Windows 8 not Metro enough?

By FMH
in The Fast Ring (Insider Previews)

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Grand Master

Arkaic

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OP: Understand people resist change blah blah. +1

Win 9 will be soooo diff from 7 its not funny. 7 is great and functional but aestehtics and ui evolve with time. get over it people.

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Grand Master

FMH

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Posted

OP: Understand people resist change blah blah. +1

Exactly. Most people tend to show a lot of inertia to change. I clearly remember the launch of iPhone, and people's fascination with button keyboards. They were so against it, and now it's the Blackberry which is in serious trouble.

Guest glyfz

Posted
Posted

Can't say I'm a fan of the metro look so, for me, there's plenty as is. Over the years as technology has improved so have the visual. Then metro comes along and it's like going back to Windows 3.0 HD (and yes I have used it, even used Windows 1.0). I'll use it but don't think I'll ever like it (the look).

Proficient

matt4pack

Posted
Posted

The problem people have with Metro is the whole tile desktop with fullscreen apps they're trying to shove on everyone by default. Get rid of that and stop trying to reinvent the wheel.

Keep the traditional desktop with enhancements and then make all the apps have a zune app look and I don't think anyone would be complaining.

Grand Master

George P Global Moderator

Posted
  • Global Moderator
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The problem people have with Metro is the whole tile desktop with fullscreen apps they're trying to shove on everyone by default. Get rid of that and stop trying to reinvent the wheel.

Keep the traditional desktop with enhancements and then make all the apps have a zune app look and I don't think anyone would be complaining.

And then they couldn't use it on tablets since the traditional desktop sucks on any touch device. If you want to use the desktop then use it, the start screen is there to do what it's name says, start apps.

Grand Master

+Warwagon MVC

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  • MVC
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And then they couldn't use it on tablets since the traditional desktop sucks on any touch device. If you want to use the desktop then use it, the start screen is there to do what it's name says, start apps.

Which is why tablets should have their own 100% Touch based OS. Windows 8 on a tablet is just like Windows Mobile 6.5. In the case of Windows Mobile 6.5 They took a stylus built UI / OS which was 5.0 and added a layer of touch on the top. Which was great until you leave the touch GUI and then they were left with a UI meant for a stylus.

Now they are taking a Windows 7 which was made for a mouse and keyboard and slapping a Touched base UI on top. Now the same thing will happen with Windows 8 on a tablet. If the user stays in metro everything should be fine, but once they leave Metro they will be in the part of the OS which is not touch friendly.

Grand Master

George P Global Moderator

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  • Global Moderator
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Which is why tablets should have their own 100% Touch based OS. Windows 8 on a tablet is just like Windows Mobile 6.5. In the case of Windows Mobile 6.5 They took a stylus built UI / OS which was 5.0 and added a layer of touch on the top. Which was great until you leave the touch GUI and then they were left with a UI meant for a stylus.

Now they are taking a Windows 7 which was made for a mouse and keyboard and slapping a Touched base UI on top. Now the same thing will happen with Windows 8 on a tablet. If the user stays in metro everything should be fine, but once they leave Metro they will be in the part of the OS which is not touch friendly.

First off tablet users, specially ARM ones will only use the desktop if they're going to run office 15 and if for some reason they want to run explorer and do some file management which should be slim to never. We already know the desktop will be locked down for anything else so that concern you have isn't really a issue.

Besides, this has been said before, the start screen isn't a touch layer on top of the desktop, it's part of the shell, hell if anything the desktop is urning on the new shell in this case instead of the other way around. I also see no reason why the start screen with the right tweaks over the WDP version can't work just as well with a KB+mouse.

Whatever the case computing is going more mobile, touch is going to take over more and more except for niche usage cases and the traditional "desktop" UI is going to change. Win8 is taking the first step but after this, in Win9 i'm sure, the next step, the rest of the desktop itself, will follow.

Grand Master

notuptome2004

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First off tablet users, specially ARM ones will only use the desktop if they're going to run office 15 and if for some reason they want to run explorer and do some file management which should be slim to never. We already know the desktop will be locked down for anything else so that concern you have isn't really a issue.

Besides, this has been said before, the start screen isn't a touch layer on top of the desktop, it's part of the shell, hell if anything the desktop is urning on the new shell in this case instead of the other way around. I also see no reason why the start screen with the right tweaks over the WDP version can't work just as well with a KB+mouse.

Whatever the case computing is going more mobile, touch is going to take over more and more except for niche usage cases and the traditional "desktop" UI is going to change. Win8 is taking the first step but after this, in Win9 i'm sure, the next step, the rest of the desktop itself, will follow.

Well based on windows 8 blogs and all updates doen so far with window s8 sincr the WDP and some of the stuff we seen @ CES running windows 8 they have siad or so that the current build are more optimized for KB/M use far better with them anyways so the tweaks have been done and may still be in the processes of being tweaked more

Mentor

Tharp Daddy

Posted
Posted

You can only have one application up at a time with the Windows 8 metro interface. Hence, "Window" since there is only 1 window.

You can have more than one up at a time. You can run them much like how you can in Windows 7, putting them side by side and such. They showed it at the CES demo.

Collaborator

Ben Dyson

Posted
Posted

Desktop. Y U NO METRO?

I'm looking forward to seeing if Metro will have a bigger influence in the desktop.

Metro style window border should at least be in Windows 8.

Grand Master

+Ryster Subscriber²

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  • Subscriber²
Posted

You can have more than one up at a time. You can run them much like how you can in Windows 7, putting them side by side and such. They showed it at the CES demo.

Don't even bother trying to speak common sense to these tro... erm I mean people. They've already made up their closed little minds :)
Grand Master

Calum Veteran

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  • Veteran
Posted

Update to the original post.

It looks like we would have Metro on the desktop after all. The technical preview of Office 15 has no Aero. So I now believe, that both the tablet and desktop interfaces would have Metro.

Good news! :)

I doubt the look of Office 15 is any indication as to what the design of the Desktop mode in Windows 8 will look like. Microsoft could be just trying to ensure the look of some of their most-used software (Office) is more consistent with the look of what will be the most-used part of Windows 8 (the Metro experience). The Metro experience will likely be used more than the Desktop experience by the average user because, other than Office, they tend to spend most of their time in the browser or media player software. Further, the design of Visual Studio 11 is quite different to that of Office 15, so surely Microsoft would have made that more consistent with Office 15 if that is how the Desktop mode in Windows 8 will look?

I could be wrong and this could well be an indication, but it appears you're now expecting the Desktop mode in Windows 8 to look similar to Office 15, and I don't like the idea of your high hopes being dashed.

Having said all of that, I do hope you're right :D

[. . .]

I honestly don't have a problem with the "Start screen" interface for tablets. It works well. But when you're using a keyboard and mouse, these full-screen apps with giant UI elements and low information density are ridiculous. A cursor and a finger are not the same.

I think you should wait until you've been able to try the Consumer Preview on a desktop or notebook that has a hardware keyboard and mouse (or trackpad). The Consumer Preview is much more refined, and only then will you be able to see just how small the UI elements are and just how well (or badly) the Metro apps work on such a formfactor. Suggesting the UI elements are "giant" is ridiculous; they're not very big at all.

If Windows 8 turns out to be an an EPIC fail, to some Neowin members it will still be an EPIC success!

Of course it will be because people have different opinions. Many customers opting not to use Windows 8 doesn't mean Windows 8 should be deemed bad by everyone. From what I've seen already of Windows 8, I deem it to be an EPIC success already (in terms of features and design of the Metro experience), and I haven't even had chance to use it yet.

Mentor

SoCalRox

Posted
Posted

I need Metro on my desktop OS like I need a duck in a drawer on my desk.

Metro is why I bought Android when I renewed my cell phone. It may be why I switch from partial Mac at home to completely Mac with Windows 7, not 8. It's ugly. If I want boxes, I'll buy bulk produce and save the cardboard ones.

Grand Master

-KJ

Posted
Posted

Microsoft needs a team dedicated to bring Metro fully to the desktop side of things. They have the budget to do this, so I don't see what's holding them back? It's sad to see people designing Metro on desktop better than MS could (at least with what we've seen so far).

Grand Master

satukoro

Posted
Posted
The third one isn't really metro.
Community Regular

techguy77

Posted
Posted

Microsoft needs a team dedicated to bring Metro fully to the desktop side of things. They have the budget to do this, so I don't see what's holding them back? It's sad to see people designing Metro on desktop better than MS could (at least with what we've seen so far).

Microsoft needs a team dedicated to remove Metro Start Menu and any other Metro elements. :)

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