They killed the ability to bring the start bar back by completely removing the resources for it. They apparently didn't approve of people modding it to actually bring back the best usability feature windows has ever had. Ok that might be stretching it...but you get it =P. Can anyone say shell replacement?
@Thrax: I believe it still does, but it soon won't. Someone from microsoft had some interview or something and explained that every start bar app that worked in the consumer preview didn't work in the upcoming release preview build, since it damaged the intended user experience. I don't know...something stupid like that. Anyway, microsoft is trying its hardest to kill third party start bars, just hoping they fail.
I've been on it for a few weeks, It just feels like Win7 with a few different looking menus. Some of my software hasn't been compatable, but that should start to fix up after official release.
I've been on it for a few weeks, It just feels like Win7 with a few different looking menus. Some of my software hasn't been compatable, but that should start to fix up after official release.
That's mostly my feeling too. Once you get past the few minor interface differences, it's essentially the same as Windows 7. I can do all the same things, it's just slightly different mouse motions and clicking in different places. No big deal, really.
Just one very important question about Win 8. Open paint, draw a circle and fill in everything around the circle with a color. Is it 2 solid colors or do you get this bullshit?
Minor change is not the phrase I'd use to describe Win8. Major paradigm shift away from mouse/trackpad usability is what I'd go with. Microsofts commitment to every other release of Windows being a complete clusterfuck continues (IMO)
No really... Other than differently configured Start menu (which I rarely use anyway), nothing about my daily use of the PC changed between win7 and win8. It's not a major shift, it's just a UI tweak. Where are you guys seeing these huge changes?
How about the fact that they've forced the Metro UI that was designed specifically for tablets and touch to be default, whether you want it or not. There's a reason I don't use Gadgets anymore, because I don't want them. I don't want obnoxiously large icons, I don't want widgety things running in the background wasting resources and I definitely don't want a tablet UI thrust upon my desktop.
This is the exact reason I stopped using Gnome in Linux... they're trying to force a touch UI onto controls that are very non-touch.
By removing Aero and the Aero assets necessary to use the traditional desktop full-time, Microsoft has tacitly acknowledged that developers are unlikely to program for Metro if they had the option not to. But Metro applications and the associated API are designed for touchscreen devices. Therefore, the only plausible explanation is that the PC is being subverted as a trojan horse to deliver Microsoft a seat at the tablet table. And Microsoft will use the multi-million sellthrough of OEM PCs to ram this paradigm down the throat of the buying public, and to drown the dissent from the people who realize what's actually going on.
No, I don't think Windows 8 is a minor difference. It's a half-assed lapdog that refuses to acknowledge its own shortcomings to help its master undo a horrifyingly bungled market entrance. And that, my friends, is bullshit.
The metro interface only showed up for 3 seconds upon my first day of use, and has since disappeared unless requested. It doesn't even boot up to it then have to be closed (though that wouldn't bug me).
This is what my desktop looks like right now:
No giant football icons, no tablet features. It looks exactly like it did on Win7 (minus start button). All my software from browsers to games to apps look identical to the way they looked in Win7 also. I forget I'm even on a new OS most of the time.
Metro is forced full time on the RTM version of Windows 8. You always have to return to Metro after any desktop activity, and you cannot pin apps as you have done in your taskbar.
Metro is forced full time on the RTM version of Windows 8. You always have to return to Metro after any desktop activity, and you cannot pin apps as you have done in your taskbar.
As far as I can tell this is only a rumor started by people who claim to have taken apart the code of a leaked release. All we have to really go on is what we have in the preview release.
Metro is forced full time on the RTM version of Windows 8. You always have to return to Metro after any desktop activity, and you cannot pin apps as you have done in your taskbar.
As far as I can tell this is only a rumor started by people who claim to have taken apart the code of a leaked release. All we have to really go on is what we have in the preview release.
It has nothing to do with people who claim to have taken apart code, the RTM was leaked (as they always are) and people have installed and run it. People that have done so have confirmed that the ability to bypass Metro no longer exists.
I have a feeling that unless every new PC and monitor released begins to have touchscreen capabilities within the next year, Microsoft will have to reverse the decision to disallow Metro being bypassed before SP1 drops, otherwise Windows 8 will experience the same kind of backlash among end users as Vista.
I have yet to see Microsoft admit that Vista was a half-baked mistake. I wouldn't put it past them to deny forcing Metro on people is a bad idea as well. If anything, I think Thrax's analysis is spot-on, they don't care about making desktop users happy (as they already have a virtual stranglehold on that market), they just want to use that market to wedge themselves into the mobile space.
primesuspect
Beepin n' BoopinDetroit, MI Icrontian
Comments
YES!
We are hitting the ground hard with a full on Windows 8 program at Trinet Computer Repair / Network Management. I expect big things.
...wait
It's just you.
This is the exact reason I stopped using Gnome in Linux... they're trying to force a touch UI onto controls that are very non-touch.
No, I don't think Windows 8 is a minor difference. It's a half-assed lapdog that refuses to acknowledge its own shortcomings to help its master undo a horrifyingly bungled market entrance. And that, my friends, is bullshit.
This is what my desktop looks like right now:
No giant football icons, no tablet features. It looks exactly like it did on Win7 (minus start button). All my software from browsers to games to apps look identical to the way they looked in Win7 also. I forget I'm even on a new OS most of the time.
It has nothing to do with people who claim to have taken apart code, the RTM was leaked (as they always are) and people have installed and run it. People that have done so have confirmed that the ability to bypass Metro no longer exists.