Windows 8 Success

[xWhiplash]

I am a fan of always upgrading to the latest and greatest. I upgraded to Vista the week it was released, and the same with 7. However, Windows 8 looks horrible IMO. I think the Metro UI will be the worst decision Microsoft has ever made. Yes I know it works fine for tablets......so release a tablet version of Windows! Most people are still on XP because they do not like the way Vista and 7 look, so what are the chances that those people will love metro? Why would they through away their hard Aero work for the default 1980's looking theme? Business will take one look at it and wont want to take the time to disable Metro (unless it is disabled in the Enterprise version).

What is the point of Metro? How are games supposed to work, it will need to be sent to the "classic" desktop right? What about Photoshop or After Effects? Why didnt they just keep the classic desktop?

Am I the only one that does not like Metro? What do you think business will say? Do you think Windows 8 will be a success?

[Melfster]

I think on surface you are right. But I think their is more to windows 8 then people realize. I am going withhold judgement until a beta is produced. I think different types of tablet/laptop/computers will be produced. In short the computer of tommorrow may look a lot different then the ones we see today.

[+LogicalApex MVC]

At this stage all we can do is hope the Developer Preview was aimed at giving the developers a chance to focus on writing Metro apps. I hope Microsoft doesn't pull a New Coke with Windows 8, but we won't know where this is going until at least a BETA and really RTM.

If they do have the same setup in RTM that they have now in the developer preview though I won't be upgrading. Even though the upgrade will be free for me :|

[remixedcat]

thing is at this point thay have to convince developers whether or not they want to move to it... so you'd normally give them the best and show it off and make them want to develop for it.

so far it seems like a toy for ms and not much else. like bing, zune, and kin.

even though I use all the social sites.... i don want "the social" shoved in my face. there's a time and place for it all and we don't want constantly updated on whether or not my BFF just took a **** or not right on our dektops. also if you have company over and they see your desktop.... and they will look becuase the tiles and text is huge and eye catching so people will nose around and see that your BFF has tagged you as "had a wild time and trashed some bars and threw up all over the golden corral entryway last nite" and the pics of it are being displayed on some live tile and you have your parents over or you are trying to sell your house, or have a serious meeting and this is being displayed on your laptop or tablet and some unsuspecting co-worker sees it, tells it to the boss and all hell breaks loose.

for a desktop it feels cheap and un-natural... too much scrolling and the icons being that big when I am 3 feet away from my pc is just gross.

plus it feels like my space was being invaded by tiles that look like ads instead of application icons. to me the whole metro interface looks like a wall of ads and junk. I did try it on vmware player 4 it ran it nicely, but I just couldn't bring myself to use it very long. to me it wasn't worth loosing 20GB HDD space for the vm. I played with it for a few hours and then wanted my 20GB back so I just deleted the win8 vms and then got my 20GB back and made better use of it, with cat videos!!!!!

[-KJ]

As someone who works for a living on the computer with heavy multitasking and big productivity programs, the Metro interface wasn't made for me. They need to do a bit more on the desktop front to get me interested in a day 1 purchase. Yeah, the thought of a ribbon in Explorer is neat but last I saw of it was bloated, cluttered hell that took up way too much vertical screen real estate (something we have less of these days). I'll wait and see what else Windows 8 holds for me, but as of now, my interest level is next to none until we see more done for the desktop area.

[Josh the Nerd]

thing is at this point thay have to convince developers whether or not they want to move to it... so

even though I use all the social sites.... i don want "the social" shoved in my face. there's a time and place for it all and we don't want constantly updated on whether or not my BFF just took a **** or not right on our dektops. also if you have company over and they see your desktop.... and they will look becuase the tiles and text is huge and eye catching so people will nose around and see that your BFF has tagged you as "had a wild time and trashed some bars and threw up all over the golden corral entryway last nite" and the pics of it are being displayed on some live tile and you have your parents over or you are trying to sell your house, or have a serious meeting and this is being displayed on your laptop or tablet and some unsuspecting co-worker sees it, tells it to the boss and all hell breaks loose.

It's not really shoved in your face. You don't have to set up social apps on your Start screen if you don't want them there.

[Tekkerson]

As someone who works for a living on the computer with heavy multitasking and big productivity programs, the Metro interface wasn't made for me. They need to do a bit more on the desktop front to get me interested in a day 1 purchase. Yeah, the thought of a ribbon in Explorer is neat but last I saw of it was bloated, cluttered hell that took up way too much vertical screen real estate (something we have less of these days). I'll wait and see what else Windows 8 holds for me, but as of now, my interest level is next to none until we see more done for the desktop area.

You obviously haven't done your research. Please stop stating things you haven't even looked into. The same goes for everyone here.

For the record you get more screen real estate with Windows 8.

/thread.

[Chris123NT]

You obviously haven't done your research. Please stop stating things you haven't even looked into. The same goes for everyone here.

For the record you get more screen real estate with Windows 8.

/thread.

Remove the details pane on Windows 7 and 7 wins the more files crammed into the window battle

[Max Norris]

Remove the details pane on Windows 7 and 7 wins the more files crammed into the window battle

Collapse the ribbon into a standard bar and you'll get more in Win 8 again. Silly thing to be judging an OS on though seeing as you can customize it or just flat out replace it.

[George P Global Moderator]

People seem to forget that the ribbon can be hidden and only pop up when/if you need it. Every ribbon button has a KB hotkey to it, so if you learn them then you don't even need to click on it. Also why do people overlook and or not think about the quick action toolbar that lets you pin the options you always use to the top left corner of the window where it is by default OR you can have it below the back and forward buttons iirc.

Either way, the new explorer window gives you more control and customization over the one in Windows 7, something people should be happy about.

As for the start screen, the developer preview is missing features and even other changes they've done since then that they've talked about, like app listing by program group instead of it being alphabetical like in the preview. Or tile grouping and naming which you can't do now. Or other customization you can't do in the preview that will be in the beta etc.

Whatever the case, the fact is that even for multitasking the start screen can do everything the start menu can do and more. I'd wait for the beta and the changes/added features that they bring to it before people jump the gun.

[.Neo]

For the record you get more screen real estate with Windows 8.

I get even more in OS X Lion. 30 folders vs 22 to be exact including the Menu Bar. :whistle:

:p

[FMH]

I think Microsoft has purposefully held some information regarding Windows 8, such as multi-tasking in Metro. The are getting all this free marketing.

If you remember with Windows 7, their was no interface change revealed till the public beta. So I think we are going to see a lot of surprises when it's beta is released.

[KevinN206]

even though I use all the social sites.... i don want "the social" shoved in my face. there's a time and place for it all and we don't want constantly updated on whether or not my BFF just took a **** or not right on our dektops. also if you have company over and they see your desktop.... and they will look becuase the tiles and text is huge and eye catching so people will nose around and see that your BFF has tagged you as "had a wild time and trashed some bars and threw up all over the golden corral entryway last nite" and the pics of it are being displayed on some live tile and you have your parents over or you are trying to sell your house, or have a serious meeting and this is being displayed on your laptop or tablet and some unsuspecting co-worker sees it, tells it to the boss and all hell breaks loose.

All the social apps require that you explicitly provide your username/password for the updates to occur. If you NEVER provide it, then all you get is a static icon.

If you're having a serious meeting, then I am assuming the laptop was company issued. The last thing you'll see on your company issued laptop is social apps. And again, even if your company CHOOSES to not disable the apps, the workers are not supposed to use work resources (laptop, internet, etc...) for personal use. If an employee installs the facebook apps and chooses to provide the logins AND some incriminating tiny photos appear on the live title, then whose fault is that? Is that Microsoft's fault for providing the means to do it? Or is that the employee's fault for lack of judgement?

And Windows 8 is blazing fast. I am willing to trade off the Start Screen for a lot of performance gain. Heck, most of my apps are already pinned to the taskbar, so I spent all my time on the Desktop anyway. But if there's this super cool app or game that's for Metro only, well, now you can run it on your desktop and tablet.

[Pam14160]

Come on people if you just quite your whining and wait for the Beta you just might be surprised. Another thing if you don't want to see the start menu just hit the "Windows Key" and it is gone. If you want use the start menu to launch an app then hit the "Windows Key" again. If all you want is the task bar showing with all your icons on it then place them there then forget using the windows key. Is it really that hard for you.

Hell you would think that some of you just think Microsoft is doing this to pi** you off.

[Detection]

Why do you care about being able to see anything over 20 files anyway ?

Not that difficult scrolling down lol

[Obi-Wan Kenobi]

you're right, bro. I don't see much point in it in its' (8's) current umm....progress? (more like digress) I'm all for new interfaces and such, but dang...I smell a possible linux changeover for myself, as I cannot work with something that will not (and cannot) conform to me....the user....as that's all that matters at the end of the day. Is it a new learning curve? Certainly. But I'll be darned if I cannot find a setting I want to quickly change, then I have to dig through a whole pile of poo? Nah, no thanks bro....I'll Ubuntu to get by if I have to. I'm sorry, Microsoft, but you can do better than that! I'll be watching the betas, probably even test them here or there....but so far, I'm not impressed to say the least. Oh, and to microsoft: MY PHONE IS NOT MY DESKTOP PC! I don't need, nor want, that metro bull****....I just want to go from point "a" to point "b" with minimal hassle. 7 accomplishes this for me....why make it worse? Unless, that is, you (microsoft) want to send me a touch-screen to test....I have a Samsung Galaxy S, and it's always littered up by fingerprints...how in the HELL am I supposed to get work done with food and nasty ass fingerprints all over the screen? Meh, think I'll stick with 7, until 9 rolls around...assuming that's what they'll call it...and they realize that I cannot simply walk out of my house and blatantly buy a touchscreen device. Hey Steve Ballmer.....not everyone can afford the tech devices you fart out of your sleep! wake up already!

[Max Norris]

I get even more in OS X Lion. 30 folders vs 22 to be exact including the Menu Bar. :p

I see 39 on mine... but nobody makes any mention of screen size/resolution so this means absolutely jack.

In general though still not seeing why everybody's going on and on about the new interface. Either get used to it, disable/replace it, or just don't upgrade. It's pretty simple and doesn't require a lot of forum drama. Nobody cares if somebody's threatening to switch to something else.. go for it and good luck with that, make sure to keep backups. I'm willing to bet real money that within a few weeks after release (at most) there'll be a shell extension that replaces the ribbon with a more old-style approach, along with the old style start menu which is basically a given as those have existed since forever.

[Original Poster]

I have not really used the DEV PRE because i went on it and it looked like 7... thought whats the point its a shiney new windows 7....

[syobon999]

tablets sucks, but MS isnt ditching the old desktop, I think the optimization in general are very good for a upgrade, but yeah metro sucks.

[Yusuf M. Veteran]

At this stage all we can do is hope the Developer Preview was aimed at giving the developers a chance to focus on writing Metro apps. I hope Microsoft doesn't pull a New Coke with Windows 8, but we won't know where this is going until at least a BETA and really RTM.

If they do have the same setup in RTM that they have now in the developer preview though I won't be upgrading. Even though the upgrade will be free for me :|

Agreed. I feel that the Metro UI doesn't fit in well with Aero.

[redfish]

Collapse the ribbon into a standard bar and you'll get more in Win 8 again. Silly thing to be judging an OS on though seeing as you can customize it or just flat out replace it.

Personally I don't think the issue is the real estate, its that the ribbon interface feels too complicated for Explorer. There are certain applications that I think don't work good with the ribbon, also Internet Explorer. If they ever added a ribbon to IE it would be a disaster. I think it makes sense for document-centric applications, not for browsing applications. And even still, its a difficult fit for graphics applications like MS paint.

There are ways they could have improved Explorer without adding a ribbon, that imo would have been much better. Its going in the wrong direction, as far as I'm concerned.

I think one of the influences in the decision to do it was the feeling that the Metro/Immersive interface already offered a "simple" looking option, and so its ok for the Desktop Explorer to look a little complex, since people who liked simplicity would never go to the Desktop anyway.

[BetaAddict]

Why do you care about being able to see anything over 20 files anyway ?

Not that difficult scrolling down lol

It's all about efficiency. Less clicks = time saved = increased productivity. So being able to see 25 files vs 20 files, means you can find what you were looking for a few seconds faster.

[BetaAddict]

Personally I don't think the issue is the real estate, its that the ribbon interface feels too complicated for Explorer. There are certain applications that I think don't work good with the ribbon, also Internet Explorer. If they ever added a ribbon to IE it would be a disaster. I think it makes sense for document-centric applications, not for browsing applications. And even still, its a difficult fit for graphics applications like MS paint.

There are ways they could have improved Explorer without adding a ribbon, that imo would have been much better. Its going in the wrong direction, as far as I'm concerned.

I think one of the influences in the decision to do it was the feeling that the Metro/Immersive interface already offered a "simple" looking option, and so its ok for the Desktop Explorer to look a little complex, since people who liked simplicity would never go to the Desktop anyway.

The main objective of the ribbon is to what it was originally designed to do in Office, which is to make frequently used and hidden useful features easily visible for home users. People get overwhelmed when they have to dig through long menus and then end up asking how to do even the most simplest tasks. For most pro users who use keyboard shortcuts, the ribbon interface is useless and will be turned off.

As for IE ribbon, I am positive they will never add it simply due to the fact that the minimalism in the browser wins as people simply want to maximum screen viewing space.

[Jebadiah]

Come on people if you just quite your whining and wait for the Beta you just might be surprised. Another thing if you don't want to see the start menu just hit the "Windows Key" and it is gone. If you want use the start menu to launch an app then hit the "Windows Key" again. If all you want is the task bar showing with all your icons on it then place them there then forget using the windows key. Is it really that hard for you.

Hell you would think that some of you just think Microsoft is doing this to pi** you off.

LOL Why else would you think they are making users use the "Windows Key" to switch between the two modes? It's bloody idiotic. I would fire the designer whoever thought it would be cool to do this in an instant.

I know what your reply will be next. It's a "developer preview". Wait for beta or final. Geez. Louise.

Why release anything to the mass public when it's not done well? If anything, the goal of releasing something publicly is to get "good word of mouth". Developers are usually the best people who emit good word of mouth because they are building apps for the ecosystem which, when sold modestly, will earn them a living.

Right now, the "good" for me is the speed/optimizations. The bad is every thing else including Metro mode or whatever **** it's called. The Developer Tools are by themselves incomplete.

So why would a user pay for this when already he has got a terrible first impression? Why would someone wait for this to be released? Why can't all these optimizations be part of an SP2 or SP3 for Win 7 for which a user paid handsomely 2 years ago?

I see the same problems from the enterprise perspective too.

[+Gary7 Subscriber²]

MS will have to have an option of what type of menu to use. If they don't, Windows 8 will be another Windows ME.