win8? yes or no.

[gerrman97]

didnt really know where to post this thread, so feel free to move it, our Kind Moderators. anyway, i simply want to know wether or not you would use windows 8, windows 7, or xp(not including vista, stupid to ask) on your pc, while dual booting ubuntu, or just by itself. i have installed Win8, and i dont really mind it, its smooth enough, and not as faulty as win7. though, if i were able to, id move back to xp. i love the old-style feel of it. i remember windows 98, and its slow, slothy feel. its ok. i miss the old days.

[pqwoerituytrueiwoq]

community cafe -> recurring discussion

assuming i am dual booting, a second linux install
if i never need windows i would just put XP or 7 in a virtualbox

[kurt18947]

I'd probably go with Windows 7. I think that's going to be the new XP and it's supported 'til 2019 or 2020. Windows 8 with one of the add-ons like classic desktop may be fine, I've never used it. I'm glad to not be planning any new PC purchases in the next year. Let UEFI and Secure Boot mature.

[3rdalbum]

I have Windows 8 preview on my system as a dual-boot, but you know what? I think it expired in February. I haven't booted Windows for months.

I only had it to give it a try. If I wanted to have a functional dual-boot, I'd install Vista or 7. I use Windows 7 at work (I don't have a choice of OS there) and it's... usable.

[stinkeye]

Still have XP on it's own HDD just to play my favourite FPS game, SOF2.
Can't stand using it for anything else though...play a couple of maps then I'm outa there.
Don't see any need to update to Win 7 or 8...9 etc etc.Still have 2 XP install disks and XP suits my purpose.

[Linuxratty]

I've not used Windows in years,so the answer is no.

[evilsoup]

Windows 8 is actually pretty great; the start interface is very similar to Unity - though I do think that Unity has done the basic concept better (because the home lens searches files AND programs at the same time, without me having to click on anything). However, there are still some niche programs that don't work well on Windows 8 vs Windows 7 (Lightworks, in my case) - that's one of the reasons why the conventional Windows-world wisdom is 'don't use the latest version of Windows until Service Pack 1'.

So, I think that Win8 is a step up from Win7, but for now I would recommend Win7.

[perrya]

I have Windows 8 preview on my system as a dual-boot, but you know what? I think it expired in February. I haven't booted Windows for months.

I only had it to give it a try. If I wanted to have a functional dual-boot, I'd install Vista or 7. I use Windows 7 at work (I don't have a choice of OS there) and it's... usable.

Has anyone tried their luck with VirtualBox, I did and I must say it's pretty amazing. Then again using it on a late 2012 iMac anything is going to be amazing.

[Erik1984]

Windows 8 is not bad, I'm using it myself right now. But when it comes down to dual booting I wish I still had Windows 7. Windows 8 has this annoying feature of semi-hibernating in stead of shutting down. I know it can be turned off but even when I disable "fast startup" (or something like that, I don't have the English version of 8) Ubuntu always mounts the NTFS partition for C:\ as read only.

Related: UEFI can be a PITA too as I've learned from some recent support threads. Luckily on my system it seems to be pretty friendly and it was easy to get Ubuntu 12.10 booted and installed. All in all I prefer the old situation of a classic 'dumb' BIOS and a Windows that acutually shuts down when telling it to

[iamkuriouspurpleoranj]

Funnily enough, though I'm a Linux mono-booter I was favorably disposed towards Windows 8. Until I used it.

Metro looks great. Really great, in my opinion. Hats off to the graphical designers. However, I did not enjoy the experience after the initial thrill. Web apps always feel cheap and tacky and not like proper computing.