A few moments ago I noticed that there were almost 2 full days worth of threads on the first page alone here...  That implies to me that not a whole lot of people are trying Windows out 8.1, or at least not complaining about it much.  The Windows 8 forum was down to just a few hours of posts on the first page by this point in it's pre-release life.  It seemed to me people were more excited about it.

A number of possible reasons come to mind:

• There's little to complain about, because there's not all that much that's been changed.  I'd have thought Microsoft could have gotten more done with thousands of engineers working for a year.
   
• The new Metro/Modern changes are unremarkable, and few people use Metro/Modern anyway because there's really no good reason to.
   
• Some 3rd party tools that make the Windows 8 desktop more bearable don't quite work right in 8.1 yet.
   
• People don't want to be painted into a corner by having a demo that won't allow them to upgrade to the final release, so those who don't have a virtual/throwaway environment in which to test, having been burned during the Windows 8 pre-release, are taking a "wait and see" approach.
   
• People are having a harder time finding the Windows 8.1 Preview forum.
   

Other ideas?  Your thoughts?

I  have a few Noel, I have not had the proper time to write. There are some system hiccups that needs to be addressed for a technician. Windows 8 series pretty much is useless for diagnostic of any hardware for trouble shooting hardware. Vcard Ram,HD,lans and more. Microsoft must remember these are PC's. Reset is not what a PC needs. We are not a Phone Or palm. Reset once in a while with those devices. We are a PC with years of data and configuring and without the ability for Technicians to fix a persons PC with Windows is something Microsoft needs to address quickly. I will give examples shortly.

Microsoft remember these are PC and not a palm device or phone we need the ability to have windows test hardware without a disturbing wait game. I do know why you made the time out for 20000000000000000000 seconds for hardware failure. We seen that in windows 8 and the fix is not a 2000000000000000000000000000000 time out for a system reboot.

Like I said I will give some examples later

Well, it's a number of reasons why I haven't posted much here.

The new forums software isn't to my liking so much and the bridge is no more, so I check the forums much less right now.

My cell modem doesn't have a Win8.1 driver, and I really need that for my work PC, so I already went back to 8.0 there.

I did find a couple nasty bugs that makes 8.1 less useful, hopefully they'll be fixed in the release.

As for the metro apps changes, not much change for me there, but I do like the new boot to desktop and snapped apps seem to work a bit better than before.

I don't use any of the 3rd party tools to get the old start menu back, so I don't know if they work or not.

Not being able to upgrade to the final release and the fact that the final release will be here in a couple of months was a killer for me.  It just wasn't worth the pain of reinstalling all my programs and settings for that short a wait for the real thing.

Jerry

www.zdnet.com/microsofts-q4-unravels-surface-rt-bet-flops-7000018263/

recently windows 7 blew up, so I figured I would install 8.1 on the box and see how good bad or ugly it would be

8.1 thinks I have a pad, my wacom pad will work with a on screen keyboard, I have tried it

so the task bar shows a keyboard to quickly invoke the OSK, the OSK also appears open when I logged in, but it since stopped doing that after it noticed I have a keyboard

it will take a while to install stuff

so far though its 10x better than 8, no more screen mess to cope with

Well, it's down to less than one day of posts on the first page today, so maybe things are picking up for Windows 8.1.

Some of the responses have made me smile.  Thanks guys.  :)

I find 8.1 to be a tad unresponsive, mind you what version of windows isn't

i have installed some games, but none from the list on my windows 8 page

eventually I will get to them, been busy getting ready for the fall season

A good look into the future of windows I will wait for the release to pro or con cus this is still a bata and like all bata there are bugs to be sorted out.

We are in good hands if

Is working with the staff

so far only 1 game would not install, but I am far from done

Q.  "Windows 8.1 Preview a Flop?"

A.   No, but this comment thread is a definite flop...

Q.  "Windows 8.1 Preview a Flop?"

A.   No, but this comment thread is a definite flop...

                               &n

Q.  "Windows 8.1 Preview a Flop?"

A.   No, but this comment thread is a definite flop...

                               &n

Q.  "Windows 8.1 Preview a Flop?"

A.   No, but this comment thread is a definite flop...

                               &n

It is still in bata so judging it now is not fair

I was actually trying to judge the reception of Windows 8 by the users, not so much the product itself.

Maybe it's just because it's so soon after Windows 8 was released, but the reception by users seems cooler, less excited somehow.  People seem less inclined to want to try it out.  That said, at least the first forum page now has only 14 hours of posts on it, so apparently it IS picking up some.

The number of folks trying Window 8.1 will be proportional to the number of folks running Windows 8 (plus a smaller number of new adopters).

Since Windows 8 is a flop, it should not be a surprise that the posts related to Windows 8.1 is further reduced.

The Surface RTitanic is sinking fast says PCWORLD

Pcworld and others are saying, because of a pricy piece of plastic that can only surf the net.

Sir Alfred, renowned for his English understatement and tact, managed to say this about it.

Without uttering the fish word even once.

On real test hardware consisting of relatively new Core i7 systems with SSD boot drives, we do consider Win8.1 to be a flop. 

The out-of-resources errors are unforgivable.  I'm watching the massive Windoze 8.1 memory leak, which has gobbled up several gigabytes of available RAM in the last couple of hours. A tablet computer would have run out after about 30 minutes of use. 

So are all of the persistent user interface problems for desktop environments with mice. 

Windoze should have split into two product lines. One for traditional desktop, and one for tablets & touchscreens. The two are NOT the same, and there is little overlap. Apple has demonstrated that point vividly with the dramatic market share win as Microsoft continues to flunk out of the mobile space for over 15 years.

Windoze should have split into two product lines. One for traditional desktop, and one for tablets & touchscreens. The two are NOT the same, and there is little overlap.

I've never liked that misspelling of "Windows", but I agree with your sentiment.  They have chosen to abandon serious computing.  There is nothing about Windows 8.1 that indicates any commitment to or interest in continuing to make serious computer operating systems.  NOTHING.  It's running entirely on the inertia of the Windows 7 development.

Porting all the control panel options to Metro/Modern?  Really?

Could it possibly be that the leadership of Microsoft is too simple-minded to run a company that does more than one thing at a time?  This is Microsoft, for God's sake, not some pipsqueak startup.

Why do people who run companies into the ground get to stay in charge for so long as to ensure the certainty of it?