I dont know why people would grab the surface RT, it is only 3 months till release for surface with windows pro its only 3 month to wait...
Its like buying an ipad to use it as digital photostand ... well at least the surface RT is better and more usefull than any ipad
But if you seriously want to use one for deisgn then wait for the w8 pro version

Like i still wait for my windows 8 pro systembuilder version 

Whoopee...

I man who thinks like I do. 

I was curious so I ran their upgrade assistant on my "vintage" machine.  Let's just say it's not an option.

Is that like George Jetson riding Dino?

Pretty much.  That's ok though, Dino's got a lot of character.  I'll just let him keep wandering aimlessly about in the woods eating his tired old berries.

Purchases on the left, returns on the right.

I downloaded my copy in the early hours of the morning [Sat in Aus].  I have yet to install it, but I reckon it will go smoothly if the purchase and download process is anything to go by.  I'll get round to installing it once I've sated myself with my first forum foray of the day, however.

I'm going to install it on my main rig as that has the higher specs and the 2 SSD's in RAID0, which will boost its performance considerably over the platter drive it was on.  I had been running Win 8 Customer Preview in a dual boot configuration with Win 7 as the primary OS, but to get the best performance from my CPU and the OS, I need to be running Win 8 on the SSD's.  This time around, however, I will not be dual booting.  I will be installing Win 7 on my second rig upstairs, while my Win 8 rig remains downstairs.

LightStar

reply 2

Whoopee...

Like you, Tom, I was not at all impressed with Win 8 when the first previews were released, but I gave serious thought to some relevant points and persevered with it.... and with the latest edition of Stardock's Start8 installed, it's not a lot different to using Win 7.  Yes, the Metro interface put me off as well, but with Start8 installed you never have to deal with it, booting directly into the desktop, which as I said, is just like running Win 7.

The points to consider are: Microsoft is very unlikely to return to previous incarnations of Windows now that it has taken this step to merge the various platforms it uses, meaning that in a few short years you'll not be able to purchase XP, Vista or Win 7 pre-installed or on an installation disc.; Microsoft will pull support for XP and Vista sooner rather than later, and for Win 7 around the time Win 11 is released.  What this adds up to is that we're going to have to adapt to the new way of doing things or get left behind, and it's probably best to begin that transition with Win 8 as things will have changed considerably more when Win 11 is released and the older incarnations are dropped/no longer supported.

Well that's the way I see it, and while I'm not a fan of Metro, I will familiarise myself with it to avoid getting left behind further down the track.

"Windows 8 Officially Launches"

How many tries did it take?  

I got the $14.99 deal because I work on people's PCs around here ( my friends and relatives).

I'm gonna need to be familiar with 8. I expect a lot of business.

Just installed windows 8 and can't install windowblinds7.  I thought it had been updated to run on windows8.  Guess I was wrong, though.

Oh, I have Windows 8 starkers, I am using it on my little netbook computer with Start 8.  It's OK, but until it can be skinned it is no better than Windows 7 to me.  The UI is downright ugly!

Yeah, the UI is rather dull and uninteresting, but I'm sure Stardock has been working on WB for Win 8 so that pretty soon we can tart it up and make it look more than halfway decent.  MS was never know for producing an easy on the eye UI.  Aero was the best thing MS ever did to spruce up the desktop, and now it's gone.

I'm glad , though, that you are trying out Win 8 and not sitting on the fence like some I know.  Sure there's a learning curve with Win 8, but it's like I've said to my friends and family, sitting on Win 7 until Win 11 or 12 will steepen that learning curve considerably because the technology will have advanced even more while they've been stagnating and refusing to give up on old tech.

Oh well, the distractions have passed and I'm off to install my copy now.

Sure, we’ve seen and heard a lot about it, we’ve been able to try the Consumer Previews, we've been able to get our hands on the final bits when they were made available back in August and now that we have the official release of Windows 8 all we got is ... Start8 ... !?

No.

https://forums.wincustomize.com/432321

i got it last evening from the media store... installed it overnight...
no problems during any installation process ( left the on off charge drivers from gigabyte out )

The only problem i have is that skype the new one for windows 8 that runs in the metro interface does not allow you to logout-
i dont like that so i got the old desktop one. 

for that amount of money definitely a good deal.  

I am entirely underwhelmed by the performance gains in Windows 8.

http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2012/10/gentlemen-start-your-benches-measuring-windows-8s-performance/

Ugly, missing features, needs third party help right out of the box.......for little to no gain.(or a loss)

I fail to be impressed. 

When the time comes for me to deal with an rig with Win8 on it, I doubt it will have the benifit of Start8, so the whole "experience"  can be had by me without me wasting money "keeping up" with crap. Since it will be a paying repair job, I'll make money instead.

I'll skip this one.

i think the features that are missing are a reason for the low price - a OS for 39USD-19USD
if you make an upgrade from XP that is more than a sexy deal especially if you are a systembuilder that owns xp only
Windows media center is missing currently - but if you downloaded the pro version you are able to download it for free ( if you need it )
By far there is some better alternatives for you to use out there.

I dont think that these tests are valid in any way
how can you test gaming  performance on windows 8 if the company´s don´t even have final GFX drivers for win8...? Don´t get me wrong but this needs another week at least to compare speeds while its already pretty damn equal.

But where i so agree with is that it does miss out on style an options to change parts visually but i hope the stylists at SD are on it 
And i can understand the standpoint of many Win7 users why switch from a very good stable system to win8 - especially if you run the Ultimate version. 

nVidia has had Win8 drivers ready and available for some time now and yes, I am running Win7/64 Ultimate.