It’s obvious that Microsoft wants to move toward blending all computing devices – desktop, laptop, netbook, tablet, smartphone – together until the only question is form factor.
It’s…not a bad goal? I mean, I expect that the evolution of the PC as we know it will progress toward a dockable tablet. But this is the exact wrong path to take, and Windows 8 is going to be one giant turkey for desktop computing.
Of course, and the reason why is that no matter how much “imagineering” they think they’re doing, the design of the human hand isn’t going change for a long time. The vast majority of data input and manipulation on computers–the day-to-day working-world interfacing with all kinds of programs–is done by people who take advantage of ten fingers on a three-dimensional surface to maximize what they do with the greatest efficiency and speed. If they created some kind of touch screen that you could use with ten fingers at once, its two-dimensional character would slow down human hands–and what would be the point, anyway?
They’ll probably have to back-peddle and make the “legacy” component more prominent.
The new interface certainly isn’t for everyone but you can switch it off and use the standard Windows 7 interface instead so it makes no difference really, it’s a new feature that you can take or leave, you aren’t forced to use it.
What bothers me about this interface is that it can update from the web.
So suppose some jerkweed out there decides to build some malware that takes advantage of this feature. Now all of a sudden you can’t get to your desktop anymore. Thus, you can’t Google (or Bing) the problem and you can’t run any malware removal tools. Oops.
The first thing I will be doing with the Win8 start screen is shutting it off.
This is how I understand it, too. Tech News Today (sorry, can’t find the correct link at the moment) gave their impression on what they saw and gave it mostly high marks.
Personally, I think it is a great idea and a great direction for Windows. As I understand it, this is basically just a “skin” that manipulates the OS to support a touch device UI. You simply change that skin over to Windows 7 to experience a traditional UI. If the two modes of UI interact seamlessly, then what is the problem?
Personally, I would love, love, love! a tablet that I could plug into a dock at work and switch the UI over to a traditional interface. For most users, the current computing power of a tablet is all they need.
In addition to tablets and phones, touchscreen all-in-one desktop computers are available from all the major PC manufacturers: Dell, Sony, HP etc. Here’s just a generic list of different models for sale:
There’s also a growing market for separate touchscreen monitors. Here’s a list from Newegg:
Bringing the Metro interface into the desktop world, where people are increasingly using touchscreens even on their PC’s, is a smart idea. The truth is, very few general users need the full access to the guts and innards that the traditional desktop OS interfaces allow. For people who just want to do email and a little web surfing - ie, most people - the Metro UI gives them everything they need and ties seamlessly into their mobile device, if they choose that route too.
shrug the current Zune software has a Metro-ish touch-style UI, and it works fine with a mouse and keyboard.
but I guess this is the rock and a hard place MS finds themselves in. If they don’t change much, people gripe that they’re not innovative. If they do change things considerably, people gripe because they’re just trying to alienate their customers (or, trying to force people to upgrade. but how can they be doing both at the same time?)
The unfortunate thing is that Apple seems to be driving innovation, and Microsoft is playing catch up. Microsoft has the money, people and influence that they should be able to have an original idea, but they rarely do so.
All of Microsoft’s innovation seems to be on the Xbox nowadays. Aside from letting Nintendo get a jump on them with motion controls this generation, the Xbox 360 has become the new standard for game consoles.
I could see technology based on the Kinect system being used as the next interface with the home computer. Imagine a wall-sized screen that’s the display for a home computer and that you interact with using gestures.
I dunno, I think Windows Phone is a very well thought out touch interface. iOS kind of makes Apple look “lazy” in comparison. They’ve certainly added more features over the generations but at its core iOS is still grids of icons launching apps. IMO Android is the one perpetually playing catch-up, since aside from widgets it doesn’t really do anything iOS doesn’t do.
Windows Phone isn’t bad from what I’ve seen, but it comes a couple of years after iPhone and Android. And actually, Android is kind of the phone equivalent of Windows, in that it’s an OS that Google offers to any phone manufacturer.
This is already in the works as the next Xbox Live update will change the system dashboard to work with Kinect. It’s based heavily on the Windows 8 design and could probably be ported to the PC with little effort.
His big example of bad design is the onscreen keyboard, which has been a utility in every version of Windows since Windows 98. The presence of an onscreen keyboard does not mean a physical keyboard will not work anymore. Moron.
I STILL don’t like what they did to Excel. It’s not like the original layout couldn’t be improved but they tossed the baby out with the bath water. It was an established program used by millions and didn’t need to be “user interfaced” back to square one.
When I buy a product, like a car, I don’t want to have to relearn how to operate it. The general layout doesn’t need to be improved, the power and efficiency needs to be improved.
The biggest change (but unnoticed by many) is that it’s intended to move from software packages that you purchase and install to ‘apps’ that you download online and use.
Thus moving from a big selection of software, from many different makers, to an ‘apps store’ controlled by Microsoft, with them raking off a percentage of the price of each one, and them controlling it to make sure that inappropriate apps (like ones that compete with Microsoft products) are kept out of their store.