PROBLEMS ??? installing new Windows 8 - release

[norberto]

One of the things that I liked the Windows 8 was that it got rid of a lot of "tools", see:

PDF, I needed adobe reader installed, and be always updating due to security problems, Win8 has applications to read PDF, Office 2013 RTM has pdf reader/editor included (word). (Office 2013 RTM download only for TechNet subscriber)

ZIP, I used Winrar, but Windows 8 has native support for ZIP.

ISO, I used Ultraiso, but Windows 8 has native.

VM, I used VMware, but Windows 8 already has the HYper-V included. (hyper-v is a microsoft vmware like)

JAVA, I need java to access my Bank, but my Bank made a native application (RT) for Windows 8, therefore, do not need more than java and its flaws.

Flash, I needed the flash installed, but Windows 8 already has the flash in IE10.

MSN, i use msn, but Windows 8 have included chat in people hub, more Lync and Skype (new Skype have msn chat), so i dont need more MSN.

DVD, i used Nero, but win7/8 have included burn dvd.

to program in FWH, we need several "tools", but they work great in desktop mode, less 16 bits like resource workshop, I think other developers need fewer tools, because they have the visual studio 2012, that is a all-in-one.

to graphics i use Adobe cs6 and corel x6, they are all-in-one.

Could continue, but the list is big... Windows 8 greatly simplified my life and my work. and my Money $$$ i dont need to buy this 3rd part.

Could speak also of integration with Office 365, skydrive, Windows phone, but I think that only Tim here uses the Windows phone, so no good would I describe, alias I am here thinking: who was already using the concept of tiles on a Windows phone, it seems better adapted to Windows 8.

the truth is: many of us, including myself, have a lot of tools that we don't need, for example, I record dvds very little, I don't need a nero installed, can I use the Windows Recorder, don't need a file manager like in the days of DOS. (Win8 have the filemanager enhanced).
my photos, music, are in the cloud, as well as documents (least sensitive), it also facilitated everything to me.

Windows 8 ENterprise have Windows to Go, you can make a Windows run in a pen-drive (portátil), its very nice to programmers and IT.

just my 2 cents, regards to all

[Otto]

Hello Norberto,
thank you for your input. You are right. Windows 8 and the new software design concepts (full screen) will be state of art for the next years to come.

I have opened a couple of Microsoft Office 365 plans (P1 and E Plans) the last days. Now all my emails are on Exchange server. All devices like phones – Windows 6.5, HP touchII which I updated to WINDOWS 8 release and of cause all the PCs are connected.
This weekend I try to move our intern support site from a forum based system like our Fivewin forum to Teamwebsite.

Do you have experiences with PC to PC call and Video conferences and hosted telephone infrastructure supported by Office 365.

I too wrote a letter to St. Claus to bring for me a Lumia and a Surface.
I got an ACK from him that he will bring me these devices as soon as you can get them in the shops over here.

BTW I have nearly finished my Metro inspired WINHOTEL. This version makes the current version old looking.

Best regards,
Otto

[norberto]

Otto,

when you made your plan of office 365, you are entitled to word, excel, PowerPoint and Lync, with Lync you can do conferences, video call, online presence, share docs, its a State-of-the-art Communicator. more: you can install Lync server and plug in your telephone system with a voip gateway, so you will have a very powerful system of call/videocall/chat and conferences. Yes , i use Lync with Pbx system for voip.

Lync is multiplatform, the server runs on Windows, but has clients for Windows 8, Windows 7,Surface RT (winrt), Windows phone, iphone, android.

I use the office 365 for a while, with email Exchange, ohhh I don't know live longer without it, very very nice and now with Office 2013, It was much better with integration with skydrive pro.

i have Lumia 900 and very happy with this phone, changing for a Lumia 920 with Windows phone 8.
I'm waiting the release of surface on my country to buy, our programs will not run on the surface RT only with RDP, but the surface pro should be launched in January, our programs work perfectly.

Regards

[norberto]

Here a good tip for Windows 8, it boot direct in desktop without pass Metro menu, this way Windows 8 may like 7:
"
Go to the start screen and type in "schedule" to search for Schedule Task in Settings. Click on Task Scheduler Library to the left, and select Create Task. Name your task something like "Boot to desktop." Now select the Triggers tab, choose New, and use the drop-down box to select starting the task "At log on." Click OK and go to the Actions tab, choose New, and enter "explorer" for the Program/Script value.
Press OK, save the task, and restart to test it out!
"
more tips here: http://www.pcworld.com/article/2012885/ ... ricks.html

[norberto]

Otto:

I'm enthusiastic about Windows 8, and not only because I think its more "cute" or "cool" (im a businessman), look at the picture:



We have a great opportunity with the marketplace, as Tim said, does not have many commercial applications, imagine you with your hotel system, with the marketplace you can reach 60 markets in more than 200 countries, certainly there is still missing a hotel system that turn into Windows RT. you can be a first to put a hotel system in marketplace in native RT for Win8, Winphone8.

So we will have that opportunity with Windows 8, get well, in Linux, who wants the free software, won't pay for your program, because Linux has no marketplace too... Android have, but its a mess. companies do not want to migrate to android, some says that android has 60% of the Market smartphones, but only 10% of this number in the last version (4.1 or 4.2), the remainder on 2.3 (they never will have update to latest version),this is $ 50 hardware cellphones and cheap tablets purchased by users who aren't going to buy your program. Apple has a strong marketplace, and is used by 9 of 10 fortune 100 companies, but already has more than 700000 applications, you'll be one more.

so I am testing Visual studio 2012 to make appls to Windows 8 RT, Windows phone 8, I have my systems in FWH, but can't stand waiting for Antonio providing support for WInRT, because if it takes, lose that opportunity up. im already signed with Windows 8 and Windows phone 8 developer.

It may seem here to the Forum that I'm a "Microsoft-fanboy", no, I'm a "money-fanboy", showme the Money, whether it is on Linux, android, megoo, I go there. but I do not believe this.
In addition, with Windows 8 can I make money with pleasure, and make beautiful and efficient applications. and plus: make my clients happy.

Regards

[Otto]

>i use Lync with Pbx system for voip

Hello Norberto,

Thank you for your answer.
Would you be so kind to post some tips how to start with Pbx on a Lync.
What hardware do I have to buy?

I am so glad that I started last year with the conversation of my WINHOTEL.

Now the work is nearly finished and the result very nice.

For me FW providing support for WInRT is importand but I have time. As we install all our software on
TerminalServers the user does not see much difference between Metro inspired or WinRT.
Also we have some own style inside the software where we think that ready WinRT controls can be topped.

At the moment all our newsletters have one theme: Sitting Too Much?
Even if you think you are energetic, sitting all day at work is common for most of us. And it's killing us—literally—by way of obesity, heart disease, and diabetes.
The less you move, the less blood sugar your body uses; research shows that for every two hours spent on your backside per day, your chance of contracting diabetes goes up by 7 percent.

Reading every day about this I changed my desktop to a higher one where I have to stand during work.
This has a positive side effect except that it is maybe more healthy:
I have the same working position as my users most of the time which are working on the counters or kiosk with WINHOTEL.
So you are aware of the needs.
Best regards,
Otto

[norberto]

Otto, I could put tips, but I don't know if it will be useful, because I haven't installed pbx hardware, I only installed/configured the Lync server, moreover, the pbx brands here at my parents might not be available in Europe.
but if you need i can help you...
if you have office 365, you dont need Lync server, only Lync client for start.

Regards

[Otto]

Norberto,
thank you. It would be great.
What plan of Office 365 do I need to start.
Don't I need a IP phone.
Best regards,
Otto

[TimStone]

Otto,

We should have the Office plans solid in a short time. I have a P1 subscription because that was all I needed when they were first released. I use the Office 2013 Home Preview right now. I will use the subscription that gives me 5 Office installs and the exchange server. I may need to start a new account and then see if I can re-route my current email because it is so widely dispersed. I have many email accounts and websites but in the next year I hope to start bringing them altogether in one place under Microsoft.

I would like to be clear on one point. My "legacy app", just like your WinHotel, is written using FWH, Harbour, and MSVC 2010. That will not change. I appreciate FWH, and Harbour, and have no plan to drop it. This group works very hard, and my system works very well in the WIndows 8 desktop. The biggest problems I have with it are communications services. FTP is OK, email works in some places, but not others, and we don't have a full data capability like oData which allows full information interchange. I've also found its not exactly simple with some of the XML work I need to do, so that has been a downfall. However, I have clients who like the interface, and functionality of that program, so I intend to keep updating it with my current tools.

Sadly, I depend on DBF file structures. Doing a conversion at this time is not exactly simple. The program is massive, but DBF works well for it, and there are about 120 DBF files being accessed. That's a very time consuming transition to SQL. However, DBF is no longer a structure of choice for newer programming languages. The movement of data, feeds, access to data stores, the cloud, and local storage are all SQL.

For new apps, which will be smaller, lean, and probably data intensive, I will be using Visual Studio 2012. The amount of free training material is massive, and even the resources are free. I'm using Lightswitch for fast desktop apps ( which can be produced in a few days, and sold at a low cost ), and C#/XAML will be used for RT apps. There are so many tutorials that it makes the learning easier. I've watched Visual Studio grow through the 2011 pre-release, and the final 2012 release, and they are adding capabilities so quickly it is hard to believe anyone could keep up with it.

Tim

[TimStone]

Uwe,

I am sorry you are having all those problems. I wonder if many of those tools substituted their own .dll's to work, and the newer ones are not compatible. In the 16 bit world I remember that many publishers did that, placing their modified .dll's in place of some windows system .dlls.

I have cut down my tools dramatically. Here is what I install on my machines, and they are all flawless with Windows 8:

Microsoft Office 2013
Ultra Edit Studio ( current version )
Harbour 3.0
FWH ( current release )
Visual Studio 2010 ( for Harbour builds )
Codejock
Visual Studio 2012
Advantage database server
Ipswitch WS_FTP Pro 2007
xHarbour.com
Microsoft Expression Studio
Axialis ( for icons )
Help & Manual 6 ( for documentation )
Snag It 11
Camtasia Studio ( for training videos )
Kindle for PC ( documentation )
QuickBooks
Actual Installer ( for building installation files )
iTunes
Photoshop
plus some included Microsoft packages ( ie. Live Writer for blogs )

These were all installed on this computer in Windows 7, and automatically upgraded with the Win 8 install.

[Otto]

Hello Tim,
>Sadly, I depend on DBF file structures.

For me this the biggest advantage.
Therefore I chose CLIPPER as a database language.

I see so much talking how to tune, bla, bla, bla all those database (SQL) stuff.
I only have small companies as customers where we do not need this overhead.
Thanks to RemoteDesktop also Client/Server is obsolete for us as we work directly on the server. Much better.
For every OS there is a RDP client. So all the devices can use our software.
The other day I try to operate our software with an ANDROID base tablet PC for around 120€.
You can operate WINHOTEL perfectly on this device.
And thanks to group polices we are as save as a SQL server.

Around the year 2005 I was in the same situation as you. Fivewin had no ribbonbar at that time. Only for that I re-coded the whole WINHOTEL first in VB and then VB.NET. What a waste of time.
I used MS SQL as database. I don’t remember well but first I was told to use DAO then ADO now they talk to use again ODBC.
I ended up with more than 30 rd party components. For every programming task there is a 3rd party component better for a specific task better than the build in. You are right the amount of free training material is massive. Too massive to handle.

At the moment I have such the best and most productive develop environment I ever had:
UEStudio, for Metro style inspirited programming AUTOCODE and of cause FIVEWIN in the current version.
I can do all I need with FiveWin.

Best regards,
Otto

[ukoenig]

Hello,

once You installed everything, next the best to create a System-Image.
With Windows8 it is possible.
I found this useful link with a step by step instruction what to do :
( screenshots included ) or just read the instruction.

http://helpdeskgeek.com/how-to/create-a ... kup-image/

A overview from the link above :

There is a very easy recovery option that is better than refresh and reset.
You can create an image backup of your Windows 8 PC with all your settings, data,
and apps the way you want them to be restored. The only downside to Refresh PC
is that it will preserve your data and Metro apps, but it will remove any desktop
apps that you install.
With an image, you can configure Windows 8 with all
the Metro and desktop apps you want, plus any other settings and then create the image.

What’s really nice is that when you go to refresh your PC again after creating
the image, it will refresh the PC from the image backup automatically! And again,
the Refresh PC and Reset PC options are available through Windows and they are
also available in Windows RE, which is the Windows Recovery Environment that you
can load in case Windows 8 won’t boot up.

Steps to create a image backup of Windows 8 and also shows you how easy it is to
restore the entire image. So now when your computer is infected with malware and
viruses your kids downloaded onto your computer, you can restore it to it’s original
state with ease.

Creating a Windows 8 Backup Image

To get started, you need to open an elevated command prompt in Windows 8.
To do this, go to the start screen and right-click anywhere to see All apps.
Next, right-click on the the Command Prompt and you’ll see a couple of options
show up on the bottom. Go ahead and click on Run as Administrator.

Now at the command prompt, you have to type two simple commands. One to create
the folder that will hold the image and one to actually create the image.

mkdir C:\RefreshImage
recimg -CreateImage C:\RefreshImage

The process to create the image takes about 10 to 15 minutes and could take
longer depending on the amount of data you have on your system. Overall, though,
the process is fairly fast for a backup image.

It will first initialize, then create the snapshot, then write the image and then
register the image so that it is used automatically when you refresh the PC.
That’s it! You now have a complete backup image of your Windows 8 machine.
If you go to the directory you created, you’ll see a .WIM file there,
which is a Windows Image file.

Copy this backup file to an external drive also, just so you have
a backup of the file in case the entire hard drive crashes with some kind of
hardware error. In that type of case, no recovery option will help if the hard
drive is physically damaged. You’ll have to get another hard drive and then
restore the image using the Windows Recovery Environment. Anyway, assuming your
hard drive is OK and something went wrong with Windows, you can restore the
image by going to Refresh PC.

Open the Charms bar and then click on Settings and then click on Change PC Settings.

Click on General and then click on Get Started under Refresh Your PC

You’ll see a dialog pop up telling you what will happen in the process and then
click Next. Refreshing the PC from an image will take anywhere from 5 to 15 minutes,
possibly longer depending on your hardware specs and the size of the image

Once the refresh is done, you can login and you’ll be good to go with all your
settings and apps! You can also update the image at any time by
simply creating another one using the commands above and the latest image will
be set as the currently registered image for the PC refresh to use.


Best Regards
Uwe

[norberto]

Ukoenig,

WOW, you are becoming a guru of Windows 8... This I didn't know. Thank you

your copy of Windows 8 is core, Pro or enterprise? if enterprise , are you try WintoGO?

are you try media center for free?

regards

[StefanHaupt]

Otto,

You are right. Windows 8 and the new software design concepts (full screen) will be state of art for the next years to come.

full screen on two 24" displays ?? No possibility the have two or more programs side by side on the screen ? (only possible in desktop mode). That´s neither nice nor state of the art.

As I said some time ago, Win 8 is optimized for touchscreens, not for business pcs.

[norberto]

Stefan, in Windows 8 you can put 2 appl in Screen , but you only do it with 1366x768 resolution and up.

see the image: calendar (left Metro UI) and desktop (right) in same screen (side by side)



Windows 8 have the best multi-monitor build in. to do it, it simple: with mouse, click on top of screen and move to left or right.

BTW: Feliz cumpleanos to Aida and Nita (friends of facebook) showed in calendar for today birthday.

Regards.