Using Windows 8 pro as my development machine

Question

I'm about to buy a new laptop that I intend to use primarily for software development/testing/debugging and was wondering if it is safe to get one with Windows 8 pro OS installed? Or should I stick with Win 7?

I primarily do MS based development (i.e. visual studio, .net, IIS, sql server), but I also do a lot of PHP/Apache/Mysql work as well. I dont want to get into the situation where some software tool I use works in win7 but not in win8.

Anyone know of any issues I could come across on Win 8 or any software tools that doesn't work on Win 8?

Also, does anyone find themselves less productive using Win 8, in terms of speed to get things done?

Answer 1

By going with Windows 7 you're precluding doing any Windows 8 Phone or Store app development, learning, running samples, etc. (unless of course you go with a VM, which will require a separate System Builder license). Even if you're not planning to build store apps now, I'd say don't close off the ability to tinker around and keep up with the tech, etc.

As a developer, you'll probably spend most of your time in the desktop mode, which will be familiar territory. The replacement of the "Start Button" with the "Start Screen" has gotten a lot of play, and yes there is a learning curve, but it's far from insurmountable. And there are even third party offerings to give you start button functionality. I will say though, that as a dev on Windows 8, multi-monitor setup is key (and perhaps it was already for you :))

To Anri's point, if anything Win8 is speedier, faster boot times, faster network connection times, and a few other improvements for traditional devs as well.

Answer 2

There shouldn't be any major regressions in terms of compatibility between Win 7 and 8. Visual Studio works without issues, but I don't know about your other tools.

The usability difference with Modern UI and no Startmenu is certainly debatable, however if you spend some time with it, you will notice that there are no fundamental differences in workflow, and the Startscreen is just the Startmenu in disguise. It works the same way, but is much more well arranged compared to the folder clusterfuck of the previous Startmenu iterations.

There certainly aren't any stability issues as Anri describes. If you get constant(!) BSODs, there is something wrong with your machine or drivers, not with Windows. The additional memory footprint (if any) should be negligible, it certainly doesn't run worse than Windows 7. Normal applications can't open in fullscreen Metro mode, only Metro apps can. There are some apps which offer both ways (such as Chrome, or Internet Explorer), but this isn't the norm yet.