Windows 10 and the state of "Modern"/UI

[PGHammer]

This is unfinished and focused on the desktop UI side of things. I'm not going to draw any conclusions about Win 10's incarnation of Modern based on this preview.

 

 

And that's what worries me. I'd prefer the Charms bar be made useful on the desktop side, not removed. How can a central control panel for settings, printing etc. not be a good thing?

Same here.

 

However, a large part of the critics are all too much like David Pogue (Yahoo's chief Windows writer) who reminds me rather uncomfortably of Auditor - nothing would suffice except complete separation of touch and keyboard+mouse.

 

The Technical Preview of Windows 10 is close to being exactly that - the issue is making sure it actually gets to evolve FROM that.

 

There ARE uses for ModernUI (Charms bar and all) even for keyboard+mouse users; further, not every keyboard+mouse user is a fan of the Start menu (even the vastly-redesigned one in the Tech Preview - which does have some actual anti-clutter designed into it - has weaknesses in terms of Mark I Mod 0 eyeball search compared to the StartScreen/AppScreen tag-team).

 

Then there is hardware like HP's "Pavilion Evolved" TouchSmart series.  (I call the TouchSmart series "Pavilion Evolved" because they have a lot of the same features (and even use the same case designs) as HP's consumer-targeted Pavilion towers and AIOs - the difference is that touch support is standard.)  The TouchSmart line isn't new - it goes back to Windows 7.  However, Windows 8 (and 8.1) are where the TouchSmart line comes to life - and not JUST due to better touch support.  With a TouchSmart, it's not all-or-none - use it how it suits you.  Windows 8 and 8.1 allow exactly that - even in the same application, let alone throughout the entire OS.  Not every application - even one supposedly geared toward keyboards and mice - has NO use for touch - no less than Office 2013 is evidence of that.  Pigeonholing operating systems makes as little sense as pigeonholing applications - and it makes even LESS sense when hardware is in a massive state of flux.

 

While I get that an increased state of flux is anti-complacency, I have news for you - life in general is no fan of complacency.  Flux happens - and operating systems have to be ready and capable of dealing with it.

[Active.]

Slightly OT:

I wonder if Chris Pirillo will do a new video with his dad.

Ah, those were the days...  *sigh*  :happy:

[PGHammer]

Really hope they don't throw out the baby with the bathwater of Metro.  I want 8.1 on touch and WinOne on k+m.  I want Charms on touch, but not on the desktop.  Its ok to be split-brained if you handle the transition effectively which is where they failed before.

 

Do we really need a poll for what should be self-evident?

Because too many folks either couldn't handle the split at all or deliberately chose NOT to.  Some folks DO deliberately choose to be single-moded, even when the option not to is in place - how many folks with tablets insist on using a keyboard - a real one - despite touch being the default?

 

The issue when it comes to Windows in particular is that keyboard+mouse has been the default going back to Windows/286, and other options - ALL other options - were short-sheeted.  How usable is voice-control in Windows, for example - despite being an option since 9x/NT4?  Touch, by comparison, is a VERY late arrival to Windows.

 

Folks didn't care because their own biases were being catered to - Windows kissed up to that keyboard+mouse bias on purpose.

 

Windows 8 trainwrecked that.  It wasn't that keyboard+mouse support went away - because it didn't.  It just was not favored over other methods of interaction.

 

However, one thing Windows 8 (and 8.1) did NOT have was a user-available method of *bias adjustment* - tailoring the mix to suit individual users. Windows 10's Technical Preview IS getting closer - however the *bias adjustrment* still needs work.

[Ian W]

 

So after playing around with the new Technical Preview, I have come to a couple of conclusions. First and foremost, the main thing here is it is a PREVIEW so nothing is final.

 

However, I noticed a couple of things. 

 

• The Taskbar now prominently shows on the Start Screen and is more pesky then on 8.1 Update

This is very annoying and I hope that it will be removed in the final release, or at least disabled by default.

 

• Charms is no longer accessible through mouse (don't know if this is just me)

The keyboard shortcut Win + C still works.

 

• Apps cannot be switched to full screen mode. 
• Without the App Switcher, switching between Modern UI apps is clunky with the new Task View
• I cannot resize a Modern UI app vertically to less than 2/3 of the screen vertically
• The gesture for closing an app quickly (swipe down) is gone

Hopefully Microsoft doesn't think that the new App Switcher and Snap Assist features can easily replace the Snap feature introduced in Windows 8 and improved in Windows 8.1. I will admit that I used to think that the Snap feature was worthless, but overtime I thought of a few advantages that it may provide to users. Because the Snap feature allows applications to be snapped together, the user does not have to switch between fullscreen applications or wade through open windows to multitask; everything that the user desires to work with is always there. The feature is especially useful if the user has a monitor with a sufficiently high resolution.

 

I AM liking the multi-desktop feature though

To me, the feature has no purpose without the Snap feature. It's nice that it is there for those who want it, though.

[redfish]

They started to cripple the Modern UI a bit with Windows 8.1 already.. context menus really aren't the ideal for the Start Screen for situations like selecting multiple tiles. When you right click one now, the popup menu blocks the tiles beneath it. You also can't drag multiple tiles together. Its not as if the Start Screen has a marquee selection tool like Explorer does.

 

Honestly, I don't think the context menu is the most useful tool in every situation. Maybe in future builds they can try to find a better solution.

 

Also, before Windows 8.1, I'd already gotten used to the pattern of pressing start then immediately scrolling to the tiles I wanted. Now, because the taskbar stays up, I have to move the mouse out of the way first.

 

W10 so far makes this a bit worse, though seems inconsistent about its behavior. Sometimes the taskbar won't go away, and sometimes its too difficult to bring up, which you want to do very quickly when you go to the bottom left corner for the Start button.

They started to cripple the Modern UI a bit with Windows 8.1 already.. context menus really aren't the ideal for the Start Screen for situations like selecting multiple tiles. When you right click one now, the popup menu blocks the tiles beneath it. You also can't drag multiple tiles together. Its not as if the Start Screen has a marquee selection tool like Explorer does.

 

Honestly, I don't think the context menu is the most useful tool in every situation. Maybe in future builds they can try to find a better solution.

 

Also, before Windows 8.1, I'd already gotten used to the pattern of pressing start then immediately scrolling to the tiles I wanted. Now, because the taskbar stays up, I have to move the mouse out of the way first.

 

W10 so far makes this a bit worse, though seems inconsistent about its behavior. Sometimes the taskbar won't go away, and sometimes its too difficult to bring up, which you want to do very quickly when you go to the bottom left corner for the Start button.

 

Note, I forgot that pressing space brings you to a multiple tile selection mode.. but still.