Island Dog

Join Date 06/2003

+1048

Building the Windows 8 UI

Microsoft has a huge blog post from the head of the user experience team for Windows 8 about the UI changes and some ideas behind them. It’s long, but an interesting read.

http://blogs.msdn.com/b/b8/archive/2012/05/18/creating-the-windows-8-user-experience.aspx

“So what is the role of the desktop in Windows 8?

It is pretty straightforward. The desktop is there to run the millions of existing, powerful, familiar Windows programs that are designed for mouse and keyboard. Office. Visual Studio. Adobe Photoshop. AutoCAD. Lightroom. This software is widely-used, feature-rich, and powers the bulk of the work people do on the PC today. Bringing it forward (along with the metaphors such as manual discrete window sizing and overlapping placement) is a huge benefit when compared to tablets without these features or programs. It is an explicit design goal of Windows 8 to bring this software forward, run it better than in any previous version of Windows, and to provide the best environment possible for these products as they evolve into the future as well.

We see our approach validated time and time again. On one hand, the makers of tablets and phones are in a race to add “PC capabilities” to their devices: support for peripherals like printing, remote access, high-resolution screens, or classes of new APIs for developers that already exist in Windows. At the same time, we also see consumers demanding features in these platforms that have existed for years in Windows—from things as mundane as full support for the keyboard and mouse, to things as complex as support for multiple monitors, background processing, or third-party accessibility tools.”

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danioc

Join Date 07/2001

+121

The end is near...

Microsoft couldn't be doing a worst job with the windows UI.

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DaveBax

Join Date 10/2007

+629

So why wouldn't Microsoft have a huge blog. They have them everywhere and why not with billions invested. It's the greatest thing to ever come around but not for me. Could be however the tide may turn as there are so many people now that only know how to use a i-phone. This will be right up their alley. Nothing will however convince me this is for a phone or tablet not a computer. But then again I am from an older generation and no longer need the other things for work as home is the only place I now need something which is a computer for enjoyment and fun.

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We see our approach validated time and time again. On one hand, the makers of tablets and phones are in a race to add

BUT, nobody argued that it is a bad UI for tablets and phones. People are saying that it is stupid to foist it on laptops and desktops which have a mouse and keyboard!

How is "we are validated that its good for tablets and phones" a response to that?

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Daiwa

Join Date 07/2001

+351

Read the whole thing. Not sure why they've become so 'anti-chrome' (lowercase c) - they kept glass in the Taskbar but prohibit it in frames.

Whatever their justification, it's all about the Microsoft Store.

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Quoting Daiwa,

reply 4

Read the whole thing. Not sure why they've become so 'anti-chrome' (lowercase c) - they kept glass in the Taskbar but prohibit it in frames.

Whatever their justification, it's all about the Microsoft Store.

Which will fail because Metro 8 will fail (I am not calling this windows if it doesn't have actual windows)

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Unfortunately, they have apparently lost their chance to have their cake and eat it too.

While Windows 8 is fine, nay competitive finally, on tablets and phones with touch, it's completely half-baked when it comes to desktop users.

From home to business users--the 95% market share MS has built up on the desktop--the invisible control gadgets, removal of the smart button, lack of close gadgets, etc. is going to confuse the hell out of the less techno-literate.

And MS didn't need to do this. If the necessary GUI options were provided and made the default for upgraders and/or non touch users (re: EVERYONE with a desktop computer for the past 30 years), home and business users would have had ONE thing to adapt to, Metro. There would have been bitching, of course, but the Start Menu->Start Screen is easy to grok if everything else works similarly.

Businesses will "skip" Windows 8 entirely and home users will switch to Apple out of their frustration--as Apple will be the only major commercial vendor providing consumers a viable and recognizable "windows" experience.

How ironic.

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LightStar

Join Date 12/2002

+1607

Again, all I will say is YUK!

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Daiwa

Join Date 07/2001

+351

Quoting Excalpius,

reply 6

Apple will be the only major commercial vendor providing consumers a viable and recognizable "windows" experience.

Heh, heh.

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As I read the entire article, somewhere close to the last couple of paragraphs I started getting this epiphany....you know, that feeling that something very major is about to change. It suddenly became crystal clear to me that skinning as we know it will soon become a thing of the past....something no longer relevant in this new high-tech ,fast paced society we are now beginning to experience. People will no longer be concerned about or interested in having beautifully designed icons or window borders etc ,since they will become obsolete and un-necessary in this new high-tech ,fast paced world we are now living in. I sense that our time of relevency is quickly growing short fellow skinners, appreciate and embrace this time we still have left as we will soon be going the way of the dinosaurs I fear. Sad really....

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vStyler

Join Date 11/2004

+919

I REALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLY hope Stardock has something up their sleeve that will let us keep customization alive and well.

Metro.. literally looks like dog shit from an albino dog.

Bill Gates has finally.. lost his mind apparently.

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Uvah

Join Date 05/2006

+874

Second that. I didn't get into skinning only to have Microstuff screw things up. I don't like Macs so I have an alternative I'm playing with. Win7 is my default OS. The other a standby.

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Quoting vStyler,

reply 10

I REALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLY hope Stardock has something up their sleeve that will let us keep customization alive and well.

Metro.. literally looks like dog shit from an albino dog.

Bill Gates has finally.. lost his mind apparently.

AGREED LOL

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Quoting LightStar,

reply 7

Again, all I will say is YUK!

It looks like something that fell out of a tall cow's ass on a hot day.

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JcRabbit

Join Date 03/2001

+290

Quoting vStyler,

reply 10

Bill Gates has finally.. lost his mind apparently.

Not Bill Gates. Steven Sinofsky, President of the Windows division since July 2009.

These days everybody thinks they are some kind of Steve Jobs. Not to worry though... the higher they go, the harder they fall.

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RedneckDude

Join Date 04/2009

+2223

"Building the Windows 8 UI"

Soon, Stardock will be remodeling the Windows 8 UI.

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Daiwa

Join Date 07/2001

+351

By the strangest of coincidences, anything that will 'work' in Metro 8 will need to be purchased through the Windows Store.

They're just lusting after a closed ecosystem like Apple's, and apparently not appreciating what massive leverage they have in their installed base. I get the idea of seamlessness. I really do. It's just that in this case it is the excuse they've been looking for to pull everything inside (pay) walls. Walls without Windows, as it were. Not immediately, but you'll not be able to take advantage of their version of seamlessness without paying to get inside. May have hit on their new brand - 'Microsoft Walls'.

Mind you, there is nothing inherently wrong with them doing that. I've owned 4 iPhones, 4 iPods and 1 iPad (so far), after all. Who wouldn't want to be Apple? They'll either succeed at it, or not. We'll decide with our pocketbooks eventually. However 'technically beautiful' the new OS turns out to be, however much they 'enhance the user experience', they are being very disingenuous about the motivation.

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JcRabbit

Join Date 03/2001

+290

Quoting Daiwa,

reply 16

Mind you, there is nothing inherently wrong with them doing that.

At first sight, it would actually be good for consumers if everything was centralized in a Microsoft App Store: think about it, everything is clean and secure, and there is only one place to search for applications.

But when you start digging deeper, you start realizing all the 'hidden' implications too: iOS is also a closed platform. Developers cannot distribute iOS applications except through the App Store, and Apple can reject their app for any reason they chose. Users aren't able to run rejected applications unless their phones are jailbroken.

See where this is going? Applications that compete with Microsoft's own stuff would never be allowed in. Looking at how IE 6 remained unchanged for many years due to lack of competition, a situation that changed only when Firefox and Chrome came along, you can already begin to understand how a 'compulsive' Windows App store would immediately stifle innovation and progress.

Applications like WindowBlinds and UxTheme patchers, which need to dig deep into the OS to do their stuff, would NEVER be allowed in either.

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Well. Anyway. They have an uphill struggle against Apple and Android that's for sure. Their tablet platforms are pretty solid already and the application base is pretty big. To enter that arena with MS's consequent lack of innovation and interest what the client wants is a recipe for failure. Personally i am a disaster with linux, but Android stole my heart. It actually works without having to geek out on it. I currently run a custom rom on my Motorola Xoom which is really very beautiful.

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DaveBax

Join Date 10/2007

+629

Quoting petrossa,

reply 18

I currently run a custom rom on my Motorola Xoom which is really very beautiful

No one I heard has ever said the metro look with the touch screen and apps aren't a good thing for phones and tablets. So Microsoft has seen the success and decided it was meant to be on a PC. All the free apps available for those won't be available unless Microsoft says so and even with that would people still give them out for free while having to spend more time making them using a windows OS. They really think they are going to make money off these 3rd party apps. On most all replies to these windows8 threads say the same thing. Not leaving windows7 for this ------------ (fill in the dashes as you wish) There will always be some who will like it but from everything I find that is a small percentage. So unless there is some good news on 8 I see no reason to continue to even comment again about 8. Is it because I like to skin, maybe. What it is really about is I like to customize the entire computer. Have a desktop full of what I want and a beautiful picture or custom made wallpaper.

After the PC comes out with 8 on them and if sales should drop it won't be blamed on Windows8 even if that is the main reason. They just have to many other avenues to blame it on. I'm not against change in any way but change with no real meaning is just plain stupid and of course this is my opinion but might add have heard it from many sources and people. We are all entitled to use what we perfer and again I have no problem with that and if a few like 8 fine. However lets stop trying to shove something down my throat. Microsoft spends more time defending it then working on it. So in another year we should have a better feeling on how things are going with 8 but for me i'm staying with 7.

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*reads Windows UI article*

Okay, I can see how MS is trying to get with the times, but couldn't Windows 8 of just been a spin-off product for mobile devices and leave Windows 7 alone? Why does MS have to "hybridize" and make the OS designed for every computing device? I don't want my "powerful" PC (as they put it) to run apps designed for mobile devices (i.e. Metro apps). That's what I have my Android smartphone for.

And I won't put my hopes up for Windows 9 neither. By then MS will probably only ship ARM versions and shun the PC market entirely to further compete with Android and iOS. It's the beginning of the end for Microsoft.

I'll stick with my "dated" desktop with my favorite Stardock apps and skins over "upgrading" to a Windows 8 device anyday! In fact, my next computer will be a "dated" desktop that i'll build myself someday and run Win7 on it.

@ Microsoft: If it ain't broke...

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Quoting Daiwa,

reply 16

They're just lusting after a closed ecosystem like Apple's, and apparently not appreciating what massive leverage they have in their installed base.

This is pretty much it. They think "wow, if we combined our marketshare with apple's closed system policy we would be swimming in even more money!"

Not for a moment do they realize that the reason apple has 15% in US and below 10% globally is because its a closed system.

MS windows is the de-facto standard because most programs are windows exclusive. And most programs are windows exclusive because it is an open easy to develop platform... and because its the de-facto standard too.

But the latter cannot carry them through such a transition alone.

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Daiwa

Join Date 07/2001

+351

The thing that sticks in Ballmer's craw is that Apple is so much more profitable on that much smaller share.

And this pretty much confirms the hard-on they have (and the blinders):

In a blog published that same day, Ted Dworkin, director of the Windows Store development team, said, "We've just passed the 500 million licenses sold mark for Windows 7, which represents half a billion PCs that could be upgraded to Windows 8 on the day it ships. That represents the single biggest platform opportunity available to developers."

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CarGuy1

Join Date 03/2007

+548

I haven't loaded the beta so I have very little experiance with Windows 8. That being said, am I correct in my understanding that if a user wants to run Windows 8, none of their existing software will be compatible?

If this is true, does Microsoft really think the average user can afford to replace everything they already own?

I suddenly get the feeling that Microsoft is being run by this guy...

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Daiwa

Join Date 07/2001

+351

No, Win7-compatible software will be 'compatible', just painful to use in the manner to which you've become accustomed.

And, no, 'that guy' would likely do a better job.

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Quoting Daiwa,

reply 22

The thing that sticks in Ballmer's craw is that Apple is so much more profitable on that much smaller share.

Thats because of their hardware and other devices (phones, ipods, etc) not OS sales.

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