windows 8 Microsoft Drops Aero from Windows 8

[HawkMan]

So now you have to buy a second monitor just to make it useable?

Lol :p I don't get people who are concerned about "breaking workflow". Must be really important for them to see what they were doing while they are trying to do something else for a couple second.

*Opens start menu* Oh no I forgot what I was doing before.. what's my name again?

[MorganX]

>You talk about bringing up the start screen in win8 as "breaking workflow" and not letting you see your running apps just to get some info yet depending on how many desktop gadgets you have and how you place them you're going to have to move your windows out of the way to see the damn gadgets anyways. How is this really any different?<

Gadgets did fail. I still use 2 or 3, but I think everyone can admit, they failed hard. They were mostly ugly, useless, and amateurish. Having said that, you do not have to move windows out of the way to see them. Keep them in the sidebar area or use Aero Peek. Even minimize and restore is better than full screen annoyance.

>>At the end of the day since Win7 MS has been working people off of the start menu it's now gone<<

Huh?

>>This notion that the start screen is now going to totally break everyones way of using the PC is FUD. It's been blown totally out of proportion for no real reason at all.<<

I'm going to agree with this. It's just a full screen annoyance. I don't actually use the start menu much at all really, except for search. And dragging and dropping search results is great. But you just don't use the Start menu "that" much, at least I don't. It's the full screen annoyance when you do that is bothersome.

[MorganX]

So now you have to buy a second monitor just to make it useable?

hahaha, yeah that's a heavy price. But, looking at numbers, for those who Metro bothers, it's not that big of a price to pay given the cost fof monitors. I know that's not easy to swallow, but when you look at how many Metro will make PCs easier to use for you realize this is a lost battle. I mean, most of the people I need to be better with PCs are regular people. When I complain they haven't responded to an email, they're regular chicks. Metro will make PCs much more usable for that level of user. They will just look at live tile and open facebook and mail when they have a notification just like they do on their phone.

[Dot Matrix]

Seriously?

I use about 20+ apps regularly, if I pinned them all to the taskbar it would just be a massive row of icons along the bottom.

So now you have to buy a second monitor just to make it useable?

You use 20+ apps on one screen, yet complain that the Start Screen is breaking your workflow?

[TheLegendOfMart]

You use 20+ apps on one screen, yet complain that the Start Screen is breaking your workflow?

I never said I use them all at the same time.

The poster said I shouldn't be using the start menu and that I should just pin all the apps to the taskbar.

[George P Global Moderator]

Gadgets did fail. I still use 2 or 3, but I think everyone can admit, they failed hard. They were mostly ugly, useless, and amateurish. Having said that, you do not have to move windows out of the way to see them. Keep them in the sidebar area or use Aero Peek. Even minimize and restore is better than full screen annoyance.

I'm going to agree with this. It's just a full screen annoyance. I don't actually use the start menu much at all really, except for search. And dragging and dropping search results is great. But you just don't use the Start menu "that" much, at least I don't. It's the full screen annoyance when you do that is bothersome.

People didn't like the sidebar when it first came into Vista, this I remember, they hated the fact it took up the right side of the screen and "forced" you to use a wide screen monitor now. Just another example of how someones always going to hate something regardless. Anyways, if you don't want it taking up the side, and I personally don't because contrary to some, I do run a few apps in full screen mode because they in tern have a number of their own internal "windows" that just can't work right for me otherwise. Thus for the 2 gadgets I do actually use I have to use aero peek to see them, at that point I don't see my open windows, so for me doing this or switching to the start screen for a few sec (hitting winkey a 2nd time takes you back to where you were on the desktop/app), is no different.

One of the few things I use the start menu for still is the right side links, control panel, etc, all of those are now in the Win8 power users menu, and a simple winkey+x or right click away, so that's not changed for me either. I think the real root of the issue/problem that people have is that metro apps, at least for now, are forced to you in full screen. This won't always be the case IMO and I expect WinRT/Metro apps to be able to run windowed on the "desktop" in Windows 9. The start screen however is here to stay. My comment about MS moving you off of the start menu in Win7 is because of the updates to the taskbar and pinning your apps. They had the idea back in Win98 with the quick launch area next to the start menu and just took it to the next level. For 90% and maybe even more pinning apps to some area of the OS is better than digging through a menu for it (case in point every app trying to install a shortcut on your desktop to begin with, this isn't done for no reason at all you know).

[Anthonyd]

Lol :p I don't get people who are concerned about "breaking workflow". Must be really important for them to see what they were doing while they are trying to do something else for a couple second.

*Opens start menu* Oh no I forgot what I was doing before.. what's my name again?

Not pointing fingers but, yes, this is how stupid some people sound.

^this.

Plus, unless you are using a laptop, you should definitively be using dual screen monitors :D

[HawkMan]

Gadgets did fail. I still use 2 or 3, but I think everyone can admit, they failed hard. They were mostly ugly, useless, and amateurish. Having said that, you do not have to move windows out of the way to see them. Keep them in the sidebar area or use Aero Peek. Even minimize and restore is better than full screen annoyance.

uh... minimizing everything and then remaximizing it would be the same as the full screen start screen, only slower, more inconvenient and far more annoying. and the gadgets are less useful and uses more resources.

[sanctified Veteran]

1- Yes you can pick up the accent color of your choice.

2- Yes. But I don't see why you want to disable live tile, just don't pin the apps if not needed. Also so apps are "notification" which is a little popup that pops in the corner of your screen, and this can be disabled too.

So I can have a black background with black tiles with white icons in the start screen?

[HawkMan]

The "icons" are generally always white, the tile color is decided by the developer. the background you can set to flat black if you wish.

[MorganX]

uh... minimizing everything and then remaximizing it would be the same as the full screen start screen, only slower, more inconvenient and far more annoying. and the gadgets are less useful and uses more resources.

To see a gadget you most likely only have to minimize or move one window. Not nearly as slow, incovenient or annoying as the Start Page. But that is a matter of opinion and taste.

[HawkMan]

To see a gadget you most likely only have to minimize or move one window. Not nearly as slow, incovenient or annoying as the Start Page. But that is a matter of opinion and taste.

so, instead of hitting the start button, you hve to find and locate the minimize button or the top edge to move the windows and move it or click the minimize, and then you have to move or restore it again, afterwards....

seriously, are you even thinking about this ? 1 key conveniently on the keyboard vs lots of mouse waving and clicking. even using the mouse on the bottom corner to open the start screen is faster and more convenient.

[ViperAFK]

You use 20+ apps on one screen, yet complain that the Start Screen is breaking your workflow?

He said he uses them all regularly, not that he uses them all at once.

[Anthonyd]

so, instead of hitting the start button, you hve to find and locate the minimize button or the top edge to move the windows and move it or click the minimize, and then you have to move or restore it again, afterwards....

seriously, are you even thinking about this ? 1 key conveniently on the keyboard vs lots of mouse waving and clicking. even using the mouse on the bottom corner to open the start screen is faster and more convenient.

Actually, you can only mouse over the bottom right corner instead of minimizing all the opened Windows.

But I don't think that you can compare gadgets and live tile, it's really different.

[sanctified Veteran]

The "icons" are generally always white, the tile color is decided by the developer. the background you can set to flat black if you wish.

This is rather arbitrary. Developers can make a specific color for the tile as default, but why dont supply an option to change it? It's just a solid color so Im sure it's not a bitmap but a color code, that can easily change on the fly. And, if it's a bitmap, well... that's lame.

[HawkMan]

He said he uses them all regularly, not that he uses them all at once.

You can still fit more than 20(at least 24) pinned apps on the start menu on a 19-21 inch screen. above that and you have a lot more again.

Actually, you can only mouse over the bottom right corner instead of minimizing all the opened Windows.

But I don't think that you can compare gadgets and live tile, it's really different.

yes, and the mouse over requires you to wait for the hover delay. which is still slower than just opening the start screen.

[HawkMan]

This is rather arbitrary. Developers can make a specific color for the tile as default, but why dont supply an option to change it? It's just a solid color so Im sure it's not a bitmap but a color code, that can easily change on the fly. And, if it's a bitmap, well... that's lame.

because the combination color and icon is supposed to make the app instantly recognizable across al systems, which that wouldn't allow. and besides only a very small percentage of users would be interested in changing the color of all their tiles. it would add unnecessary complexity to the system and confusion for regular users, and development cost for absolutely no benefit.

and I'm sure there will be hacks allowing you to change the tile color of all tiles soon enough..

[sanctified Veteran]

because the combination color and icon is supposed to make the app instantly recognizable across al systems, which that wouldn't allow. and besides only a very small percentage of users would be interested in changing the color of all their tiles. it would add unnecessary complexity to the system and confusion for regular users, and development cost for absolutely no benefit.

I dont se how. A simple string value changer would add not complexity at all, it would be totally optional. A regular user would dont even know how to or want to change the color, so it wouldnt affect them.

[Dot Matrix]

because the combination color and icon is supposed to make the app instantly recognizable across al systems, which that wouldn't allow. and besides only a very small percentage of users would be interested in changing the color of all their tiles. it would add unnecessary complexity to the system and confusion for regular users, and development cost for absolutely no benefit.

and I'm sure there will be hacks allowing you to change the tile color of all tiles soon enough..

I hope so, having all those mis matched colors is the worst decision in the world. There really needs to be a global color scheme for the Start Screen. Tiles and all.

[HawkMan]

Well in the actual app that would be it, but because people don't want other people stealing their apps they're encoded and all that and the string value isn't all that easy to get to.

it's not just a matter of making a string value available. and Microsoft don't want people to change it, as I said, stuff is supposed to be recognizable across devices and computers. if you want to change it, use a third party hack/tweaking tool to change it, I'm sure they'll be out shortly after release.

[sanctified Veteran]

I hope so, having all those mis matched colors is the worst decision in the world. There really needs to be a global color scheme for the Start Screen. Tiles and all.

This.

There are some of us who are very design conscious. While I understand how the start screen can improve new user ways to interact with their machine I dont want to use something that resembles the puke of someone who drank too much vodka while eating skittles.

[sanctified Veteran]

Well in the actual app that would be it, but because people don't want other people stealing their apps they're encoded and all that and the string value isn't all that easy to get to.

it's not just a matter of making a string value available. and Microsoft don't want people to change it, as I said, stuff is supposed to be recognizable across devices and computers. if you want to change it, use a third party hack/tweaking tool to change it, I'm sure they'll be out shortly after release.

Hope so. In theory it would be easier than doing an icon changer. Maybe it can be done out of the box with resource hacker.

[sanctified Veteran]

Just found this screenshot that presents something I think works better:

This is GUI elegance at it's finest.

[HawkMan]

the thing is, your average user don't want elegance. they want bright easy to find colors

[theyarecomingforyou]

If you use more than 20 applications regularly then Metro start is actually an improvement, as you can pin and arrange tiles into groups. Even so it's still more practical to pin your most used apps to the taskbar - with a 30" monitor pinning 20 apps takes up just over half the taskbar and you can always increase the height of the taskbar if necessary. The arguments I see from "power users" are mainly a resistance to change rather than any genuine impediment to productivity.

As for gadgets, there really is no denying that they failed. Their functionality was incredibly limited, the developer infrastructure simply wasn't adequate, they negatively impacted system performance and they didn't offer anything compelling to end users. Very few people use them, especially amongst more technical users. Gadgets could make a return in the future - most likely within Metro rather than the desktop - but I can't seem them being a top priority.