As long as...
... I can still get "Desktop" as my top-left tile, I won't complain too much...
Next from Microsoft: 'Blue', the Windows 8 they hope you don't hate
Windows Blue - the supposedly leaked sequel to Microsoft's Windows 8 operating system - will apparently look a lot more like Windows Phone 8 and allow users to further personalise their computers. Copies of what appears to be build 9364 of Windows Blue are circulating on peer-to-peer file-sharing networks; once the alpha-grade …
nothing to see here
Barely enough to count as a service pack, so the 'next' release is still the same crap that nobody wants.
Wake me up when a real windows 9 raises its head somewhere in the torrents.
Re: nothing to see here
"Blue" is the codename for the service pack style release concept. So this IS likely a Service Pack.
Re: nothing to see here
Nobody wants? are you sure you can vouch for every single member of the human race?
Guess what, tastes vary. Not everyone likes One Direction despite them being very popular. So I guess because so many people do like them all the other people who don't should be forced to listen to it and stop choosing to listen to something else?
@AC 18:49GMT - Re: nothing to see here
Whatever! Hopefully my Windows 7 is good until 2020 so at that time I'll jump straight to Windows13.
Re: nothing to see here
"It's Microsoft's Let's Copy Apple's (and certain Linux distros') regular upgrade cycle concept."
You certain it is just that? It appears from that video they are trying to or will copy much of what KDE has, not to mention Wayland or the conceptual Linux desktops of the late 90's. No matter, because the saddest thing is that they are pretending this is a whole new OS. Windows 8 doesn't even feel or look like a complete OS, so shouldn't this be labeled as "Windows 8 SE"?
Hasn't the majority of consumers that know of competing OS's voted against Windows 8? Has the words "I traded in my *nix box for Windows 8" even been thought, let alone spoken?
Re: nothing to see here
"...Has the words "I traded in my *nix box for Windows 8" even been thought, let alone spoken?.."
Well, presumably you thought them when considering writing that sentence... and now, all of us reading it are hearing the words in our heads. So, yes, those words have been thought quite a lot round here lately... and it's all your fault!
Re: nothing to see here
"no it's not a SP, it's going to cost you money, which makes it a New Upgrade Version"
No - this is a free upgrade for existing users.
Service packs with a few notable exceptions have primarily been about consolidating patches and updates, not providing new features.
This is a minor update release, and as such is unlikely to be called a Service Pack. This would likely be similar to Windows Server 2008 and Server 2008 R2.
Re: nothing to see here
I gave up with Ubuntu and upgraded to Windows 8 - It is Microsoft's best OS effort yet by a long way. I did have to read the included help files on how to do things like move Live Tiles to where you want them though, as it was not obvious (drag them up/down if you are scrolling left to right).
Re: nothing to see here
LOL +1 however it does appear to be just too difficult for the majority of el reg readers and authors
Re: nothing to see here
Not spoken - done. Had a "dwarf penguin" around since I had no spare Win7 licence for the HP/Compaq E-Series box I got on eBay. When the Win8 offer came I dug out a spare XP licence from a long dead notebook and killed the penguin.
And the "last penguin" is just hoovering on the brim of the tran cooker until a WP8 smartphone with keyboard or stylus comes out - than the Note becomes lamp oil (well ends up at eBay like the bigger brother did)
Resizeable/groupable tiles - meh
If the things are still compulsory, I'll continue to pass, thanks.
Re: Resizeable/groupable tiles - meh
I installed Classic Start Menu 5 mins after Win 8, and I haven't seen a tile for months.
Re: Resizeable/groupable tiles - meh
I didn't install Windows 8, I haven't seen a tile since the Consumer Preview.
Microsoft presumably would like to sell their product. Unless/until I have the option, without messing about with 3rd party add ons, to have a "classic" mode (or whatever you want to call it) then I will continue to not buy it*. It's pretty clear I'm not alone in this.
*I may well not buy it even then, of course. Win 7 continues to be working just fine here, and next time I need to update my work hardware it will quite likely be a Linux + VM for when I need Windows. Nevertheless, as things stand right now it's a guaranteed lost sale.
Re: Resizeable/groupable tiles - meh
On my xp box I have 382 files in 144 folders. How any serious user could migrate to windows 8 without a decent start menu is a sign of micrisoft's insanity
As it is I have to waste time removing useless tiles every time I install anything on my touchy feel slab.
Re: Resizeable/groupable tiles - meh
I exercised my downgrade rights and kept W7 on all my machines. The same as I did with XP when vista came along.
Re: Resizeable/groupable tiles - meh
I have about 600 shortcuts on my Windows 8 All Apps menu - bet I can migrate to any of them much faster than you can on XP!
Re: Resizeable/groupable tiles - meh
And those 144 folders all end up in your "start" menu? Wow - talk about unusable/deep structure. IIRC the "last used" popup is a Win7 (maybe Vista) feature.
My start menu never had more than the programs in it (< 72) and the rest was done through them. If I really need documents - I pin them on the desktop. Easier now than ever since my programs are pinned on the seperat Modern screen.
Think I'll wait for Windows 9
Or until they decide to row back on all the Metro bullshit and recognise that some old fogeys still like using a mouse.
Re: Think I'll wait for Windows 9
No idea what you're on about, my mouse works perfectly in Windows 8
Re: Think I'll wait for Windows 9
The mouse works perfectly. Windows 8's response to mouse interactions on the other hand ...
Re: Think I'll wait for Windows 9
I'm that rare breed that actually likes Windows 8, and also thinks the Surface is a perfectly good tablet. But let's be honest, the mouse does not work perfectly in Windows 8, especially in the Metro interface.
Re: Think I'll wait for Windows 9
My mouse works just fine on windows 8, not sure what type of mouse you are using but if it's an old fogey like you maybe it is time for some upgrades to the 21st century!!
Hint: Get rid of the rollerball mouse too!!!
Re: Think I'll wait for Windows 9
I agree with hahnchen, the mouse does NOT work in Windows 8. Here's the proof - I insert a CD, and get a pop-up on the screen that says
"DVD Drive (D:) OFFICE11
Tap to choose what happens with this disc"
So I tap the screen with my mouse, but get no response. Nothing. Tap again. Still nothing. Tap twice quickly, but no difference. It's not until I CLICK that I get a response. Tapping does not work, so at least part of the mouse interface for Windows 8 DOES NOT WORK WHEN YOU DO EXACTLY WHAT THE FUCKING SCREEN TELLS YOU TO DO.
What OS?
Every version of Windows should have a 'Classic' UI option emulating Win 95. This would remove 99% of the complaints about a new release as the majority of users can continue to completely ignore the operating system and run their favourite applications with the minimum delay.
@vonRat: Re: What OS?
"Every version of Windows should have a 'Classic' UI option emulating Win 95. This would remove 99% of the complaints... "
Well that, and a decent file manager. As a li'l sidenote, I'll add that the WinXP Windows Explorer qualifies as a "decent file manager" only in comparison to all succeeding versions of Windows Explorer in subsequent Windows releases.
Windows Explorer
It will only be a "decent file manager" when it manages to stop occasionally crashing for no apparent reason (as it has done since Windows 95) and they give us the option to turn off the stupid "jump down the screen 2 seconds later*" that they added in Windows 7. Classic Shell can sometimes fix the latter but often only after you call up the CS settings and OK them again.
* this is what I mean: http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_7-files/windows-explorer-expands-folders-inappropriately/50a81b05-da98-4d55-821d-55ffbbd0e998
Re: Windows Explorer
A decent file explorer?
Is this a reference to the old two-pane file explorer that disappeared at the same time MS tried to claim Internet Explorer was an integral part of the OS in a bid to avoid an anti-trust ruling?
I get on okay with Windows explorer on 7... it doesn't crash too often, and the Win7 'Snap to half screen' feature makes it easier to recreate the old two-pane functionality.
Re: What OS?
> Every version of Windows should have a 'Classic' UI option
Maybe users would want that, but it would fail to meet Microsoft's future plans. MS's mobile market share has decreased from 42% of the US smartphone to less than 3%. Eventually this would impact on desktops as users move to Android, ChromeOS and OS/X or even Linux as being more familiar to them than the archaic Win95 derived UI.
In order to make Metro UI familiar MS needs to force it down users throats until they love it. Then they will demand that UI on phones and tablets. Making it optional it not an option.
Re: What OS?
W7 explorer was far better than XP explorer IMHO. The fact that it wouldnt tank large file copies due to one file being iffy was the biggest bonus. Various copy/rename functions and a proper "just remember what I chose the first time dammit!" options were good too.
Cant say ive had it crash many times, if it does then unless it is a hard blue screen error then it picks itself up again neatly.
Re: What OS?
Only thing is they have about as much a chance of succeeding as you or I hitting the £400.000.000 €uro Millions Lottery.
This strategy is doomed to (See Icon)...
When will they learn that I don't want to spend hours rearranging / resizing tiles? I have work / games / etc to do. It's one of the main reasons I dislike TIFKAM. I want an unobtrusive system that automatically arranges itself into alphabetical order like, oh I don't know, the start menu in Win7!
As for the advanced feature that allows you to have two whole windows on the screen at once!!! Wow how did they think of that. I currently have 4 windows open on one screen and 3 on another in Win7. Multiple windows are part of my workflow. Hell even my phone can do two windows at once!
Making Win8 even more like WinPho is not the way to fix it.
It seems that their UI designer rides Harley bike.
HOGs are notorious for spending time customizing their bikes instead of riding, so the same mindset applied here ..
So this is two non-overlapping windows sharing the screen like er... Windows 1 in 1983?
Some progress, I suppose.
What goes around...
When Xerox-PARC let Apple engineers view it's GUI work, the Apple guys mistakenly thought they had seen overlapping windows. They then clean sheeted designed that into the Lisa OS. Guess MS needs to send some of their Win8 guys over to Xerox. Or maybe just as far as the Win7 area?
Re: How many programs...
The raspberry pi uses a "toy" ARM processor and manages to run a normal desktop OS. That's *probably* because 2013's "toys" have more oomph than anything you could buy in previous years, but it *might* also have something to do with the OS not being a bloated steaming pile.
Re: What goes around...
The fact that people have two or even three monitors is testament to the fact that multiple windows and overlapping doesn't work well in reality if you need to look at two things regularly.
Re: How many programs...
Sorry but that's BS. The tile UI is about supporting touch screens well.
When Microsoft released XP tablet edition people moaned they couldn't use the whole OS with touch. So they produce a fully touch capable OS and people are now complaining that their desktop is gone.
Re: How many programs...
I think you'll notice that you made your own statement redundant
"XP tablet edition"
See that little word in the middle there, that word, tablet, you know, for small touch screen machines.
As I sit here reclined in my sofa my monitor (tv screen) is a good 3 meters away from me, so yeah, I couldn't give a fuck about touch, also all my computers have normal stand up monitors and only an idiot would think touch screen was anything but an RSI/Health and Safety law suite waiting to happen.
So argue the pro's of metro as much as you like, but don't bother talking about its touch capabilities on a normal desktop or laptop pc.
@mmeier
"How many programs can a ARM toy tablet run at the same time?"
Why should your cheap, battery dependent, small screened, input deficient ARM toy dictate the behaviour of my high end, hex core, multimonitor, mains powered PC?
Microsoft cross promotional marketing requirements is not an acceptable answer.
@AC 18:53
When Microsoft released XP tablet edition people moaned they couldn't use the whole OS with touch. So they produce a fully touch capable OS and people are now complaining that their desktop is gone.
Why do we have to have one or the other exclusively? We could have, I don't know, two versions, so they could offer both a desktop version, for those who want to use big monitors, mouse and keyboard, and a tablet version, for use with touch screen devices. You, know, something called choice, that radical concept where you get the privilege of making decisions about what kind of interface you prefer to use to do a particular job?
"How many programs can a ARM toy tablet run at the same time? One or One?"
Unless it runs Windows RT - in which case it can run multiple screens and multiple applications at the same time!
Re: MS will learn the masses - or it's LOST DECADE II
"Microsoft noticed how easily the plebeians have accepted the Ribbon"
*sigh*
Get over yourself. Some people prefer the ribbon set-up, I happen to be one of them, it works particularly well in Windows Explorer. I also happen to have been writing software for over 20 years, run macs and linux boxes and just happen to use a Windows 8 laptop as my main machine. Calling people who prefer a simple change in user interface design "plebians" makes you look like a moron. Just as calling someone who happens to like something by Apple a "fanboi" makes you look like a moron, and just as calling someone who happens to like something on Linux a "freetard" makes you look like a moron.
Microsoft will do what it wants, in order to sell software, because it is a business and that is how it makes money. If you don't like what they're doing with their software, don't buy it. But I strongly suspect Microsoft know an awful lot more about how to make money by selling software that you do. I suspect this because you made yourself sound like a moron.
Re: MS will learn the masses - or it's LOST DECADE II
"Microsoft will do what it wants to sell Software..."
Problem is no Ones buying, beit on Phones, Tablets or on PCs. Clearly somebody has it wrong. Are you suggesting that the Public are too dim to see the genius of Microsoft's GUI Teams' work?
Re: @AC 18:53
How many versions are really needed, regular win8 already has both and works fine here, they gave choice and the majority of people cant handle the choice!! as proven by the number of crackhead comments here how windows 8 sucks so badly because you switch between metro ui and desktop ohhh noooz
Re: How many programs...
And a pi is - NOT a tablet! Currently all ARM tablets run castrates OOB - be they iOS, Fragmentdroid or Win/RT. The only ARM tablet in production that barely qualified for "tablet pc" is the Note series. Barely since the software is at best WinXP quality in the critical areas like Handwriting, often not even that
As soon as I get to non-mobile devices the small benefit an ARM may have in power consumption is lost and the Atoms, even the aging CTrails, win hands down.
This topic is closed for new posts.
