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luckykaaSo, 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.
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.
