktop is still there. I remember when people bitched and complained about ProgMan not being in Windows 95 and actually ran Win95 like a 3.11 desktop. Are you kidding me?
This is why we got into this in the first place. Because new is what we like. Yes, you shuld run a Linux distro-it is awesome. I also run a Mac, Android, and iOS. They all have good and bad qualities. But the day we demand that every new OS looks exactly like our old OS then this platform we love will go the way of the mainframe and none of want that. Because the new future will be owned by Mac users and that is really scary.
MarioJP
September 15, 2012 at 11:46pm
what is even more scarier is the fact Apple can change the UI to their liking and people will continue to buy. Yes you're right. PC's will become mainframe if people keep complaining against change, While Apple, Google and many other competitors have passed the "mainframe" era long time ago.
I have said it before and i am going to say it again. There is absolutely nothing wrong with Windows 8. I personally love it. Does this mean I will upgrade?. Not at the moment But I will eventually want to switch to Windows 8 for 3 reasons
1. They really improved the desktop and I have no problem with metro. It is also customizable
In fact. Metro is the new start menu replaced with Start screen. Just like the old start Menu you can remove the tiles. The difference between the Start Menu and Start Screen is that the Start screen its right there and just type in any letter of the keyboard to bring up the search instead of opening up explorer and click on the search next to the location bar.
2. Windows 8 Just looks good, sometimes making windows 7 kind of dated.
3.It is truly the next generation OS.
I don't know why people complain about this.
Go ahead and switch to Linux. The very least thing I want is another fragmented Android on the desktop lol.
thechipper
September 15, 2012 at 10:17pm
Microsoft has been trying to transition to something like this for years unsuccessfully because they've stuck with too many core elements of the windows 3.1 and 95-98 OSes. It's actually a really easy interface to use. If you have to show someone how to use it, it is far less daunting to a new user than you think it would be. If you're already pretty talented with a computer anyways it would be a walk in the park for you to pick up. The majority of you people complain about everything all the time anyways. So it's pretty hard to take any of you seriously because you rock the biased everyone else has a stupid opinion because it doesn't align with my own attitude.
stradric
September 16, 2012 at 7:24pm
Agreed. I'm willing to bet a considerable portion of commenters here haven't even tried windows 8. Not only that, but Windows 7 is still awesome and will be fully supported for some time. No need to upgrade if you don't want to, people. Calm down and return about your business.
Eoraptor
September 15, 2012 at 3:10pm
Bottom line is this... We have a schitzo-effective OS here where there are two interfaces which are almost wholly disconnected from one another.
We also have an OS here which has to be tweaked right out of the box in order to be productive (such as changing the default app handlers).
As others have said, Desktop and Laptop computing is NOT Tablet and Smart Phone computing. One is for making productive interactions with large scale software, doing large amounts of data input, etc. The other is about watching videos, visiting websites where you probably don't need to type or mouse around a lot, and twittering out your ass.
And nary twixt the twain shall meet.
This is a dog of an interface not seen since the days of Microsoft Bob, which completely misses the point of a large scale operating system. Where Microsoft could have done what Apple does, and made a Desktop OS which has styling cues in common with it's tabphone brethren, and simply increased the size of controls for finger input, it instead chose to take the most inane path available to it, shotgunning two wholly different operating interfaces together (clumsily at that) trying to please everyone and ultimately pleasing no one.
this truly is MS Bob all over again.
grexxman
September 15, 2012 at 1:12pm
Umm perhaps the hands-on-videos with WindowsRT are misleading but I think the info you have about it in this article is incorrect. WindowsRT will still have the Desktop but it will not allow "desktop" applications to be installed. It will include preinstalled Windows applications such as Paint, Remote Desktop (which I'm excited about) Computer Management, etc.
Here's a link to some videos with the hands-on demonstrations. Check out the video about Windows RT's Secret Desktop Apps
http://www.zdnet.com/hands-on-with-windows-rt-finally-7000003589/
angryone
September 15, 2012 at 12:01pm
I might be wrong, but I think Windows 8 is going to be the undoing of Microsoft. Even selling it at a cheap price isn't going to help. There are many people out there like myself who are the local "tech support" for family, friends and co-workers, and we are not going to re-train every person we know how to use a computer. Even if I wanted to, I don't have the time for such an undertaking. I'm having a hard enough time teaching the people I know how to use the wonderful "ribbons" in Microsoft Office. After years of them learning and adapting to a mouse, I am not going to teach them Metro. When Microsoft loses enough money, maybe they will realize they need to have at least the option of a traditional desktop on Windows 9.
Granite
September 15, 2012 at 2:15pm
I wonder. How many of the people you "teach" have smart phones or tablets...Android or Apple?
If any of them do, then they've already demonstrated that they can adapt to a new interface and manner of controlling their device. They know how to use a touch screen.
When prices for touch screen monitors come down...and they will...these people won't have any difficulty adapting.
As I said before, I'm interested in a Win8 tablet, but I won't be putting it on my desktop...at least not until I can afford a 27" touch screen monitor. When I can, I will jump into Win8 with both feet.
I'll eagerly embrace the future.
Penterax
September 15, 2012 at 6:58pm
I don't have a smart phone. Heck, I don't have a cell phone at all. The other day my Father brought over his Transformer Prime. A beautiful piece of kit!
So he hands it to me to play with. And, guess what, I don't know what to do with it; I've never used a smart phone OS of any kind. Ice Cream Sandwich might be sweet to those who know Android already, but to me - I looked like the video of that guy's Dad faced with Win 8 Metro and no instruction.
Point is, Win 8 Metro was a lot easier to figure out and get used to than Android was. I plan on buying a smart phone soon, and it will be a Win 8 phone, because I'm here to tell you "the Emperor has no clothes on"; Android isn't very good. It might be better than iOS, but it's not a really good OS.
I don't like the way Metro is being handled in Win 8 (and, they are stupid if they think they are going to get rid of the name "Metro" at this point without replacing it with another name for the interface. Metro is NOT all of Win 8, or vice versa; if that were the case I'd be installing Ubuntu right now); it's short-sighted of Microsoft to try to do whatever they are trying to do the way they are doing it. There's no need to make people mad or feel disenfranchised or alienated. There's no need to take over the entire desktop with a changed version of the Start menu. It doesn't matter that most of the time you can avoid Metro as much as you shouldn't have to try to avoid it.
At the same time, the doom-callers are even more short-sighted than Microsoft is being at this point. Guess, what bubba, we've heard it all before; you're a broken Chicken Little record. People said things like "Vista made more Mac customers than anything Apple did." Yeah? well, where are they? Mac's were about 5% of the desktops before Vista, and they are about 5% now. Macs had no actual growth in sales when it was all over - and Apple is left with paying sites to pump up figures based on total smart phone and tablet sales, ignoring that these things aren't desktop computers and don't replace them.
People salivating over the potential demise of Microsoft (mostly weak, jealous types, the kind that are thrilled when anyone successful falls on their face in some way) will be disappointed once again, and rightly so. Bottom line, Windows is still the best OS for desktop users, regardless of Metro, and until someone gets really serious about challenging Microsoft, that's the way it will be.
RUSENSITIVESWEETNESS
September 15, 2012 at 4:01pm
"Eagerly embrace the future" is the marketing line I've often seen strewn around here as part of Microsoft's damage control efforts. That it has come to such a pass is telling. So, happy Smurfing, and all that. But it's not going to help, though. You can't PR firm and damage control your way out of this mess.
Granite
September 15, 2012 at 8:49pm
shrug...
You can characterize it as a "marketing line" all you want, but you won't stop the future from happening. You only have a choice of whether you will greet it willingly or have to be dragged, kicking and screaming, into it.
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