I am going to buy a new and much better computer, and I was wondering if the Unity 3d Engine is working on Windows 8?
It has worked flawlessly for me on Windows 8 Pro. I did an in-place upgrade from Windows 7 Home Premium with the Win8 upgrade assistant ($15 after coupon), then installed the newest Unity version from the other day… all has been well :).
From what I’ve heard everything is good.
The only thing that bothers me is that desktop applications seem to be 2nd class citizens on Windows 8, and the future with that OS now seems to be the new UI (formerly known as Metro). Which would mean the desktop, the desktop API and desktop apps will be deprecated over the next few years.
That’s not the case at all, and even in Windows 8 the only thing Metro does on a desktop is act as a full-screen start menu if you want it to. Windows 8 is a step towards making a unified OS that works well for desktops and tablets/convertibles, which is where a large amount of the industry sales are now, and will continue to be going in general. I don’t see how anyone can think the desktop is a second-class citizen in Windows 8 though… it works almost identically to Windows 7, which was basically the same as Windows Vista post-SP1 once drivers were sorted out.
Except this is a fundamentally terrible design decision. The reason interface designs vary from tablet to computer (and Windows tablet sales are a complete joke so this is even more of a boondoggle) is because they have fundamentally different input methods and use cases than one another.
That’s why it’s segmented off: Metro/new UI has apps, but on the desktop you can largely ignore them and use the traditional desktop. On a convertible tablet, you can use the desktop when in notebook-type mode, and when using it as a tablet, rely mostly on Metro. when on a tablet, you can rely on Metro. It’s basically just an option to use either when you need.
Windows tablet sales were low because past Windows operating systems didn’t have great tablet support or features: to get them to sell, Microsoft introduced Windows 8 with a lot of tablet goodies in addition to the standard desktop. It’s chicken or the egg, and in this case, they needed to pick one, which they have. With Windows 8 having good software support for touch interfaces, tablets will start to (and already have begun to) sell better.
Windows 8 works very, very well, and switching between form factors with it is basically effortless as a user.
I actually think its much more easier like this. I just pin every app i use most of the time to the start menu and open it from there o-o my desktop is very clean now cause i never get there.
People seems to be anti metero, its not a downside of windows 8, its an add-on
I feel the same about the desktop apps, having to switch between apps and the desktop .exe’s is very trouble some. But, Unity works great on Windows 8. 
Hasn’t this whole desktop vs Metro thing occurred here before?
Here and everywhere else.
Then why are we continuing this? Windows 8 sucks. Everyone knows it. Just move on.
I’ve had no problems with the Unity IDE or PC/Web builds of various projects on Windows 8 Pro (upgrade from Windows 7).
Well, if that’s not the case what’s Valve up in arms about and why have they released Steam for Linux?
http://www.computerandvideogames.com/359898/newell-windows-8-is-a-catastrophe-for-everyone-in-the-pc-space/
Windows 8 represents a threat to their business model by allowing another online store to buy stuff from, of course they’re going to be raving about how awful it is ;). Simple business. As far as Linux, they’re doing it for the same reasons Unity exports to Linux…
No, actually, it is a significant step forward for Windows, and for the desktop user has a lot of small improvements just as other prior versions have had over their predecessors.
Windows 8 is perfectly fine. Faster start speed, easy and fast way to find things (windows key + q is faster at finding something than windows 7’s search). Start menu is simple, don’t even need to touch it unless you want to quickly launch a pinned app.
just installed recently windows 8 on one of my PC and so far unity work without any problem for now…so windows8 and unity should be just fine…now I won’t comment on how bad or not is windows 8 as , i guess was not the question of OP in first place
Have been using win 8 for as long as i could (msdn subscriber). Unity works just fine on it including DX11 the ton of assets i own from the store.
I think it’s more to do with a fear that the desktop and desktop applications will be deprecated in favour of the tiles interface, which means a closed and governed Microsoft store. You must have seen what happened to Microsoft Flight Simulator, and Flight. They did exactly the same thing with it. Got rid of the simulator, and brought out a closed Games for Windows version “Flight” that they intended to sell piecemeal, that no longer supported open third party development – the very thing which had made the game so popular amongst aviation enthusiasts. As a result of the new conditions, whereby Microsoft would own and control all content, including the marketing of that content, no developers wanted to work with them on it, and after 5 months of poor reception, Microsoft pulled the plug. So that was a good thing killed off by misunderstanding both the users of that game and the developers who had produced so many excellent add-ons over the years.
That’s your opinion, and for every positive opinion like that, I can find a negative one. Not because I want to bash it, but because I’m concerned about the direction in which games development is heading and I’ve spent a good deal of time following Windows 8 and what people are saying about it. What I see is a traditional Windows user base that is distinctly split in its reception for Windows 8. Complaints range from usability issues (multiple windows discontinued, lack of start menu, klunky, ugly design), to those I have already described about the apparent tendancy towards a closed and governed OS.
I work as an IT manager (games development is a hobby for me) and most people in my network of contacts are uncertain about Windows 8 and want to wait to see how things transpire with it in the future. If half the users are complaining about it, Microsoft may well change course yet again, when all enterprises want is stability. However, thuis kind of behaviour is normal when new operating systems come out.
The vast majority of the highly negative opinions about Windows 8 are either from people who haven’t actually used it and just read other people’s complaints like it’s gospel or from people who have barely used it with the prejudice that it sucks and actively refuse to use it with an open mind. The positive opinions are from those who have spent serious time using it with an open mind whether they initially thought it would be terrible (like I did) or not.
Multiple windows are not discontinued, the desktop side works just as well, if not better, than any previous version of Windows without limitation. The lack of the start menu may take some getting used to but it’s not a big deal at all, if you spend five minutes configuring the start screen you can get pretty much all your regularly used software listed in your face instead of having to navigate clunky cascading menus or you can just hit the Windows key, type a few letters and hit enter just like on Windows 7, both work far better than I was expecting and it works great with multiple monitors (some images showing press windows key and click on photoshop) and is really smooth and responsive, not just on this modern i7 but also my 8 year old Athlon with just 2gb of ram. Windows 7 was almost unusable on that old piece of junk, Windows 8 has made it usable again. Some might think the tile-based side of it is klunky and ugly but you needn’t spend more than a few seconds in it if you don’t want to, even without the various hacks you can find around the net for it.
If you want performance and stability then Windows 8 certainly is the way to go as it really has improved on every aspect of those areas. As with any major revision to an OS, whether it be Windows, OSX, Ubuntu or whatever, there is a lot of changes to get used to and plenty of new stuff to learn, but change is not always bad and the “bad” aspects which people keep complaining loudly about are really insignificant compared to the vast improvements made to the operating system. I can’t see MS ever cutting off the desktop side and forcing everyone to use the metro interface because, obviously, it’s what they use for enterprise, development, etc. too. They’re hardly going to cut off their nose to spite their face.