Windows 8 Release Preview

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It is far more intuitive than Windows 7 is. It's just not intuitive for people who grew up on standard desktop UI.
Quite the opposite, I'd say. Windows 8 breaks every rule in the book for intuitive user design.

Intuitive user interfaces give indications as to possible actions. Moves like eliminating the start icon go in the opposite direction. Intuitive user interfaces show you clearly where you came from and how to get back (at all times), but Metro is almost entirely single-app full-screen.

The design philosophy in Windows 8 puts much more emphasis on the user having knowledge of how the system works.
 
Quite the opposite, I'd say. Windows 8 breaks every rule in the book for intuitive user design.

Intuitive user interfaces give indications as to possible actions. Moves like eliminating the start icon go in the opposite direction. Intuitive user interfaces show you clearly where you came from and how to get back (at all times), but Metro is almost entirely single-app full-screen.

The design philosophy in Windows 8 puts much more emphasis on the user having knowledge of how the system works.

Where in iOS are the hints that you swipe to change pages? Pinch to zoom? Double-tap to multi-task? Etc etc
 
Where in iOS are the hints that you swipe to change pages? Pinch to zoom? Double-tap to multi-task? Etc etc
Those things are not intuitive. Nearly all of those things must be taught. You'd be wrong in assuming that iOS is intuitive: it's not. And that's ok. Intuitiveness is not the end all and be all of user interfaces.
 
Windows 95 confused people too:

http://media.ch9.ms/ch9/dac9/5a953b82-586d-40a2-801c-12746230dac9/Win95Start_high.mp4
http://media.ch9.ms/ch9/4a95/8e5a19e3-d5b7-40d8-ae5a-d8e2302d4a95/Win95UsabilityTesting1993_high.mp4



Most importantly, it'll be consistent for what will be the most important form factor of all - devices that combine one or more of them.


The most vocal critics are also being the most myopic, ignoring the obvious future where people don't walk around with multiple devices, but a single device that can effortlessly be used in multiple different ways.



wow. Windows 95 was a big departure from DOS, which everybody used (yes, win 3.1 and 3.11 for workgroups were there but everyone using a computer knew how to use DOS)

That was a GUI revolution and a new thing. Now we are in a time where almost everybody uses a windows machine at home or work. It works and people are used to it. We are talking about breaking the kwnowledge of..I don't now how many people are using a windows PC rigth now but problably in the hundreds of millions.

Plus you have to be blind to ignore that this is MS coup to take the tablet/phone market leveraging their desktop dominance. Touch controls do not work in normal desktops as long as keyboard and mouse are there. Different use, different controls, different interfaces.

If your idea of the future is a single interface for everything, the future sucks. You have to take advantage of every platform differently because...they are different. A media consumption device should not have the same interface as a workstation in a financial business, simple as that.


BTW, before "win8 h8ter" (lolololol am I funny or what! ¬_¬) I like the Win8 interface...for people that know shit about computers. My mother will probably love the interface because she does internet and facebook. For me...not so much so I'll be stuck in Win7 for the moment.
 
Intuitive user interfaces give indications as to possible actions. Moves like eliminating the start icon go in the opposite direction. Intuitive user interfaces show you clearly where you came from and how to get back (at all times), but Metro is almost entirely single-app full-screen.

The design philosophy in Windows 8 puts much more emphasis on the user having knowledge of how the system works.

Back then, we were we tought to double-click, hold the mousebutton and drag, right click for context menu, etc. ? I can't remember.
 
That article and those comments are so fucking stupid they're nearly enough to make me angry. Achievements in Minesweeper being enough to make you switch to Umbongo Ubuntu? Fuck off.

I think we're getting close to the point where the debate on Windows 8 is completely tainted by fear mongering and deliberate half truths and hyperbole.

Getting close? We are already there.
 
I remember in the buildup to Vista that the DRM was so onerous that it would prevent all P2P activity and would limit the movies you could watch on your own machine unless it was signed with DRM.

We've entered that same silly season with Windows 8.
 
Stealths a shopping channel into the OS? Stealths!?! Come on people.

You know it would be great if MS for once would introduce something fresh, easy to use, and avoidable if you don't want to, but they clearly can't .... OH WAIT!
I certainly have not disagreed with Alec Meer more than in this article, I can't understand it.
 
I posted this a few pages back. Basically, if you remove a feature, you need to give the user a feature that has the same options. Metro simply can't perform against the start menu in terms of info presented to the user and folder architecture.

It wasn't for me but i would like to meddle a little if you don't mind :P

1- It's a difference in philosophy. Having to place and then remember locations of where you put your files is an analogy of a physical filing system. That analogy was once needed, but now we don't actually need to spent time managing our files, that's a task the system can and should provide to us, and that actually gets in our way of improving the file usage...

Onenote MX does a great job exposing this new concept: When you open it the first time it searches all your skydrive files looking for onenote books... They also open one themselves... You are never presented with a dialog box to look for the files yourself nor do you have to chose a location where to store new notebooks, and everything just works.

I believe this old system needs to die, and they may have to break it at some point, and to be able to do that they need to gradually start changing the way both the system and the user understand the new file management system... Since they are already adding a new interface that breaks a lot of old concepts i guess they felt like it was the perfect time to starting breaking this one too...

3 - I guess the idea behind this separation is that you don't have to cycle through... How often do people actually need to look at the same time for an app, a file or a setting? All the other times you would be presented with less search results from the category you are actually looking for... Sure, having the option would be ok i guess, but for me it's actually an improvement since i get more results from the group i want, not having to click the category to show more results like it was before...

4 - Not sure i got that one, but there is a desktop tile by default, that takes you to the desktop...
 
I personally just cannot understand how some people seemingly think that the mashup of two entirely different UIs (both visually and functionally) is a good idea. One of those UIs is so obviously made for touch input (all the justifications for having it even if you're using a mouse are just that - hollow justifications), while the other is so obviously made for mouse controls (because it's basically the Windows 7 UI). Including both UIs in the same OS is fine, but you should be able to flip a switch that makes the whole OS use one or the other. Throwing users back and forth between the two is an awful idea.

Can you use a touch interface with a mouse? Sure, but what's the point? A mouse is good at things the human finger is not (accurately hitting small targets, etc), so why not take advantage of that? Now people will probably start talking about large targets being easier to hit for people who are less dextrous with a mouse, but I call BS on that. People have been able to accurately hit small targets such as hyperlinks and small buttons with a mouse for ages, so I don't see why this would suddenly be such an issue. Do people who grew up with touch devices all have terrible motor skills, rendering them unable to aim a mouse pointer at a small target, or what? I don't think so.

Can you use the mouse (desktop) UI with your fingers? I haven't been able to try this, but from what I've seen and read it's a pretty awful experience. And it also seems like you won't be able to escape having to do this, because many actions will dump you from the touch interface to the desktop.

It seems painfully clear to me that Windows 8 does not provide an optimal UI for either input method, but instead half-asses both of them.
 
Did anyone actually say it was a good idea to mash up desktop and metro? I don't remember reading anyone say that.

People just accept it's an inevitable part of having backwards compatibility in Windows 8, just like having a Dos prompt was vital in Windows 95.

As stupid as you think it is to have desktop there, imagine how much more stupid it would be to say to the 1 billion owners of windows computers: "Hey, when you upgrade, none of your old software will work, at all."
 
You mean buying Metro Apps on third party sites and installing them with an installer? What would be the benefit for the consumer?

I have no idea but all these journalists seem to think we're doomed to an Orwellian future without it so I thought it would be nice to put their minds at ease.

Also I Googled it and Enterprise versions of Windows 8 can indeed side-load Apps.
 
Did anyone actually say it was a good idea to mash up desktop and metro? I don't remember reading anyone say that.

People just accept it's an inevitable part of having backwards compatibility in Windows 8, just like having a Dos prompt was vital in Windows 95.

As stupid as you think it is to have desktop there, imagine how much more stupid it would be to say to the 1 billion owners of windows computers: "Hey, when you upgrade, none of your old software will work, at all."

What? That's not what I'm saying at all. I'm saying that forcing a touch-centric UI on mouse users and a mouse-centric UI on touch users is a terrible idea, and that they have should have made two separate switchable UIs and made the full OS work optimally for both of them. Mouse and touch are two very different types of input (which will both continue to serve their respective purposes going forward, in my opinion), and you simply can't design a UI that works great for both of them and takes advantage of their respective strengths all at once. Resorting to a terrible mashup, with one bolted onto the other, is certainly not the answer.
 
What? That's not what I'm saying at all. I'm saying that forcing a touch-centric UI on mouse users and a mouse-centric UI on touch users is a terrible idea, and that they have should have made two separate switchable UIs and made the full OS work optimally for both of them. Mouse and touch are two very different types of input (which will both continue to serve their respective purposes going forward, in my opinion), and you simply can't design a UI that works great for both of them and takes advantage of their respective strengths all at once. Resorting to a terrible mashup between the two is certainly not the answer.

Can't never could.
 
Can't never could.

Well, it's my personal firm belief that you're crazy if you believe that the same type of interface that works great for touch input using one's fingers could ever be optimal for a mouse (or the other way around). Again, they're very different methods of input even if they aim to accomplish more or less the same tasks, and different kinds of input need different kinds of UIs. A half-assed compromise between the two is a shitty idea.
 
It wasn't for me but i would like to meddle a little if you don't mind :P

1- It's a difference in philosophy. Having to place and then remember locations of where you put your files is an analogy of a physical filing system. That analogy was once needed, but now we don't actually need to spent time managing our files, that's a task the system can and should provide to us, and that actually gets in our way of improving the file usage...

Onenote MX does a great job exposing this new concept: When you open it the first time it searches all your skydrive files looking for onenote books... They also open one themselves... You are never presented with a dialog box to look for the files yourself nor do you have to chose a location where to store new notebooks, and everything just works.

I believe this old system needs to die, and they may have to break it at some point, and to be able to do that they need to gradually start changing the way both the system and the user understand the new file management system... Since they are already adding a new interface that breaks a lot of old concepts i guess they felt like it was the perfect time to starting breaking this one too...

3 - I guess the idea behind this separation is that you don't have to cycle through... How often do people actually need to look at the same time for an app, a file or a setting? All the other times you would be presented with less search results from the category you are actually looking for... Sure, having the option would be ok i guess, but for me it's actually an improvement since i get more results from the group i want, not having to click the category to show more results like it was before...

4 - Not sure i got that one, but there is a desktop tile by default, that takes you to the desktop...

I think you can take all of metro to this philosophy.... if you take a step back and really look at what we are doing on pc's you view changes. Over the past 20 years we have developed a ton of "bad habits" when it comes to computing that have no reason to exist other than technologically we had not progressed far enough to alleviate the need for them.... the file system analogy here and even multitasking where you don't need to close apps yourself. Metro is about rethinking how a computer should be used at the base level..... right now its over simplified because this transition is already massive in scope but over time they will add more complex interactions.


Well, it's my personal firm belief that you're crazy if you believe that the same type of interface that works great for touch input using one's fingers could ever be optimal for a mouse (or the other way around). Again, they're very different methods of input even if they aim to accomplish more or less the same tasks, and different kinds of input need different kinds of UIs. A half-assed compromise between the two is a shitty idea.

A single device that can power both experiences is a very good idea..... just look at all the people trying to add a keyboard to the ipad or touch to the desktop (and they have been thorough things like wacom digitizers). Win 8 is about melding the two so a single device can work across multiple use cases and more importantly is DESIGNED to work in multiple use cases. See things like wacom not working in every part of windows/program or the keyboard not really working on the ipad other than typing.
 
I think you can take all of metro to this philosophy.... if you take a step back and really look at what we are doing on pc's you view changes. Over the past 20 years we have developed a ton of "bad habits" when it comes to computing that have no reason to exist other than technologically we had not progressed far enough to alleviate the need for them.... the file system analogy here and even multitasking where you don't need to close apps yourself. Metro is about rethinking how a computer should be used at the base level..... right now its over simplified because this transition is already massive in scope but over time they will add more complex interactions.

Everything people are saying seems to be telling me that W8 is doomed to be a shitty transitional OS between W7 and whatever comes next, and that I should be OK with that. Well, to me that means I'll be sticking with W7 - which is not a half-assed compromise between two different UI paradigms - and waiting for whatever comes after W8. Hopefully they'll have figured out where they're really going with this by then.

A single device that can power both experiences is a very good idea..... just look at all the people trying to add a keyboard to the ipad or touch to the desktop (and they have been thorough things like wacom digitizers). Win 8 is about melding the two so a single device can work across multiple use cases and more importantly is DESIGNED to work in multiple use cases. See things like wacom not working in every part of windows/program or the keyboard not really working on the ipad other than typing.

I'm not against the idea of hybrid devices at all. But I believe that such a device needs to have two different UIs to accomodate that. They don't need to look entirely different on the surface (the same visual style should be used all over the place, of course - which is not the case in W8), but the way you interact with them needs to be different because the input methods are so different. Again, a single UI full of compromises which only serve to make it suboptimal for either type of input is surely not the answer. And W8 seems to be one big compromise to me.
 
Using a mouse or track pad seems to be much less of an issue when surely most of the "Windows 8" ones will support gestures.
 
I'm not against the idea of hybrid devices at all. But I believe that such a device needs to have two different UIs to accomodate that. They don't need to look entirely different on the surface (the same visual style should be used all over the place, of course - which is not the case in W8), but the way you interact with them needs to be different because the input methods are so different. Again, a single UI full of compromises which only serve to make it suboptimal for either type of input is surely not the answer. And W8 seems to be one big compromise to me.

Elaborate on how to accomplish this please. And hopefully it will be a way such that software developers/designers don't have to create, maintain, and update two disparate UIs and UI assets.


P2G2 said:
Using a mouse or track pad seems to be much less of an issue when surely most of the "Windows 8" ones will support gestures.

I think that is what MS is hoping the future of mice will be. Hell, make the spacebar capacitative so that it can be used for simple swipes and pinches with the thumbs.
 
Well, it's my personal firm belief that you're crazy if you believe that the same type of interface that works great for touch input using one's fingers could ever be optimal for a mouse (or the other way around). Again, they're very different methods of input even if they aim to accomplish more or less the same tasks, and different kinds of input need different kinds of UIs. A half-assed compromise between the two is a shitty idea.

So what do you think MS should have done? Shipped two different OSes, one optimized for touch and one for mouse with no compatibility between the two forcing users to carry two different devices to accomplish what is essentially the same functions? Essentially the Apple approach.

So glad you geniuses aren't running MS.
 
I'm not against the idea of hybrid devices at all. But I believe that such a device needs to have two different UIs to accomodate that. They don't need to look entirely different on the surface (the same visual style should be used all over the place, of course - which is not the case in W8), but the way you interact with them needs to be different because the input methods are so different. Again, a single UI full of compromises which only serve to make it suboptimal for either type of input is surely not the answer. And W8 seems to be one big compromise to me.

Metro is the primary os.... desktop is secondary/legacy. And this is part of the problem.... every second spent making the desktop look more metro is a second not used to make metro as good as it possibly could be. Since metro is the new (more important) thing that absolutely needs to be prioritized over the desktop.
 
Elaborate on how to accomplish this please. And hopefully it will be a way such that software developers/designers don't have to create, maintain, and update two disparate UIs and UI assets.




I think that is what MS is hoping the future of mice will be. Hell, make the spacebar capacitative so that it can be used for simple swipes and pinches with the thumbs.

great idea! horizontal scrolling is big in windows 8, so that would make a lot of sense
 
Metro is the primary os.... desktop is secondary/legacy. And this is part of the problem.... every second spent making the desktop look more metro is a second not used to make metro as good as it possibly could be. Since metro is the new (more important) thing that absolutely needs to be prioritized over the desktop.

"Metro" is a UI æsthetic, not an OS. The "primary OS" of Windows 8 is Windows 8.
 
Everything people are saying seems to be telling me that W8 is doomed to be a shitty transitional OS
But W8 is not a shitty OS. It's a pretty great OS. It's fast, snappy, got a great search, already has amazing driver support, has a lot of features that win 7 is missing (like natively mounting isos), and does some basic features a whole hell of a lot better (way better file copying, srsly), boots up incredibly fast, and uses less resources to boot.
 
But W8 is not a shitty OS. It's a pretty great OS. It's fast, snappy, got a great search, already has amazing driver support, has a lot of features that win 7 is missing (like natively mounting isos), and does some basic features a whole hell of a lot better (way better file copying, srsly), boots up incredibly fast, and uses less resources to boot.

If we cared about tangible qualities for discussing the merits of Windows 8 we'd ask, thank you very much. I think everyone here would much rather you take an irrational, extreme opinion and blather on about your "side" of the argument without giving any concessions to those with whom you disagree. Sheesh, get with the program.
 
Elaborate on how to accomplish this please. And hopefully it will be a way such that software developers/designers don't have to create, maintain, and update two disparate UIs and UI assets.

Not sure how it would be done best. That's not for me to solve. But I do know that I think bolting one UI on top of a vastly different one, each designed for two very different input methods, and throwing user back and forth between the two, is a terrible idea.

So what do you think MS should have done? Shipped two different OSes, one optimized for touch and one for mouse with no compatibility between the two forcing users to carry two different devices to accomplish what is essentially the same functions? Essentially the Apple approach.

So glad you geniuses aren't running MS.

I'm not saying they need to be two different OSes. Again, I haven't quite figured out how this would be best solved, just that MS's current "solution" is ass. And if what you've got is ass, maybe you should go back to the drawing board.

Funny, because that's exactly what W8 does :]

Nope. It has a mashup of two vastly different UIs, both of which you are pretty much forced to use whether you're using a mouse or touch input.

But W8 is not a shitty OS. It's a pretty great OS. It's fast, snappy, got a great search, already has amazing driver support, has a lot of features that win 7 is missing (like natively mounting isos), and does some basic features a whole hell of a lot better (way better file copying, srsly), boots up incredibly fast, and uses less resources to boot.

Yeah, the under-the-hood improvements seem great, it's just the mashup of two very different UIs into one incoherent mess that's making me want to stay far away from it. I just wish they'd give us the option of running W8 as if it was an improved version of W7, without any of the touch-optimized Metro stuff. But of course they won't. Not because they really think Metro is better for mouse users, but because they want us to buy their apps and other content and get trapped in their ecosystem. That's what they want to happen, so that they can eventually transition fully into such a model.
 
If we cared about tangible qualities for discussing the merits of Windows 8 we'd ask, thank you very much. I think everyone here would much rather you take an irrational, extreme opinion and blather on about your "side" of the argument without giving any concessions to those with whom you disagree. Sheesh, get with the program.

My bad!
 
Yeah, the under-the-hood improvements seem great, it's just the mashup of two very different UIs into one incoherent mess that's making me want to stay far away from it.
I honestly like the Start Screen much better as an app launcher than the Start Button. My 'power user' mode of working has changed from a bunch of shortcuts on desktop or pinned applications on the Task Bar to pressing Start, typing out what I want to run and pressing enter when the search finds it. It's much cleaner.

The Start Button was getting pretty long in the tooth, I'm sure we can agree on that.

Edit: Look I agree that MS has ulterior motives in going to the extremes that they are to prevent starting straight in desktop. I don't think they're *malicious* motives, I think they just need to find some way of getting app developers to consider putting things on WinRT instead of ignoring it for iOS and Android and this is their pitch to them (build an app and it'll run EVERYWHERE including desktops! Try that with Apple, haha!).

It's just that it's, you know, also better as it can show you a whole lot more of your programs on one screen than the Start Button menu hierarchy could handle. You can't tell me that the bullshit publishers pull with putting everything under 5 layers of the Start Menu by default was any good (Made up but realistic example Start -> All Programs -> EA -> Games -> NFL 2010 -> WHERE THE HELL IS THE EXECUTABLE GOD DAMN). Frankly that power needed to be taken away from them and the flat Metro search does that.

Heck I find myself wishing I could just go <Start> Mass E <Enter> to launch Mass Effect 2 now (I'm lttp, whatever). Instead of <Start> Stea <Enter> <Enter Steam password> <scroll to Mass Effect 2> <double click>. It's pretty awesome.
 
I honestly like the Start Screen much better as an app launcher than the Start Button. My 'power user' mode of working has changed from a bunch of shortcuts on desktop or pinned applications on the Task Bar to pressing Start, typing out what I want to run and pressing enter when the search finds it. It's much cleaner.

The Start Button was getting pretty long in the tooth, I'm sure we can agree on that.

Well, with W7 I can just click an icon on the task bar to immediately start one of my most used programs, without leaving what I'm currently doing. If I want to start something I use a bit more infrequently, and thus haven't pinned to the task bar, I just press the Win key on my keyboard and type the name of the program. Super fast, and once again it doesn't take me out of what I'm currently doing since the Start menu doesn't cover the entire screen for no reason. I like still being able to see the program I'm using while I bring up the Start menu, and I just don't see how a Start screen that covers up everything else would be better for me.

You can't tell me that the bullshit publishers pull with putting everything under 5 layers of the Start Menu by default was any good (Made up but realistic example Start -> All Programs -> EA -> Games -> NFL 2010 -> WHERE THE HELL IS THE EXECUTABLE GOD DAMN).

Hm? I never do that. I just start typing the name of the application and W7 finds it for me. I very rarely go digging through the Start menu folder hierarchy.

Heck I find myself wishing I could just go <Start> Mass E <Enter> to launch Mass Effect 2 now (I'm lttp, whatever). Instead of <Start> Stea <Enter> <Enter Steam password> <scroll to Mass Effect 2> <double click>. It's pretty awesome.

What does this have to do with W7 or W8? If you install a game through Steam, you need to have Steam running to play it. Surely W8 doesn't change that? If you don't install a game through Steam, you can just run it right away, whether you're running W7 or W8. So what's your point?
 
If we cared about tangible qualities for discussing the merits of Windows 8 we'd ask, thank you very much. I think everyone here would much rather you take an irrational, extreme opinion and blather on about your "side" of the argument without giving any concessions to those with whom you disagree. Sheesh, get with the program.

lol indeed, there is so much blathering nonsense in this thread its quite entertaining.
 
Hm? I never do that. I just start typing the name of the game (or whatever) and W7 finds it for me. I very rarely go digging through the Start menu folder hierarchy.
That's fair enough. It's more of an XP bad habit that I never got over (and w7 still allows), I can still see a whole lot more of what's installed in a glance with the Start Screen search than the Start Button search and I find myself getting used to it.

So what's your point?
Point is that search and launch is great!
 
That's fair enough. It's more of an XP bad habit that I never got over (and w7 still allows), I can still see a whole lot more of what's installed in a glance with the Start Screen search than the Start Button search and I find myself getting used to it.

Well, in W7 I could fill my desktop with shortcuts if I wanted to, and could thus see loads of installed applications at once. I don't actually do that though, because I prefer only having my most used ones permanently visible (those are pinned to the task bar), and then I Start+search for less frequently used ones when I need them. People keep talking about how great it is to be able to see so many installed applications, but I don't actually want to see everything I have installed at once. I have no need for that. For the same reason I don't put shortcuts on my Android homescreens to every app I have installed on my phone. That would be ridiculous. I just make shortcuts to the ones I use the most, and then go find the others in the app drawer when I need them.

So no, I'm not buying that being able to see so much stuff at once is somehow a huge improvement. For me it wouldn't be.

Point is that search and launch is great!

...and it's also in W7. So... yeah.
 
Well, in W7 I could fill my desktop with shortcuts if I wanted to, and could thus see loads of installed applications at once. I don't actually do that though, because I prefer only having my most used ones permanently visible (those are pinned to the task bar), and then I Start+search for less frequently used ones when I need them. People keep talking about how great it is to be able to see so many installed applications, but I don't actually want to see everything I have installed at once. I have no need for that. For the same reason I don't put shortcuts on my homescreens to every app I have installed on my Android phone. That would be ridiculous. I just make shortcuts to the ones I use the most, and then go find the others in the app drawer when I need them.

So no, I'm not buying that being able to see so much stuff at once is somehow a huge improvement. For me it wouldn't be.



...and it's also in W7. So... yeah.

It works fine for me. Currently I have 3 monitors and 2 of them are filled with nothing , one has a few icons and the task bar.

Now i have one screen filled with my programs and get live updates from some , the other screens have the apps I'm working on.


In the end it took me one week to adjust to windows 8 and now i feel weird going back to 7. mabye for some of you it will just take longer.
 
It's just that it's, you know, also better as it can show you a whole lot more of your programs on one screen than the Start Button menu hierarchy could handle.

A straight list of everything is a lot easier than a hierarchy. :/

@RoadHazard - have you tried the CP or any other version of win 8? Im just asking, no ulterior motives, promised :)

I agree with pretty much everything he has said, and I have been using it. Haven't wiped the drive... yet.
 
Well, with W7 I can just click an icon on the task bar to immediately start one of my most used programs, without leaving what I'm currently doing. If I want to start something I use a bit more infrequently, and thus haven't pinned to the task bar, I just press the Win key on my keyboard and type the name of the program. Super fast, and once again it doesn't take me out of what I'm currently doing since the Start menu doesn't cover the entire screen for no reason. I like still being able to see the program I'm using while I bring up the Start menu, and I just don't see how a Start screen that covers up everything else would be better for me.

But you are being taken out of what you're doing. When you pull up the start menu whatever you were doing is no longer the focus window, it doesn't really matter that you can still partially see it.
 
But you are being taken out of what you're doing. When you pull up the start menu whatever you were doing is no longer the focus window, it doesn't really matter that you can still partially see it.

If you are copying data from an existing app window, yes it does matter. I am constantly starting up apps, and the entire screen blanking out is annoying. And I can fire up an app pretty fast, I'm not taken out of what I'm doing in Win7, only in Win8.

This is less of an issue the smaller screen res you have, but Metro taking an entire 1920x1200 is annoying.


With a fast search included that filters stuff out as I type? Yes.

Win7 and Vista had that.
 
People act like Win 7 will be deactivated and removed from existance when October 26th comes.

Oh no...

Maybe the Mayans were right...the world is ending this year, just on the 10-26-12 instead of later!!! RUN, THE SKY IS FALLING!!!! THE SKY IS FALLING!!!!!!!!11!!1!1!one!!!1!!

(People should be allowed to complain if they don't like W8, I guess that's the purpose of this thread but I'm getting sick of people using it for 8 minutes and rushing onto this thread to blurt out the same uninformed complaint. There are a couple people griping about things that make me think they haven't actually used the operating system but have only read articles or watched videos and drawn their conclusions from that.

Maybe we should all take a deep breath and chill out on this until the 26th hits and we can experience the OS on a piece of hardware designed expressly for it. I'll let you all know how terrible it really is once I have my Surface. Until then we seem to be circling the same arguments over and over.

Yeah, yeah, I know: internet, etc...)
 
People act like Win 7 will be deactivated and removed from existance when October 26th comes.

It will become legacy at that point in MS's eyes. For all practical purposes Win7 is deactivated now, I have to use/develop for Win8.

but I'm getting sick of people using it for 8 minutes and rushing onto this thread to blurt out the same uninformed complaint. There are a couple people griping about things that make me think they haven't actually used the operating system but have only read articles or watched videos and drawn their conclusions from that.

Who has done this?
 
It will become legacy at that point in MS's eyes. For all practical purposes Win7 is deactivated now, I have to use/develop for Win8.
(I'm typing this from XP...)

Who has done this?
Pretty much anyone who installed Win8 on a VM and played with it and says any of the following things:

"It's not intuitive"

"It's too many clicks to shut down"

"What's a keyboard shortcut"

"The search isn't better in 8, I like 7 better"

"They mashed two disparate UI concepts together and it's 'akward'"

or my favorite:

"Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah" (they say something about the how they don't like Metro, but this is all I read)
 
(I'm typing this from XP...)


Pretty much anyone who installed Win8 on a VM and played with it and says any of the following things:

"It's not intuitive"

"It's too many clicks to shut down"

"What's a keyboard shortcut"

"The search isn't better in 8, I like 7 better"

"They mashed two disparate UI concepts together and it's 'akward'"

or my favorite:

"Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah" (they say something about the how they don't like Metro, but this is all I read)

I like

Force the store down my throat

Force Tablet UI down my throat
 
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