Windows 8 Release Preview

Status
Not open for further replies.
MS making hardware? Shit just got interesting

edit. And would explain a conversation I had months back with our MS TAM in regards to our super tap participation in Win8 platforms.
 
If they really do make an awesome tablet I would get it over pretty much any other maker with the possible exception of nokia (almost wonder if this would be made by them).
 
I'm guessing this isn't the proper topic to ask this in, but I am running Windows 8 so...anyway, how easy is it to get a PS3 or 360 controller working on it?
 
http://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/1084385-microsoft-this-is-what-metro-ui-on-desktop-should-look-like-community-concept/

Windows%20Explorer.jpg


ribbon%20minimized.jpg


Control%20Panel.png
 
Do not see MS announcing tablet hardware on Monday, the rumours of an MS phone kind of made sense in the pre-nokia days because they were getting cast off android hardware from their partners. That doesn't seem to be the case with Windows 8, there's a hell of a lot of potentially market shifting hardware already coming out this year, they don't need to muddy the waters.

Plus there's the fact that if MS were making something, it would have leaked, it always leaks.


I think the event will be focused on RT, what it offers, what the price points will be, how it competes with/beats iPad
 
That mock up seriously shits all over what we have now. My issue with Windows 8 is MS pussyfooting on Metro on the desktop. It's like let's sprinkle some Metro in here, pour in 2 cups of Aero and throw in a dash of classic JUST to fuck with users.

Windows 8 is what happens when you don't have real OS competition.

Half assed shit.

Come at me defense force.
 
That mock up seriously shits all over what we have now. My issue with Windows 8 is MS pussyfooting on Metro on the desktop. It's like let's sprinkle some Metro in here, pour in 2 cups of Aero and throw in a dash of classic JUST to fuck with users.

Windows 8 is what happens when you don't have real OS competition.

Half assed shit.

Come at me defense force.

It's legacy though so does it really matter?

That's like upgrading to 3.1 and complaining that they didn't change the font in the DOS prompt.
 
It's legacy though so does it really matter?

That's like upgrading to 3.1 and complaining that they didn't change the font in the DOS prompt.

Yea sorry but the desktop no matter how much you want it to be is not legacy at this point / current implementation of Metro.

To prove it, go load up photoshop in metro...it takes you to the desktop. You want to browse folders? You're in the desktop, envoke the task manager ala ctrl+alt+esc....OMG back to the desktop! you want to do anything productive you're back to the desktop, that isn't legacy.

Win 16 applications, DOS those are legacy because there is very little need to use them at all. Desktop is not legacy and won't be until users no longer need to rely on it to get things done.

Right now Metro is little more than visually cool stardock-esque file launching app. Leave it to MS to take a cool idea and completely half ass it, Windows 9 is when they get it right.
 
Those mockups look really nice and far more true to windows than that other metro mockup people like to post and praise. Wish the final desktop looked like that, it's a lot classier than the current aero replacement.
 
It's legacy though so does it really matter?

That's like upgrading to 3.1 and complaining that they didn't change the font in the DOS prompt.

No, it's not legacy, at least not yet. It's a long way till the desktop can be considered to be legacy. Unlike Win 3.1, Metro UI (at least the nowadays implementation of it) has less capabilities then its predecessor; there's too much limitations. No matter what I really can't see professional programs like Photoshop or Visual Studio work in Metro environment.
 
Ubuntu is still my favorite OS in terms of interface. Windows Metro 8 if launched as is... i will never touch it.

I'll admit, Unity scares the crap out of me. It only took me 10-15 minutes to get used to the Metro start screen but I still have no idea how to launch apps in Ubuntu. The Mac-style settings panel is nice though.

Linux has always looked nicer than Windows, though. GTK made sure of that.
 
That looks nice, but such a change would not be practical. MS could only feasibly change their software for that theme. 3rd party software would still need to use current control themes(unless they all decide to provide updates to their apps), otherwise they would most likely be broken. At which point you would have metroized MS stuff and old third part stuff, which could be strange. There would be Metro apps, MS metroized desktop apps, and 3rd party apps with the old themes. Not sure which is better, a solution that migrates all current applications to a new style, or one that expects devs to update their crap.

EDIT: Nevermind, after looking at the comparisons, it doesn't appear that the changes are anything that would break anything.
 
The explorer concept looks a lot like the Zune desktop software (with the shadows, coloured border, etc) while that control panel resembles the Windows 8 style of Metro. I'm not sure which one I prefer.
 
the new icons will make a huge difference when/if they show up but there are enough differences between the mockup and what we've got so far to still want. oh microsoft, tighten up the graphics please.
 
I remember seeing something like this at a recent hardware expo, don't remember if it was from MS.

There have been so many times where I've looked at a windows on one of my monitors and expected it to be the active window, do some keypress, and have something unexpected happen in another program. This tech needs to be a standard in every monitor and available cheaply to add to one.
 
I remember seeing something like this at a recent hardware expo, don't remember if it was from MS.

There have been so many times where I've looked at a windows on one of my monitors and expected it to be the active window, do some keypress, and have something unexpected happen in another program. This tech needs to be a standard in every monitor and available cheaply to add to one.

Intel bought invested in the tech you saw.
http://www.informationweek.com/news/hardware/peripherals/232301531

http://blogs.wsj.com/tech-europe/2012/03/16/intel-invests-in-tobii-eye-tracker/
 
Yea sorry but the desktop no matter how much you want it to be is not legacy at this point / current implementation of Metro.

To prove it, go load up photoshop in metro...it takes you to the desktop. You want to browse folders? You're in the desktop, envoke the task manager ala ctrl+alt+esc....OMG back to the desktop! you want to do anything productive you're back to the desktop, that isn't legacy.

Win 16 applications, DOS those are legacy because there is very little need to use them at all. Desktop is not legacy and won't be until users no longer need to rely on it to get things done.

Right now Metro is little more than visually cool stardock-esque file launching app. Leave it to MS to take a cool idea and completely half ass it, Windows 9 is when they get it right.

It is legacy.... any drastic change to the desktop would pretty much require a complete rewrite of the entire desktop ui (for the apps as much as the base windows ui).

Metro is the future and there is no doubt about that.... so why spend significant resources changing something that will not be used as much going forward.... the dos allusion was spot on..... ms could have added all kinds of things/features to dos in the windows era but it would be pointless because it will be used less and less as time goes on. Not worth the time that would be needed to properly redo the desktop ui. So they made the current interface as metro as they could by taking the basic theme and doing a few little things to it which would not break the way it currently works.


the new icons will make a huge difference when/if they show up but there are enough differences between the mockup and what we've got so far to still want. oh microsoft, tighten up the graphics please.

Agreed.... I think the desktop interface is going to look much different once the metro icons are in place. The biggest difference between the rtm and mockup posted above are the icons.
 
I remember seeing something like this at a recent hardware expo, don't remember if it was from MS.

There have been so many times where I've looked at a windows on one of my monitors and expected it to be the active window, do some keypress, and have something unexpected happen in another program. This tech needs to be a standard in every monitor and available cheaply to add to one.



And to think that people were working on similar things (activate/select a window just by looking at it) over 30 years ago.

Bolt's "World of Windows" (1981):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lfp8wgz84fY
 
so i upgraded my OS fully to the Release Preview of Windows 8 and so far impressions are great!

a few cursory observations.
I do not have any knowledge of computer programming or even seek out software in the name of open source inovation. whilst i consider myself computer literate i have always been content in using all of Window's inbuilt software (heck i still had the freaking default wallpaper since 2009)

put simply, my use of Windows 7 and 8 is on a purely consumer level. So from booting up windows 8 i was instantly pleased to be greeted by that rather eye catching U.I. - all of my pre-existing software appears to be working, games run like a charm and the thoughtful placement of hot corners and apps have already proved useful.

within a couple of minutes i was back into using Adobe Creative Suite and have had zero complaints. later on in the evening i booted up Super Meat Boy for a few levels followed up Netflix and Crunchyroll. So far zero complaints

It's nice to have an OS that rivals Apple in terms of aesthetic style. whilst i know Metro has it's share of Naysayers, i am thoroughly impressed with the improvements Microsoft have made. I suppose i'm one of those users that is all for a more closed platform, i know this might result in me getting lynched in this thread but on a basic level i believe Windows 8 to be an incredible improvement

I'm looking forward to upgrading
 
It is legacy.... any drastic change to the desktop would pretty much require a complete rewrite of the entire desktop ui (for the apps as much as the base windows ui).

Metro is the future and there is no doubt about that.... so why spend significant resources changing something that will not be used as much going forward.... the dos allusion was spot on..... ms could have added all kinds of things/features to dos in the windows era but it would be pointless because it will be used less and less as time goes on. Not worth the time that would be needed to properly redo the desktop ui. So they made the current interface as metro as they could by taking the basic theme and doing a few little things to it which would not break the way it currently works.

Desktop is about as legacy as 64bit systems. Sorry to say this but Metro won't be replacing it any time soon, and going by MS's past attempts at out with the "old" and in the new. It'll be another 10 years before Metro is mature enough to use without the desktop UI at all. Sorry if your successor relies on its predecssor to get any real amount of work done, said predecessor is far from being legacy whether you want to admit it or not. Windows 3.1 did not rely on DOS nearly as much as Metro relies on desktop. Metro is missing too many base features in it's current implementation to even try and replace desktop (hence it still being the dominate way to work/do ANYTHING on Windows 8)

I'm willing to be tons of money if MS completely dropped desktop UI from Windows 8 on x86 systems I willing to bet that everyone including you would be in full meltdown mode. As I said, in it's current implementation, Metro is nothing more than a visually fancy launcher. Do I like said launcher? Yea it's pretty cool. Does it replace desktop...lol no, not even close. MS still writes majority of there apps for desktop. 3/4 of the internet still write their apps for desktop, 95% of all productive work/play will still take place on the desktop.

One of the definitions of legacy is the cost to use and maintain the software/hardware outweigh the benefits. I'll be YEARS upon YEARS before that can be applied to Desktop, right now you could say the costs to use Metro exclusively outweigh the benefits. If MS truly wants Metro to be the future they'll have to stop supporting desktop themselves.

Who sees that happening ANY time soon? Show of hands? I see it happening in say 10 years maybe.
 
I installed the x86 version on an old laptop. System is barely usable, but the system was barely usable under XP either. Check Task Manager, and it looks like it is swapping to disk endlessly, then I notice it only has 512MB RAM. Oops, I'll have to upgrade that.

Some of the settings and the inconsistencies are annoying, some control panel options throw you into Metro, some work the old fashioned way. Joining a domain still requires a reboot (although I can somewhat understand that).

I'm willing to be tons of money if MS completely dropped desktop UI from Windows 8 on x86 systems I willing to bet that everyone including you would be in full meltdown mode.

It also would fail, and not a Vista 'fail', it would fail spectacularly.

That doesn't mean that Microsoft wouldn't prefer everyone to move to their walled garden and aren't trying to push it towards that.
 
It also would fail, and not a Vista 'fail', it would fail spectacularly.

That doesn't mean that Microsoft wouldn't prefer everyone to move to their walled garden and aren't trying to push it towards that.

Oh I agree, but it only furthers my point. Desktop is still relevant and will have more programs created for it than Metro by a good bit. I spend 99% of my time on desktop in Windows 8 not because I want to, but because I have no choice and Metro makes me. The few apps on the webstore that are made for metro are damn near useless compared to the desktop version. Which shouldn't be the case, but then again overall Metro apps will be less powerful than desktop apps due to MS' weird restrictions. Metro's biggest problem will be MS fucking it up so bad no one wants to use it more than anything.

Apple's approach to their OS makes more sense than MS at this point. Apple realized they won't be able to truly get rid of desktop, so they just control desktop by controlling the apps. MS thinks they can get rid of desktop and control apps and it's not going to work as well as they envisioned.
 
That mock up seriously shits all over what we have now. My issue with Windows 8 is MS pussyfooting on Metro on the desktop. It's like let's sprinkle some Metro in here, pour in 2 cups of Aero and throw in a dash of classic JUST to fuck with users.

Windows 8 is what happens when you don't have real OS competition.

Half assed shit.

Come at me defense force.

The desktop UI isn't final.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top Bottom