Will you deploy Windows 8.1 ?

[liveman2]

What are peoples thoughts on Windows 8.1?

 

I like the sound of some of the new enterprise features such as Workplace Join and Windows to GO (which might be good for mac users instead of installing Windows)

 

Is anyone testing/planning to deploy it?

[free780]

When youve spent 18 months to 2 years going to 7 win 8.1 seems like a waste of time. The amount of support calls about the start menu will kill the helpdesk. It takes 2-3 years after an os release for all the software conpanies to catch up anyway. So no. Unless start menu appears.

[CyberNerd]

I would have thought that by the time we reach 2020 (W7 ext support runs out) most of the educational companies will have their products in the cloud and we'll be able to loose that particular vendor tie in.

[jamesfed]

A firm yes here - going to Windows 7 (from XP) this summer however have been laying all the foundations to go to 8.1 instead.

 

With almost a year out in the wild I would be surprised if there were any more bugs inside it (not that I find that many these days anyway).

 

Will do it even if my only reason is for the faster boot ups

[free780]

@CyberNerd I dont see the cloud overtaking everything. E.g autocad You cant run that in the browser.

[sted]

When youve spent 18 months to 2 years going to 7 win 8.1 seems like a waste of time. The amount of support calls about the start menu will kill the helpdesk. It takes 2-3 years after an os release for all the software conpanies to catch up anyway. So no. Unless start menu appears.

 

the start menu isnt coming back deal with it. tifkam is fine i now prefer it to the start menu most of the time and now its manageable ive got pcs earmarked to deploy it to already. quicker boot times than 7 to start with

[Arthur]

It takes 2-3 years after an os release for all the software companies to catch up anyway.

Windows 8.1 is a minor update to 8.0 (which was a year old last week). The large majority of software that works on Windows 7 will also work with Windows 8.0/8.1.

 

Some companies may not officially "support" Windows 8.0/8.1, but that doesn't mean to say the software won't work.

 

we'll be able to lose that particular vendor tie in.

Instead, we'll be locked into one (or more) cloud service providers.

[Arthur]

e.g autocad You can't run that in the browser.

It should be possible as a Chrome packaged app (at least in theory). There's already an extension that runs a web server within a browser tab.

[CyberNerd]

@CyberNerd I dont see the cloud overtaking everything. E.g autocad You cant run that in the browser.

 

Technically it can already. You would need to wrap it in a XenApp cloud but it is possible over HTML5. Console games;no problem. The technology is already available it's just how it will be implemented over the coming years.

Edited August 9, 2013 by CyberNerd

[SovietRussia]

the start menu isnt coming back deal with it. tifkam is fine i now prefer it to the start menu most of the time and now its manageable ive got pcs earmarked to deploy it to already. quicker boot times than 7 to start with

 

I personally like the new 8.1 start screen, with your desktop background behind it. It no longer looks like a separate window, more like tiles overlayed on your desktop.

[KyleWhite]

Now that the actual Start 'button' is there; it's a possibility. But will probably sit it out for a short while; just to see if it takes off elsewhere. Running it currently on my laptop; and have to say it is pretty stable as it stands even if it only appears to act as a Service Pack (which let's face it, is what it should've been!).

 

Will probably install it on Staff Laptops should it be specifically requested (have a few staff that are into their tech/gadgets themselves) once it hits RTM, we'll also upgrade the existing Acer Iconia Tabs we have too.

 

Running 8.0 myself and I have to say there is a noticeable improvement performance wise on my poor old work PC (Core 2 Duo, 4gb RAM), and I've become quite accustumed to the OS as a whole. 8.1 should only improve things, right?

Edited August 9, 2013 by KyleWhite

[Kitkatninja]

Yes, we will be deploying it after we finish evaluating it (and after it's properly released )

[flyinghaggis]

We're currently on Windows 7 and I don't see us moving to Windows 8.x anytime in the near future. There's no real advantage for the most part over 7 on a desktop computer and our school is moving towards IOS for tablet devices so I don't see much of a future for Windows as a client OS at this point in time.

 

In hindsight I'm still not convinced it was actually worth the effort to upgrade from WindowsXP to 7 I'm running Windows 8 at home and have no real complaints but I think it's tricky to make a business case for for organisations who are already on Windows 7 to migrate to it.

Edited August 9, 2013 by flyinghaggis

[gshaw]

On desktops at the moment probably not - just in the process of shifting 2500 PCs to Win7 this year but for tablets (and maybe laptops) I'm starting to give it more serious consideration. Just updated our trial Surface RT to 8.1 and using the same wallpaper in both interfaces definitely helps reduce the jarring feeling when moving between UI modes.

 

Still find it amusing how MS have now implemented most of the features many of us complained about initially that were just dumb design decisions (desktop wallpaper, unified search, boot to desktop etc) but MS were adamant were the right thing to do

[mattianuk]

Probably a job for next summer.

[Guest Guest]

We are just deploying 8. 8.1 can wait until Xmas or Easter. It would have been too much work too late to deploy this summer

[robjduk]

rolling 8 out now. As much as I want to I don't think such a big change to the OS half way through the school year is a good idea. Next easter or summer it will happen though.

[mrbios]

Switched from XP to 7 and all servers (except 2) from 2003R2 to 2008R2 in 2009/2010, works well enough and has long enough support that i don't plan on pushing windows 8 (or 8.1) out here at all, will probably skip it like i did with vista/2008. Doesn't feel like there's enough positives when there's so many negatives to the end user experience, the cons definitely outweigh the pros.

[Michael]

Possibly, but only on tablets. It doesn't make sense to deploy to perfectly good up-to-date workstations running Win 7 SP1.

[gshaw]

Have to say going from 8.1 on a Surface RT back to 8.0 makes you realise how much better the OS feels with the update installed (or conversely how bad 8.0 is \ was). With a few more fixes and tweaks it's a much more viable prospect.

[HT88]

Anything related to Windows 8 is more trouble than it's worth. You'll basically have a massive queue of teachers knocking on your door wondering where the desktop is etc.

 

For tablets on the other hand they're pretty good.

[RabbieBurns]

Rolled out 100 new Windows 8 touchable devices earlier in the year, dont plan to upgrade them to 8.1

 

Still have some older model touchable devices that are running windows 7, that Ill probably bring up to windows 8, just to be consistent and then do them all to 8.1 over the xmas long holidays.

 

Just finished installing 8.1 on my desktop, StartIsBack - real start menu in Windows 8 have released a compatible update so dont mind using it on a non-touch laptop. It does seem a lot faster though.

[unixman_again]

At college, we'll be sticking to Windows 7 as 8 offers no real improvements.

 

At home, I'll be sticking with Linux and the MAC