My official-release copy of Windows 8 arrived yesterday. First, it is evident that Microsoft is trying to emulate some of the practices of Apple. The packaging was visually attractive and in some ways nicely constructed, but there were flaws. It was a flip out box within a sleeve, when you pull it out and open it all the DVDs (32 bit and 64 bit) and (one card sized) instruction set just fall out. They did, however, place the KEY on a special pullout card which was nice. So while the packaging was very nice, it could have been better still.
Needless to say once everyone else went to bed I began the installation process. I had bought the upgrade version (AFAIK) and was surprised when the installation did not ask for my prior Windows 7 DVD/Key. The installation process offered me only one choice "Don't copy anything" (or something to that effect). This was expected since I was running a trial version of Windows 8 Enterprise, and I was prepared for this and had backed up all my essential files.
The installation process took abnormally long for a "fresh install" and I believe that was due to a combination of things (a disk check, backing up system files from the existing W8E) but once that huge lag was done the rest of the process went quickly. I probably should have done a forced, fresh install, but this worked out well for me because any non-standard installs I had on my C drive were retained and I was able to restore those to their original state easily.
The little "learn how to use metro" blurb was useless for anyone who has never used it. I've been using it for 9 months now so that didn't matter to me. Once installed it asks for either your pre-existing outlook.com or live.com account, or you can choose to create a local account. I go with my online account which syncs in the background and maintains a lot of settings from install to install. It's very handy.
Once my account was created I started re-installing all of my favorite apps. First the productivity apps, then some games and other silly things. I still haven't finished, there a few that I will install when I find myself needing them. But my development and networking tools are all in place.
One problem I DID have was getting my screen to look like it was before. I have no idea why it became so difficult ... but for the life of me I could not get both the colors and the font rendering to look good. I spent more time fiddling with that (I would not call this a problem with Windows, I have a monitor that, while feature full and of excellent quality, is known for it's horrible, default configuration) than everything else combined. I finally downloaded a configuration file from a website, set it and slightly modified my RGB settings based on some forum posts and it while it seems a little "warm" it now has rich color and contrast. I fired up Skyrim and the world looked a lot more colorful than it used to. My fonts look alright now... took about 20 iterations of the clear type wizard... but I got it.
The new Windows Mail app is not bad, but I cannot use it for work... well I CAN use it for work but my work exchange server insists on altering my security settings and I really want to avoid that if possible because I hated how quickly my screen would timeout and lock me out... something like 8 minutes. I'd walk to the kitchen to make coffee, come back, and my screen was locked. Outlook doesn't seem to require that, so why does Windows Mail? For now I am using my old favorite, Postbox, with DAVmail. (Update, I found a workaround on the internet).
I don't use a lot of the metro apps (sorry, I know it isn't called "metro" anymore but I can't stop calling it that), a few games, like Mahjong, Periodic table, stuff like that. I also use Windows Mail, it's not bad, if a little simplistic. This might change in future releases. Most of my work is done on the desktop and I am happy that not only do all my desktop apps work fine, but the entire interface is snappy and clean.
I've gone over many of the changes to desktop interface in previous weblog entries so I won't do that here.
Overall the installation process was about as I expected it would be. A clean install or a proper upgrade from a Windows 7 box would go much more smoothly I should think. But here I am, an official Windows 8 user! I am excited. I've enjoyed Windows 7 over the past couple of years, and I have enjoyed Windows 8 for the last 9 months as well. I am intrigued to see where Microsoft takes Windows in the future.
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