You open you're files in V8i and now notice that the global origin seems to have changed.
First off - why are you checking the global origin ? My guess is something else is going on and you are checking this as a result.
There are very limited reasons for changing the location of the global origin. None of which relate to the OLDWAY of moving this based off of the "working coordinates" needed for a project.
A brief history on the global origin and why it was moved is :
In previous versions of the software the go=$ was providing a location of your global origin based off of the lower left corner of the V7 design plane (yes - even in V8 it was doing this). So when you keyed in go=100,100,100 (for example) and set the monument point, MicroStation then shifted your global origin to this location. Now when keying in the GO=$ the resulting number that was returned to you, was the location of your origin point based of off the location of the lower left corner of the V7 design plane. We changed this (in V8i) to give you a more logical reference point. We now give you the same location of your global origin (0,0,0) but it is based off of the design plane center rather than some number based on the V7 design plane. We did not move the global origin - we are merely giving the location based off of the design plane center. Don't panic when you see this new number and go in and change the GO so it reads what you are use to seeing (as far as numbers go). Because doing this will then MOVE the global origin to a new location based off of the numbers you put in, and based off of the design plane center. So if/when you shifted the global origin to your predefined number - you then shifted it based off of the design plane center. So now the number you are seeing returned is based off of the design plane center and not the V7 design plane corner.
A simple example would be:
Let's say you were use to seeing GO=1200,1200,1200 in your pre V8i versions of the software when working in your files. This means that your GO (0,0,0) was 1200,1200,1200 from the lower left corner of the V7 design plane (no matter if the file was a V7 file or a V8 file). Now you take this file and open it in V8i. Keying in GO=$ now gives you a result of (for arguments sake) 4830000,4830000,4830000 (I am just making up numbers here). The GO (0,0,0) has not moved in the file, it is in the same location, but instead of giving you the 1200,1200,1200 based off of the lower left corner of the V7 design plane, you are getting the same location, but it is based off of the center of the design plane. Nothing was changed/shifted, we are just giving you a more logical reference point.
The reason this was so important in the past is that the design plane had a limited drawing area and the design plane would need to be shifted in order to get proper coordinates when drawing elements with resolutions that needed to have a good bit of accuracy. So previously you needed to know what these numbers were set to, in order to get proper lineup of your references. In the past we would lineup the resolutions (stacking the design planes on top of one another). While you can still do this, it is no longer needed. So if your references are not lining up - this is what I feel we should be looking into and my guess as to why you were checking the GO in V8i in the first place.
Now as far as the resolution settings - we store the design file data based off of the metric system (at a code level). So what you are seeing is the equivalent metric value of what you are setting. It should not be effecting anything in the design file (measurements, dimensions, etc,,,). Again - in the past this was important when referencing files, as it would effect the size at which the reference appeared attached (as we lined up the resolution upon attachment). So two files with the same working units yet different resolutions would appear to be different scales when referenced. So now we no longer rely on this resolution - we actually know the physical size of the elements being attached and will attach them "true scale". The user no longer needs to know what scale to set the reference to (IE: referencing a metric file to an international foot drawing). It will come in "true scale".
You can now have mis-matched resolutions and global origins and still have your references line up correctly according to the coordinates and working units of the files being used.
So the two items we are discussing here should have no effect on your workflow. If it does - could you provide me some files and what you are seeing ? Because if your files are not lining up or needing to be shifted, my guess is something is wrong.