74 replies to this topic 11 votes

[trag3dy]

Metro works much better with a mouse and keyboard than the classic desktop did. You see how this works? You provide information without evidence, therefore I do the same.

Just go back and reread any of the other threads about it if you want to. There is no reason for me to restate them all.

[+warwagon]

So you are saying pressing the power button on the tower will trigger a shut down and not put the computer to sleep? I just tried it on my laptop and it put it to sleep.

[jjkusaf]

So you are saying pressing the power button on the tower will trigger a shut down and not put the computer to sleep? I just tried it on my laptop and it put it to sleep.

Really? Sort of hoping that you are joking

[+warwagon]

Really? Sort of hoping that you are joking

Just asking because he said

Pressing your power button on the computer itself will shut down your PC as default in Windows 8, so why bother anyway?

I don't have Windows 8 on an desktop system just a laptop, but since Vista and 7 pressing the power button on the tower usually just put the computer to sleep.

[AWilliams87]

So you are saying pressing the power button on the tower will trigger a shut down and not put the computer to sleep? I just tried it on my laptop and it put it to sleep.

For me by default, it shuts down. You can change it by typing power on the start scr... Wait, you're on Windows 7 right? I can't remember how to navigate the endless set of menus to get to where I need to be in Windows 7 anymore.

[+warwagon]

For me by default, it shuts down. You can change it by typing power on the start scr... Wait, you're on Windows 7 right? I can't remember how to navigate the endless set of menus to get to where I need to be anymore in 7.

Well yes 7 on my desktop, but i don't really care what my power button does, because my computer never gets shut off.

[farmeunit]

For me by default, it shuts down. You can change it by typing power on the start scr... Wait, you're on Windows 7 right? I can't remember how to navigate the endless set of menus to get to where I need to be in Windows 7 anymore.

Like hitting Start and typing in Power? God that's hard. You're right . . .

[jjkusaf]

Just asking because he said



I don't have Windows 8 on an desktop system just a laptop, but since Vista and 7 pressing the power button on the tower usually just put the computer to sleep.

Just had to reload a fresh copy of Win7 on my notebook post hard drive death. The power button is defaulted to shutdown which I changed to sleep. Of course the OEMs may have it set differently and I honestly do not remember what setting it came with from Dell.

For me by default, it shuts down. You can change it by typing power on the start scr... Wait, you're on Windows 7 right? I can't remember how to navigate the endless set of menus to get to where I need to be in Windows 7 anymore.

Funny, thought you Metro folks liked the ability to type commands making it "easier". Win7 you can type "power o" which takes you to the proper area. If you don't have powerdvd you may even get away with typing just "power'

[AWilliams87]

Like hitting Start and typing in Power? God that's hard. You're right . . .

Hahaha. I laughed out loud in person at that one. You're a funny person.

Funny, thought you Metro folks liked the ability to type commands making it "easier". Win7 you can type "power o" which takes you to the proper area. If you don't have powerdvd you may even get away with typing just "power'

Man, I like Windows 8 for a lot more reasons then that. And to be honest, I didn't think it would be good before I downloaded it. For one, I'm glad they're doing away with those endless menus and icons which we've come to know. Realize this, no one sat down to conduct a study on what the best desktop experience would be and came up with the current desktop we see today. The reason we've seen the classic desktop for so long is because of a kind of path dependence: The menus with icons was what was first introduced (courtesy of xerox) in the 80's and that's what people have gotten use to.

If a study was conducted, however, on say 200 volunteers who've never used a desktop computer before, one would never come with an endless array of menus, icons and folders within folders within folders. I would bet those 200 volunteers would overwhelmingly find Windows 8 far easier to use than every version prior.

[br0adband]

I'll take that post above and add somewhat of a corollary with the idea that what we've been using and how we've been doing things with it might not be the best possible way of getting things done by saying one "word" of sorts:

QWERTY

The QWERTY keyboard layout was created with the specific intention of making typing difficult so people would not be able to type fast(er) - in the times of the original mechanical typewriters by IBM and Remington and the like, the metal hammers that actually impacted/imprinted the letters onto the paper (by hitting the ribbon, etc) could get jammed if you typed too fast. The hardware literally had a "buffer" of sorts that couldn't handle the hammers more than 1 at a time soooo...

The QWERTY layout came into being when a study was done to find out "Ok, we spend more time fixing typing machine jams than actually typing, and productivity is absolute crap because of it, we have to find a better way to do things" and someone thought it would be ok to design a keyboard layout with letters in the most inefficient ways possible to slow people down. "Let's make it hard to type, that'll work..." was the idea and it's stuck for over 130 years now.

Funny thing for me and many others is that if we test ourselves we can get pretty high speeds on QWERTY after using them for so long. I can manage about 115 wpm on a good day, with a typical speed of about 80-90 which is about what I'm at banging this post out right now. But... if I switch to Dvorak and give myself and my hands about 2-4 days to adjust and adapt, I can bang out 180-200 or more words per minute without much trouble at all.

The way things have always been done is rarely the actual best way to get them done, and when a new idea comes along, people don't like change and will resist it with every fiber of their being until, after some experience, they can learn that yes it's possible to change, and with change comes potential.

Like it, don't like it, doesn't matter. Change is coming, is already here, and it's got no intentions of stopping anytime soon.

"IMPROVISE, ADAPT, OVERCOME!" - Gunny Highway, "Heartbreak Ridge"

[Astrum]

The QWERTY keyboard layout was created with the specific intention of making typing difficult so people would not be able to type fast(er)

This is simply not true. http://home.earthlin...r/whyqwert.html
As for keyboards, some design mistakes cost a lot. In the Russian standard layout some smart-ass did put the comma in the upper register (i.e. we need to press SHIFT contrary to English layout), yet comma is statistically showing up much more often than the period (in Russian). I don't think it is easy to change now, but to me it was a big mistake.
So we have a miserable chance to still influence Microsoft (and we should do that) to remove from Metro UI that ugly PowerPoint cognitive taint.

[Neobond]

The problem is with the shutdown talk, that isn't the argument at all.. we're talking about restarting the computer, switching users etc which has become more complicated. We have been able to Shutdown since XP just by pressing the power button, and in some cases windows 98 computers supported that as well.

[AWilliams87]

The problem is with the shutdown talk, that isn't the argument at all.. we're talking about restarting the computer, switching users etc which has become more complicated. We have been able to Shutdown since XP just by pressing the power button, and in some cases windows 98 computers supported that as well.

No, it is about the shutting down. All the comments on every blog/website I have read about the subject always said it in the context of shutting down the PC. What you're attempting to do here is reframe the argument as to make it easier to refute. Now another question is why would you want to do that? I don't know, but nonetheless, I'll take your bait: how often are you going to restart your PC as to even make this an issue?

[Neobond]

No, it is about the shutting down. All the comments on every blog/website I have read about the subject always said it in the context of shutting down the PC. What you're attempting to do here is reframe the argument as to make it easier to refute. Now another question is why would you want to do that? I don't know, but nonetheless, I'll take your bate: how often are you going to restart your PC as to even make this an issue?

I only restart, and in my article on a compromise for desktop users I made that point clear as well. I work full time from home and my PC is always on, unless I need to restart, and that includes switching from Windows 7 to 8 and back.

Also the boot loader is highly annoying, boot to Windows 8 boot manager, select Windows 7 and the whole PC restarts because the boot manager has already assumed you want to quickly boot into 8 (after already loading a bunch of files).

[AWilliams87]

I only restart, and in my article on a compromise for desktop users I made that point clear as well. I work full time from home and my PC is always on, unless I need to restart, and that includes switching from Windows 7 to 8 and back.

Also the boot loader is highly annoying, boot to Windows 8 boot manager, select Windows 7 and the whole PC restarts because the boot manager has already assumed you want to quickly boot into 8 (after already loading a bunch of files).

Well if that's the case, you can change the power button to restart instead of shutting down when pressed.