Lets hear it! Iimmersive UI (Start Panel) in Windows 8 (Desktop) Good?

By Steven P.
in The Fast Ring (Insider Previews)

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This poll applies to Metro UI on the DESKTOP (not Tablets or touch devices)  

321 members have voted

  1. 1. I think the Iimmersive UI (Start Panel) is a great innovation for the desktop PC

    • Yes!
      137
    • No!
      184

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Grand Master

+Ryster Subscriber²

Posted
  • Subscriber²
Posted

BTW, does the green metro UI background remind anyone else of the Whistler beta title bars? :)

Hadn't really noticed, but now you mention it.... :)

I want them to hurry up and give me the ability to change that background so I can get rid of that green... not quite sure who chose that colour but it's hideous :)

preview-1-1134.gif

Guest

Posted
Posted

Hadn't really noticed, but now you mention it.... :)

I want them to hurry up and give me the ability to change that background so I can get rid of that green... not quite sure who chose that colour but it's hideous :)

Well, at least we have something that we definitely agree on here. I loved the purple! I also loved the whistler look but then they released XP with fisher price lunar. I didn't bother with XP until decent themes began to be released!

Also, have they increased the saturation of the tiles in the DEV build from what we saw on the purple builds? They look far too bright to me. Perhaps it's the combination of the green and the colour of the tiles throwing my sight off.

Grand Master

+Ryster Subscriber²

Posted
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There was an option in earlier builds to change the colour - seems disabled now.

Hopefully one of those in-preview updates they'll be pushing in the coming weeks will re-introduce a few small features like that.

I assume they took them out because they weren't yet up to the quality level required for a public release.

Grand Master

Southern Patriot

Posted
Posted

I'm sure there are features missing, but it needs to have the ablity to drag-scroll with the mouse for those without touch peripherals.

I have to agree 100% with that one. It is very inconsistent between the login screen and the Start screen. And yes, I know you can use the scroll wheel to go between pages of the Start screen, but not all pointing devices have one (trackpads and some trackballs don't).

Mentor

htcz

Posted
Posted

Hadn't really noticed, but now you mention it.... :)

I want them to hurry up and give me the ability to change that background so I can get rid of that green... not quite sure who chose that colour but it's hideous :)

preview-1-1134.gif

I love the green :)

Grand Master

BajiRav

Posted
Posted

I am watching the presentation on metro style apps and MS showed how the metro UI scales from 10" tablets to 30" monitors. Those who think that all space will be wasted on large monitors need to watch it on buildwindows.com

  • +Ryster and Calum
  • Like 2

Guest

Posted
Posted

I am watching the presentation on metro style apps and MS showed how the metro UI scales from 10" tablets to 30" monitors. Those who think that all space will be wasted on large monitors need to watch it on buildwindows.com

It scales by making everything bigger. How is filling a 30" monitor with HUGE buttons not wasting space? Yes, they're using the space but it's not necessarily the best way!

Grand Master

+Ryster Subscriber²

Posted
  • Subscriber²
Posted

It scales by making everything bigger. How is filling a 30" monitor with HUGE buttons not wasting space? Yes, they're using the space but it's not necessarily the best way!

What are you talking about mate?!? How the feck do you know how apps will fill the screen? There are none yet.

Grand Master

redfish

Posted
Posted

I have to agree 100% with that one. It is very inconsistent between the login screen and the Start screen. And yes, I know you can use the scroll wheel to go between pages of the Start screen, but not all pointing devices have one (trackpads and some trackballs don't).

I saw some App had arrows on the left and right side of the screen that you could click on to navigate. I think a lot of users would prefer that to the scrollbar or scrollwheel.

Grand Master

+Ryster Subscriber²

Posted
  • Subscriber²
Posted

I saw some App had arrows on the left and right side of the screen that you could click on to navigate. I think a lot of users would prefer that to the scrollbar or scrollwheel.

Or even some kind of grab and drag type interface... to be honest it's the first thing I tried to do after installing it. Was a bit disappointed that I had to use a scrollbar.

Though to be absolutely fair, nobody but Microsoft know what the user interaction will actually be like at this stage. For all we know, all these other methods of interacting using a mouse may already be in the plan for future builds.

Let's just wait and see :)

Grand Master

BajiRav

Posted
Posted

It scales by making everything bigger. How is filling a 30" monitor with HUGE buttons not wasting space? Yes, they're using the space but it's not necessarily the best way!

because it doesn't - or at least the start screen doesn't. It includes more tiles in the UI if you use it on a larger screen. Watch that video before jumping to conclusions.

  • Calum and +Ryster
  • Like 2
Grand Master

+Ryster Subscriber²

Posted
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Posted

because it doesn't - or at least the start screen doesn't. It includes more tiles in the UI if you use it on larger screen. Watch it before jumping to conclusions.

Whoah, how dare you bring logic and facts to this conversation? Shame on you.

Lol, seriously though... don't waste your breath trying to convince DP... I think he's already made his mind up.

Out of interest also, the "For" vote has gained nearly 2 percentage points since last night. Almost 46% FOR Metro now. Clearly as people are getting used to it, and getting passed the whole "whoah, thats different, I don't like change" attitude, they are seeing the potential of the interface going forward.

  • jolly jumper
  • Like 1

Guest

Posted
Posted

Nope, I have not made my mind up. I have had both good and bad things to say. My current take on it all is cautiously optimistic. I don't see how complex apps fit into Metro, maybe they never will, as you've stated. If how your personal vision of very basic versions of apps running under Metro becomes true, on the desktop it seems not much better than dashboard on OSX to me. If Microsoft are better than that and they really pull off a totally new way of using apps for the desktop, then I'm all for it. As for your logic:

"What are you talking about mate?!? How the feck do you know how apps will fill the screen? There are none yet. "

This could have been applied to dhan as well as myself if it's what you believe, but you decided to say it to me. Why? Because you HAVE made your mind up, you only have good things to say. That's fine, I really don't care but we're here to have a discussion about windows 8 and not everyone will love everything about it.

BTW, appox 3 more people made a vote, I'd hardly call that a massive difference.

Grand Master

+Ryster Subscriber²

Posted
  • Subscriber²
Posted

Who said I love everything about it? I don't, it has plenty of flaws... however from what I HAVE seen, I think I'm going to like it when it is released. I have a clear vision in my head of how it'll all tie together when all my apps support Metro. Everything I'm running on the PC right now will work perfectly well in Metro, as will my games. The only reason I'm on classic desktop now is because none of the apps support Metro yet.

The thing is, it's very much easier to go from liking something to disliking it based on changes going forward. It is much much harder by orders of magnitude to overcome initial negative impressions and word of mouth.

Grand Master

Calum Veteran

Posted
  • Veteran
Posted

I think it has excellent potential, and I feel it already works well on a desktop with a keyboard and mouse. I don't understand why people feel it shouldn't be on the desktop because while the tiles are big in order for the user interface to work well on touchscreens, they're also big in order for them to be able to display all of the information that makes them so useful. The Start Screen is fantastically useful, and much more so than Windows 7's taskbar, because the tiles don't just display an overlay icon when something has happened, they can display a lot more information about any update or upcoming event. It means that we don't have to open any application to see the latest update, and the fact notifications are evident in this developer preview adds to this idea that we no longer have to open any app to see the latest update. I can just glance at my Start Screen, see all of the latest updates in one glance, carry on with my work, then glance at the Start Screen again whenever I feel like it, or whenever I receive a notification to see more about that notification (it seems). In regard to other asepects of the Immersive experience, I also don't see why so many people believe it doesn't belong on the desktop. It works very well with a keyboard and mouse, so why do people say this; is it merely because certain elements are now a bit larger?

Grand Master

+Ryster Subscriber²

Posted
  • Subscriber²
Posted

Some Mayan Predictions:

  1. Asteroid will hit earth in early 2012
  2. Earth will be destroyed in 2012
  3. Microsoft will release the best OS ever in 2012.

I thought the end of the world was scheduled for December 21st 2012?

Grand Master

PGHammer

Posted
Posted

)

Whoah, how dare you bring logic and facts to this conversation? Shame on you.

Lol, seriously though... don't waste your breath trying to convince DP... I think he's already made his mind up.

Out of interest also, the "For" vote has gained nearly 2 percentage points since last night. Almost 46% FOR Metro now. Clearly as people are getting used to it, and getting passed the whole "whoah, thats different, I don't like change" attitude, they are seeing the potential of the interface going forward.

The big reason why I'm even trying to use the Developer Preview as a user (not just as a developer) is that a developer, when feasible, should be prepared to fully test out his own applications first. The problem for garage developers is that, especially now, they don't have the extra resources to add tablets, slates, or even touch devices, in addition to a development desktop. Larger developers can - garage developers usually can't. That means that if a garage developer wants to be able to test his Immersive application prototypes himself, he needs the Immersive UI, warts and all, at his disposal, on the same computer that he uses for development.

Yes - there is also the sheer amount of curiosity as to whether Immersive works at all - let alone as well as it has so far - without the touch-interface.

Parts of Immersive are, in fact, rather old, and have been around either in previous iterations of specific Windows SKUs, or even Windows itself - Immersive IE, for example, is basically the "kiosk" (F11) mode that has been in IE for over a decade. The virtual keyboard has a long history as well - as part of the Accessibility package that has been part of Windows since 9x. However, except for the never-really-fleshed out Windows Media Center, there has been no real alternative *from Microsoft* to the desktop-centered/Start menu-focused UI since it launched with Windows 95. (Even Media Center Edition 2002 typically defaulted not to Media Center, but to the same desktop that Windows XP used almost everywhere else.)

My history with the Start menu is rather long - I was part of the beta-2 wave of Windows 95 beta testers. That means seventeen years of history with the Start menu. (Beta 2 of Wiindows 95 shipped to testers in October 1994.) Despite trying other user interfaces, and even other operating systems, nothing has been able to knock Windows, and the Start menu, from place of primacy over those seventeen years. OS/2 failed. Various Linux desktop environments failed. Solaris failed. Even OS X (Leopard, Snow Leopard, and Lion) failed.

I said it earlier in another thread, and I will repeat it - for me personally, Windows 7 x64 is Officially In Trouble.

That means that whatever hold Windows has maintained over me, it doesn't center around it's signature feature - the Start menu.

The very fact that Immersive also wins out over even alternative UIs for Windows from third parties (including Stardock, by the way) speaks volumes as well.

Apparently Microsoft got *something* right in Immersive to the point that even someone with as long a history as I do with the Start menu (which is, as I said, the signature feature of Windows on desktops since Windows 95) would even consider kicking the Start menu curbside (now, not in 2012) would be a longshot of longshot predictions. From what I've seen in this thread (and others), I have company.

Notice I didn't say to make Immersive the default. In fact, I'm saying to offer the choice - even without the touch devices, to use Immersive as the individual user's default.

  • jolly jumper
  • Like 1
Grand Master

Brian Miller

Posted
Posted

Think about it from a business perspective. Why is any of the Metro crap needed by any office environment?

How many offices took advantage of the Gadget thingy in WinVista and Win7?

It's largely useless and not productive and hence, by definition, not professional.

Veteran

~Johnny

Posted
Posted

Think about it from a business perspective. Why is any of the Metro crap needed by any office environment?

How many offices took advantage of the Gadget thingy in WinVista and Win7?

It's largely useless and not productive and hence, by definition, not professional.

From a business perspective, buisnesses' can use the start screen to pin only their business apps on it. Simples. The immersive programs may not be necessary for them, in that case they don't have to use them. It's not exactly hard to see how it fits in.

  • jolly jumper
  • Like 1
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