Personal computing discussed
Moderators: renee, Flying Fox, Ryu Connor
RhysAndrews wrote:So as a touch interface, the impression I get is that it works quite well. So correct me if I'm wrong, but we're now just looking at its impracticality for desktops and other scenarios where poking at a screen really doesn't work.
-Rhys
RhysAndrews wrote:And in the end, the quickest way to find your app is to press the windows key, type what you want, and press enter. You can still do that in Windows 8.
cynan wrote:Well, I never quite understood the general disdain for Vista. Sure it had its issues, but was nowhere near as bad as some like to make out - and at the end of the day, not so very different from Windows 7.
Thanks to marketing and a popular mentality of being too lazy to always think for oneself, these sorts of reactions often don't need to be heavily based on reality/validity.
RhysAndrews wrote:It disrupts the workflow. I am an ok touch typist. I want both hands on the keyboard most of the time (that's why I prefer the nub on a notebook since I don't have to move my hand too far away from the asdfjkl; positions. Moving the hand to use the mouse to click is disruptive. Now you click on the different category, then what? You move the mouse again to the left on the found item, or you move the hand again back so you can hit Enter? (I do the latter) If you go all keyboard then you have to hit the down key once or twice, then hit Enter to change the category, then use the arrow keys again to navigate. It is a mess.@Flying Fox
Well really, it's 1 extra click. Instead of pressing enter, you click on the one you want. Is that enough to become intolerant of an entire operating system?
RhysAndrews wrote:They certainly are not making it easy to access. Though I must say one probably should not need to change the control panel stuff so often, except may be the "Uninstall a Program" link (and even that is debatable).@cynan
The 'under the hood' settings as I understand it are missing from Metro but still available via control panel. At least that's how it is in the consumer preview.
Airmantharp wrote:8 is just 7 with more tuning and a new start menu.
Arclight wrote:Then this "dual personality" problem will be even worse that they may as well release 2 OSes. This is the first step. I am much more interested to see how they can really fuse the 2 usage models in future iterations of the OS.Although i can't help you i wanted to share my impressions about Windows 8. Imo it's the worst OS for desktop PCs since it was designed so heavily with touch input. That said if they only allowed the user to have the start button and disable "Metro" (w/e it's called now) i wouldn't have a problem, but as far as i heard they are hard coding the metro UI to force developers make apps and certify them. So i don't think that moving forward they will give up on this and that's what urkes me the most. They will slowly but surely move into a closed OS a la Apple and that is not something i support.
Arclight wrote:TL;DR: F*ck x86 Windows 8.
Flying Fox wrote:Arclight wrote:TL;DR: F*ck x86 Windows 8.
What about the x64 version? Or ARM-based non-tablet form factor?
Arclight wrote:Flying Fox wrote:Arclight wrote:TL;DR: F*ck x86 Windows 8.
What about the x64 version? Or ARM-based non-tablet form factor?
I'm pretty sure both the 32 bit and 64 bit versions are x86. The x64 is actually x86-64 bit while the other x86-32 bit version. But w/e, you get it.
As for the Windows RT, i don't have a problem with it as it doesn't concern me and neither does the x86 deployment on tablets, where i presume it will be actually appreaciated, purportedly.
Diplomacy42 wrote:5 things I think make PC users feel like win 8 "ignores" the pc space.
1) you can't boot to the desktop, you have use the live tiles. we've lost aero, we've lost backgrounds(live backgrounds rock), we've lost widgets. this isn't the same as not being able to customize the sleep button, its the usability customization we all do, NOT just nerds.
2) using live tiles with a mouse is like doing surgery without a scalpel. the icons are too big, too close together, too oddly organized >
3) people with a multi-monitor setup, people with any monitor over about 17" find live tiles to be irritating, especially with the huge band across the top and bottom.
4) the live-tile setup is tolerable for a person who can fit all their applications on 1 screen, but navigating through the start screen to page 2 or 3 is hard with a mouse. using just the live tile interface triples or quadruples time costs to launch apps. in a world where gingerbread and jelly-bean are criticized for not being "smooth" enough, live tiles just feels broken on the desktop.
5) lastly, I have a personal pet peve, full screened apps. I'm sorry, but I like being able to have a tv/movie live stream, an internet browser, microsoft word/exel and another app all at once. win 8 makes this impossible in certain circumstances. i don't know how strongly I can say this: TABLETS ARE NOT DESIGNED FOR PRODUCTIVITY. so putting win 8 on a pc is just not practical for anyone who depends on their PC for school or work.
Diplomacy42 wrote:Having the scroll wheel on the mouse is now essential.4) the live-tile setup is tolerable for a person who can fit all their applications on 1 screen, but navigating through the start screen to page 2 or 3 is hard with a mouse. using just the live tile interface triples or quadruples time costs to launch apps. in a world where gingerbread and jelly-bean are criticized for not being "smooth" enough, live tiles just feels broken on the desktop.
Diplomacy42 wrote:As long as only 1 app is full screen, you can do the split screen thing (desktop with non-Metro apps + 1 Metro app).5) lastly, I have a personal pet peve, full screened apps. I'm sorry, but I like being able to have a tv/movie live stream, an internet browser, microsoft word/exel and another app all at once. win 8 makes this impossible in certain circumstances. i don't know how strongly I can say this: TABLETS ARE NOT DESIGNED FOR PRODUCTIVITY. so putting win 8 on a pc is just not practical for anyone who depends on their PC for school or work.
Diplomacy42 wrote:Hmm, I don't get that. But I suppose I launch my apps from pinned task bar icons on the desktop and I don't get to see the Start screen that way. If you have to launch the apps from the Start screen then of course you will be in Metro for a short while at least.every time I open an app, it flips back to "ModernUI" first(sometimes it takes a second).
Diplomacy42 wrote:They certainly are not making it a good experience, attempting to "persuade" people to stay with the new style.It's almost like the desktop is an app. when I use win 8, I almost never find it advantageous to flip over to the desktop. The desktop is treated as an afterthought in 8, it's like Balmer was planning on not even including one at all before someone threatened his family or something.