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[WIN8] Windows 8, Nokia gettin up in this shiz
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Its not all bad though, I like the pause file transfers thing, I like the native ISO mounting, and I like the Up thing on folders. I think the ribbon thing a la Office 2007 can be useful, but I think its ugly.
Honestly, I think I could get excited about Windows 8 if it looked something like this and didnt have Metro.
As a desktop UI, it leaves something to be desired. I'm not a huge fan on the mouse travel distances and clicks, but I'm also not quite as dramatic as some of the people in this thread. Oh, by the way, arrow keys scroll the start menu.
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That's a massive backslide from the classic UI though. With a mouse there are 5 places you can always reliably hit quickly and without effort. Running a fullscreen app, 3 of those are: window close, the app menu & the start menu. In win7 the 4th is show desktop. Top of screen -> click -> drag -> bottom of screen is much harder than top-right -> click. From what I've seen it's perfect for a touch interface, but things that are trivial with one input method (hitting specific points, dragging, swipes, multi-input) are often difficult with another input method, and vice versa (hitting all the corners instantly)
How do you switch between multiple mail accounts in the Windows 8 mail client? I've got the hotmail account from my Windows sign-in and also my Gmail account setup in the client but I can't figure out how to switch back and forth between the two within the client.
Thoughts?
Edit: Figured it out. You have to right-click in the mail window to bring up the mail menu bar at the bottom of the screen.
Here is a useful guide for those that really want to try it outside a VM, without blowing up your current installation.
I figured out the whole drag down to close thing by accident and I kind of liked it. Kind of. On my 15" laptop. I can't imagine doing that stuff on a regular basis on a 25" monitor. Or really anything but a touch screen.
Overall, I liked the metro interface and apps, and definitely see a market for that tablet that docks to a keyboard and becomes a laptop thing. But as for Microsofts user base (giant mega corps with 10k+ desktops), that metro crap won't fly. Get rid of the Start Button? It's been 5 years and people still bitch about the ribbon. I personally like it, I'm not a huge office document type of person, but I can say the ribbon definitely made things much easier for me. Don't see the point of it in explorer, I'm a fan of minimalism in the OS functions.
So yeah, I'm in the "fine for tablets and phones" camp.
PSN/Steam - Quantux
I still think W8's UI for tablets is second-to-none.
There is a third party program to disable metro and bring back the start menu.
Start8
Also: you can right-click to get Run already:
That video is amazing.
Having read through this thread, and watching that video, it certainly seems that this is a case of putting the cart before the horse.
This is such a radical departure from the norm that they are going to have to educate.
That video shows what most people in that age group look like using a computer, period.
You're right. It's just those silly old people who don't know that throwing the mouse into an unmarked corner does something. All us young people don't need to see things to use them. In fact, I don't have a monitor because i'm so young. I just know where everything is.
yeah old people totally figured out Windows 98 by themselves
they were not told how anything worked at all
just poof, they dropped a 60 year old in a room with a Compaq Presario and he immediately knew how to get to Solitaire
sadly some idiot at Microsoft will see this and they'll hold a 17 hour meeting to figure out what went wrong, even though nothing went wrong, the internet is just loaded with petulance
that there is a hot corner to activate the menu screen is pretty low on microsofts list of things to improve, I offer
That's the beauty of it being a beta.
This video was done in a spiteful and sort of dickish manner.
But despite the tone, it highlights a real problem.
One my dad, my mom, and an ungodly number of people I support in my line of work is going to have unless Microsoft invests some serious effort into getting people educated by the Operating system as they use it.
I'm not asking for the return of Clippy here, but a little intro like the one OSX has when you boot up lion that explains that scrolling is now fundamentally different will suffice here. Just a quick little "you can't skip me and you need to pay attention to me for 45 seconds as I point out the big differences"
I used the preview for 2-3 hours without ever realizing that hot corner was there. I never did find it on my own, I read that it was there. And I am not a gray-haired retiree; I guess you guys are just going to have to trust me on that one, but it's the truth. I was using the windows start button on my keyboard to switch back to the Metro home screen whenever I wanted to (which, granted, was not often).
It's also a problem that a washed-out/faded icon could fix, especially if it comes up when you scroll the mouse or move your finger across the screen.
On the other hand, it's also a problem that no user interface can overcome without someone showing you how it works. Not just hot corners, but computing in general. My friends grandmother would yell "INTERNET" into the webcam then click START because she thought that's how you made programs start. Despite most companies best efforts, computing is not an entirely intuitive experience. Sit a person unfamiliar with computers but a bit comfortable with Windows 7 down in front of OSX or Ubuntu and then not tell them shit and have them "figure it out for themselves" and I'm sure the results would be similar. Does that mean OSX and Ubuntu are also bad operating systems?
Also, take someone who is intimately familiar with computers and software, but only software from Microsoft. Have them try to use Linux command line prompts.
I fully expect the actual release version of Windows 8 will become a bit more cohesive and a lot more user friendly, whether it be from prompts or the return of Clippy as your guide through this new OS. I'm also fully expecting Windows 7 to be the choice for non-touchscreen computers for quite a few years, or (worst case scenario) until Windows 9.
I personally find Win8 pretty slick, and find it much more keyboard useable (And as a consequence of this, fast as fuck) than Win7, but for the sake of the wife and kids I'm going to keep Win8 on the slate I'm picking up later this year and make the move as we acquire all touchscreen devices.
Ctrl+Arrow Key.
RTFM.
I fully expect Microsoft to do that, however, because they have been pretty good about explaining how to use Metro on their current Metro offerings (360, Phone).
It's just that Windows has a much, MUCH larger userbase that is far less tech savvy, and they are going to really hold their hand a bit either through visual cues or tutorials. The beta is clearly showcasing that.
Some statistics courtesy of Gartner/IDC.
1 million tablets (presumably MS owned the market here as this is pre-iPad/android)
306 million PCs
0.3% of PC market
2010
19.4 million tablets
308 million PCs
6.3% of PC market
Gross PC sales increased 0.7%, removing tablets PC sales would've declined 5.7% to 288.6 million units.
2011
68.7 million tablets
351 million PCs
19.6% of PC market
Gross PC sales increased 14%, removing tablets PC sales would've declined another 2.2% to 282.3 million units.
2012 (proj)
106 million tablets
370 million PCs
28.6% of PC market
Gross PC sales increased 5.4%, removing tablets PC sales would've declined another 6.5% to 264 million units.
Assuming non-tablet PC sales stagnate or remain flat and tablet PCs continue its trend it's very possible that tablet PC sales will exceed non-tablet PC sales by 2015.
Non-tablet market share is irrelevant for the Windows 6.2 release; their objective is to become relevant in a space where they hardly exist right now. Does anyone really think the release of Win8 is to address this, and not this and maybe this?
Along with cybernetic arms?
If so I'll take 10 copies of Windows 8 then.
That's why the same OS.