Windows 8: update or not

[ThomasHelzle]

Quitting a metro app is simple: ALT-F4 - works since Windows 3.1

Not being able to use metro apps in resizable windows is also easy to overcome: I don't use any of them, ever (and haven't found a single one I'd really would want to use).

This approach together with Classic Shell gives me a great and fast system that looks good and works as I want it to work. If the whole Metro part would vanish tomorrow, I wouldn't even notice.

The underlying tech is good.
Mictrosoft is just too big and clumsy to realize that they had a winner if they would leave people alone and let them work the way THEY want instead of how some Microsoft Hotshot imagines the future.

Cheers!

Tom

[egbert]

Quitting a metro app is simple: ALT-F4 - works since Windows 3.1

Guys like us use that "arcane" stuff with the KCs but the average user clicks on the "X" on the top right corner of a Window. That would be just about THE basic convention in window management since Win 1.0.

WTF they violated that convention we can only surmise. I'm guessing the departure of Win8 head honcho Sinofsky right around the launch date was probably a complete coincidence too.

[woggle]

WTF they violated that convention we can only surmise.

doesn't really work with gesture based devices
MS are looking to develop a consistent interaction language across all devices - PC, Xbox, Kinect etc That's not a trivial problem but they clearly think that the future is more than the desktop.

Now they may not pull their goal off, but they are a huge company with some very smart people working for them, they're at the start of repositioning themselves in terms of their internal culture and their product focus (although their researchers have been looking at all sorts of things for years)

I think they have a good chance of developing an interesting group of technologies and solutions for interacting with those technologies and incorporating those technologies into the environment.

But maybe they won't - not a problem for me as that should just mean somone else has come up with something even more interesting.

[rikkki]

I have had problems updating to 8.1 on my Toshiba laptop,the compatability checker says some of my old games will have to go,which is a bummer!
Looks like i might have to get rid of 'em and try again.
I'll see what happens next time i try to update it.
Cya.

[egbert]

WTF they violated that convention we can only surmise.

doesn't really work with gesture based devices
MS are looking to develop a consistent interaction language across all devices - PC, Xbox, Kinect etc That's not a trivial problem but they clearly think that the future is more than the desktop.

There's been quite a bit of discussion of that in this thread and other related ones here. My question is - why not leave the three little boxes there for mouse users. They are the vast majority of your customers.

[ThomasHelzle]

I understand what MS it trying to do and I understand that it is non-trivial, but I don't see how one single paradigma should be useful to force on users that don't even have a touch device - and probably never will. So far I wouldn't be able to see a single benefit of my workstation having a touch screen.

And I don't see why I shouldn't be able to set a simple preference if I am using a touch device or not and get as a result a system I am able to use efficiently.

Microsoft will learn anyway. They always have and they don't want to become obsolete too fast.
So the Mouse will be reintroduced as a first class citizen and maybe at one point we will even be able to use Metro apps in resizeable windows on the desktop without third party apps - after all, it's still called Windows

Cheers,

Tom

[woggle]

I understand what MS it trying to do and I understand that it is non-trivial, but I don't see how one single paradigma should be useful to force on users that don't even have a touch device - and probably never will. So far I wouldn't be able to see a single benefit of my workstation having a touch screen.

And I don't see why I shouldn't be able to set a simple preference if I am using a touch device or not and get as a result a system I am able to use efficiently.

Microsoft will learn anyway. They always have and they don't want to become obsolete too fast.
So the Mouse will be reintroduced as a first class citizen and maybe at one point we will even be able to use Metro apps in resizeable windows on the desktop without third party apps - after all, it's still called Windows

Cheers,

Tom

I don't understand the problem with using the desktop and just bypassing Metro - isn't that the option to not use a touchscreen?

[ThomasHelzle]

I understand what MS it trying to do and I understand that it is non-trivial, but I don't see how one single paradigma should be useful to force on users that don't even have a touch device - and probably never will. So far I wouldn't be able to see a single benefit of my workstation having a touch screen.

And I don't see why I shouldn't be able to set a simple preference if I am using a touch device or not and get as a result a system I am able to use efficiently.

Microsoft will learn anyway. They always have and they don't want to become obsolete too fast.
So the Mouse will be reintroduced as a first class citizen and maybe at one point we will even be able to use Metro apps in resizeable windows on the desktop without third party apps - after all, it's still called Windows

Cheers,

Tom

I don't understand the problem with using the desktop and just bypassing Metro - isn't that the option to not use a touchscreen?

Yeah, that's what I do with the help of 3rd party tools.

But for Microsoft and the acceptance of Win8 it would make more sense to
a.) have an appstore that also contains desktop apps (similar to apple) and
b.) develop a system that doesn't compartmentalize stuff as absolute as it does now, so that the effort that goes into the Metro stuff isn't useless for desktop users.

Cheers,

Tom

[woggle]

I don't understand the problem with using the desktop and just bypassing Metro - isn't that the option to not use a touchscreen?

Yeah, that's what I do with the help of 3rd party tools.

But for Microsoft and the acceptance of Win8 it would make more sense to
a.) have an appstore that also contains desktop apps (similar to apple) and
b.) develop a system that doesn't compartmentalize stuff as absolute as it does now, so that the effort that goes into the Metro stuff isn't useless for desktop users.

Cheers,

Tom

I agree. The rumors about Win9 seem to address your point (b)

[camsr]

So, I am wondering how well Haswell CPUs and Win8 pair up for DAW use. Isn't there a new asymmetric timing convention with this pair?