Welcome to Windows 8

[GHD]

There are many hacks to restore the classic menu but MS is trying to close them down.

[TSR2]

There's not many in the final version now George, they've almost all gone. The only way is to get used to it, and its a challenge. Its a very bold step, but a hell of a gamble.

[DaveG]

Me thinks I'll be staying with W7.

[TSR2]

Hi Dave,

I think there is a strong argument for this approach. If anyone has a PC / Laptop that they use just for Internet / Word processing / Email etc, its actually quite nice and very consumer friendly (once you get used to it)

The thing is that its completely different to use. I'm going to dive in because I need to stay current with this stuff for work and I'm nosy so I want to see what happens with it. Its really difficult to see how business will pick this up, its very consumer driven, and by consumer don't mean the traditional PC user, I'm thinking more of Mrs W who surfs the net, uses YouTube and Facebook etc and gets recipes of the BBC

[DogTailRed2]

Is that rearly what Windows 8 looks like? Yueech!

[TSR2]

Here goes nothing... about to completely wipe my Win7 FS machine for Windows 8

[TSR2]

A pleasant surprise! I have to screens plugged into my PC, and the way Win8 handles it is to put the metro interface on one and the desktop on the other!

Now what this means when it comes to running FS I don't yet know, but I'll keep you posted

[Chris Sykes]

I also think ill be sticking to 7 for now, the way M$ has gone recently i dont think its the right choice (IE Flight being free) and how they have removed the taskbar. Yes 8 looks good for the basic user who has not much installed. But you get a load of programs on there that metro will be vastly different (words from my colluege who's looked at And i love the search bar in 7, easy to launch anything if you spell it right! I can see M$ will be going back to the good start menu and taskbar, especially when every other OS is good...

[TSR2]

The search is actually there, but easier! I've just realised that if you're on the start screen, you can just start typing and it does the same as clicking in the search area and typing in Win7. I've a lot to learn on this and given that its another few months before most folk will get access to it, the knowledge should build up quite quickly before its generally available. As I've said before, the Metro interface on my Windows Phone is superb, and easily the most intuitive on any of the current smart phones. I suspect the tablet will be the same, but its just trying to learn how this translates to a PC or Laptop. Clearly they have thought of the search box, even though that it appeared that they hadn't. How do you make the search box easier to use, remove the box! lol. Its just that you wouldn't think of that, like most others I was looking for a search box, its just not needed any more. God I feel old

[GHD]

Will Visual Studio .NET 2003 run in W8?

If not, my programming days are almost over.