|Win7 is adequate or better for desktops, Win 8 is less so. | Nope. That you think that is the problem with the detached start menu experience.
|All of theses are somewhat hacks to make it perform like the previous version. | They are design changes, and yes they would make the transition to the newer UI features smoother for those coming from win 7. The goal of win 8 is mighty as it tries to find that point of convergence between different form factors. I think they've overshot the mark a bit and need to tune it back to a happier medium. |-----Original Message----- |From: ozdotnet-boun...@ozdotnet.com [mailto:ozdotnet- |boun...@ozdotnet.com] On Behalf Of mike smith |Sent: Thursday, 7 June 2012 9:19 AM |To: ozDotNet |Subject: Re: Win8 Release Preview | |On Thu, Jun 7, 2012 at 9:07 AM, Bill McCarthy <bill.mccarthy.li...@live.com.au> |wrote: | | | IMO, windows 8 is close, but it could be a lot better. I love the windows | phone like UI **concept**, and I love the idea of the similarities between | the different form factors, BUT the current release preview looks to me |to | be designed for content consumption not content creation. Where, for | example, is My documents gone ? | | | | |I find it paradoxical that we can have threads dealing with 3, 4, 5 large monitors |to cater to an OS that expects a target of, at best tablet size. | | | There's some weird divides between "desktop" and "metro" that really |only | make sense to developer geeks who understand these are different |runtime | platforms: but forcing that differentiation onto consumers seems wrong |to | me. Why should they need to care if their app is "metro" or not? Why do | running apps all appear when you hit alt+tab, but yet only one subset | appears in the windows desktop taskbar, and another subset in the |"metro" | taskbar (nb the metro taskbar only shows one of the two apps that are | running if one of them is docked) | | | |It's all about efficient use of large screens. And Metro just isn't. | | | | I think consumers' reaction will be mixed. Tablet users (especially those | with windows phones) will like win 8. | | |Agreed. If Win8 can handle being 4th to market in a fairly mature marketplace. |Being third wasn't terribly useful for us. (disclaimer, this is not the opinion of my |employer, but is personal - assume this disclaimer applies to all my comments, |actually.) | | | Existing users of win 7 that do a lot | of content creation are more likely to have that initial negative reaction | like Greg posted about, one that I've seen a lot of other people express | too. | | | | |Win7 is adequate or better for desktops, Win 8 is less so. | | | I do believe it can be made a lot better. The problem to me seems it's |more | like running "metro" windows with traditional windows in a VM. There |needs | to be better integration.. | | I really strongly believe that with just a handful of changes the experience | could be a lot better: | | 1. Make the start menu screen a pivot app with pivots that include |"running" | applications, "My Documents" . (maybe include recent, favourites etc). |The | "running" pivot pane would include all running apps as is currently in the | ALT+TAB list. | | 2. Get rid of the metro left pane taskbar (no longer needed if (1) is | implemented, and show all apps in the windows desktop taskbar | | 3. Allow metro apps to be run in windows !! That is, allow them to be |run | in a sizeable window alongside desktop apps. (via right click menu, and | allow for that preference to be saved) | | 4. Allow for flexible docking. The current "docking" for metro apps is way | too limited. | | 5. Include the start button on the desktop, and when pressed, show the |metro | start menu screen but show it as not quite full screen, so as it has the | appearance of a window (eg top,left at 10, bottom and right in about 20 |then | add a bit of a drop shadow) | | | There's probably more that could be done to improve integration eg why | doesn't the DPI settings also update the metro settings instead today you | have to change metro to "Large" separately and "Large" isn't the same |slight | magnification as 125% is; why isn't screen resolution in computer |settings, | instead you have to get to it via desktop or search for control panel etc. I | like the idea of simplification but the current bits feel more like | duplication. | | Anyway, I think win 8 is close, but all the good work done behind the |scenes | to make windows 7 better will be lost to negative reactions to the metro | addition. I'm still hoping they will make some more changes but it doesn't | look like it from the preview, instead it looks like they are rushing to | market (realistically only four or so months left to make Christmas for | retail devices). I haven't given up hope yet though; I'm hoping for a | windows 8 mango release if worse comes to worse, but will still be sad to | see so much negative reaction to the first release. | | | | | |All of theses are somewhat hacks to make it perform like the previous version. | | | |-- |Meski | | | http://courteous.ly/aAOZcv | |"Going to Starbucks for coffee is like going to prison for sex. Sure, you'll get it, |but it's going to be rough" - Adam Hills
