windows 8 Here's why Metro is awesome in general, and for desktops too

[techguy77]

Please, every Windows 8 hater - read this carefully. I'm not justifying anything, I just think my input may help you realize the beauty of this change.

Why no regular start menu while browsing Metro?

I for one like Metro for my desktop PC. I love the fact that the desktop is now a "box" that runs inside a fluid environment. I also like the concept of the immersiveness and the chromeless interfaces instead of having a taskbar being there.

Also, applications can use toast notifications to notify when things are done, or something requires attention - globally. There's no longer need for individual applications such as Skype and Messenger to use their own notification types, and these notifications will be able to be turned off at one central location - the control panel. This theoretically elliminates the need for the cool Windows 7 progress bar indicators in the task bar. While not offering itself as an alternative, it is indeed a nice complementary feature.

Metro for desktop computers

I don't see how Metro is not good for desktops actually - please help me understand. I've read most complaints entirely, and I still don't understand. You move your mouse to the lower-left screen, and voila - there's your start menu.

Finding apps has never been easier - do a search while in the Metro menu.

Don't want Windows 8 to start up in Metro? Turn it off. I like when my PC starts up in Metro, because then my PC isn't spending 99% of its resources on launching all kinds of apps in the background, when I know exactly what I want.

For instance, if I want to start Visual Studio to do programming as the first thing I do, I click my pinned Visual Studio icon on the Metro screen. It takes me to the desktop, and starts loading the application - even with full priority (allowing it to be priored over all the other program processes while it starts up).

I get the idea that people want some kind of "Default" state that their PC is in, but really, I believe people have become way too used to the old "inside the box"-way of thinking. Let's face it. You start up your PC anyway, and you always start out by launching 1 single app to do your primary purpose, isn't that right? You never start out by launching 20 apps at a time. These will be started automatically for you.

Turning your computer off is harder - or is it?

For those having issues finding the power button I can only ask "really?". Pressing your power button on the computer itself will shut down your PC as default in Windows 8, so why bother anyway? Isn't it more natural to hit the power button to turn something off? They just removed the noise that we thought was needed for centuries. If you're not happy with that, you can configure what happens when clicking the power button.

If you're on a desktop, hitting "Windows + I" to launch the menu for shutting down your PC isn't that hard either, although, less intuitive. In this scenario I agree, if your power button is physically too far away from you.

Normal applications will be offered through the marketplace as well as Metro apps, so the app-store is still going to be awesome.

Why Metro as it is now?

As a developer, I see clearly what Microsoft is doing here. The following is based on knowledge within the field, and common sense. However, some of it is based on beliefs and assumptions.

• Microsoft will make Windows Phone 7 apps compatible with Windows 8. When these apps run, they will run in the docked mode (left or right) always for compatibility reasons, since that'll match the proper phone aspect ratio.
  
• Windows 8 apps that are compatible with the docked (left or right) app format will run in that mode always when running in Windows Phone 8.
  

Scaling is no problem, since Silverlight (or WPF for that matter) is resolution independent, and uses vector graphics. Hence a much higher compatibility with larger screens.

I will keep this post updated with new points of view as replies arrive - please read the post carefully before you reply!

You are wrong, next.

[Kami-]

Win+C is much more efficient and specifically designed to pull up the "C"harms. I restart/shutdown using Win+C every time and it's second nature now, was after 10 minutes.

How often do you restart/shutdown your machine; it took 10mins to become second nature?

I think mine hasn't been off for at least 8 months?

[techguy77]

How often do you restart/shutdown your machine; it took 10mins to become second nature?

I think mine hasn't been off for at least 8 months?

I shut down every night, and reboot happens if some Windows Updates get installed. Do you run Laptop or?

[firey]

I shut down every night, and reboot happens if some Windows Updates get installed. Do you run Laptop or?

I have a desktop computer, I have done a manual restart once in the past 3 months, and have not had my computer shut down for more than 20 minutes in about a year. It will restart automatically with Windows Updates, or when the power goes out. I don't think that is uncommon.

[winlonghorn]

You can't turn it off, at least not by a Microsoft sanctioned way. Btw, Metro still loads the desktop, so your argument's invalid.

Actually, the desktop is not loaded until you click the tile for it (after booting into Windows 8). Also, I believe you can close the desktop as well (by dragging it to the bottom of the screen like any other Metro app)

[techguy77]

I have a desktop computer, I have done a manual restart once in the past 3 months, and have not had my computer shut down for more than 20 minutes in about a year. It will restart automatically with Windows Updates, or when the power goes out. I don't think that is uncommon.

When you run i7 [email protected] with Crossfire HD6970 setup you have to. Again it would be impossible for me to keep computer online since it is in a same room where i sleep. And there are a lot of other people same way.

[firey]

When you run i7 [email protected] with Crossfire HD6970 setup you have to. Again it would be impossible for me to keep computer online since it is in a same room where i sleep. And there are a lot of other people same way.

You don't HAVE to, you choose to. That's purely your choice, if I had that setup I'd leave it on. For a long time I couldn't sleep UNLESS my computer was on. The fan noise soothed me. It's now in another room so I can't hear it.. took some adjusting.

[majortom1981]

What people do not understand is that metro start screen is horrible to use when you have 50 + apps installed and all the icons are really small squares. It makes it a pain to use. then you will say well why not type the app name in. Do you remember all 50+ apps on your computer by name?

All I want is the start button to on the desktop app. leave everything else the way it is. This way I can have my most used apps on the metro screen and the rest on the start button on the desktop app.

[Eric Veteran]

What people do not understand is that metro start screen is horrible to use when you have 50 + apps installed and all the icons are really small squares. It makes it a pain to use. then you will say well why not type the app name in. Do you remember all 50+ apps on your computer by name?

All I want is the start button to on the desktop app. leave everything else the way it is. This way I can have my most used apps on the metro screen and the rest on the start button on the desktop app.

Don't pin everything on the computer to the start screen, then. That's the reason they made search easier to use. I don't have TeamSpeak or Ventrilo pinned at all. I just type "teams" or "vent" to start them.

[KevinN206]

What people do not understand is that metro start screen is horrible to use when you have 50 + apps installed and all the icons are really small squares. It makes it a pain to use. then you will say well why not type the app name in. Do you remember all 50+ apps on your computer by name?

All I want is the start button to on the desktop app. leave everything else the way it is. This way I can have my most used apps on the metro screen and the rest on the start button on the desktop app.

I think of the start screen is similar to the start menu whitespace where you can pin links to it. Then the start menu has an "All programs" button which corresponds to the start menu "All app" section. With semantic zoom in the "All app" you can jump to any folder very quickly.

[still1]

Turning your computer off is harder - or is it?

For those having issues finding the power button I can only ask "really?". Pressing your power button on the computer itself will shut down your PC as default in Windows 8

that's the lamest suggestion ever.. I restart and shutdown randomly and hibernate once in a while....

what do u suggest for that? change the power button option every time i need to do that?

or MS could just give the shutdown/restart/hibernate/sleep option easily accessible just like windows 7

[techguy77]

You don't HAVE to, you choose to. That's purely your choice, if I had that setup I'd leave it on. For a long time I couldn't sleep UNLESS my computer was on. The fan noise soothed me. It's now in another room so I can't hear it.. took some adjusting.

Getting used to is not normal because you wouldn't have to get used to if it was ok to start with. Btw Computer generates so much heat in a room that over the Winter i have my heating off in apartment and still sometimes i have to open Window. I don't want to mention Summer lol

[SierraSonic]

How to make everyone happy:

Make start orb optional.

Click for start menu, longclick for start screen. (configurable)

[br0adband]

How often do you restart/shutdown your machine; it took 10mins to become second nature? I think mine hasn't been off for at least 8 months?

As a software tester for 25+ years, believe me, I reboot a lot. ;)

And as for the 10 minute thing, I mean it took me 10 minutes to get acclimated to the new keyboard shortcuts in Windows 8. All of them. Now they're second nature. In fact, they're so ingrained now that when I boot into Windows 7 I find myself doing them because both my "Desktops" (meaning the Windows 7 and 8 desktop screens) are set up exactly the same: Taskbar on the left, same solid grey background, same solid grey color scheme, etc. The only difference between Windows 7 and 8 on this machine as far as the Desktop is concerned is 7 has the Start orb and 8 doesn't.

But I don't think about the differences like most people do, I just act as usual regardless of the OS.

You are forced to use the Metro UI. So yes, you are forced to use two different UI designs at the same time. This is a bad idea in my opinion.

FTFY.

[ILikeTobacco]

Curious, has anyone installed Photoshop on Windows 8...and all the apps that come with it (Bridge, Help, Extension Mgr, Device Central, Extend Script, etc?). Do you get tiles for each of these apps in Metro? I haven't really got around to installing Photoshop...but before I wrote the below it just popped into my head.

I installed Dreamweaver and got all kinds of Adobe crap on the tiles. Got rid of most of them.

[br0adband]

When Windows 8 nears being final, Microsoft will instruct (if they haven't already done so) software makers and developers on how to code their installers to take advantage of Windows 8 - that means what's going to happen is that when a piece of software is installed, it will be "Windows 8 Metro" aware and we're not going to have 5, 10, 15, or heaven forbid even more tiles created on the Start screen when an app is installed. More than likely we'll get 1, maybe 2 tiles at best for the primary app and perhaps - I'm saying perhaps something related to it. We're surely not going to see a ton of tiles and ones for Uninstaller all over the place, that much is obvious.

Just seems like people are whining just to be whining about every little thing they possibly can, I swear. Why people can't comprehend this is a preview of things to come and is subject to some fairly extreme if not complete alterations and changes long before it's on store shelves is beyond me.

Nothing in the Consumer Preview is set in stone as of this moment, absolutely nothing. I've seen Microsoft make huge unbelievable changes during alpha/beta stages of products including Windows itself before an RC or RTM build, I have no reason not to think we're in for some massive changes between now and the potential RC and RTM builds later this year.

"There's some big changes coming, folks..."

[Soldiers33]

Win+I requires one less click to shut down compared to Win+C.

Thanks for that quite useful :)

[MorganX]

There are real issues with Metro on the desktop and they hybrid UI of Windows 8. Where the Power Controls are isn't one of them. Typically you are prompted to restart and it's a non-issue. If you want to manually restart, it's not buried "that" deep and is easy to get too with the mouse. There's no break of workflow, like all the hot corners during full screen work if you hit them because you already broke your workflow when you decided to stop and restart or shutdown.

There are problems, getting to the power controls isn't one of them IMO. A scroll wheel does wonders for Metro, particularly bluetooth. That's something ...

[briangw]

I've seen Microsoft make huge unbelievable changes during alpha/beta stages of products including Windows itself before an RC or RTM build, I have no reason not to think we're in for some massive changes between now and the potential RC and RTM builds later this year.

"There's some big changes coming, folks..."

Like what? Because as long as I've tested beta releases like this, there were minimal changes to the UI and no drastic ones like overhauling a Start Screen. And don't say pre-beta versions because they don't count. I wouldn't be surprised if this is extremely close to a feature-complete build.

[br0adband]

NDAs are nasty things, people, truly nasty things. :p

[MorganX]

Bluetooth is as smooth as butta on Windows 8. Seems significantly smoother than Win 7, though 7 is no slouch. Works with 3rd Party adapter that 7 needed a driver for.

Here's problem, on 7, I know it's been installed, taskbar is in my face all the time and the installing driver notification is great. Adding devices from start menu also easy as pie with actual icons of most devices. Plugging into 8, I get the connect device sound, but no indication after that. So I go to trusty Desktop and look in notification tray and there's the trusty icon, which on 7 is just there as the taskbar is always there (Auto-hide for me). So, I right-click to add device, what? Full-screen Metro Add device? So why nothing on the Metro screen? Why on Metro Charm Bar > Devices can I not just go there and add a device now that Bluetooth is installed.

Inconsistent implementation. But under the hood, the Bluetooth Stack has clearly been optimized.

[Wyn6]

Bluetooth is as smooth as butta on Windows 8. Seems significantly smoother than Win 7, though 7 is no slouch. Works with 3rd Party adapter that 7 needed a driver for.

Here's problem, on 7, I know it's been installed, taskbar is in my face all the time and the installing driver notification is great. Adding devices from start menu also easy as pie with actual icons of most devices. Plugging into 8, I get the connect device sound, but no indication after that. So I go to trusty Desktop and look in notification tray and there's the trusty icon, which on 7 is just there as the taskbar is always there (Auto-hide for me). So, I right-click to add device, what? Full-screen Metro Add device? So why nothing on the Metro screen? Why on Metro Charm Bar > Devices can I not just go there and add a device now that Bluetooth is installed.

Inconsistent implementation. But under the hood, the Bluetooth Stack has clearly been optimized.

If I'm understanding what you're saying, which I'm probably not, you can add devices through the Charms Bar. More PC Settings>Devices>Add Devices (+ sign at the top). If that's not what you meant, disregard.

[~Johnny]

What people do not understand is that metro start screen is horrible to use when you have 50 + apps installed and all the icons are really small squares. It makes it a pain to use. then you will say well why not type the app name in. Do you remember all 50+ apps on your computer by name?

All I want is the start button to on the desktop app. leave everything else the way it is. This way I can have my most used apps on the metro screen and the rest on the start button on the desktop app.

The icons are the same size regardless of however many apps you have, but I quite like it. I have over 50 apps visible and accessible to me quite easily on my desktop as soon as I open the start screen - and that's before scrolling at all. It's nice :p

[ThePitt]

Please, every Windows 8 hater -

I stopped reading there. And if I have ever to update, I will move to mac, thanks to microsoft.

[MorganX]

If I'm understanding what you're saying, which I'm probably not, you can add devices through the Charms Bar. More PC Settings>Devices>Add Devices (+ sign at the top). If that's not what you meant, disregard.

Well yes. But you can't really add them through the Charm Bar. The Charm Bar has a devices icon but doesn't actually add devices, maybe this will be fixed, it has 2nd Screen at the moment.

And you missed a step Charm Bar Hotspot > Settings > More PC Settings > Down to Devices > Add Device

You can do whatever you can do in 7 in 8, it's just a step backwards more often than not.

Windows 8 Better Way: Desktop > Right Click Bluetooth in notification tray > Add device (That's only for Bluetooth tough)

Best Way #1 Windows 7: Start Menu, Devices & Printers > Add device (Any device or printer)

Best Way #2 Windows 7: Right Click Bluetooth in notification tray regardless of what's on screen > Add device (That's only for Bluetooth tough)