Recommended Posts

5. After wake up from sleep, why do I have to slide a beautiful picture up with a mouse just for the sake of it? (not digging it)

All you have to do is tap the space bar.

At first I wasn't liking metro, but after giving it some time and actually working with it beyond just web browsing it's really grown on me. I would like to see the desktop and metro more integrated design and function wise, as is I can relate to it feeling like two separate operating systems. I do find the metro UI to be more useful then the start menu of Windows 7, just hit the Win key and have all the programs I need right there, weather, email, etc... without having a third party program or minimizing all my programs. I haven't found much use for the charm bar yet but I really haven't had to work in the metro UI much yet. I also haven't tried it on my dual screen setup yet either, though Windows has always been flaky with dual screens (snapping feature in 7 for instance).

No you are wrong. People will not use touch on a desktop. They will not extend their arm out and tofu the screen. Won't happen. They will apparently use a touch interface on the desktop but they won't be touching the screen, on anything other than an x86 tablet.

Then bring the screen close to you? Things will change, just like when the mouse first appeared.

I have to laugh when people say touch is the future of the desktop. Guess what? The lightpen was invented 60 years ago.

ibm_2250_display_unit.jpg

Hmm, I wonder why we gave up on this amazing ability to touch the monitor? Oh, because it sucks.

Who wants to always sit 2 feet from the screen and hold your arm out every time you want to do anything besides type?

Ironically enough, it was none other than Steve Jobs who showed how well the mouse works on the desktop by including it with the first Mac (even if he did steal the idea from Xerox :p).

No you are wrong. People will not use touch on a desktop. They will not extend their arm out and tofu the screen. Won't happen. They will apparently use a touch interface on the desktop but they won't be touching the screen, on anything other than an x86 tablet.

It appears that Apple doesn't share your sentiment, as they are busy integrating touch into their desktop systems... not just a touch interface, but touch capabilities to their monitors.

I suspect that ultimately the future will involve the use of a touch interface on a desktop system via a Kinect-like experience, but we're in the process of baby-stepping our way there right now.

Hmm, I wonder why we gave up on this amazing ability to touch the monitor? Oh, because it sucks.

Who wants to always sit 2 feet from the screen and hold your arm out every time you want to do anything besides type?

Ironically enough, it was none other than Steve Jobs who showed how well the mouse works on the desktop by including it with the first Mac (even if he did steal the idea from Xerox :p).

If only you realized how many iPad users set up their iPads in the exact same manner...

WTF? That made some SENCE!

I can ignore Metro and all the unfinished apps that come with it. But who is going to fix my dual screen and finding the hot corner issue? I feel so stressed when my mouse pointer goes over to next screen!

I guess not many people use dual monitors. Heck, even Microsoft doesn't seem to test their GUI failure on this one.

Overall, it's not a tidy experience. Been using Windows CP since its release and I still cannot like it.

Some plus points of Desktop mode:

1. Nice shiny file copy UI

2. Good task manager. But I find it annoying after a while.

3. System reset option

4. Right Click Power menu in lower left corner

5. Feels ever so slight fast than Windows 8. (esp. UAC prompts appear fast with shortest blink)

Negatives of desktop mode:

1. Shutting down needs getting used to. (I hate keyboard shortcuts)

2. Random stuff is hidden deep for no reason. (Eg. System image creation wizard. It took me forever to find it)

3. Hot Corner issue (Already beaten to death by me)

4. Annoying Metro apps take file opening defaults in desktop. (It prompts me to use another program but it is still annoying)

5. After wake up from sleep, why do I have to slide a beautiful picture up with a mouse just for the sake of it? (not digging it)

Bugs/Glitches of Desktop mode:

1. Some GUI glitches (explorer has black frames) This should be fixed soon

2. Copying files from (NAS) network drive to C: (root directory, Windows or Program Files directory) fails. But I can copy same files to Documents or Desktop without any problem.

3. Firefox needs hardware acceleration disabled otherwise it has GUI glitches.

4. Office 2010 has GUI glitches

I don't want to add any pluses or minuses of that turd called Metro

There's a lot to address here... let's see...

1) To address the Hot-Corner issue, I simply use Windows Key + C to bring up the Charms bar when I'm working on a dual-monitor set-up (which I do daily). Truth be told I don't find much use for the Charms bar all that often, but that may just be unique to me & my use habits (to be clear, I'm working off a laptop that does not have touch capabilities... so everything I do is via keyboard and mouse/touchpad). The fact that you accuse Microsoft of failing to test their GUI is a strong indicator that you're either speaking from emotion or ignorance. It's pretty well known that Microsoft does extensive usability testing... the fact that something doesn't work with YOUR preferred work style/habits is not an indication that it hasn't received positive results in their testing. Remember, they're working to meet the needs of hundreds of millions of users worldwide, from both the enterprise and consumer markets... which is not a trivial challenge to take on. Thing is, they have to make decisions based off real usability metrics, not the unscientific results of 'oh, we saw someone's comment on a message board'.

2) "Shutting down needs getting used to" - This I tend to agree with you on... while I understand they're trying to get users to switch their habits (from always shutting down their system, to putting it to sleep as their default choice), I prefer to shut down at this time. What I've done is simply add a Shutdown button to my Start page... you should give it a try: http://www.howtogeek...utdown-perhaps/

3) "Random stuff is hidden deep for no reason (Eg. System image creation wizard. It took me forever to find it)" - I suspect this is based off the notion of keeping the things most commonly used at a higher level than those less likely. Seeing as this is a beta, this may still end up being addressed by the time the OS is released.

4) "Annoying Metro apps take file opening defaults in desktop" - Right-click > Open with > Choose default program... how hard is that?

5) "After wake up from sleep, why do I have to slide a beautiful picture up with a mouse just for the sake of it?" - You don't... just tap the spacebar. Can't be much easier.

6) "Some GUI glitches (explorer has black frames)" - Well... it is a beta... you can't expect it to be bug-free. BTW... I don't have the black frames in explorer, so this may be unique to your system and the drivers it's running on.

7) "Copying files from (NAS) network drive to C: (root directory, Windows or Program Files directory) fails. But I can copy same files to Documents or Desktop without any problem" - I have no problems with copying files from my NAS, or any other Network source, to those locations... all I get is a prompt noting I need Admin access to do it, which I grant, and the copy occurs. This may well be an issue unique to your scenario, and I'd recommend you provide feedback to Microsoft so they have the opportunity to look into it.

8) "Firefox needs hardware acceleration disabled otherwise it has GUI glitches" - First of all, as noted before, we're talking about a beta OS... but beyond that this may well be an issue with Firefox (lord knows they've had their share of bugs in the past).

9) "Office 2010 has GUI glitches" - I work with Office 2010 in an enterprise environment every day, and haven't experienced any GUI glitches. Can you provide specific details?

Ultimately it's for you to choose whether or not you like Win8 and Metro... I can't tell you to like butter-pecan ice cream when you prefer chocolate-chip chunk (or whatever), but in my opinion Win8 is a really good evolutionary step forward for the platform on a desktop and non-touch laptop, and I think it's a great update to Microsoft's tablet/slate UI. But that's just my opinion... anyone who says it'll definitely succeed or fail is talking out of their butts... we'll only know the answer to that question after it's released, and the public gets their chance to vote with their dollars. I know that I'll be voting with mine through my next laptop upgrade (which will be a convertible tablet), as well as with the purchase of at least one slate for my household.

No you are wrong. People will not use touch on a desktop. They will not extend their arm out and tofu the screen. Won't happen. They will apparently use a touch interface on the desktop but they won't be touching the screen, on anything other than an x86 tablet.

Good thing metro and the start screen, works just as well with a keyboard and mouse then, some things even better.

Also, I run dual screen and hot corners work just fine, with metro on both left and right side. There such a large to sit area even with Parkinson's you're not gonna miss it. So stop whining about it, people who whine about dual screen spot working sound like they haven't actually tried win 8 or they don't actually have dual screen.

What are you talking about?!

What part didn't you understand? I can't speak to specifics, because I don't want to put people's employment situations at risk, but I will provide a link to an article that was published about 18 months ago.

http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/08/23/apple-patents-a-desktop-touchscreen-computer/

I can't say I'm surprised...

Sorry if that makes you butt-hurt, however I'm not here to justify my existence to you (who is it again that you seem to think you are?), nor am I going to risk relationships I have for bragging rights on an Internet message board. I provided you with a link to a publicly available article which speaks to what I noted.. if that isn't good enough for you (or anyone else), too bad. Your existence, let alone what you think, is trivial to me. :)

I have to laugh when people say touch is the future of the desktop. Guess what? The lightpen was invented 60 years ago.

Hmm, I wonder why we gave up on this amazing ability to touch the monitor? Oh, because it sucks.

Who wants to always sit 2 feet from the screen and hold your arm out every time you want to do anything besides type?

Ironically enough, it was none other than Steve Jobs who showed how well the mouse works on the desktop by including it with the first Mac (even if he did steal the idea from Xerox :p).

It's nice for you to ignore the latest 60yrs of R&D in term of UI (which is fairly new since it was cmd line only until ~20 yrs ago).

I'm sure you can understand the difference between using a pen and your finger, mutlitouch vs monotouch pen and so on.

It's nice for you to ignore the latest 60yrs of R&D in term of UI (which is fairly new since it was cmd line only until ~20 yrs ago).

I'm sure you can understand the difference between using a pen and your finger, mutlitouch vs monotouch pen and so on.

Am I really ignoring the R&D? Well, I hate to have to bring up Jobs again, but I can't think of anyone more reputable when it comes to this problem.

?We?ve done tons of user testing on this,? Steve Jobs said in Wednesday?s press conference, ?and it turns out it doesn?t work. Touch surfaces don?t want to be vertical. It gives great demo, but after a short period of time you start to fatigue, and after an extended period of time, your arm wants to fall off.?

http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2010/10/gorilla-arm-multitouch/

I'm sure you can also understand that it doesn't matter whether its "a pen and your finger, mutlitouch vs monotouch pen and so on"--the ergonomics are virtually the same.

While I don't think touch will ever take over the desktop, or rather workstation, since I don't think the desktop has many years left. Who says your future touch desktop has to be vertical? and pads and such suffer the same issue.

In any case metro works just as well with a mouse and keyboard anyway, and as I said, in some things even better.

Am I really ignoring the R&D? Well, I hate to have to bring up Jobs again, but I can't think of anyone more reputable when it comes to this problem.

http://www.wired.com...arm-multitouch/

I'm sure you can also understand that it doesn't matter whether its "a pen and your finger, mutlitouch vs monotouch pen and so on"--the ergonomics are virtually the same.

And again, to this I say, you should see how many users use their iPads as laptops. I have seen many, many iPad users use their ipads while they are sitting in a laptop like case or sitting on a table in an upright position.

And again, to this I say, you should see how many users use their iPads as laptops. I have seen many, many iPad users use their ipads while they are sitting in a laptop like case or sitting on a table in an upright position.

I haven't seen many, so I'll have to take your word for it. I have seen plenty of people giving explanations on why the iPad + keyboard is not sufficient for their productivity. Largely it's a pain for them to touch the screen when editing documents--where the trackpad of conventional laptops, for instance, would be much less impeding.

An iPad with a keyboard case is useful in a few situations, I'll give you that. But what of the shortcomings? Realistically you can't say that because some people try to use the iPad productively, it will become a new paradigm for the rest of computing.

While I don't think touch will ever take over the desktop, or rather workstation, since I don't think the desktop has many years left. Who says your future touch desktop has to be vertical? and pads and such suffer the same issue.

In any case metro works just as well with a mouse and keyboard anyway, and as I said, in some things even better.

Sure, it's very possible to imagine new ways to position screens and input devices on the desktop, but in practice it doesn't work. For productivity, screens will be vertical or nearly vertical. If you want to curl up on the couch and read or consume some other content, the iPad works better than a laptop. It all just comes back to ergonomics.

I haven't seen many, so I'll have to take your word for it. I have seen plenty of people giving explanations on why the iPad + keyboard is not sufficient for their productivity. Largely it's a pain for them to touch the screen when editing documents--where the trackpad of conventional laptops, for instance, would be much less impeding.

I'd rathe touch the screen to move the cursor to the right place when editing a document than use a trackpad though.

I'd rathe touch the screen to move the cursor to the right place when editing a document than use a trackpad though.

Have you tried doing work like that though? If you have, and you like it, then I guess I can't argue. But research tends to indicate that after prolonged use, it simply won't be very comfortable anymore.

This topic is now closed to further replies.
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
  • Posts

    • Transmission 4.1.2 by Razvan Serea Transmission is a fast, easy-to-use bittorrent client with support for encryption, a web interface, peer exchange, magnet links, DHT, µTP, UPnP and NAT-PMP port forwarding, webseed support, watch directories, tracker editing, global and per-torrent speed limits, and more. Transmission has one of the lowest memory & resource footprints of any major BitTorrent client. Transmission's light overhead is one reason why it is so well suited for home NAS and media servers. Having been used by Western Digital, Zyxel and Belkin, Transmission gives truly impressive performance on almost any compatible hardware. Transmission is an open source, volunteer-based project. Unlike some BitTorrent clients, Transmission doesn't play games with its users to make money. Transmission doesn't bundle toolbars, pop-up ads, flash ads, twitter tools, or anything else. It doesn't hold some features back for a payware version. Its source code is available for anyone to review. Transmission doesn't track users, the website and forums have no third-party ads or analytics. Transmission 4.1.2 changelog: This is Transmission 4.1.2, a bugfix release. It fixes 20+ bugs and has a few performance improvements too. All users are encouraged to upgrade to this version. Highlights Fixed 4.1.0 bug that could cause duplicate HTTP announces to be sent to trackers. (#8639) All Platforms Reject benc data that has invalid characters. (#8577) Fixed a bug during the startup sequence where if one torrent failed to parse, subsequent torrents would also fail. (#8605) Fixed a bug that stalled some downloads at 99%. (#8654) Fixed a 4.1.0 upgrade bug that could overwrite utp_enabled and tcp_enabled settings. (#8658) Fixed a 4.1.0 crash that could happen when a peer supplied reqq value smaller than 32 in LTEP handshake. (#8713) Fixed a 4.1.0 regression that periodically wrote upload & download stats to disk even when Transmission had been idle since the last write, preventing the stats file's disk from hibernating while idle. (#8722) Fixed a 4.1.0 bug that prevented TCP peer connections on some systems. (#8748) Added safeguards to HTTP responses to prevent clickjacking. (#8749) Fixed edge case that didn't preserve the order of a batch of torrents when moving their queue position up or down. (#8782) Added sanitization for UTF-8 client names provided by peers during handshake. (#8809) Stopped appending redundant zeros to blocklist files when downloaded from a remote URL. (#8819) Fixed a build failure that occurred when building with link-time optimization. (#8540) macOS Client Fixed a 4.1.0 memory leak. (#8613) Fixed navigation focus issues in the Inspector. (#8792, #8810) Improved UI code to use less CPU. (#8832, #8833, #8835, #8836, #8842, #8846, #8851) Qt Client Fixed a 4.1.0 crash when parsing some RPC responses from older Transmission servers. (#8618) Fixed a 4.1.0 bug that saved both deprecated and current settings names to settings.json. (#8623) GTK Client Fixed a 4.1.0 bug that did not show translated logging level strings. (#8611) Fixed a 4.1.0 crash when toggling alternative speed limits. (#8709) Web Client Fixed a 4.1.0 bug that displayed timestamps in some dropdowns as 6.75:45 instead of 6:45. (#8624) Fixed a bug that could show incorrect torrent status when reconnecting to the server after a lost connection. (#8780, #8783) transmission-remote Improved transmission-remote console output for JSON-RPC 2. (#8799, #8805) Download: Transmission 64-bit | Qt 5 Setup ~20.0 MB (Open Source) Download: Transmission 32-bit | Qt 5 Setup Links: Transmission Homepage | Other OSes | Screenshot Get alerted to all of our Software updates on Twitter at @NeowinSoftware
    • The sweet release of death has never looked more appealing.
    • Meh, just another dongle-haven downgrade compared to my Surface Pro 7+. Whenever I decide to upgrade in the next decade or so, it certainly won't be another microslop Surface with this enshitification trend they've been having after the Surface Pro 7+. Hopefully a future generation of the Framework 12 will be a real upgrade...
    • This could exactly be how our Sun ends but it's not as simple by Sayan Sen Image by Drew Rae via Pexels An international team led by Université de Montréal (University of Montreal) PhD student Érika Le Bourdais has found that the ancient white dwarf star LSPM J0207+3331 is still pulling in planetary debris, even though it has been cooling for about three billion years. White dwarfs are dense, Earth-sized stellar remnants left behind when Sun-like stars exhaust their nuclear fuel and shed their outer layers. The star, located 145 light-years away in the constellation Triangulum, is the oldest and coldest white dwarf known to have a surrounding disk of dust. The star was first spotted in 2019 by a citizen scientist through the Backyard Worlds: Planet 9 project. Its cool temperature immediately suggested that it was very old, since white dwarfs gradually lose heat over time. Using the W. M. Keck telescopes in Hawaii, astronomers later confirmed that the star shows infrared signals consistent with dust rings formed by asteroids breaking apart under its strong gravity. Such infrared excesses occur when a star emits more infrared light than expected, often because warm dust surrounding it absorbs and re-radiates energy. “This discovery challenges our understanding of planetary system evolution,” said Le Bourdais. “The fact that we still see planetary debris being accreted three billion years after the star became a white dwarf suggests that asteroids, comets, and even planets can remain in orbit around these stars for a very long time.” Spectroscopic analysis—a technique that studies light to identify the chemical elements present in an object—revealed thirteen heavy elements in the star’s atmosphere: sodium, magnesium, aluminium, silicon, calcium, titanium, chromium, manganese, iron, cobalt, nickel, copper, and strontium. Normally, heavy elements sink quickly in hydrogen-rich white dwarfs, making them hard to detect. “We expected to see only a few elements, but we found dozens!” explained Le Bourdais. The research paper adds more detail. The absence of carbon features suggests the debris came from a carbon-volatile-depleted source. The abundance pattern shows slight deficits of magnesium and silicon compared to iron but otherwise resembles Earth-like material. This points to a differentiated rocky body—one whose materials have separated into distinct layers such as a metallic core and rocky mantle—with a metallic core fraction higher than Earth’s. In other words, the star is accreting the remains of a large rocky object, similar in structure to Earth or the asteroid Vesta. “White dwarfs offer one of the only ways we can directly measure the composition of exoplanets,” said Patrick Dufour, co-author and professor at Université de Montréal. “When planetary debris come too close, they are torn apart by the star’s gravity and end up polluting its atmosphere, leaving a detailed chemical fingerprint of its composition.” The team also detected weak Ca II H & K line core emission, making this only the second known isolated polluted white dwarf to show this feature. These are specific spectral signatures produced by ionised calcium and can indicate unusual physical activity in a star’s upper atmosphere. The finding suggests that extra physical processes may be happening in or above the star’s upper atmosphere. The study stresses the importance of including heavy elements in model atmosphere calculations, since leaving them out can distort the inferred structure and lead to inaccurate stellar parameters. Earlier work suggested the star’s infrared excess came from two dust rings. The new analysis shows that a single silicate dust disk—a ring composed largely of rock-forming minerals rich in silicon and oxygen—can explain the observed signal at 11.6 μm, simplifying the picture of the system’s structure. The question of how debris ended up falling into the star so late remains open. One idea is that giant planets in the system slowly destabilised smaller bodies over billions of years. Another possibility is that a passing star disturbed the orbits of debris. “Future observations with the James Webb Space Telescope or archival data found in the European Space Agency’s Gaia mission could help distinguish between a planetary rearrangement and the gravitational effect of a close stellar encounter,” said John Debes, co-author and researcher at the Space Telescope Science Institute. Dufour noted that hydrogen-rich white dwarfs are the most common type, and the coolest among them are the oldest stars in the galaxy. “We didn't have the habit of looking for signs of accretion in them. This unique case motivates us to expand our search to more of these stars.” The findings show that even after billions of years, planetary systems can remain active and complex. Substantial accretion events—the gradual accumulation of surrounding material onto a celestial object—can still occur long after a star’s death, offering a rare window into the composition and fate of distant worlds. Source: University of Montreal, IOPScience This article was generated with some help from AI and reviewed by an editor. Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, this material is used for the purpose of news reporting. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing.
  • Recent Achievements

    • One Month Later
      B2Proxy earned a badge
      One Month Later
    • One Year In
      MadMung0 earned a badge
      One Year In
    • Week One Done
      jefred earned a badge
      Week One Done
    • Apprentice
      JoeyNeo went up a rank
      Apprentice
    • Week One Done
      oliviaexpo earned a badge
      Week One Done
  • Popular Contributors

    1. 1
      +primortal
      485
    2. 2
      PsYcHoKiLLa
      228
    3. 3
      Skyfrog
      70
    4. 4
      FloatingFatMan
      58
    5. 5
      neufuse
      56
  • Tell a friend

    Love Neowin? Tell a friend!