"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 funny thing here is that like 70% or so of the web browser users use 'Google Chrome' as web browser. What I don't understand is that why on earth would ANYONE choose 'Google Chrome' on Windows when 'Microsoft Edge' is not just better in most things, but it's already there right out of the box for the Windows users. Microsoft Edge has less data collection (yes, that's a fact), less RAM usage and is more optimized for Windows (as it's a Microsoft product) right out of the box. Sure, the way Microsoft is pushing Microsoft Edge on users might not be the best way of doing it and might need to change. But I would never choose 'Google Chrome' over 'Microsoft Edge' today anyways. I'm sure there was a period back in the days when 'Google Chrome' actually was better in most things, but that period is not today.
    • JetBrains rolls out IntelliJ IDEA update with Markdown preview fixes and more by David Uzondu Image via JetBrains IntelliJ 2026.1.3 from JetBrains has landed, bringing several highly requested bug fixes that target common UI glitches and terminal rendering issues. If you run tmux inside the integrated terminal, the IDE no longer renders the cursor above the active line. The Markdown preview bug, which was fixed in this release, had annoyed developers for quite some time, as the preview pane failed to render images saved outside the project directory. Instead of displaying the actual image, the IDE simply showed a broken image icon, a problem that stuck around for two years before this update. Over on Windows, developers running WSL can now use wsl.exe to spin up their environments without losing terminal functionality. In previous builds, launching a terminal shell with something like wsl.exe -d ubuntu inside a Windows-based project broke both shell integration and active process detection. Other bug fixes in this release include: An issue where Gradle sync incorrectly reported success as a failure on WSL when using Gradle 9.5.0. A syntax highlighting bug that flagged valid Java for-loop initialization blocks with multiple statements as incorrect. A warning bug that triggered a false non-null local variable alert when using JSpecify annotations. A database generation bug that hid the option to use a DELETE statement instead of a TRUNCATE checkbox. A Kotlin highlighting failure where an assertion error in the Gradle redundant library inspection broke error highlighting. A UI bug where the ComboBox popup lacked a maximum height restriction. A Snowflake syntax error where DataGrip failed to support the "create temp" command. A Svelte syntax parsing failure that incorrectly flagged quotes inside inline expressions. A VCS repository manager deadlock that triggered thread pool exhaustion. A memory leak where the LazyTree component kept all previous versions of a tree in memory. IntelliJ 2026.1.3 is the third bug fix release for the IntelliJ 2026.1 series. The first one landed back in April with a fix for the WSL Python interpreter freeze, another fix for guest participants using Emmet abbreviations, and corrected WildFly server deployment errors.
    • That stupid annoying Sign in with Google on all these sites now... get the fk outta here
    • I was just being silly based on David Uzondu's comment ☺️
    • The unified inbox, when it arrives, will be a powerful argument for those who have > 1.
  • Recent Achievements

    • Collaborator
      Asgardi earned a badge
      Collaborator
    • Conversation Starter
      mobandz earned a badge
      Conversation Starter
    • Apprentice
      fernan99 went up a rank
      Apprentice
    • One Month Later
      nothanks earned a badge
      One Month Later
    • One Month Later
      B2Proxy earned a badge
      One Month Later
  • Popular Contributors

    1. 1
      +primortal
      469
    2. 2
      PsYcHoKiLLa
      243
    3. 3
      Skyfrog
      79
    4. 4
      FloatingFatMan
      73
    5. 5
      Michael Scrip
      60
  • Tell a friend

    Love Neowin? Tell a friend!