I personally don't have Windows 8 (but will ask Mike to visit this thread), but for now you can use the other 2 methods:
- build with MSKLC under XP/Vista/Windows 7 and then install under Windows 8 - it works fine as it was tried by many people already
- install under Windows 8 one of existing phonetic layout if they fit your needs:
http://print.WinRus.com
:)
I’m an electronic publisher, heavily active in projects involving Russia, Russian-speaking countries and the Russian language.
I am also a professionally trained Russian interpreter and translator, who has had to use Russian in an English OS PC environment for about 30 years. For years and years I did the MSKLC sort of thing, always customizing my keyboards to fit my preferences.
But since last year, and particularly now with the arrival of Windows 8.1, which can synch your settings across multiple PC’s, I learned that it’s just easier to learn and use the out-of-the-box keyboard mapping. Why? Because a) when you have an OS upgrade,
a system crash or other event requiring you to wipe and reload a PC, it’s sooo much easier to just install the out of the box variety than to have to re-customize the keyboards and install them again from scratch (let alone on multiple PC’s); b) when you have
to work на чужом компьютере, it's also infinitely easier to
be able to just jump right on and do your Cyrillic work. It’s kind of like learning how to drive a car with a manual transmission…. Once you go through the pain of learning how to drive a stick shift, it gives you a skill that ports to other environments well
and avoids what is sometimes an awkward limitation. And now that with Win 8.1 your settings can travel with you, it’s so great to log onto a virgin device, and just hit the ground running without complex setups. I bit the bullet and have learned to adapt to
the (admittedly awkward in some regards) MS mnemonic method. In truth, I think I’ll bite the bullet one more time and just learn to touch type on a native Russian keyboard. I have already had to do that for Korean language, since you cannot remap a Korean
IME, and that was an eye-opener. Did not take that much to just learn it, and the dividend is so great to be in that country (Korea, Russia) and just be able to type on any old keyboard… Also, in defense of the MS methodology, I can definitely see how their
mnemonic approach makes life easy for library and other workers who may have to periodically input in Cyrillic even without total command of Russian. They MS Cyrillic input is pretty much a WYSIWYG match to transliterated Russian.