Windows Infinity

[Darat]

I haven't used OS/2 in a looong time, but this sounds vaguely reminicent of that.

Yep and also OSs such as RISC OS, for some reason this type of context menu never was embedded and fully integrated with the OS. It's like the middle click menu never gaining more traction.

 

[commandlinegamer]

Heck, you can even do that with TWM! (Left button instead of right).

I use FVWM at home and work. Getting on for twenty years' old it has oodles of options though I really just use the pager and task bar. I don't have icons on the desktop, and I don't miss them. Much as I like KDE, I refuse to wait 20 seconds for it to load up, when FVWM is ready to go in 2.

 

[Wudang]

Yep and also OSs such as RISC OS, for some reason this type of context menu never was embedded and fully integrated with the OS. It's like the middle click menu never gaining more traction.

Or with CDE just edit dtwmrc to add any options you like.

 

[Soapy Sam]

Oh good, then you can explain to me how the whole libraries thing works. My wife save a file from Word, then tries to find it from Explorer. No luck. Then I try to find it from a DOS box. No luck. Where the hell is it?

~~ Paul

Ah, we're all getting old , the cerebral arteries are hardening and only the kids know what's going on.
I have no idea what the "libraries" thing does. But then, I started losing files when they invented "my Documents" and Virtual Folders, because I was used to creating a "Main" folder under C:\, sticking that in the DOS path, then using 2 letter batch files to put things where I wanted them. But that was way too "unintuitive" for Microsoft, a company who clearly have no idea what "intuitive" means.

What they seem to mean by "intuitive" is "accustomed to" and what most people are accustomed to now is smartphones. (I just can't get interested in them for some reason. I spent an hour looking at them at Heathrow yesterday and realised I can't even tell what's a phone and what's a tablet).

Apple has done the vertical sales thing - OS/ apps/ hardware and it looks like M$ is headed down the same route. I don't know that I plan to follow.

 

[richardm]

After test driving Windows 8 this past week, the one thing I think would make more sense than moving the cursor to various corners to try to bring up other menus would be to allow a Right Click anywhere on the desktop, which would then bring up a menu with all the basic options of where you want to go

I must admit I don't have any particular dislike of the Metro front-end but soon discovered that if you click on the Desktop tile the Metro bit vanishes. One of the things that then surprised me considerably was that there was no obvious way to bring the Metro bit back.

It kind of put me in mind of the old Windows 3.0 type of shell, where quitting windows would drop you to a Dos Prompt, with no immediately obvious way of getting the shiny back.

MS will need to address that, or the average home user is going to have a canary the first time they do it.

 

[Darat]

I must admit I don't have any particular dislike of the Metro front-end but soon discovered that if you click on the Desktop tile the Metro bit vanishes. One of the things that then surprised me considerably was that there was no obvious way to bring the Metro bit back.

It kind of put me in mind of the old Windows 3.0 type of shell, where quitting windows would drop you to a Dos Prompt, with no immediately obvious way of getting the shiny back.

MS will need to address that, or the average home user is going to have a canary the first time they do it.

Sell it with a sticker saying "Type: metrowin.com "

 

[Paul C. Anagnostopoulos]

I don't know what you're talking about. There's no libraries on Windows Phone 7.

Oops, didn't see the critical word "Phone." Never mind.

~~ Paul

 

[BazBear]

I understand it comes with a helper AI called, "Durandal."

Is it named after the sword, or after the French runway penetrating bomb? Either way, a funny codename for an AI "helper".

 

[Alan]

To be fair that's a computer illiterate person using Windows 8.

Here's that guy using the Unity interface, which comes with Ubuntu. He seems to do better.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=ltE_ekc8kE8

It's not related to Windows 8 except tangentially through that person, and Unity is a controversial interface that a significant number of Linux users consider to be bad and so it's like the Metro of Windows (although I don't agree) and it's interesting seeing a new user use it. At least for me, as I am interested in user interfaces.

 

[gumboot]

Isn't that a bit ageist?

How do you know that this is not a computer literate old man?

Because he's clearly illiterate. Did you watch the video? He doesn't even know what "windows explorer" is...

 

[elbe]

Because he's clearly illiterate. Did you watch the video? He doesn't even know what "windows explorer" is...

I work IT and even my coworkers can get confused with explorer; not everyone really calls it that. There have been so many times I've tried walking someone through a process, asked them to start explorer, and they started IE.

 

[TheL8Elvis]

I work IT and even my coworkers can get confused with explorer; not everyone really calls it that. There have been so many times I've tried walking someone through a process, asked them to start explorer, and they started IE.

Isn't that a poor example ? I mean, I can open' c:\' in IE ... or 'http://www.google.com' in explorer ... especially in XP and with older IE. It's not like they don't share a code base:

 

[elbe]

Isn't that a poor example ? I mean, I can open' c:\' in IE ... or 'http://www.google.com' in explorer ... especially in XP and with older IE. It's not like they don't share a code base:


[qimg]http://www.internationalskeptics.com/forums/imagehosting/thum_500444f6339b2daf99.png[/qimg]

They do, but I'd guess most people don't usually open directory paths in IE; they start "My Computer" or "My Documents" and go from there. I'd say most people I talk to refer to explorer by the location it's in or where they started from, treating it as the directory tree itself instead of as an application that displays it.

 

[Wowbagger]

Well, Windows 8 might suck much. But, at least Visual Studio 11 seems to have a few good things going for it! The new previewing feature in the IDE, the Async features in VB and C#, the integrated Code Analysis window, multi-browser support for ASP.NET, etc. (And, of course, the obligatory improved support for HTML 5.)

If you care about C++, you will be happy to know that the development features in VC++ have been upgraded to be on par with those of C# and VB, and that it has better support for C++11 standards.

But, one little thing bugs me: The tool panels ("Solution Explorer", "Toolbox", etc.) all have titles in capital letters, for some reason. It feels like the application is constantly SHOUTING at me! Granted, it's a minor GUI issue. But, it seems kinda stupid that someone, somewhere, thought it would be a good idea to push this less-readable stuff onto us developers. Don't you think?!

The attached images demonstrate this:
The first one is from Windows 7 running Visual Studio 2010 Premium Edition. Note that its tool panels are Title Cased, and the icons are colorful, although the contrast in the title bar could use some improvement. And, not everyone liked the purple (though I didn't mind it).

The second one is from Windows 8 Consumer Preview running the current Visual Studio 11 Beta Premium Edition. Note how its panels are ALL IN CAPS, with rather annoying dotted handles. Makes it much more difficult to read. Plus, the icons are drabbier, and missing from the panel tabs. The only visual improvement is the higher contrast in the title bar. And, for some people, the lack of purple might help.

 

[This is The End]

Sorry to bump the old Windows 8 thread but I thought it might be better than starting a new one just for this.

PCWorld has a pretty good article on Win 8 today:

http://www.pcworld.com/article/2615...eady_why_waiting_for_windows_9_wont_help.html

 

[Wowbagger]

http://www.pcworld.com/article/2615...eady_why_waiting_for_windows_9_wont_help.html

I kinda disagree with the article. Granted, there may be no escaping the "Metro" (or whatever they're calling it now) interface. But, I think Windows 9 WILL help, at least a little bit. And, it might be worth waiting for, for many people. (Unless you are buying a new machine with Win8 preinstalled.)

I forsee a slew of complaints for how disjointed and (for some) disorienting the Win8 interfaces are. I don't know exactly how Microsoft is going to respond to them. But, I also forsee at least a little better usability and integration with the desktop in Win9.

There is a REASON the Start button and taskbar were invented. Taking all that stuff out is like throwing us back into the Windows 3.1 era, where users often didn't know where their programs went, when they were minimized and such. I have a hunch Microsoft knows this. But, they're running on "Desperate Catch Up Mode" right now, and they don't have the time or resources to make it work well for every mentality. They can focus on that more in the next version.

 

[Wowbagger]

And, for those who care about Visual Studio 2012: The final release version is out, and available for MSDN subscribers, at least. I think it will go off to retail locations soon.

Microsoft changed the interface since the post I placed on here, in March:
* The tool panels are no longer ALL UPPER CASE. But, the upper menu bar is!
* However, there is a way to change the menu bar back to Mixed Case: http://blogs.msdn.com/b/zainnab/arc...the-uppercase-menu-in-visual-studio-2012.aspx

* The icon for the program is now much, much, much more uglier. It's hideous. See attached image.

 

[icerat]

I've been using windows 8 for months and I really don't see what the problem is. All that's happened is the start menu is turned to tiles and they've added an additional interface for touch screens.

If you're using a tablet or phone or other touch interface, you use the metro phone and metro apps. If you're using a PC (or surface with keyboard) you click on desktop and it's just like windows 7. Need the menu? Just hit the windows key, just like always worked in Windows 7 too.

Where's the problem?

 

[icerat]

Taking all that stuff out is like throwing us back into the Windows 3.1 era, where users often didn't know where their programs went, when they were minimized and such.

I'm sitting here using Windows 8 right now. I have a task bar at the bottom of my screens. In an improvement over Windows 7, I actually have two separate task bars, one for each screen showing the apps I have moved to that screen.

Start menu? Just press the Windows keys.

I really wonder how many people who rant about windows 8 have ever actually used it for more than a few seconds.

 

[maggot9779]

To be honest, I don't see why Microsoft need to release a new OS at all. W7 is fairly recent and it doesn't have any major downfalls that could hold it back. They should hold off for a couple of years, atleast until the hype around tablet PCs dies down a bit.

Trying to compete with Apple (which might be part of the reason for the new OS) is a silly idea, they already have the vast vast majority of the market and they risk alienating their current customers by releasing a half arsed port of a tablet OS to PC.