General Consultant Discussion

Anyone load Windows 8 yet? I spent a couple hours loading the upgrade from Windows 7 to Windows 8. Pretty interesting change. I was very surprised that I did not have many problems navigating. Admittedly I did not try to use it in a network environment (home vs office are two very different work situations). I like (and hope they continuously improve) the Metro (modern) UI which displays what are essentially a bunch of live tile widgets. My concerns are: a. Microsoft will leverage their monopoly to be sure their native apps are the primary ones which work well on Windows 8 b. The settings are going to be tough for people to get their arms around. c. I'm not sure that I am sold on touch and laptops but I could be persuaded d. The Microsoft Surface -- especially Surface RT v Pro are two very different animals (one only runs Windows 8 apps the other full Windows apps) and I think will be a little to complex to explain to most users. I can see the RT going away quickly in favor of full Window 8 tablets (which honestly are just compact laptops by my view). I did not put Sage 100 through any type of rigorous testing - other than to see if it started and I could log in. There is a separate desktop that looks just like Windows 7 (hidden behind Metro UI) which is pretty easy to start up and use. Time will tell but I was more favorably impressed than I though I would be.

The 2013 beta powers to be are hoping that someone could beta with Win 8. Wayne, here is your chance!

I installed windows 8 on the home PC. So far so good, other than the wife complaining that I change operating systems too often for her taste. :) Metro takes some getting used to, but once I installed my applications again, it wasn't too bad. I use the desktop side of things mostly, because I still have an old fashioned keyboard and sometimes mouse. I'm still a bit timid to start using it on a business machine. I'll probably fire up a VM if I ever get some time.