The joys of tech

Windows 8 is out, in preview form. It's quite different from 7, so I decided to try it. Partitioned my hard drive and initiated the download, which took 3-4 hours. I had to leave for work, so when it asked if I wanted to install it now or later, I chose later. And on returning I find that it has disappeared. Checking the net, I find that I am not the only one with this experience.

I am not much irked. Long experience with Microsoft has prepped me for things not turning out as advertized. We'll try again tomorrow.

Part 2: It's tomorrow.

Downloaded a version overnight that did not disappear. After one false step, I am moving along to the point where I can burn a copy of W8 onto a DVD and then install it from there to the new partition. But I don't have any RW DVDs. So it will have to wait til I get some.

Later

Bought some R+ DVDs at Walgreens. Burned the ISO image of Windows to it using ImgBurn. Then did the reboot to install on the new partition drive. After filling in some forms, up it came and it worked. For the most part. Getting to my data files on the original drive is a little cumbersome and Office 2000 doesn't work on it (I am using LibreOffice), but it seems fine. It's clean and crisp and when it finally becomes The Norm some day, I won't hate it.

The W8 Desktop

Took some doing to find out out to sign out and shut down. Like the Hotel California, they don't want you to leave. But I did it and now am back in Windows 7. On re-starting, I can choose which system to use. All in all, a decent tech experience without disasters.