Windows 8 – Initial Thoughts

So I have finally installed Windows 8 on a Virtual Machine. I am pretty pleased with how things are going.  The first thing I discover is that pressing the Windows key on the keyboard goes right to the Desktop.  This is the Desktop like Windows 7 with everything exactly like this Windows’ predecessor. Or is it? I press the Windows key again and I am back to the Metro Start screen.

Then I click the Internet Explorer icon.



And voila, I am in IE10.  I’m thinking, this is cool.  It is a little to get used to but, cool.  I type in my blog’s address in the address box and there is my blog.  But the address bar disappears.  I have know Idea how to get it back. How can I get to other sites?  I will have to figure it out.

Oh, and pressing the Windows key again I think will bring me back to the Desktop but it doesn’t. It brings me back to the metro Start page. Then back to IE. Seems like it is acting kind of like a quick switch between the last thing you launched. (Still can’t get the address bar in IE to come back.)

So I start through the F keys. F1: does nothing. F2 does nothing. F3: brings up a search bar. Well at least Microsoft is consistent there. F4, ah, there it is. But wait, this looks like a frequently accessed page



I see these arrows that are very familiar. so I click the back arrow and… It brings me back to my page.  I’m guessing F5 is a refresh like every other version of IE.  Yep. Oh and there is the address bar.  But I don’t want to have to refresh every time I want to see the address bar. How about F6.  That is it! Yay! and there is a little pin icon.



I’ll bet it will pin the address bar for me.  Better do that before I can’t navigate again. Nope. It did pin my blog though to my favorites I guess. let me press F4 and see. Nope. I must have done something wrong. OK, I have to click Pin to Start. There it is.  I am getting better.

I will continue to play and update. Probably all night long (much to my wife’s chagrin!)

Till next time…

Technorati Tags: Windows 8,Metro UI,Microsoft

Installing Windows 8 Developer Preview – Second Attempt

So after not being able to continue my first attempt at installing Windows 8 Developer Preview, I have moved to a different tactic.  I am using Oracle VM Virtual Box.  I created a new virtual machine with a 40GB hard drive.  I started it up with my G: drive as the start drive.
I am immediately brought to this screen. A standard LTK (Language, Time Keyboard) screen.

I believe I am already way past where I got in my first attempt.  Interesting.  So I click Next.

I am then presented with the “Install now” screen which looks very similar to the Windows 7 install now screen. So I click Install now.  So far it is typical Microsoft Installation.

So remember when I said I might be further than I go before. Well, no.  I am again presented with the Licensing terms.  Interesting the difference between this screen and the one found in my first attempt.

So again I accept the terms and click next. I am now presented with the “Which type of installation do you want?” screen.

Even though Microsoft says there is currently no Upgrade path in the Developer Preview, I am asked if I want to. I am curious what will happen if I click upgrade, but I wont. So I select Custom.

Now I am asked where to install.  Here I only have one option which is the VHD I created when I setup the VM. As with Windows 7 install, if I click the drive options link in the bottom right corner, the additional selections become available to me.

I am going to just click Next from here.

Now the all familiar Installing Windows screen.  It got through Copying Windows files pretty quickly.  Not so much on Expanding Windows files. That took about 15 minutes.

A split second for installing features and updates. for Installing Features.

And then the reboot.






Then the restart again. I do like the new spinning dots.  easy to follow and a few different patterns.

Then again I am presented with the License terms. Only this time it does look more like the terms in my first attempt.  It even has the words “Make the lawyers happy by reading this carefully.”  I am not sure I like the black back ground, but my blog has a black background so I guess I am not one to speak.

There was a quick screen that I think had almost like an agenda of what was going to happen next.  This time the background is green.  It them went to the Personalize screen.

I think I will name this machine Boss-Win8-64.

So here I have 2 choices.  Either Express or Customize.  When given the choice I will more than likely always choose Customize.  This lets me at least see all of my options.  So here it goes.

Here I am going to select Yes, share and connect.  I do this because I want to see how this affects my other machines and how Windows Home Server will react to this new machine.

I will leave the defaults here and click Next.

Interesting to note the third item here. Definitely thinking of mobile apps.

One interesting thing to note is the magically disappearing and reappearing scroll bar. Don’t forget to use it because there are settings down there. Next.

Now this is something new. Logging in using your email address.  I wonder if it will recognize the fact that the email I put in already has a live ID associated with it. Probably.

And it did. so now I enter my password. Next

It logs me in. And it knows who I am. Except it doesn’t know that I prefer to be called David.

It took a while but now it is telling me to wait some more.

Personalized Settings.

And finally the Initial Desktop that I am used to. But wait.

The Desktop disappears and then went to the new Start page. No icons at first but then it showed them.

And here they are.

Al together this wasn’t more than 45 to 50 minutes installing from start to finish. I am pleased with the experience so far. We shall see what comes of it.
Now it is time to play!  Let me know what your experience was like. If it is anything like mine it was a piece of cake!
Till next time…

Technorati Tags: Metro UI,Windows 8,Microsoft

Installing Windows 8 Developer Preview – First Attempt

So I really wanted to get started with Windows 8 so I can move forward with investigating the new Metro UI.  If you want to do the same you can download the Windows 8 developer Preview at Microsoft’s Dev Center.

There are a couple of options that you will be presented with.

1. Windows Developer Preview with developer tools English, 64-bit (x64)
2. Windows Developer Preview English, 64-bit (x64)
3. Windows Developer Preview English, 32-bit (x86)

I downloaded the Developer Preview with developer tools, 64-bit as well as the stand alone 32-bit version.  I have a 32 bit laptop that I want to install it on as well as on a separate partition on my main machine.  Beware that you will require a DL DVD burner if you intend to burn the 64-bit version with tools.  Here is what Microsoft says about it:

Note: The .iso file that contains the developer tools requires a large capacity DVD called a DVD-9, as well as a DVD burner that can handle dual-layer (DL) DVDs. Most modern burners should be able to handle this format.

I don’t have a touch screen yet, but will be looking to get one in the future to truly test Windows 8 the way it was designed to be used.  I am hoping there will be some Windows 8 phone emulators out there that I can test my mobile apps on.  I already have a few ideas.

So lets get started. first I mounted the 64-bit with tools .iso to my G: drive using UltraISO. Upon inspection of the DVD drive the folder structure looks like this:

This is pretty typical so I double click on the setup.exe file to see what happens.  I am first presented with this splash screen.

Next it shows me the Setup screen that asks if I want to Go online to get the latest and greatest. of course, I say sure and click next.  One thing to note I also leave the check mark on wanted to make the installation better.  Just doing my part.

Then I am told it will take a few minutes.


After only a couple of minutes The setup screen changes to this Checking you PC Screen.

Notice the navigation across the top of the screen.  It looks like there are going to be 4 parts to the install. Preparation, Compatibility, Install and Config.  It quickly shows a screen and says something about a product key.  The screen went to fast for me to get a capture of it.  It looks like this will be where future versions will ask you to input your product key.

After this page it goes to the License terms page.  I like the line “Make our lawyers happy by reading this carefully.”

I comply because I have a friend who is a lawyer and she would be very upset with me if I didn’t.  One thing it says is that I can use but not share any images or icons or sounds. Oops.  I guess I broke that one. I check the box and click Next.

Now I am at a screen that scares me.

I haven’t seen anyone else post their install experiences yet and I am not willing to lose everything.  I thought I could tell it to install on a specific partition but I guess not.  So I guess I will try again on a VM.

After clicking the Close button (X) in the upper right hand corner I am shown this dialog box.

So I click Yes.  To be continued….

Technorati Tags: Metro UI,Windows 8,Microsoft

What is ‘Metro’?

Yesterday Microsoft introduced us to Windows 8.  If you want to download the new bits, you can here. The  screen shots have been shared millions of times across the net so I wont show them to you here.  But what I want to talk about is the new Design Language that Microsoft is focused on.  It is called Metro.

This Design Language is not new to you if you have been programming for the Windows Phone. But if you have been focused on the desktop and client server apps, which are still very prevalent, then this is new to you or you are just learning about it.

Ziff Davis has a small article on Metro.  The interesting thing to me about this write-up is the graphic:

(image courtesy of @longzheng) via ZD

If you are like me, you have been focusing on the right side of this picture, what Microsoft now is referring to as Desktop Apps.  This is the traditional .Net, HTML, Win32 based apps  that we all know and love.  This includes today’s Internet apps and client server apps.

The left side of the graphic is new to most of us. Though we have been utilizing the languages and the technology in the upper portion (presentation), the lower part of the green section is new.  It looks to be all encompassing. It controls the basic services all apps will be utilizing.

I am not offering anything new here.  I just thought some of you may want to start gathering up as much information as you can about this “new” way of doing things so when Windows 8 hits the bricks you will be ready.  I know that I am going to do just that.

till next time…

Technorati Tags: Metro,Microsoft,Windows 8

WHS 2011 Add ins Slow to Arrive

Many of you know that I have been a Windows Home Server fan since I participated in the WHS v1 beta back in 2007. I wrote a little bit about my experiences installing and using WHS. I was, by no means, prolific in my writing but I did a blog or two on it. I fell in love with it and evangelized it to my friends and family. It was a great product that Microsoft knocked out of the park.  Many a pundit agreed with my assessment so don’t just take it from me.

WHS was exactly what I wanted as I brought my home into the technology age. I had a centralized backup solution for all the PCs and laptops in my home.  It used de-duplication for storage of the backups so space became less and less of an issue.  I could restore individual files, or the entire pc easier than ever before.  I tried many ways to backup my ever increasing photo collection.  I tried NAS.  I tried Novastor. I tried Norton Ghost. I tried Genie.  All had their positives and negatives but none as good as WHS.

One of the other things Microsoft did right with WHS was offering an API to create add-ins.  Add-ins are little programs that integrate with the Home Server Console which is the central management facility for WHS. I could use and did use many add-ins.  My favorites include Advanced Admin Console, Add-in Central which was an add-in manager, and DA Document Manager which allowed my WHS to be the central repository of of my document management system.

DA Document Manager is a great product and one that used almost everyday.  My family was going through the process of becoming paperless. We receive all our bills via the internet as .pdf's. We do everything we can to cut down on the amount of paper we consume and have delivered.  We managed all these paperless documents with DA Document Manager. We were doing great for a long time.

Then, after months of deciding whether to move to WHS 2011, I finally made the decision to move to the latest WHS.  This version of WHS offers many distinct advantages over WHS v1.  It is now based on the Windows Server 2008 R2 code base. It has significantly improved remote access capabilities.  It can take advantage of more memory now that it is 64bit.  I am very happy I made the move.

But there is something missing.  No not Drive Extender, though that was a great feature. What is missing are the plethora of free user community supplied add-ins.  To date there are only a handful of replacements for the add-ins I used with WHS v1.

I know the API and the code base for add-ins are completely different. I have tried my hand at writing an add-in for TFS and WHS v1 which I never released because I never felt it was ready for prime time. Then when WHS 2011 API came out I tried to port it. Not easy when working 1 hour a night every other night.

So, for all you WHS add-in developers out there.  We really want some of the older WHS v1 add-ins converted to WHS 2011.

On a related note, I sent an email to Digital ArcHound asking when they may have their add-in for WHS 2011 ready and this was the response:

Thank you for contacting customer support.  We are still working on the WHS
2011 version of DA Document Manager.  Because the new version of WHS is a
complete rewrite, it has taken much longer to implement all of the features
that were in the prior version.  We are working as diligently as possible to
finalize an update for DA Document Manager.  Thank you for your patience.

Till next time…

Technorati Tags: whs,add-ins