First Impression: Windows 8 Developer Preview
Note: This is based on preview software. Things are bound to change!
Setup
Not many improvements, but that’s hardly surprising. It’s still ridiculous how often Windows’ installer has to reboot, though. That I have to reboot after setting up personal settings is probably the most ridiculous part of it all.
That said, the process of setting up the machine after the installation is well done.
Metro
Looks spiffy. Would look even better if Windows would detect the screen resolution of my laptop (1280x800 is more common than 1024x768 at this point, as MS’s telemetry data shows).
Explorer Shell
That will take adjustment. A lot of adjustment. Essentially, the Metro menu has become the Start menu, but doesn’t provide for easy, obvious access to shutting down the system. It’ll be great for new, or less technically literate users, though, since the Desktop is part of the Metro tiles. It’s power users like me who’ll feel the most pain.
Windows Explorer Ribbon
I can’t really say anything worthwhile yet, except that it looks odd. I’m very used to where the address bar is, for example, and the Ribbon throws my muscle memory off.
Conclusion
Windows 8 looks and feels really neat so far. Check it out: Windows Developer Preview downloads!
