Microsoft released a video demoing Windows 8. Needless to say it looks like a piece of crap. I really have nothing to say other than I hope this "THING" dies a horrible horrible death in a pit of hydrochloric acid and satin's pitchfork. I've heard some people say that it allows you to switch back to "classic mode" however I didn't see any option like that in the video. The only thing I saw was the taskbar at the bottom while they were showing office off.
Yeah its optional. That'll primarily be for tablets the idea is that windows 8 covers all formats so can sync seamlessly, still i know exactly what you mean it looks like a crappy fad, i predict it'll never be used on laptops or desktops, just another thing designed for that people who can't use computers.
Meh. He said it still runs all the old applications. So they've slapped a touch-based layer with widgets - sorry, "apps" - and all the other gubbins people expect on it. I'll bet all the fancy stuff he was banging on about turns out to be fluff and eye candy, just an attempt to make it more attractive to the tablet manufacturers.
You can pry Windows XP from my cold dead etc etc
I'm on 7 now, but take a look at Gnome 3 and obviously all the iThings that they have now, that's the way everything is going. Make it easier so everyone can use it. Nothing bad about that.
I reckon there will still be a 'classic' mode or similar, and there have been programs that change the UI for Windows for years. Don't forget you've also got people complaining that 8 is coming along so soon after 7. If there were no big changes then there would be no point.
As long as it still plays games, I don't care.
Honestly? It looks like a kind of nifty front end program that aims to make things more like a phone interface, where everything is accessible and touch interactive. In fact, it seems to be mainly for touch screen integration.
That said, the new overlay screen thing looks like it would be mostly useless to me, and I would immediately turn it off. I would assume turning it off is possible, too, because of that task bar in the Office section. It looks like that screen is just an overlay of some sort, an extra layer, over the normal Windows OS.
I'm more concerned with their decision to start using ribbon interfaces everywhere.
See, I've heard people say that it is optional, but I have yet to have actual proof that it is.Originally Posted by Gravy
For the love of all that is holy, please let the ribbon die.
Nothing wrong with the ribbon IMO, just the way that it's set up by default is frustrating. The ribbon is a lot nicer than the menus we've been seeing since forever. In any event I don't find this new interface to be particularly useful but I highly doubt that it'd be mandatory for use, you can see the old Explorer UI running in the background which appears when Excel is launched. Also the UI looks geared towards touchscreens, not mice, and MS wouldn't force a touchscreen interface onto mice. They're just jumping on this weird bandwagon where desktop UIs have to operate with modal apps and nonsense like that, like an iPad or something.
Then again, I thought Microsoft learned their mistakes with front-ends like this after Microsoft Bob. Maybe not.
Windows 8 is all about non-PC form factors, from the optimised interface to ARM support. PC users can safely hold off till Windows 9.
Alarmist threads ftl.
Typical Microsoft too-busy UI... Seriously, they like to pack more crap onto the screen than linux nerds.
Вы такие сексапильные, когда злитесь.
@Thelionheart
It is completely optional, it works similarly to the Windows Media Centre interface, which it takes a lot of inspiration from.
@DarkNoghri
What's wrong with Ribbon? It is one of the best - most intuitive, GUIs I've ever seen.
So this is UI For Workgroups?
Let me answer that.
It obscures the useful features I use behind more cumbersome menus while wasting tons of space that I'd like to use for the actual application.
Last edited by Batolemaeus; 05-06-2011 at 06:54 AM.
Maybe I didn't play with it enough/modify it to suit my tastes, but it takes me longer than it should for me to find stuff. It also wastes ~1/3 of my screen. Honestly, I don't really use Office much at this point, as I do all my writing in Latex. Some excel work, but nothing really hard there either.
Maybe it's fine and I just don't like change. *shrugs* I'd certainly prefer that the old interface be an option, though.
Edit: Just went back and had a look at it. It's not as bad as I thought. Maybe I did get used to it.
I really don't know. I'm basing that statement on the above video, which looks like they're trying to mimic a phone/slate/touch interface on a PC. However, as soon as they do something that's not an 'app', it looks like normal Windows. Seems like a layer/overlay to me.
Oh LaTex, I need to finally learn how to write in it. Would be useful for my thesis. :)
@Batolemaeus
Most features are only 2 clicks away at most, compare that with a minimum of 3 using the old style menus. They are spread over the top of the screen in a contextual manner, changing to adapt to your current task. You can modify the tabs quite extensively in the options, like put all the features you use the most on the front.
If you are a power user, you should use keyboard shortcuts anyway, just like with the old version.
The complaints about Ribbon usually come from users who used the old interface for years and are irritated with having to learn a new layout. For a very simple comparison of the quality of those, sit a person clueless about computers in front of Powerpoint 2003 and one of the newer versions.
See, when I use a UI, the only reason I might need the menu is when I'm looking for some function I don't use often. I might need a few tiny buttons from time to time for some less often used tools.
All of that can be condensed in just the menu bar and one row of buttons.
Ribbons are already twice to thrice that size for no gain, giving me a few big buttons but no functionality beyond wasting space. And when I do need to look for something, I'm completely lost.
You can collapse the ribbon so it takes only one row needed to display the tab names and pops out only when you use it.
Microsoft Bob anyone?
I can see the advantage for tablet technology (and good luck to them as Apple needs some real competition), but I suspect that for the vast majority of people this won't be a must have upgrade.
Why yes you're right I'm deliciously evil
Tradition is the tyranny of dead men
Steam:Kadayi Origin: Kadayi GFWL: Kadayi
Probable Replicant
*blush* I'm flattered by the attention boys, but please let's not make the thread about liddle old me
Indeed I can, but the reason why my (classic!) taskbar doesn't minimize is that this always moves the contents of just about everything on screen by a few dozen pixels, which I find bloody irritating. Ribbons are no different.
As you can see, I'm a man of habits. I went out of my way to recreate the quicklaunch bar in win7 and removed every trace of the new UI as it actively obscured and hid stuff from me, and I've immediately nuked Unity from my Ubuntu install for the same reason (and because of consistency with other ubuntu devices over here).
To me, the resurgence of form over function is very irritating and annoying. I thought we were over that phase where everything had to be shiny. But maybe my focus is entirely different from the majority of people: I need to work with this box. This is neither an entertainment system nor a system only used for browsing the web and looking at videos. I will grab my pitchfork and crowbar and eradicate anything competing for attention from my UI everywhere.
(This is, by the way, even more important to me on multi-monitor systems. Graphical eyecandy, especially if it is somehow animated, means I'll subconsciously divert attention from my normal view, which means it'll also drain my ability to concentrate well on what I'm doing. That's why my UI presets are usually desaturated on my desktops too)
By the way, the reason why I'm slightly irritated by this: Going back to a usable UI is becoming harder and harder. In WinXP it was easy, in Vista it needed manual attention, in Win7 it got even harder. I'd hate if a new version only shipped with a UI that I simply can not use productively.
Last edited by Batolemaeus; 05-06-2011 at 09:21 AM.
Ddllll............l
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote
