Windows 8 In Videos: An Operating System Reimagined?

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@Pyree & @stonedatheist

Metro off is not at par with Win7 in nearly all ways except maybe the looks similarity.

@SteelCity1981
Maybe you ought to go back to Windows 3.1

The whole concept of Win 8 is as I think of now to optimize the OS, this is something I had said quite sometime about being the same engine under a different hood. I took it all back, and MS has certainly optimized the code for nearly all processors, Win 8 even in the present form (Beta) a premature baby is pretty much overdeveloped to be called pre-mature. They have moved away from a overloaded heavy weight to an optimized sleek and really fast OS.
I would not be surprised if this was to be inculcated into the EUFI boards by the end of next year, the OS sucks without a touch screen, no doubt about that, but, this is a preview, so when the final OS comes out into the market they will have this feature in one of the Win 8 addons pack, most probably.
Win7 was never so fast in doing any of the jobs this does. Both are babies from a different father I guess:)
The question is , will this also slow down over a period of time after MS clutters it with all the updates, leaving crap on the disk which cannot be removed or moved?

From the non touch point of view, I love the new look. It's great to see what I frequent online just pop up onto my screen at log on, very very convenient, the news the feeds everything is there by the time I finish my logging in, instead of the usual old route to go to the browser and check what's up.

Applications are a pain though, and are being worked on right now as a matter of fact.
Most of us like the old standard desktop with all the program icons on them , yup, but they new things MS might think up of will be fun to use, mainly because of the speed at which things move in Win 8.

Continuing in the Thought's on Win 8 section....
 

pleuph

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I'm glad they learned from their previous mistake of only mentioning HTML5/JavaScript for Metro app programming. With the inclusion of XAML/C#, the only question I have now as a developer is whether Metro UI apps can be run under older OS's?
 
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This whole, sync your life over every device you own crap will not work! I will not give up my Android phone for anything microsoft comes up with, Android has been one of the best things to happen to the OS market in a long time and over my dead handset will i change to WINphone 7. I plan on having an android tablet once Tegra 3 hits as well!

I do not want tiles! I do not want Metro interface, I do not want Microsoft Live ID sign in on all my devices, I want them to remain separate for the separate roles they have in my life! I do not want a touch screen OS for my PC, I do not want most of the features they are making for Windows 8!

If it ships in this state, I will stay on windows 7 for my needs, its simple! Now if you can choose, normal desktop with proper multitasking and GUI interface we all know (Hell I will even let them have the ribbon) I may see if the other features such as file copy and task manager are worth the upgrade.
 

killerclick

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They're trying to make an OS for all devices, in the end it won't be good for any device. That's why iOS has better performance than Android on similar hardware, that's why consoles vastly outperform similarly specced desktops and that's why Windows 8 will suck. It's a lazy attempt to cover all bases, on one hand with 20 years of baggage that tablets don't need, on the other hand with a UI unsuitable for work on desktops.
 
Great review toms! But people still are not getting the point that this is not a finished or working product (or even the same product used in the BUILD conference demos).
Personally I like what I have seen so far, but it is far from a finished product
 
Actually guys, looking closely to the videos and descriptions provided so far... I like the Metro UI. Granted is aimed directly to touch devices, I could see it in desktops with no problem. Just give me a lot of keyboard shortcuts and I'm in (HTPC goodness right there).

I don't know how far integrated it is within Windows 8, but it could be a VERY smart move for MS to release a preview of the Metro UI style in Win7. They could leave the WinRT out of it and just deliver the daily desktop experience.

Also, the Virtual Machine approach seems like a reasonable one for today needs and fair CPU power to spare. I'd love to see an agnostic x86 or ARM OS at it's fullest.

Cheers!
 

zjohn89

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Honestly i can understand that this is still in its early stages, but it seems to me MS sucks at marketing. From all the articles and clips ive watched about W8, they barely even mention being able to use the OS like W7, which alot of people want to hear. This is windows Vista all over again, a bunch of fluff and features. Useless. When i saw this i was very disgusted with the direction MS is taking, in fact, its not just MS but it seems to be a trend these days to dumb down certain interfaces to childish levels. Who are we catering to? Little kids and old people? Or people who actually use a computer.

The worst out of all of this, is that MS is making it so obvious that they are jumping on the band wagon. This isnt innovation. Im sorry to say.
 

r0g

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Erm, so the big innovation in Windows 8 is to get rid of all the Windows? Finally monitors get wide enough to have two apps open side by side and now MS decide they want everything to run full screen. IE10 seems to just mean IE9 with obligatory great big thick borders down the sides of most pages - whoo progress!
 

dimar

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I'm sure Microsoft did this on purpose, to see how people will react to the Metro UI. I guess the next stage is to wait about a year, and see if people's reaction changes...
 

Th-z

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What's with the mouse cursor, that busy circle is the new default mouse pointer in Windows 8? I hope that's just a bug or it can be changed in the final product.

There are many areas that they can still improve the current desktop interface, both look and usability, yet they're so eager to push this new UI, an "uni-UI" grail that they're pursing across their devices. Driven by the popularity of tablet and smartphone, so they want to cater the mass by making personal computer feels like tablet and smartphone, an UI that's focused on content consumption. In terms of productivity, I only see the better file copy function, pity, not to mention you need more clicks and move mouse across screen just to turn off computer.

I don't use Apple products, but I know why people like OS X in productivity and iOS in content consumption.
 

ceteras

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If you have touch input, swipe the screen to scroll horizontally.
If not, good luck dragging the horizontal scroll bar.
Why can't they allow you to drag the whole screen by just dragging it from wherever you want?
 

superflykicks03

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The prevailing feeling I get from reading the comments is that most THG readers are disappointed/unimpressed with the new Metro interface.

This, to me does not come as a surprise. We who frequent THG are generally PC fans: We use our PC's for work/productivity, entertainment/gaming, etc. We have learned over the years how to make PC's do our bidding, and realize that the PC is really the best platform to accomplish all of this.

The problem is, most people do not know how to do this. Years of blue screens, system crashes, viruses/malware, crappy hardware venders (read: compaq/emachines), etc etc etc have left the common man disinfanchized with the PC.

More people I know than ever before are considering an Apple/I Pad etc when thinking of buying a new computer than ever before. Microsoft is aware of this exodus, and I believe that is why we are seeing what we see in Windows 8.

This is an attempt to capture the feel and simplicity of the tablet experience/app based experience that so many are going for and slap it on the PC. Microsoft knows that, with the exception of productivity, the desktop platform is dying; while I personally don't like the look and feel of Metro, I think that it is a wise business decision for Microsoft to evolve Windows with the changes we are seeing in the computing market.
 
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so let me get this right, we get a new task manager (which is awesome, a single place where you can manage your processes, including starting/stopping services and what what apps/services should start up at windows boot), copy/past/delete functionality, streamlined shutdown/hibernate/sleep (which i have to say works significantly better than in any previous versions of windows i have tried), native iso (and possibly PDF) support, streamlined kernel with lower system requirements, UEFI support, better Wifi handling and the single thing that most folks zero on in is the feature that can be bent and changed to whatever you/MS will it (and will probably undergo several overhaul before final release)......

so thats why the iPad is selling so well.....
 

bounty

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Right click on your desktop, make the screen resolution 1024x768 and crank the dpi, so that all your icons are giant, then hide the task bar. Viola, Win8. Which is basically Win 3.1 with bigger icons.
 
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Mmm... has anyone talked about using metro with kinetic? it sounds just natural to me.
 

Marcus52

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[citation][nom]Pyree[/nom]I though my 1st comment was fair and in depth, but I am getting -3. I will be really pissed if it gets 1 more negative and hidden. Must be the shock value of my first line and people don't read further.[/citation]

"Uniquly bad experience if you use mouse and keyboard with Metro."

What's "fair and in depth" about that statement? You want to show people you are going to make a fair analysis, don't start off sounding like an opinionated shmuck who thinks he speaks for everyone.

;)




 
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Microsoft has to give people a reason to upgrade. As someone who has no interest in a Microsoft phone and has no plans currently to buy a tablet of any type, why would I want to upgrade to Windows 8. Strictly for the pleasure of re-learning basic interfaces to the computer and shelling out $100 dollars or more? I don't think so.

From a corporate IT person perspective, There is no way we would bring a Win 8 PC into our network. Even if you could turn off Metro completely and have the same Win 7 interface, there is simply no benefit and too much risk. We skipped Vista completely and are only bringing Win 7 in on new machines. Win 8 will be DoA in the corporate world.
 

SteelCity1981

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[citation][nom]alyoshka[/nom]@Pyree & @stonedatheistMetro off is not at par with Win7 in nearly all ways except maybe the looks similarity.@SteelCity1981Maybe you ought to go back to Windows 3.1....[/citation]


So i need to go back to Windows 3.1 because i dont' care for the metro style UI? That's the most idiotic comment someone has said on this board yet. Yeah lets go back to Windows 3.1 where nothing is supported anymore or can't support the proper cpu and ram requirements to even run apps online let alone anything else. How do you correlate with what I said to that is far beyond me. The Merto UI has nothing to do with anything other then the fact that it was a choice for MS to change something that is radical to most people to put on a pc and will be less functional, then functional to most pc users. Think before you type...

 

marraco

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- Synergy
I’m not interested on synergy if it does not work outside of Microsoft software.

If Android and Linux can work on it, and I can choose the central server (like making my own home server), then is different. But Microsoft does not want that. He wants to be another Apple MomCorp, and I can’t take it. Also, no company would like to have his data stored on Microsoft servers.

-Not just touch.
Touch screen is not enough. Also kinetic sensors should be mandatory. Controlling the interface by moving the device and shaking it is more useful that just touching the screen. Do it before Ape.
For example, a mouse cursor should be controlled by moving the tablet. It haves many advantages, like being faster that moving the fingers, and it allows larger screens. Because you don’t need reach all the screen with your thumbs.

-No more garbage
Look at all the clutter on the Metro screenshots: Full of bloat! I don’t want that. I don’t accept that.
What if I have 100 applications installed? I don’t install garbage, and still I have more than 100 programs installed. I going need to browse 100 icons?? 100 unorganized icons. I would be lost very fast.
Common people will install Adobe Reader, ant it would add other 4 or 5 “apps” like it tries to do today. Then your icons zoo will grow by 5 or more icons.

-I demand to be able to close applications
You cannot more close program (apps) on Windows 8. To do it, now you need to start the task manager ++ and kill “apps”.
That’s outrageously stupid.

-Hate Metro
Go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer
and set RPEnabled string to 0. It disables Metro, and gives you the Windows 7 interface.
It also allows access to the Start menu. But is the only way to access the start menu.

Metro would be tolerable if I could start right on the start menu enabled window, use Windows 7 start menu without disabling Metro, and just use metro if I choose to. But if I need to choose between Metro and the Start Menu, I pick the Start Menu. Metro is an useless gimmick. The Start Menu is life and death tool.


 
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@marraco

metro might actually make alot more sense for you, you may have 100 of programs installed but how many you use daily? the idea with metro is you wont need a tile for PDF reader, most folks dont open reader then do a file open, they double click the pdf file itself, tiles will be for your most used activity, you will never have 100 tiles, you will have a small select number of tiles you use daily, anything else can be accessed through the smart search (which admittedly i have yet to discover how to involk in win8)

since win7 i have rarely ever needed to dive through the star menu, i pin stuff to the taskbar, it's infinitely more handy and give me access to the quicklist

actually you can close programs in win8, you cant close Metro Apps, which belong to a whole different kettle of fish, and yes i do find Metro Apps to be some what annoying in how they behave but most metro apps go into suspend mode or kill themselves off after a certain time away from them
 
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