Windows 8 First Thoughts

I, like others here, don't like how when I'm in the traditional desktop, when I hit the Start button it brings me back to metro UI. Don't get me wrong, I like metro, but please for desktop users' sake, bring back the normal start menu.

Faster startup, better task manager.

As for the cons however I will echo what you said.

The metro UI and lack of choice regarding its use is awful for a non-touch system. There is no means to properly close a metro application, instead it being "suspended" when metro is not being used or if the app is inactive for a given period of time. Both of which may help the CPU usage but do nothing about the ram usage and simply add more running applictions to swich through.

The shutdown and restart options are hidden under a "Settings" menu which I found rather counter-intuitive.

So far I am not terribly impressed unless the experience with metro is much improved for more traditional pc hardware or we have the option to do without it entirely.

Actually, I am enjoying it quite a bit. The start screen feels right, works without being clunky (read: Unity in Ubuntu) and it just seems to be a proper evolution.

Keep in mind this build is designed for developers to try out programming FOR the start screen. If you look at some prior win8 videos, you can see the normal start menu in action.

I honestly thought I would despise the start screen, and until I started actually messing with it, I did. Now that I have toyed around with it, and seen how it integrates with the classic desktop, I am quite pleased with this evolution. Microsoft "did it right" this time, in my eyes, with something that can actually be used on any configuration.

Don't get me wrong, I love the classic start menu and the like: I just think the Start Screen is a good addition.

The ribbon interface to explorer is not as well liked by me, however. It is just kind of clunky and ugly.. I would much rather just use the eternal keyboard shortcuts I grew up using. Thankfully, it is trivial to minimize the ribbon, and just leave a few useful new features in view on the otherwise Win7 style window.

Otherwise, as I see it, I really think 8 will be good. Even if you hate the start screen, MS has said explicitly that it WILL be able to be basically turned off in the final versions!

Think about it for a moment. I absolutely hate tablet computers, their interfaces, and the like. I love Linux, and Ubuntu, but am actually giving up core Ubuntu all because of Unity. If I am saying that I actually LIKE the start screen, in my normal PC environment, then it has to have done something right in my eyes.

Of course, each person can have their own preferences, but in the end, the first few seconds with this build changed my opinion fully.

the big thing i liked was using my live login. i like the idea of someday being able to simply drag files from the comp to skydrivre without having to open the browser and login again just to get to skydrive. i also like having my online username linked to my username on the comp since i use the same for both.

I love the Metro UI. I love the Windows UI. I hate how it switches between them. There just has to be a better way to implement Metro... Don't get mewrong, I understand that this release is for people developing for the start screen, I just feel that it's really awkward the way they have implemented it...

I like it, I think it would be a greater leap of faith if they got rid of the old school start menu and just had the metro UI.

It's defiantly a good UI though perhaps they should streamline it more toward desktop (non-touch screens) and have another version streamlined toward touch screens.

U've got to give MS credit, the whole start screen concept has pretty much run its course. How many more bells and whistles can they really add to their old design as it's been 'start screen with menu' since pre 95.

Tablets on the rise, touch interface on the increase and desktops in the decline. MS has had to evolve so good for them. Win 8 is a shift, but not enough to make long term windows users change and most power users will like having the option of the old UI as they will hate metro, just like Ubuntu kept gnome because old school users hated unity.

I was loving it until right after I clicked on the question I got a metro style blue screen. And now the start screen won't finish loading. I was trying to install avast! for a little security and then bam. Hopefully a force shutdown and restart will fix. I guess I can't blame this on windows 8.

I HATE THAT I NEED TO USE A SCROLL BAR FOR THE METRO

i'm a keyboard mouse user and I prefer using the keyboard esp. WSAD key to navigate than dragging a scroll bar. - I HATE THAT. and if I'd be using a mouse to navigate, I want to just drag the whole metro panels and move them (just like what you do in adobe PDF reader.) it's convenient that way. I really really hate scroll bars. they're soo windows 95!!!