"Threshold" to be Called Windows 9, Ship in April 2015


Recommended Posts

Modular is the answer. 

Yanno, if ya listened carefully, you'd have noticed that that is essentially all we've ever wanted. On a personal level, I couldn't care less what someone else runs on their device. I just want access to the full desktop experience, and ideally I'd like to see it remain fully supported for another 20 years.(by which time I would be 78, or more likely dead...)

 

This does not, in and of itself mean that if something better came along I wouldn't jump on it, I would.

 

It's simply that tifkam wasn't it.

It's funny, how pictures can show the clear divide.  I agree with all the 8/8.1 is not practical and doesn't fit, and how 7 is sleek and clean, and awesome.  Yet you can clearly see that others feel reverse.

Windows 8 / 8.1

 

 

Windows 7

 

 

:laugh:

(except Windows 7 can't be a Prius - more like a gas guzzling SUV compared to lean and mean Win 8.x)

  • Like 2

But the problem is, not everyone uses just a keyboard.  Hell I used a mouse way way more than a keyboard.  I don't use a touch screen on my computer, and will likely never.. I lose productivity if I wanted to move to that.  

The start menu is way way better for me than the start screen ever will be.  I still sue the start menu as a start menu.   Just because some people don't use it, doesn't mean that everyone doesn't.  I still 100% believe metro is for tablets, and phones. I don't see it as having a place on a desktop, production, machine.

firey - that is exactly the entire point I have been trying to make - there have been two groups of merely GUI users (the issue cuts across Windows, so it's not JUST a Windows issue).  Note that the Start menu launched as part of Windows 95, and was, in fact, late coming to NT (it didn't until NT 4.0), and was, in fact, pretty much entirely pointing-device driven (according to Microsoft's own documentation) and I'm not even counting touch-screen users.  Because I don't have touch support, the inclusion of them merely covered up the already-extant dichotomy between the keyboard-driven and pointing-device-driven users.

That is why a hybrid OS makes sense - not every user uses the OS the same way.  The problem that Windows 8/8.1 is facing is that now the hybrid OS is the default - not a niche.  The problem that those that want simply standard production desktops (old-school desktops, as they would say) want is that such HARDWARE is no longer the default, at least in terms of Windows - truth be told, such hardware has been moving away from being a default build of merely Windows hardware since XP.  As much as the "kitchen-sink" versions of merely Vista and 7 sold (look at JUST the sales of the Ultimate SKU - of either OS - sold vs. any other SKU of the same OS), there is still far more to even Windows 8.1 Pro than there was to Windows 7 Ultimate - and that is despite Media Center being an extra-cost option in 8.1 vs. it being standard in 7.  (I've pointed this out in another thread - it's more that Windows 8 and 8.1 include too much.)  Therefore, from what the critics themselves are say, they would rather have a more cut-down SKU as an option (something below the existing Windows 8 Core).

They may have been hoping that the keyboard-driven user would go along with the pointing-device-driven users into complaining - however, by and large, that has no more been the case here than it has been with GNOME.  The excision of the Start menu has been a panacea for the keyboard-driven users - we're no longer second-class citizens behind pointing-device users.  Touch support (to me) is utterly irrelevant.

  • Like 2

It's funny, how pictures can show the clear divide.  I agree with all the 8/8.1 is not practical and doesn't fit, and how 7 is sleek and clean, and awesome.  Yet you can clearly see that others feel reverse.

firey - I have never (as in ever) said that there would not be a divide - I am saying that I am apparently wrong as to the reason for it.

 

On one side are the pointing-device-driven users - on the other are not just touch-screen users, but keyboard-driven users as well.

 

The first group is heavily-reliant to the point of bias on the Start menu - therefore, they are the most upset with its excision; most of them feel that no third-party alternative for Windows 8 or 8.1 will do.  (What strikes me as weird is that most of them can't even explain WHY that is the case.)  Touch-screen users and keyboard-driven users BOTH got some bennies out of Windows 8 and 8.1.  Touch-screens actually gained more support (in both 8 and 8.1 - with 8.1's support improving merely over the base 8) - however, surprisingly, keyboard-driven users gained more than even touch-screen users simply by ModernUI being more neutral compared to the pointing-device-driven Start menu.

 

That is why I can speak about neutrality with a straight face - because I am neither pointing-device-driven OR touch-screen driven.  I'm in that category that has been around (even in Windows) for a while, but doesn't get talked about much - a keyboard-driven (for the most part) user.

Metro 2.0. Maturing and fixing the "Metro" design language used by Windows will be a major focus area of Threshold. It's not clear what changes are coming, but it's safe to assume that a windowed mode that works on the desktop is part of that.

Three milestones. Microsoft expects to deliver three milestone releases of "Threshold" before its final release. It's unclear what these releases will be called (Beta, Release Candidate, etc.) or which if any will be provided to the public.

 

That's good, but how about maturing and fixing the desktop, too.

Windows 8.1:

10-modern_cars_12.jpg

 

How exactly do you get into that ugly piece of crap? Did they remove the usefulness of A DOOR and just make you climb into it?

 

Actually, after thinking about it for a moment. That is the perfect Windows 8 car.

How exactly do you get into that ugly piece of crap? Did they remove the usefulness of A DOOR and just make you climb into it?

 

Actually, after thinking about it for a moment. That is the perfect Windows 8 car.

rinspeed_senso_01.JPG

 

Rinspeed+Senso+Cars+Pictures.jpg

I'm still not seeing door hinges. Do you climb in?

Pretty much that is the case - there are no "doors" that I can see; you climb over the doorsill.  (Unless there is a lever - and there appears to be one to the far rear of the doorsill under the left (passenger-side - this concept is right-hand-drive, just behind the roof) hinge; it's covered with the roof closed down.)

It's a concept car. You do climb in because the drivers seat is in the middle of the chassis.

 

Which makes it the perfect Windows 8 car

 

1) it's ugly

2) It forces people to be inconvenienced. What if you get a broken leg, how do you get in?

That's good, but how about maturing and fixing the desktop, too.

Tell me, honestly - how is the desktop broken other than it not being biased toward pointing devices?

I haven't noticed ANY lack of usability in what desktop applications, games, etc. I use in Windows 8.1 every day - desktop applications could care less about the Start menu being missing.

 I still have a pronounced skew toward desktop applications and games - therefore I'm asking that question with a straight face.

Which makes it the perfect Windows 8 car

 

1) it's ugly

2) It forces people to be inconvenienced. What if you get a broken leg, how do you get it?

The definition of a concept car went right over your head, didn't it?

 

"Concept cars never go into production directly. In modern times all would have to undergo many changes before the design is finalized for the sake of practicality, safety, the meeting the burden of regulatory compliance, and cost. A "production-intent" vehicle, as opposed to a concept vehicle, serves this purpose."

 

Obviously, if it was mass produced, things would be reconfigured for use. I could point out a nice BMW concept too, that doesn't have doors. The initial picture was meant to be something modern and forward looking, but this conversation went sour fast.

This topic is now closed to further replies.
  • Posts

    • The fact I need to use "Show more" like 99% of the time is so annoying. Or why I have 7-zip under 3 submenus when it could be in top. And Microslop keeps saying how they'll improve Start and I've not seen ANY improvement yet. In MONTHS. WTF?! I'll believe any of it when they actually deliver anything.
    • LosslessCut 3.69 by Razvan Serea LosslessCut aims to be the ultimate cross platform FFmpeg GUI for extremely fast and lossless operations on video, audio, subtitle and other related media files. The main feature is lossless trimming and cutting of video and audio files, which is great for saving space by rough-cutting your large video files taken from a video camera, GoPro, drone, etc. It lets you quickly extract the good parts from your videos and discard many gigabytes of data without doing a slow re-encode and thereby losing quality. Or you can add a music or subtitle track to your video without needing to encode. Everything is extremely fast because it does an almost direct data copy, fueled by the awesome FFmpeg which does all the grunt work. Features Lossless cutting of most video and audio formats Losslessly cut out parts of video/audio (for cutting away commercials etc.) Losslessly rearrange the order of video/audio segments Lossless merge/concatenation of arbitrary files (with identical codecs parameters, e.g. from the same camera) Lossless stream editing: Combine arbitrary tracks from multiple files (ex. add music or subtitle track to a video file) Losslessly extract all tracks from a file (extract video, audio, subtitle, attachments and other tracks from one file into separate files) Batch view for fast multi-file workflow Remux into any compatible output format Take full-resolution snapshots from videos in JPEG/PNG format Manual input of cutpoint times Apply a per-file timecode offset (and auto load timecode from file) Change rotation/orientation metadata in videos View technical data about all streams Timeline zoom and frame/keyframe jumping for accurate cutting around keyframes Saves per project cut segments to project file View FFmpeg last command log so you can modify and re-run recent commands on the command line Undo/redo Give labels to cut segments View segment details, export/import cut segments as CSV Import segments from: MP4/MKV chapters, Text file, YouTube, CSV, CUE, XML (DaVinci, Final Cut Pro) Video thumbnails and audio waveform Edit file metadata and per-stream metadata Edit per-stream disposition Cut with chapter marks Annotate segments with tags View subtitles Example lossless use cases Cut out commercials from a recorded TV show (and re-format from TS to MP4) Remove audio tracks from a file Extract music track from a video and cut it to your needs Add music to a video (or replace existing audio track) Combine audio and video tracks from separate recordings Include an external subtitle into a video Quickly change a H264/H265 MKV video to MOV or MP4 for playback on iPhone Import a list of cut times from other tool as a EDL (edit decision list, CSV) and run these cuts with LosslessCut Export a list of cut times as a CSV EDL and process these in another tool Quickly cut a file by its MP4/MKV chapters Quickly cut a YouTube video by its chapters (or music times from a comment) Change the language of a file's audio/subtitle tracks Attach cover art to videos Change author, title, GPS position, recording time of a video Fix rotation of a video that has the wrong orientation flag set Great for rotating phone videos that come out the wrong way without actually re-encoding the video. Loop a video / audio clip X times quickly without re-encoding LosslessCut 3.69.0 changelog: Add lossless cropping & aspect ratio override via bitstream and container metadata #643 Alow shifting tracks for each file (-itsoffset) #216 Add "decimate video" tool to filter away all non-keyframes #2111 Add Windows ARM 64 native build with native ffmpeg Move timecode out of timeline and make it copy-able #2592 #2691 #2800 #483 #2808 Upgrade Electron to latest Add new "opposing" align mode #2654 Add FFmpeg -hwaccel auto setting for hardware acceleration of certain operations Add API events export-start and export-complete Allow deleting track metadata #2819 Improve shift segments dialog #2839 Show keyboard shortcuts inside button tooltips in UI Warn if trying to cut with too few keyframes around cutpoint #516 #2780 #2756 (Linux) include app name in notification #2794 Pull latest translations Other notable changes: Advanced output directory selector #2101 #2115 #2755 increase max file name length to 250 (truncation) #2779 don't reset playback speed when using special playback modes #2889 preserve chapters when merging files that already have chapters don't merge adjacent segments in combineOverlappingSegments #2896 don't transfer segment name when filling gaps #2754 always scroll up to zoom in #2703 #2786 increase max keyframes to 10000 Don't bind ctrl/cmd+c by default (they interfer with copying text) Many other improvements and fixes Download: LosslessCut 3.69.0 | ARM64 | ~100.0 MB (Open Source) Links: LosslessCut Website | Other Operating Systems | Screenshot Get alerted to all of our Software updates on Twitter at @NeowinSoftware
    • Doesn't even need a UI for point 2 - use some sort of JSON/XML container - because MOST users won't even bother.
  • Recent Achievements

    • Conversation Starter
      FBSPL earned a badge
      Conversation Starter
    • Week One Done
      I2D earned a badge
      Week One Done
    • Week One Done
      Dr Jared Dental Studio earned a badge
      Week One Done
    • Week One Done
      RG INVESTMENT GROUP earned a badge
      Week One Done
    • Very Popular
      The Norwegian Drone Pilot earned a badge
      Very Popular
  • Popular Contributors

    1. 1
      +primortal
      488
    2. 2
      PsYcHoKiLLa
      263
    3. 3
      Skyfrog
      85
    4. 4
      FloatingFatMan
      64
    5. 5
      Michael Scrip
      62
  • Tell a friend

    Love Neowin? Tell a friend!