The New Windows 8 OS and the Stereoscopic 3D Support in It

The new Windows 8 OS from Microsoft has been officially out for a few days already and you can get it and upgrade to it or get it with the purchase of a new PC. The big question is if you should do it now, wait for some time before going for Windows 8 or not even think about upgrade for the time being or at all. You can say that the most worked on part of the new OS is the new interface designed for mobile devices such as tablets or computers with touch screen interface, but that can also be considered as the biggest drawback for the users of traditional computers that are used to things like the Start button and programs menu as are missing it. Sure there are other improvements as well and changes that are considered “for the better” for the user, but do all users think they can actually benefit from them. Actually the overall user impressions from the new Windows 8 seem to be more negative than positive, even though people are saying that the new OS works faster and is smoother compared to Windows 7.

And here comes another important question, does Windows 8 work well for stereoscopic 3D use, something that probably a lot of people that are into stereo 3D are asking about. There have been some changes in the video driver model used in Windows 8 and the makers of graphics processors have already implemented and released drivers supporting this, however there might be trouble with other drivers for different hardware, though drivers for Windows 7 might still work if they are digitally signed. There might be some issues for a while with games using different DRM solutions or cheat protection algorithms, preventing you from running certain games, but hopefully these will soon be resolved. Another thing that you might have trouble with if going for the new Windows 8 are all those workaround solutions and tricks that you might’ve used successfully under Windows 7 for making different older or not officially supported 3D hardware working.

My advice for now is not to be in a hurry to go for Windows 8, or at least not as the sole OS you have on your computer. If you want to check it out and try migrating to Windows 8 slowly, then you better start with it installed as a second OS, or even in a virtual machine, as you might have trouble making all your hardware work, trouble with some of the software you are used to working with, or you may not like the new concept at all and decide to skip it and wait for the next major OS release, or at least for some updates or tools to make the transition easier. I already have Windows 8 as a second OS installed, more out of curiosity an to try it out and test various things, including stereoscopic 3D support as well. If you’ve already installed Windows 8 and have tried it, you might’ve faced some issues and here you can share your trouble making things work properly in stereoscopic 3D mode, so that we can find a solution that will work in Windows 8.

I’ll start with one very useful tool that I’ve found out about, a tool that actually makes Windows 8 useable for me, it is called Windows 7 Explorer for Windows 8 (Ex7ForW8) and what it does is to replace the new Windows 8 shell with the one from Windows 7, bringing you back the Start button and menu from Windows 7 into Windows 8. You need to have an installation copy of Windows 7 as the software needs to copy the Explorer.exe executable file from it (it is not included with the installer) and you can easily revert back to the standard Windows 8 shell should you decide to do that as some point. Feel free to share not only your problems, but also some other interesting things that you’ve found out to be useful for you in Windows 8 in the comments below.