"Why I

[Shane Nokes]

When that day comes I will no longer be using Windows (and that's not an over dramatization, I just wont). I cannot imagine Metro in any productive sense (at least not on a desktop). Personally I like simplicity but I really do hate this degradation of the UI experience. Its minimal for the sake of being minimal. We have spent years getting to the point of Windows 7, now its all been thrown away in favour of flat mono coloured icons/flat boxs and wasted space. I cannot get my head around it. I just installed Office 2013 today, and I just held my head in my hand and sighed. Is that the future? It's hideous.

The nicest thing I have found so far with Metro apps is that I can dock them, so things like messenger work quite well for that. But as the article mentions the core apps are missing functionality. Messenger is a primary example, for one I cannot sign out of the bloody thing.... ever (If there is a way someone please tell me!!). Which means (amongst other things) if I run the WLM desktop app (because the metro app has no support for Webcam or image sharing) I see the messages in the Windows Messenger App and in a notification for the Metro Messenger. Trying to contact someone boots you to People which (if you have linked with Facebook and Twitter) provides you a huge list of nonsense.

There are some nice desktop enhancements. Task manager is very sexy. File transfer looks great (other than the replace file dialog). The reduced shadows on Windows is perfect! The removal of Aero glass I don't mind, makes things cleaner. There are many things on the desktop I like and the reason I continue to use it, but there are also things that (some mentioned above) are starting to make me question if this is how I want my Windows experience to be - from here on out.

My biggest gripe at the moment is that I feel that I am having to 'work around' the OS instead of 'with' it. It's the return of desktop icons, and keyboard shortcuts. Never in my life have I had to resort to so much keyboard shortcutery (yes I just made up a word :rofl: ). Is this the mark of a well designed user experience Microsoft? Is it? :/

Indeed, and as I pointed out above, people thought the GUI was created just for the sake of being pretty. People were amazingly upset that instead of being able to just type doom.exe to start their game that they now had to open up a command line window...or horror of horrors had to click around these windows and open them up and find where the game was hidden.

These are the same type of complaints that come around EVERY single time user interfaces are changed in the computing world. People just tend to forget that. I crack up when people do the whole 'Fisher-Price' joke about Windows 8 seemingly forgetting that it is what people used to call the Windows XP interface. Their beloved old OS that they now cherish they once mocked in the same way. It's cute, hilarious, and maddening how short memories are. ;)

The mark of a well designed UI is how quickly you can accomplish tasks once you are up to speed on it. In the last 2 weeks I've gotten faster at completing tasks in Windows 8 than I was in Windows 7. I was much faster in 7 than I was in Vista...but I was faster in XP than I was in Vista so that was almost a wash. So for me 8 is an improvement since I can use the keyboard faster than I can the mouse in many cases. ;)

If you expect to be mousing around computers for the rest of forever, that's not going to happen.

Indeed, the mouse was meant to be used as a computing metaphor for our hands. It was meant as a step towards a more natural interaction. It's actually taken longer to reach this point than many thought it would. I think most of that is due to a lot of resistance because people have gotten set in their ways & don't want to open their minds to more natural interactions.

In a way it's like how some people can't stand 3D entertainment or games that look too realistic. It presents the mind with the difficulty of working in a familiar way with something it knows is artificial. There's been several studies about this and it's interesting to read up on how the brain sometimes just can't cope with certain things.

[ArialBlue]

Apps do suck in Metro, reasons

- Slower Startup than Non-Metro Apps

- XBOX - more needed to avoid XBOX and go to your library and stuff

- No desktop equivalent

One thing that irks me is that

Windows Photo Viewer and Windows Media Player on Desktop have NOT been changed from the W7 counterparts. They look out of place!

[Dot Matrix]

When that day comes I will no longer be using Windows (and that's not an over dramatization, I just wont). I cannot imagine Metro in any productive sense (at least not on a desktop). Personally I like simplicity but I really do hate this degradation of the UI experience. Its minimal for the sake of being minimal. We have spent years getting to the point of Windows 7, now its all been thrown away in favour of flat mono coloured icons/flat boxs and wasted space. I cannot get my head around it. I just installed Office 2013 today, and I just held my head in my hand and sighed. Is that the future? It's hideous.

Why? Looking at how functional Windows 7 is, you can see that all the visual "bling" adds nothing. Take it away, and Windows 7 would still be Windows 7. Quite honestly, for how much I liked the glass back in the day, I've outgrown it. I'm in love with how minimal the UI is now. There's no more distractions going on. The UI remains out of the way until you need it.

One thing that irks me is that

Windows Photo Viewer and Windows Media Player on Desktop have NOT been changed from the W7 counterparts. They look out of place!

Depreciated apps. Windows Photo Gallery and Zune are the modern replacements.

[Shane Nokes]

Apps do suck in Metro, reasons

- Slower Startup than Non-Metro Apps

- XBOX - more needed to avoid XBOX and go to your library and stuff

- No desktop equivalent

One thing that irks me is that

Windows Photo Viewer and Windows Media Player on Desktop have NOT been changed from the W7 counterparts. They look out of place!

There are actually certain guidelines that apps have to follow as regards performance in Metro that they don't have to meet for desktop. In fact the Kindle metro app opens faster than the desktop one on my machine. About 1/2 a second vs 5-7 seconds. Fruit Ninja opens in about a half second. There's a requirement that the app must load and be on the first 'page' of the app within less than 5 seconds at all times.

I can pin my user folder for access to all my user data to the start screen. Unless you're speaking specifically about the Xbox app when you say library. In that case can you clarify what you mean by library?

No desktop equivalent? You can install Windows Essentials for equivalents of a ton of the apps, and install other apps for other types of functionality just like you could in earlier versions of Windows.

So how does a Metro/Modern/Whatever app suck for not having a desktop version? That's like saying this movie in the theater sucks because I don't have a way to watch it at home right now...

[ArialBlue]

Depreciated apps. Windows Photo Gallery and Zune are the modern replacements.

What the hell are those? And are they really desktop apps and not metro apps?

I mean there is nothing really wrong with WMP - it is just got remove gradient and do some minor changes like that.

[Shane Nokes]

What the hell are those? And are they really desktop apps and not metro apps?

I mean there is nothing really wrong with WMP - it is just got remove gradient and do some minor changes like that.

They are desktop apps. Zune is a far better application for handling music & video collections than WiMP. Same with Windows Photo Gallery, it's a much better desktop application experience than the default Windows Photo Viewer.

[Dot Matrix]

What the hell are those?

Seriously?

[Brandon H Supervisor]

Depreciated apps. Windows Photo Gallery and Zune are the modern replacements.

I miss the XP "photo and fax viewer" at least it would show .gif images correctly, animation and all (still have no idea why microsoft decided to remove that functionality)

[Shane Nokes]

I miss the XP "photo and fax viewer" at least it would show .gif images correctly animation and all (still have no idea why microsoft decided to remove that functionality)

The Metro/Modern/Whatever photo app shows them correctly as well :)

[ArialBlue]

Seriously?

Well I have Windows 8 installed. Don't have anything with either name - searched start menu.

I think there is some confusion going on.

Oh and rebooting is not a common occurrence. Bitching about it makes no sense. :)

[Brandon H Supervisor]

The Metro/Modern/Whatever photo app shows them correctly as well :)

cool :), i haven't messed much with the photo, music, and video modern apps much yet

Well I have Windows 8 installed. Don't have anything with either name - searched start menu.

I think there is some confusion going on.

Oh and rebooting is not a common occurrence. Bitching about it makes no sense. :)

they're seperate microsoft apps you have to download, the photo gallary is from the (former) live essentials suite and the zune player was originally just meant for the zune mp3 player but ended up as a full media player app that people really like

[Shane Nokes]

Well I have Windows 8 installed. Don't have anything with either name - searched start menu.

I think there is some confusion going on.

Oh and rebooting is not a common occurrence. Bitching about it makes no sense. :)

They are apps you install separately. Zune can be obtained from http://www.zune.net & Windows Photo Gallery is part of Windows Essentials which can be obtained here: http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows-live/essentials-home

[Dot Matrix]

Well I have Windows 8 installed. Don't have anything with either name - searched start menu.

They're separate apps. You need to go download them. They're not new either, which is why I am confused as to why you've never heard of them.

EDIT. Crap. Just saw I was beat to the punch. Twice. :/

[ArialBlue]

They are apps you install separately. Zune can be obtained from http://www.zune.net & Windows Photo Gallery is part of Windows Essentials which can be obtained here: http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows-live/essentials-home

Ah.

Mmm... sorry, I don't feel like trying them.

But thanks for the explanation :)

[nub]

Metro apps are infuriating. I tried for probably 10 damn minutes trying to figure how to make myself not invisble on facebook in the people app to message somebody. There is no back button most of the time. There is no windows management. Never did figure it out. Microsoft moved key windows apps to metro and only offer metro versions. Its ridiculous.

[Shane Nokes]

Ah.

Mmm... sorry, I don't feel like trying them.

But thanks for the explanation :)

No problem. Can't complain later on though when you say there's no better apps. ;)

Metro apps are infuriating. I tried for probably 10 damn minutes trying to figure how to make myself not invisble on facebook in the people app to message somebody. There is no back button most of the time. There is no windows management. Never did figure it out. Microsoft moved key windows apps to metro and only offer metro versions. Its ridiculous.

Umm... Windows Live Messenger is still available. I already posted about Windows Essentials up above...

[slumdogtrillionaire]

if you cant figure out how to shutdown the pc in 2 mins its best to uninstall win8... no offense to win8 :rolleyes:

[xWhiplash]

if you cant figure out how to shutdown the pc in 2 mins its best to uninstall win8... no offense to win8 :rolleyes:

So that is the attitude now? Cant click the hidden start screen? Uninstall Windows 8 because you are a horrible person!

I was on the phone once for 20 minutes trying to help a grandma find the start button on Windows XP. Even with the visual cue of the word "Start", she still could not find it.

Now we do not have visual cues, can you imagine how horrible support will be? You tell them to move to the bottom left of the screen to get to the start menu, but with no visual cues, they can be just a single pixel outside the hot corner detection box.

In terms of general users, you never want to make invisible menus or hidden panels for them to find. Some people absolutely need a visual cue to know where to go.

[slumdogtrillionaire]

So that is the attitude now? Cant click the hidden start screen? Uninstall Windows 8 because you are a horrible person!

I was on the phone once for 20 minutes trying to help a grandma find the start button on Windows XP. Even with the visual cue of the word "Start", she still could not find it.

Now we do not have visual cues, can you imagine how horrible support will be? You tell them to move to the bottom left of the screen to get to the start menu, but with no visual cues, they can be just a single pixel outside the hot corner detection box.

In terms of general users, you never want to make invisible menus or hidden panels for them to find. Some people absolutely need a visual cue to know where to go.

with you one this. some just need such a clue.

[+Warwagon MVC]

people do know u hit ur pcs power button it will turn off

On Most OEM PC's it puts the computer to sleep, not turn it out.

I agree with the entire article!

[MikeChipshop Member]

Whether you agree that Windows 8 sucks or not, you've all got to agree that article was terrible.

[rhianntp]

Go ahead and belittle him.. he is exactly how most of the mainstream users of windows are... precisely why windows 8 is epic failure

it matters not if you metrosexual college types can figure out how to work it....

[thealexweb]

It took me 15 mins to find the turn off I'll admit xD I disagree with what he says about the Ribbon (<3 scenic ribbon) but I agree with a lot of what he's saying. The OS feels so rushed and needs to be delayed by six months to finish the Email app and other bundled apps. Also Gadget support should make a come back as an Optional Windows component.

[Brandon H Supervisor]

On Most OEM PC's it puts the computer to sleep, not turn it out.

I agree with the entire article!

AFAIK that's only with laptops and has nothing to do with OEM

[rhianntp]

You call him a retard(quite offencive btw..I assume themoderator will threaten banning??). ok, fair enough.. but I suppose that MOST of the 95 + people who commented below his article are also retarded??