Windows 8

[luckykaa]

So, as I mentioned I saw a demo of Windows 8. The main aspect of the OS seems to be the new completely changed UI. Probbly other stuff under the hood but that's not the sort of thing that gets demoed or that a typical user cares about.

One of the mpost controversial changes is the removal of the start menu. Now, here's the thing about the start menu;

The Windows Start menu is rubbish!

Honestly, I have no idea why people care about it so much.  The task bar has a certain utility although it takes up screen real estate that could be otherwise used for the application. But for launching an application? Go into menu. find submenu. Scroll through submenus to find group menu, then find the application in the menu. That's a sytupid way of getting to an application. Menus are one demensional and don't give a good overview of what's available. I don't know half of what's in the start menu. And I have no idea where to find those applications I don't use regularly.

So, instead we haveall the available apps presented on the desktop. Scroll sideways to see the groups. Seems pretty convenient. Still not sure it's perfect but it makes sense to actually use the desktop.

A feature I do like is that applications can be tiled. I've never been a huge fan of overlapping windows. If you want to switch, then tabs are more useful. If you want multiple windows visible then you dont want to fiddle with too many of them to tile them. On the whole, I like applications to take up the entire screen. I like my real estate.

Something that they didn't go into was screen support. It appears that there is suppotr for multiple screens, and they seem to be trerated as separate devices rather than a single extra long device.

Something I'm not sure about is whether there has been any optimisation for a touch pad.  This seems to be something that's rather overlooked. Multitouch trackpads are flexible user interfaces but don't have very good mouse emulation. It handles track pad gestures, but

What I am uncertain about is that there seems to be a general rule of pan rather than scroll. It also seems that tradtional Windows apps aren't going to fit in, and will have to be run in a separate legacy interface.

On the whole though, it seems like MS have actually thought about how users use computers. I think it's nice that the 28 year old uder interface is being reconsidered. And really this is isn't going to change how people use computers substantially. Most people, for most day to day tasks have a single application that takes the entire screen. They respond to mouse inputs and keyboard clicks and show the information on the screen.

Comments

[raygungothic.livejournal.com]

I haven't really had the chance to use it but I suspect that a lot of the objections are really just unfamiliarity - oh help, it's different, get it away from me!

When I'm using the Start menu, it's the one time I'm definitely NOT using anything else on the screen, so I'm fine with the concept of allowing those tasks to take up the whole screen rather than just a small fraction of it. Only time will tell whether this implementation of that concept is bearable.

[ingaborg.livejournal.com]

Start menu in Win7 is utterly vile. It used to be quite good in XP and before.

So my point of whinge is that Win7 made it horrible and unusable. Sadly I doubt this was a deliberate strategy to get people to accept its removal!

[sospan-fach.livejournal.com]

Ah, I’ll confess to rather liking Start menus, even the ridiculously huge and unwieldy one in Mint, because despite generally preferring to launch applications from the CLI, it’s a reassuring backup (to me) that Everything Is There In Its Allotted Place* And That Is As It Should Be if the need arises. Plus, what raygungothic said.

*Well, in theory, anyhow.

Win8: How customisable is the GUI, and what are your thoughts on the lack of native DVD playback?

[luckykaa.livejournal.com]

Mint's large unwieldy one is actually an improvement.

GUI doesn't seem that customisable outside of

DVD playback is a curious thing to remove. Presumably they realised a lot of people don't have DVD drives any more and didn't want to pay royalties. It does strike me as one of the tools I'd expect though.

More worryingly, they eliminated minesweeper!

[raygungothic.livejournal.com]

I'm on my second computer in a row without an optical drive. When work issued me with a laptop that has got an optical drive I was, for a moment, puzzled as to what what this odd button-and-very-wide-flap arrangement on the side might be...

Sure, the desktop at home has them, but to me they're a sort of antidecoration of the case front. Not to HJ though. To her, they're the magic place Studio Ghibli comes from and she enjoys opening and closing them endlessly.

[luckykaa.livejournal.com]

It does reminds me of the story of the CD tray reboot robot.

http://thedailywtf.com/Articles/ITAPPMONROBOT.aspx

[raygungothic.livejournal.com]

I remember reading that.

Robots are a lot more patient than toddlers. HJ would reboot the server every five seconds for about ten minutes and then amble away giggling :-)

[sospan-fach.livejournal.com]

More worryingly, they eliminated minesweeper!

!

A moment of solemn silence in remembrance...

[blue-sun-scribe.livejournal.com]

I don't really use the start menu, I tend to have regularly shortcuts either on the desktop along with several folders or on the Quicklaunch bar. The Start Menu is only used to locate rarely or never run apps on occasion. My concern would be it's handling of XP-era software as we still use a bunch of that for business critical purposes and I had to spend days researching on google how to get all various things accepted and working again when I was upgraded from XP to Windows 7 64-bit.