PrimaryTech Posted February 13, 2013 Posted February 13, 2013 Hi all, I'm wondering if anyone is actually deploying or thinking about deploying Windows 8 to clients? I'm in the process of setting up one of our suite machines with W8 and Office 2013 to test functionality / compatability with existing apps but in previous roll-outs I've waited until SP1 before deployment. My reasoning is that we're a mixed XP/Vista setup and instead of rolling out 7 and then rolling 8 in a year or 18 months time maybe I could roll-out 8 now. I'm aware that I'll need at least 1 machine on W8 to administer GPO's and that AFAIK there's no easy way to manipulate the start screen but I was wondering if anyone else is planning to deploy now?
FN-GM Posted February 13, 2013 Posted February 13, 2013 We are currently offering it to staff. We have some who want it. Just waiting for SIMS support.
witch Posted February 13, 2013 Posted February 13, 2013 Nope I will wait until at least SP1 and possibly for Windows 9 I have researched it and I don't think it offers anything extra we need at the moment - not for PCs anyway 3
FN-GM Posted February 13, 2013 Posted February 13, 2013 I will wait until at least SP1 @witch you will be waiting a long time. Microsoft is doing away with Service Packs. If ones come for Windows 8 it will be many years down the line.
FragglePete Posted February 13, 2013 Posted February 13, 2013 I think if I deployed Windows 8 now I would be fired! I'm keeping an eye on it, but initial feelings are 'no way'. However, we're in the early stages of planning a Sixth Form for September 2014 and may plan on putting it in there first but for the time being, Windows 7 is very nice thank you! Pete 1
Michael Posted February 13, 2013 Posted February 13, 2013 I have no plans to deploy Windows 8. Windows 7 and Office 2010 work absolutely fine and was a big enough change for users. If Microsoft allowed admins to properly disable Metro via GPO for desktops and notebooks I'd certainly be more interested. After all it is better optimised than Win 7 and requires fewer patches. I've downgraded quite a few notebooks now for schools and private individuals. I don't think Microsoft's 'make Metro the default' is going to pay off.
andy_nic Posted February 13, 2013 Posted February 13, 2013 we have 7 staff laptops running it, 5 touch screens and a class room on dual boot with all with office 2013, but the smart board drivers are a bit funny with windows 8 and Symantec ghost doesn't fully support it console side, can do them manually but it takes a bit of time, which is stopping a possible full roll out to class rooms.
Rawns Posted February 13, 2013 Posted February 13, 2013 I'm aware of a few school in our LA who have put it on test machines/tech admin machines, and some who have put the SIMS client onto it. I could imagine once the spring release comes out, it could be deployed to staff. We're testing SIMS on Windows 8 at the moment in preparation for that first call of "SIMS is broken, I'm on Windows 8!"...
zag Posted February 13, 2013 Posted February 13, 2013 No plans to deploy. Dead in the water operating system. I'm guessing Windows "9" will be a lot nicer and better thought out.
squeeky Posted February 13, 2013 Posted February 13, 2013 From what i hear there will not be a windows 9. "Windows Blue Is Microsoft's Next OS, Will Move To Annual Release". We are in teh process of heavily modifying windows 8 to make it work how we need across the school. First google page
PrimaryTech Posted February 13, 2013 Author Posted February 13, 2013 I don't think Microsoft's 'make Metro the default' is going to pay off. I totally agree, Education and Business must be 2 of Microsoft's biggest clients and they irriversibally change the start menu to try and break into the already-saturated phone tablet market! - - - Updated - - - I don't think Microsoft's 'make Metro the default' is going to pay off. I totally agree, Education and Business must be 2 of Microsoft's biggest clients and they irriversibally change the start menu to try and break into the already-saturated phone tablet market!
squeeky Posted February 13, 2013 Posted February 13, 2013 (edited) I don't think Microsoft's 'make Metro the default' is going to pay off. Thats why we have completly removed metro and used an alternative shell. Explorer.exe is a gonner.... well sort of. Edited February 13, 2013 by squeeky
JJonas Posted February 13, 2013 Posted February 13, 2013 From what i hear there will not be a windows 9. "Windows Blue Is Microsoft's Next OS, Will Move To Annual Release". We are in teh process of heavily modifying windows 8 to make it work how we need across the school. First google page Its all going Pokemon
witch Posted February 13, 2013 Posted February 13, 2013 @witch you will be waiting a long time. Microsoft is doing away with Service Packs. If ones come for Windows 8 it will be many years down the line. Okay clever clogs - until they have fixed some bits and pieces! Windows 7 and Office 2010 were, as @Michael says, a big change for users - and they do what is wanted so why rush to change? IMHO Windows 8 is great for mobiles and tablets - not so good on a PC in a school environment....yet... 1
sted Posted February 13, 2013 Posted February 13, 2013 Okay clever clogs - until they have fixed some bits and pieces! Windows 7 and Office 2010 were, as @Michael says, a big change for users - and they do what is wanted so why rush to change? IMHO Windows 8 is great for mobiles and tablets - not so good on a PC in a school environment....yet... with the possible exception of having big obvious buttons for foundation stage kids or the visually impaired. After using it since release (and to an extent before) i actually like metro even on my laptop it shows the progs i use mainly on the screen and stuff i use once a blue moon like windows dvd-usb tool or access is hidden from site as i just dont need it 95% of the time. But in a managed environment its a pita but as ive said before ms expects everyone to go byod and use vdi for any corp stuff
robjduk Posted March 2, 2013 Posted March 2, 2013 got a test classroom working with 8 this week. The students love it and we plan a full summer roll out to all student desktops and administrative staff. The thought of having a bloody big button with "SIMS" plastered on it appeals to me as most my staff struggle with the old start menu. SIMS works fine with it but you need to put the whole UNC path over a mapped drive for some reason now.
twin--turbo Posted March 2, 2013 Posted March 2, 2013 No, no point in our opinion. It's ( dos (4,6) Windows (Me, Vista ) ) all over again... Had MS on the phone during the week asking about 8 deployment and he was struggling to defend it. Run paint from Metro... what happens, it still opens the ancient crap 16bit thinly disguised app.. and it does it as a desktop app. Total waste of time. Rob 2
Arthur Posted March 2, 2013 Posted March 2, 2013 It's (dos (4,6) Windows (Me, Vista) all over again... A bit of an exaggeration. It's nowhere near that bad! Run paint from Metro... what happens, it still opens the ancient crap 16-bit thinly disguised app.. and it does it as a desktop app. You know Microsoft make a Metro app called Fresh Paint, don't you? Also, when have Microsoft's built-in apps ever been good? Even with XP and 7, most schools install third-party alternatives like Paint.net, GIMP or Photoshop.
SYNACK Posted March 3, 2013 Posted March 3, 2013 As soon as the start screen is managable I'm going to be pushing it to a proportion of the systems, it is sooooo much quicker on all sorts of hardware.
Michael Posted March 3, 2013 Posted March 3, 2013 It is somewhat daft Microsoft have given practically no GPOs to manage Metro or being able to re-enable the Start Menu. I believe Microsoft need to look at my formula: Lots of GPO goodness = happy admins = lots more Win 8 deployments Instead we keep seeing articles about how many licenses sold. Does anyone really care Microsoft?
sted Posted March 3, 2013 Posted March 3, 2013 It is somewhat daft Microsoft have given practically no GPOs to manage Metro or being able to re-enable the Start Menu. I believe Microsoft need to look at my formula: Lots of GPO goodness = happy admins = lots more Win 8 deployments Instead we keep seeing articles about how many licenses sold. Does anyone really care Microsoft? im not sure ms care about corporate anymore its not "sexy" like tablets and byod. if they did there would be gpos to manage libraries in win7 and however useful gpp is it could be seen as a lazy way to get people to write policies themselves. i think ms are betting the farm on byod and cloud going back to dumb terminals and few real pcs. unless a 3rd party does metro management util i dont see it happening
truebluesteve Posted March 3, 2013 Posted March 3, 2013 I quite like Windows 8 but we only upgraded to 7 and Office 2010 18 months ago and I don't to traumatise staff all over again :-) however I am going to equip a small room with around 5 PCs for 6th form study use to I may well trial it and Office 2013 in there and see how it goes. I have seen a few iterations of Windows and when something changes radically, everyone throws their arms up in the air and complains that its all terrible. However after a few months it all settles down and we get used to it!
sted Posted March 3, 2013 Posted March 3, 2013 I quite like Windows 8 but we only upgraded to 7 and Office 2010 18 months ago and I don't to traumatise staff all over again :-) however I am going to equip a small room with around 5 PCs for 6th form study use to I may well trial it and Office 2013 in there and see how it goes. I have seen a few iterations of Windows and when something changes radically, everyone throws their arms up in the air and complains that its all terrible. However after a few months it all settles down and we get used to it! its not using win8 thats the issue its managing it
zag Posted March 4, 2013 Posted March 4, 2013 im not sure ms care about corporate anymore its not "sexy" like tablets and byod. if they did there would be gpos to manage libraries in win7 and however useful gpp is it could be seen as a lazy way to get people to write policies themselves. i think ms are betting the farm on byod and cloud going back to dumb terminals and few real pcs. unless a 3rd party does metro management util i dont see it happening Thats exactly what is happening. The corporate landscape is changing and its all coming from Apple's threat.
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