What I Do Not Like About Windows 8
In 5 Things I Love About Windows 8 I listed five features of Microsoft's upcoming operating system that I really like. If you read that article you may have noticed that those features are all "desktop" related. They do not have anything to do with the new Metro UI of Windows 8, and that is for a reason.
Metro UI in its current form is something that I have no intention of using. I can see how the UI shines on tablets, touch enabled devices and maybe even netbooks and other low resolution devices.
On my desktop PC though, I feel like it adds weight to the workflow. As it stands now, I have to boot into Metro UI whenever I start the operating system. There I see buttons (Microsoft calls them Tiles) that launch applications, websites or information. It is like a full screen application launcher that you cannot deactivate.
Update: You can boot into desktop if that was active when Windows shut down.
I can type in there to launch applications that are not displayed as tiles, but that's not that intuitive and I foresee an increase in support related incidents when the operating system launches.
Here are basic things that I had difficulties with:
- How to switch between apps (you move your mouse to the left screen border and cycle through them with the mouse wheel.)
- How to close apps (No idea
- How to add apps to the new Metro start UI (you type the app name, right-click the app in the search results list and select Pin)
- How to remove apps from the UI (you right-click and select unpin or uninstall depending on the type of program).
- How to access the standard Start Menu (see Registry fix here, but it disables Metro apps)
- How to stay on the desktop and not switch back to the Metro UI. Remember, there is no start menu, and you cannot use the Windows key either)
- How to shut down Windows 8 (press Alt-F4 with no Windows open in desktop mode)
I would assume that inexperienced users may have even more troubles with the new design and layout than I have.
The main issue that I have is the Metro UI. I know that I won't be using it, and I hope that Microsoft will be adding options to disable Metro and stick with the classic desktop all the time.
This is not a question of adaption. It is just that I feel that work will take longer to complete with Metro UI enabled, than it would without. I mean, what is the difference between a Metro UI that displays links to applications and features, and the classic desktop with shortcuts, pinned Taskbar items and the start menu?
Then again, I may be biased as I have been working with the classic desktop for a long time. I will give the operating a spin on my desktop when it comes out. First in a dual boot scenario, later on maybe as my primary operating system.
Microsoft still has time to please everyone. Users who embrace the change and think that Metro UI looks pretty and is functional, and those who think that it will slow them down in their day to day activities.
I'd really like to read your opinions on this.
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window 8 is about the biggest piece of junk that micro soft has come out with. in 2 myths I have had to call 5 times……there is bugs all over the place. I would think before this kind of force (Microsoft forced us to use) they would have tested a lot better
I have AADD & the continues sliding of pics on the main screen drives me crazyyyy
I do not like that, I wish I can make main screen just stay the way it is! the sliding drive me nuts :|
You can turn off live updates for all tiles on the start screen.
P.S. by casual I mean….compared to most of you that’s what I am! the computer that died was a medium high power machine: quad core, 16 gigs of ram,1 gig ram on video and windows 7! my next computer will be a 6 core, 32 gigs ram, 4 gigs ram on video(dual vid cards) and it to will run windows 7!!!
I cant say much for or against W8, not until I can get rid of the metro garbage and explore the OS like you could in 7 and earlier windows os’. personally I don’t like metro and much prefer the “classic” desktop with all the standard features! honestly….i’m only using 8 because my computer died and I had to get something so I could stay in touch with people in china, new York, brazil and Germany so I picked up a netbook with 8 on it. 8 may or may not be a good os but from my stand point, give us the option of which to use please! I can not see this os going anywhere for the casual desktop user. sorry but it isn’t all that user friendly and I’ve been using windows since I was 9 years old(1997) so say what you will, I do know what i’m talking about from a casual user stand point! i’m already looking for “tweaks and hacks” to get metro out!!!
You don’t have to open task manager to close apps. All you need to do is go to the start screen by moving curser to lower left and clicking and then when you are at the start screen move your curser to top left and drag straight down. This will show you all apps that are open and you can right click on them and choose close. Its that simple. I find it amazing the lengths people go through to say something bad about anything new.
Lol .. you guys are just noob , even a child can use windows 8.
It’s still a ” beta version ” So don’t hate -.-
I have the way microsoft is entirely ignoring the resolution issue ie the metro UI panel applications cannot run on my netbook of 1080 to 720
I guess Windows Consumer Preview really changes much of these issues because I can Close apps with Alt+F4 and the Win+I and Win+C Work flawlessly in metro and Desktop mode. (Hate metro on my Netbook, I landed on the blog searching in how to disable it and enable Start menu)
Microsoft should give users the option to use either the new Metro GUI or the Desktop + Startmenu version. Especially for those who don’t own a touchscreen
windows 8 is really bad!!!
I’m uninstalling it for ever!
just Windows 7!
mmm.. i tested it in a multi-touch Lenovo PC. when i needed to close an app i just toched the left corner and a panel apears. with options to close the app, and other settings, its not that difficult. the piano app was awesome.
I agree, I don’t like Metro UI other than on tablet devices. This should be optional – not pushed on desktop users. I mean why? The green background is also pretty ugly in my opinion.
Metro for me stands for oversized text and basic/simplistic menus.
Microsoft please listen, Metro is not for desktops.
Unity killed gnome3. alot of people were unhappy with it and the problems people had with it hit the forums like a flood. just type in google “problems with unity” to see the over whelming negative response.
for those of you not familiar with it.
Gnome 3 is a version of linux. Unity was its tablet UI forced upon the user on the next version of the OS. Sure youre thinking “so what thats linux i use windows”. Well, this is seemingly all too familiar, tablet UI forced upong you, people scrambling for a way to get rid of it. These users have already been through it, and its looking like a repeat on history. If you got time look it up, i dont use gnome or ubuntu( i use kde and kubuntu) but reading the forums really made me feel for the users. I was hopinh microsoft would learn from gnome3’s mistake and give us a way to opt out of the table UI but alas, it seems like that wont be the case. Looks like i’ll have to wait for windows 9 :(
I personally am not liking the new Windows 8 for multiple reason.
A) I cannot Alt+F4 out of an application
B) Applications do not have an easy “Hit escape to close” or anything of the sort
C) My games (though very old) takes 12x longer to load on W8 then 7 or Vista
D) Lack of user friendliness is greatly disappointing. I do feel as though you are right and that there will be many problems with people that cannot easily navigate through the normal desktop.
I am not very experienced at computers. So when I found out that they are going to make Windows 8 not like the other versions of Windows.With Metro tiles and no proper start menu, I did not like it.And there is nothing that I have seen in the videos or read that is positive about Windows 8.
And if they stop making Windows 7 and so when our computers wear out we are forced to buy Windows 8(in England they have already stopped selling Windows XP.)I don’t know what I will do. Because I won’t know how to use Windows 8 the way it is. And most ordinary computer users won’t be able to use it either or will have great difficulty.
I have seen in the videos how difficult it is to use it with the Metro tiles. and the whole OS is as ugly as hell.
So I am going to do everything possible to avoid ever having to use Windows 8. And as I don’t know how to install operating systems,I am going to buy extra,Windows 7 and Windows XP laptops. And put them away in a cupboard some where. So i will have enough laptops to stay on Windows 7 for the next 20 years.
I hope I never have to face getting stuck with Windows 8,because I won’t know how to use it.
If they would make Windows 8 without the Metro tiles,with a normal Windows 7 desktop and start menu. That would be all right. But it seems they are not going to do that. Which is not fair on Windows users like me who cannot use it with the Metro theme. Andrea Borman.
THE biggest obstacle is for me when i want to use the damn thing without touching my keyboard… like when im watching a movie with my mouse only by me…. or when i lesure around
IT IS IMPOSSIBLE TO USE THE GOD DAMN THING WITH THE MOUSE!
– YOU CAN NOT switch between aps fast with it like you used…
-YOU CAN NOT close the damn thing
-YOU CAN NOT use the app without touching the keyboard, which is TOTALLY INSANE!!! PC ARE NOT SUPOSED TO HAVE THE back key!!!! ONLY TABLETS AND PHONES HAVE IT!!!! AND YOU NEED TO FCKING THINK A WAY TO WORK ROUND IT! like adding an actuall back button on screen you idiots!!!!
Why do wee need big tiles on screen if you have a mouse that can easily point at a 32×32 icon.
Do we want sticky fingers touching our display? I always hit people who dear to touch my screen, even the cleaning lady.
@gq: Not in my future, I don’t like touch, I prefer tactile response, because then, I actually know I pressed something, I do not think I’ll ever give up my mouse or keyboard, as being a typist, it would be too inefficient to use a virtual keyboard.
That being said, I really hope this Metro UI is not the default desktop for Windows. On a tablet maybe it is fine, I don’t know as I don’t use touch devices, but I can tell you, I’ve been using Windows for 15 years, and if they think that this is appropriate for desktop users, they’re going to find out very quickly that people are going to downgrade to Windows 7, just like when Vista flopped (yes, I know, SP1 fixed it) and people downgraded to XP.
Also at everyone complaining about Ribbon: It is not that hard. You can’t figure out the Office button replaced the file menu? That is just sad. Ribbon takes advantage of the fact that you have screen space, and makes it visual so you just have to run your eyes across the screen most times to find stuff. Though, yes I agree they should have had an option to go back to menus.
Anyways, I hope Win8 Beta doesn’t suck.
I was really excited when windows 8 dp came out. I installed and after an hour I uninstalled it. I can’t stand metro style. It really pisses me off which means it is an epic failure. Not sure if it looks good on touch pad. To do things like apple, dont even dream about it. Seriously, Microsoft just can’t understand ‘user experiences’ why every mac user including me feel so fluent when using mac? I have to admit windows 7 is a great os, but there is one thing missin, that is user experience, it is not ‘flowing’
The ONLY thing I want to change in Win8 so far? the MetroPOS Start menu…
I love every OTHER feature of the new Win8 EXCEPT the MetroPOS StartMenu…
If someone can find me a way that WORKS (all 6 tools I found on net dont fully work), in keeping Ribbon+TaskManager+Other UI upgrades but trash’s the MetroPOS StartMenu, let me know ASAP….
KColeman@EMPulseGaming.com <— Lemme know!
you can do many things by:
hovering mouse at button of start button and select settings and select power then choose required action
you can close apps by using task manager
I agree with a few posters here, windows 8 UI should be tablet only, that is not laptop/desktop worthy.
Today, I also decided to give a try to this new OS preview from MS and, as for so many users, the first reaction was “OH, a OS for TablePC” :-)
The more I play with it the more I’m convinced that this is no “innovative” or “futuristic” OS (as posted before here) but simply a product placement strategy to gain market from Apple and Co on Multimedia/touchscreen/TablePC segment.
Of course the final version will have all possibilities of switching to the “classic” desktop or MS will completely loose the productivity clients. It would be very stupid from MS is not.
But regarding all these cosmetic aspects, what most “surprises” me (or maybe not), is the fact that having the chance of developing a new product, MS is focusing in cosmetic aspects to gain the multimedia market instead dealing with really old fashioned and problematic issues of the OS like, e.g. finally dropping this absolute stupid “registry” that causes the most issues with MS OS.
Guys, you did have time enough to learn from (l)inux now!
Simply press windows + I. That will bring up a bar on the right with all your power options and more.
what I hate with this is the apps and games never runs on my netbook. T_T I figured it out that it only runs on pc’s with 1024×768 minimum resolution. win8 never told us this though. i hope that many things will be fixed in the final release.
at least i like one thing about this OS, it uses less memory than Windows 7
I am so frustrated with Microsoft. It seems they like to take something that works fine and change it up just be different, even though it is not helpful. Remember when they changed Microsoft Word and put that stupid ribbon at the top? It took me days to figure out where the save file as button was located. Print layout and gridlines was not in the same place and the whole look and feel of Office changed entirely. Why do I have to relearn some of the most basic functions, Microsoft? This Metro style UI is doing the same thing. Why do I have to press Alt F4 to turn off my computer when it was always at the lower left corner? This UI is so poorly thought out. It’s so strange because the people who work at Microsoft are so smart. Practically every program manager has some sort of Master’s or PhD. It must be that Steve Balmer is overworking his employees. Physical and mental exhaustion can only explain why so many smart people put out half-baked ideas.
This is just the beginning of the transition to a mouse-less computer. Picture a 24″ all-in-one propped up on your desktop … maybe with a keyboard in front of it – or maybe a virtual keyboard. 10 years from now, your computer will be a single device – no mouse, no keyboard – just finger workspace.
Metro? You must remember this: YOU ARE NOT THE TARGET AUDIENCE. Don’t be so arrogant as to think they have either you or me in mind in designing this. What they really want are the people that don’t have Windows now. They perceive this to be those who won’t use it because it’s “too complicated” (diplomatically not wanting to mention that lots of them are too stupid for computers in the first place). So they build it, like so many things before Windows, for the lowest common denominator. Why? More sales. YOU are already hooked, a “party faithful”, if you will. Keeping the party faithful is not the mission. Growing the congregation is the mission. Expect Metro to be the MOST prominent feature of the next version of Windows, and just wait until you SEE what will follow that in Windows 9 . Windows will keep dumbing down until they can somehow get a computer into the hands of every person on Earth….
i hope you people found the registry entry that disables metro ui and brings back the windows 7 style interface.
it’s developer preview guys,,, so there are many (-) minus in this windows… :) waiting for for the final windows 8….
I completely agree with this article.
Although I think the combination of Metro and “Classic Windows” is a real winner to Microsoft’s strategy of movign Windows onto small portable devices (phones/slates). Migrating Android and IOS upwards towards PC-style producivity is much more difficult than migrating Windows downward, IMHO. As much as I hated Windows Phone 7 when it came, I love what I see so far in Windows 8.
Still, the Metro Start Menu thus far is a total cluster fudge. And that’s why I agree with the author. Sliding back and forth between tiles and normal Windows is killer. Removing the Start Menu is insanity. The Start Menu is completely ingraned in every computer’s user’s work flow. The enhancements made to things like search in Windows Vista were amazing (love or hate Vista, it introduced us to instant application search). Searching from Metro is good. But currently there is zero way, absolutely NO WAY, to discover apps if they don’t have a tile already pinned or you remember what they are called so you can search. The “programs” folder is absolutely essential. I can’t tell you the number of times I forgot the name of a program. How would I search for that?
I’m glad this is an early release because right now they are listening. Remember when IE9 first came out and everybody was like WTF why can’t I put tabs on another line??? MS listened. This is the best time to complain about the Start Menu insanity.
Again, I love the idea of immediately sliding between the two UIs through some quick click/keystroke/whatever. But coopting the Start Menu is absolutely the wrong way to do that.
Microsoft here is chasing a dead monkey.The classic PC user will have issues with the however slick metro interface. The desktop paradigm just works too well for anybody wishing to loose it. (I have mine blanked, but that’s a different matter). Laptops are going the way of the Dodo at a good speed. In two years or less they are a niche market. They will be nigh completely replaced by tablets. I just recently bought myself an Android based mini tablet, essentially a mobile phone without the phone, for well under $ 100. It finally allows me to read Ghacks on the loo.
It does a few other things, eg., has Excel, but does not edit videos. You can only watch. So what. As in opposite to iPad it does flash.Here and there it has major imperfections, which I can live with for the price tag. At the usual speed of development, in a couple of years I will replace it, and the new thing automatically will wipe my bum before leaving the loo.
This is most likely Microsoft’s last big stance on the O/S level. At least, that is what they hope. Martin offered a few details, where it offers him some advantages. In the end, there is the question, is it worth paying for it? With every passing hour the reasons will become less. Especially when talking about money beyond $ 20.
Operating systems are also forking now. O/Ss you need for fun and basic business – and more powerful classic PC type ware, for development, serious jobs like serious Photoshop and Illustrator style graphics editing, major sound and video editing – which interests maybe 20 or 30%, The rest will be happy with a consumer type “red eye removal”, etc. stuff. On a corporate level, even more so in a shrinking kind of environment, less will be more.
Not that I am a religious anti MS person, but I suppose, the company had its time.Their last essential release was XP Beyond that, it all was more or less cosmetics, poorly done as in Vista, or better as in 7. The rather quick release of 8 demonstrates, that they know too well that they are on a fast train to nowhere.
Why was XP the last substantial realease? All essential applications work on it. None need later Windowses, none will want features of later Windowses. The market has fully matured, and now complete commodtiisation sets in – rather it has already set in.
Microsoft will be shooting itself in the foot if it keeps Metro as a default desktop for PC users. Its fine for Tablets. But you know I see a hidden option in the Taskbar to enable a Touch keyboard. So I will assume Microsoft is looking to go that route as did Apple to some extent with its Magic trackpad. But seriously, I have not talked to many people who bought touch screen desktop PC’s who even like them. The vertical screen is not intuitive for touch. I would much rather use a Mouse/keyboard.
Just downloaded Essentials and installed. Puts small tiles or whatever Redmond is calling them on the Win8 Metro UI. Dragged mail to the front and viola. Seems to work fine-ish.
Hey,
You can shut down windows by moving the pointer to the bottom left corner of the screen to get a mini-start menu to pop up and selecting “Settings”. This mini-menu appears where-ever you are (including Apps), and the Settings menu has specific settings for each App (but still no way to close them!). The mini-start menu means you can search for apps or change settings without pressing your windows start key or going via the full screen metro interface.
Still too many things that took 1 step in windows 7 seem to take 2 steps now! Frustrating and bad design imo!
I like the idea of a choice of interfaces, for traditional or touch etc, but currently the metro ui is appalling and basically unusable on a non touch regular PC.
It appears clunky and out of place and although it may work well on a touch screen system they need to allow for those who don’t have or don’t want a clunky touch screen.
I’m trying the Windows 8 pre beta and have yet to work out how to close a program. (At Ctl del, kill process????) Whats the matter with an “X” up top ? Would even work with grubby touch systems.
I like the idea of using same systems and being able to run proper applicatations on multiple formats and it may make tablets useful for more than playing games, and basic web browsing, but I think the whole system has a way to go yet. Share and move data and applications seamlessly between formats.
I really hope it works and they sort out the bugs and give us a REAL OS for tablets rather than the glorified phone systems that are currently the trend! Tablets, phone and desktop – ultimate dream.
I don’t want to go back to the 90’s power of 1 ghz processors and 1024 x 768 screens and no multitasking and basic simple applications that are of no real use to serious users. I want hires, multitasking, big screen, big storage and FAST computers with power that can be utilized and programs that make use of them. Current tablets and their OS are 90’s PC’s – 1 GHz, 512 MB with 32 (or the BIG 64) gig storage. What a joke!
Why do these companies believe that less is better? I want options, choices, power, and features beyond the basics. And hopefully Win 8 can deliver!
The Metro start screen is total crap, can’t get anything to work. How the hell am I supposed to access applications if there is no start menu and I can’t add custom shortcuts to the start screen. I know it can be done, but they could have made it simpler than sending a spaceship to the moon. All in all, this is going to be a big failure I suppose. I understand they needed to make it touch friendly, but why purposely make it difficult for desktop users. It’s total crap
What many people miss with Win8 is that it os not only cross-user-interface with desktop/metro but also very much cross-architecture. Win8 is trying to get the essence of both worlds – desktops and tablets/smartphones – condensed into one OS with the usability features the respective communities are familiar with.
If done right, this will be a great step ahead to pave the way for the coming generations of processor based gadgets and computers. The outlook is to have the same user interface on your desktop and your phone or entertainment equipment with some variation between that accounts for their different uses.
Today, whenever you switch to another gadget, you need to sit and learn to access its features and its usability and productivity tools. Win8 is a step away from that and might well be the OS that shows us how the future of computing and interfacing with processor based devices of any kind will look.
That is not to say that I like it in its current state, it confuses me as something like a badly set up playing device with very little usability which I absolutely unnecessarily have installed on a high-performance machine. But as others said: It is more of a feasibility study, bunt one that has been undertaken with the intent and the built-in potential of taking it beyond that state to a real all-round OS.
Agree with many comments here, I installed and played with the developer build and the Metro is fine for a tablet, but it just makes doing everything on my desktop or laptop take longer than windows 7. To be fair this is not even a beta yet so I presume lots will change on feedback. But I think Apple’s idea much better, a OS for desktop and then a cut down version for a tablet. Microsoft presuming most users of tablets want a full windows OS and I think most see a tablet as a device for a quick browse of the web , email or a quick game etc and think Microsoft should have just done a special cut down version for there phones and tablets. Also anyone notice when Steven Sinofsky mentioned things like hyper-v in win 8 he got the loudest cheers, I think thats what would have suited windows 8 better, putting in neat tools like that and make a keep it simple os for there tablets. Also by the time Windows 8 ships can you imagine what Apple and Google and also Amazon will have out by then.
Does Snap feature in w8dp working on laptops?
is there any thing work around to enable it
I agree with needing a easy way to close apps.
When they are suspended they might not take up any CPU but they still sit in memory.
To the person that said your not meant to close them, try to the drag to change or alt-tab with 15 windows open.
“But as to closing apps — just don’t. Stop it. You aren’t supposed to stop apps.†– start all your Metro Apps and say it again! My Desktop freeze to death 5 minutes ago, when i try switch one app from this bunch of apps.
to shutdown or restart, mouse hover on the windows icon and it will a little menu (if it’s not working make sure you don’t have any app on the desktop selected) then chose settings and on the menu on the right you have a button to shutdown
I just installed W8DP, and I did touch every key to find the shutdown button. So here it is:
In Metro mode:
WINDOWS KEY + i
Panel at the right, at the bottom, go to POWER
and you find the 3 options there: sleep, restart shutdown.
In desktop mode:
WINDOWS KEY + c
Setting option
Panel at the right, at the bottom, go to POWER
and you find the 3 options there: sleep, restart shutdown.
I hope this helps :)
Andres thanks, wonder how many average computer users will find the option..
“But as to closing apps — just don’t. Stop it. You aren’t supposed to stop apps.” – dumbest thing i ever heard..
every application needs a usable way to be closed, thus freeing ressources it blocks – even your beloved ipad provides the appbar from which you can close running applications..
and i am 100% sure, that that obnoxious background music of “Copper” which currently blasts out of my laptops speakers despite its “suspended” state isnt the way MS envisaged it to work.
Blake I noticed the sound still playing in the background as well.
I’m really enjoying the developer preview. It’s not right to judge it as a working OS — it’s a set of developer tools and SDK samples.
Re touch: MS are banking on laptops getting touch screens. And releasing Windows 8 will drive that into reality. In a few years, you’ll walk into a shop and you’ll see smartphones (touch,) tablets (touch,) and windows 8 laptops which will inevitably have touch. Once that happens, touch-based UI as the default makes a lot of sense.
But as to closing apps — just don’t. Stop it. You aren’t supposed to stop apps. Part of the style of ‘metro style’ is just switching to whatever you want to do, the same way you do on an iPad. The reason you don’t see an option to close is because it’s become somewhat redundant to actually close the app at all.
I think it is still fair to review the current state of the operating system, to criticize it, to praise it. As far as closing apps goes. I’d like to see that option alone for privacy reasons.
I am the only one that loves it? I am currently writing from the metro style IE (I do love how Microsoft is trying to get everybody to use IE by having it as a metro app?). I love the clean look. I do agree it maybe slightly more geared to touch but after just 15 minutes using it I already feel it more fluid then older Windows OS’s.
Even on windows 7 (which I also like) I use auto-hide taskbar because I like the full screen experience which may make me slightly bias.
I am normally a what I consider a power user (e.g video editing/encoding, heavy use of IDE’s, image editing software, etc) and love the desktop experience but this version of windows is winning me over (even as a developer preview).
I don’t know if being 18 and probably less set in my way then most of people using the developer preview, but then again, if it was a truly great product, I think that age shouldn’t make a difference.
I couldn’t work out how to close app’s which got pretty annoying I tried pretty much every combination under the sun. I don’t like how programs are managed.
I’m not to sure on social network integration.
I’m missing the taskbar, though I think I’ll get used to the type to search idea on the metro screen.
Still getting used to the dragging to switch programs (though I’m more used to using alt-tab and I think I will use that more.)
There is always a bunch of whiners… This product is designed to fill its own unique niche and time will tell how successful it will be.
Desktop-only users won’t benefit from Win8… (personally don’t see why would I want Win8 on my office PC, Win7 is more than enough…)
However, it is a different story when it comes to the laptop/tablet market. I suspect it is the vision of MS that tablets with docking station will eventually replace laptops. Which is a wonderful idea in my opinion, kills two birds in one shot. I’d prefer such gadget to iPad without a hesitation.
I personally think that if that was Microsoft’s intention, that they should clearly state that.
Found it!
Slide from the right, select “settings” and then “power”
You can then choose to shut down!
How do i close apps when in an RDP to windows 8?
Metro UI needs to die. I NEED the option to turn it off and if i cant i at least want to change it from that crap colour of green! windows 7 = amazing, i like the updates apps e.g task manager etc, i like the new start buttion but
Those that are complaining about Metro being enforced and the lack of shutdown (yeah, I’m puzzled about that one) are missing the fact that this is a preview, not even a beta.
I’m assuming that this will be a schizophrenic OS with an easy way (not reg hack) to configure whether you use Metro or not and will probably have an easy shutdown method at some point before RTM.
The drive from MS is to have 1 core OS that is capable of behaving differently for different machines (look at how similiar Win7 is to Server 2008 R2) – this makes coding for 3rd parties (drivers and apps) really easy.
Developers should be drooling at the prospect of writing 1 set of code that can be sold on desktops, tablets and phones.
Martin’s “5 likes” comments are valid so there’s still reason to upgrade for anyone who does not like / will not use Metro.
At first sign of dissent:
“No decisions have been made yet – make your comments when the product is in beta”
…..
“This is a beta product – you can’t expect it to be perfect”
…..
“The product has been released – it’s too late to complain now. You should have bought this up at alpha!!!”
Relax Buddies.
MicroSoft is trying to gain lost ground from Apple and Google.
They have taken lead on pad/tablet and MS is struggling still. In Win8/Metro, MS is trying to keep the developer/user of Win and lure the pad/tablet users, by giving both Desktop and Metro to satisfy both.
MS concept is, if you are happy with desktop, Win8 has it and I am sure final version will have all goodies of Win7 for it.
If you like pad/tablet then Metro is there for you to touch and sweep.
We know IPad success is on the vast Apps available for it. But we forget that we need a Mac to develop that App. Similarly you need a Win machine to develop Android App. Development on pad/tablet is simply not feasible.
MS knows it and is trying to give us both, as such;
1. develop the app for Metro in the Win8 desktop
2. switch to metro and check it
3. switch back and fix it
4. repeat.
This approach is wrong or right for MS, only future will tell, but now that is what I think, MS can do to get back it’s dominant position.
Regards,
Anand
I am using windows 8 on my tablet. It is great, especially given this is a pre-beta. MS has to push windows to expend its horizons otherwise the fruit loops will continue to dominate. Anything that is different will be difficult to adjust to, we are all human and habits are easily formed, they take a while to overwrite. There is a pretty little button that says desktop on metro… and I am sure what we are looking at is very different to what will be realeased as beta and public versions. Enjoy… this is a massive step in a great direction!
just right-click on the right side of the screen(both in Metro and Desktop views),you should get options to power down.
Settings -> Power -> Shut down
Windows key + r, type “shutdown -s” for shutdown, “shutdown -r” for restart. They stick in the run window so second time you use that it’s fast. :)
Closing an application is still a mistery. I could found another way to shutdown the computer:
– Click on your name at Metro interface
– Choose Logoff
– On the logoff window, roll the mouse wheel – The shutdown button will appear.
You can also hover the mouse over the lower left corner of the display to get a new simplified ‘start menu’. There is a settings option and from there you can choose ‘Power’ which allows for Sleep, Shut down, Restart.
I personally think a shutdown button is missing.
They should fork Windows with 1 common base.
I can see business abandoning Windows XP?/7 for Windows 8.
Nothing wrong with having 2 different product lines/models.
The change is too drastic and will cost business dearly with lost productivity and retraining.
Rene, the problem isn’t with what they’ve done, it is simply a matter of communicating the change to customers. Essentially, almost nothing has changed. They had already ruined the Start Menu in Vista and propagated that to WIn7. All Win 8 is doing is changing it again, to something that is more touch-friendly. i.e If you are using it on a desktop, the Metro UI part is just the new Start Menu and I think it is better than the Win7 Start Menu.
Here’s what I do – I start the computer, enter my WLID to log on, then click the icon for the application I want to use, exactly as I do in Win7 or WinXP. There is nothing new to learn, the process is identical, it just looks different. It is also much, much easier to customise the new Start Screen than the old Start Menu ever was, so there is a lot of scope for Win8 to be way better than Win7 (which I don’t really like much at all).
The main issue is not that you can use the start screen to launch programs as much as you can launch them from the Windows 7 desktop or taskbar. The core issue for me is when I’m on the desktop and want to load a program that is not on the taskbar or desktop I have to switch to the start screen to launch it from there. This is highly inefficient. Say I’m watching a video on my desktop and have Firefox open as well. I know want to launch Paint.net. I need to press the Windows key to go to the start screen to load it from there. When I do, I won’t see Firefox or the video for that time as the start screen opens up in full screen.
sorry – should have said “I CAN’T SEE….”
I have yet to figure out how to close the control panel, aside from killing the process.
Also, for computers to improve and increase portability, you should probably eventually make an effort to actually *make* a semi-portable OS. Also, quit crying about change. The people who whined about vista like 7, the people who whined about 2k liked XP, and not much was changed in between those releases.
I mean really, this is a dev release and you guys care crying like it shipped half-done and you paid $350 for it.
(I agree about unity though, but i think it would work fine for a touchscreen. I don’t know why they would make it netbook-specific)
What I can’t work out is how to put shortcuts on the desktop like computer, control panel, libraries etc. Or any program for that matter?
My only solution so far is to open explorer, search for the program, and then send to desktop.
It used to be as simple as right click, ‘show on desktop’ or ‘send to desktop’
Where is that functionality now?
click desktop tile in Metro, right click on desktop, click personalize, look upper left corner of window, click change desktop icons, check desktop icons you want, apply and ok. All done.
I managed to get “Computer Management” onto my desktop. I think I just right-clicked on the icon in Control Panel, or maybe the location bar. I’d love to get the whole “Computer” icon on there but I haven’t worked it out yet.
You close apps using ctrl + esc! This windows 8 THING is a piece of shite. Metro UI should stay on WP7 where it belongs and fails.
Using Ctrl-Esc is not working on my system. It just moves the app to the background, but if you open the Task Manager you will notice that it is still running.
Patrick is right. If you look at Task Manager you will see that suspended apps use no CPU resources. It’s hard to get your head around, especially for a 3D animator like me, but if an app isn’t consuming any CPU, I don’t care if it is suspended or shut-down or killed or whatever. Yes, it might still be taking up memory but so is everything that Windoze puts into Pre-Fetch, so I don’t see a problem (I love Pre-Fetch).
Even if they do not use memory, they are still a privacy issue.
ctrl+esc is not supposed to shut down the apps. As far as I know, apps are just supposed to be suspended, not consuming any cpu (and memory I think). I’ve seen a video where this was demonstrated in the task manager
Get rid of Metro in Developer Preview.
http://www.geek.com/articles/geek-pick/how-to-get-a-windows-7-start-menu-in-windows-8-20110914/
Never have to see metro again.
This option should not require a registry hack. Should be user selectable.
I tested that tweak. While it adds the Windows 7 start menu to the desktop, it does not disable Metro. When you press the Windows key for instance, you are still taken to the Metro start page, with the difference that tiles do not respond anymore.
My workflow requires me to have multiple windows open at once, for example I am writing an email, referring to another and two excel spreadsheets.There is no use case that permits this to happen in Metro. The best you can do is open one app on most of the screen with another in a narrow column to one side. Metro is a serious step back from windowing desktops in productivity.
It will be very nice on a tablet, but not for my desktop.
Box computer manufacturers (e.g. Dell, HP, et al.) generally tweak the O/S settings, before delivering to the consumer for their own customer experience and PR reasons. With that in mind, I suspect that many of these box computer manufacturers will disable the Metro UI and find a way to get it to boot the the classic desktop. Microsoft probably assumes/expects this, and, equally so, they probably expect DIYers to be savvy enough to figure it out.
Look, right now you are still stuck with classic apps on a windows 8 platform so you are forced to work with that, so of course youre going to be frustrated simply cos’ metro and classic are two diffent things.
When the full metro apps come around that will replace the classic version of software you work with currently, they will be fully oftimised for metro and you will be able to work comfortably with it so it will feel less of a chore than it is now with mouse input. Afteral, professionals are now adapting to the ipad since versions of their desktop apps are appearing on there, built specificaly to utilise that OS’ abilities…..the same will happen with Metro.
so right now it seems disjointed to people that are used to classic, but when the apps roll in you will see that you can safely transition to metro way of working. The classic is still there for those apps that wont be able to make the move, you have the choice afterall.
Honestly i dont understand this vitriol against Metro. THe company is thinking out of the box, they are designing something that is aesthetically pleasing and funtional, yet all you can do is bring up a timeline with “good or bad” of other releases.
You may have to rethink how you work, yes, it will be tedious at first, yes, but that is part and parcel of any major change to habitualized character.
I understand some will hate it and some will like it, thats life, but don’t be part of its needless murder before it even leaves the womb. This is what a preview and beta build is for, try it out, constructively feedback on it, develop for it to help make it better…which is what i’ll be doing….but dont just shit on it cos’ it different from what youre used to.
Easy to hate, braver to love.
When I spend years adjusting my pc settings so it works just so, I do get upset when somebody then changes the os in a way that makes all that work useless.
When the os makes it impossible, or even just difficult, for me to accomplish my work I use a different os. But, when all the desktops aim to look the same life does get more difficult.
Metro, Unity, Gnome3 and the Office ribbon are all disastrous roadblocks to productivity. The click, click, click of the mouse presages many repetitive strain injury claims in the future.
Well, If it were that difficult to accept new things, how come the Ipad (or iOS) wasn’t welcomed with hate? Because unlike Metro, iOS is easy and functional, yet Metro tries too hard to be heap and it ruins windows.
The whole Widows experience is to open a bazzilion windows and work fluently moving from one to another. This operating system is not worthy of the name “Windows”, simply because you can only function with 2 apps at the time.
Oh, and It’s squerish design is just to old..
I will not be using Metro UI or immersive apps on my desktop. Its called windows because its a windowing desktop, not a full screen only desktop. Phone/tablet interfaces are for, wait for it, phones and tablets. Paint MS as joining the idiots at Ubuntu (Unity) and Gnome (Gnome 3) is just not getting it.
i absolutely dont get why ms wants to put metro – which already failed in the smartphone-sector – in an otherwise very interesting os like win8…
I guess this is the alternative MS is giving in order to not have to create a Windows 8 Tablet version and a Desktop Version. They want the two of them to be one. But is kinda a weird, like some people said, you usually use a Tablet for one purpose and a Desktop for another. You usually wont be using or needing both on a single machine. I can’t imagine the benefits on having the Metro UI on a Desktop, unless I use it as a Instant Boot OS just to check something quicly on Internet, but that’s not very common. Or the other way around, I can’t imagine using the Desktop UI on a Tablet, unless MS improves the OS and makes it more Tablet friendly, but if that would be the case, then there is no point on creating the Metro UI on the first place.
Really weird decision.
@Jim Fell – Maybe, someday, ReactOS? (www.reactos.org)
I really, really wish Microsoft would stop adding bloatware to their operating system. It seems like for every increase in hardware performance, Microsoft finds a way to eat up 80% of it. If someone were to develop a minimalist “Windows-compatible” O/S it would surely be the beginning of the end for Microsoft.
well jim… there is a windows compatible OS out there: ReactOS
http://www.reactos.org/en/index.html
and Multi-platform aplication WINE.
http://www.winehq.org/
Jim Fell, WfW 3.11 with 12 MB (!) RAM: On-button to fully operational in 10 seconds! Then came “long file names”.
Oops .. in my previous comment Win 2000 should have been ‘Win Me’. :P
I have been scratching my head ever since I installed this … this .. thing.
No way to close application. I almost broke my ESC key hitting it, until I realized you have to move the mouse cursor to the edge. And apps don’t actually get closed, it gets “suspended”.
No start menu sucks. Microsoft is entirely ignoring desktop users. Windows 8 is for tablets.
Besides, MS has a history of f***ing up every alternate OS.
Win 98 – good
Win 2000 – bad
Win XP – good
Win Vista – bad
Win 7 – good
Win 8 — ??
Seems like I will be sticking with Win 7 after all.
Your whole Good, Bad, Good, Bad would be right if you hadn’t left out ME.
So really is goes:
-98 Good.
-2000 Good – Have you ever actually used this or read about it?
-ME BAD.
-XP Good.
-Vista Bad.
-Windows 7 Good
-Windows 8 … Seems really bad from a desktop user’s point of view.
I agree with the list with and your correction for winme.
I disagree strongly with MotorMouth about vista Vista !
Is an OS that slow down the computer. Windows 7 are much better.
Dont even think anybody to install Vista. and this after experience of installing to many many computers vista before come the Win 7.
I can’t agree. I think you meant “WinME” not Win2000, right? Win2000 is basically XP without DirectX and was a big step up from WinNT4. And Win98 was krap until Win98SE. I also think Vista was better than Win7. By the time I started using it, all the drivers for my hardware were available and once I turned off UAC, Vista was great. MS changed too many things in Win7 for no reason other than to distance it from Vista. e.g. WMP is severely crippled in Win7 compared to Vista for no reason and I don’t like the look as much as I did Vista’s. Realistically though, Win7 is so close to Vista that no-one could honestly say one was bad and the other good.
Sorry MotorMouth but if you’ve used Vista and 7 regularly there’s no way you could believe that. Vista is so buggy and memory hungry and just that bad I cringe anytime I see a Vista taskbar.
ie File copying or deleting under Vista is PROVEN to be buggy and slow, I’ve NEVER seen a file copy under Vista go faster than 20mb/s. But on my Windows 7 machine I can copy something from my Homeserver to my PC and it will go over 100mb/s.
Not to mention that Vista with 2gb of RAM is near unusable without lockups and buggy shit, but Windows 7 on 2gb of RAM is absolutely fine.
Totally agree with you Kaushik. I don’t know why MS wants to put a tablet OS on a desktop. Although there is some overlap, tablet users and desktop users use their devices differently and for different things. One size does not fit all. Metro might be awesome for a tablet, but it looks like an irritating obstacle for the desktop user. I can see my corporate folks skipping this version the same way they skipped Vista.
alt+tab definitely works. I just used it to swap between stocks and weather
Thanks Lee, strange that it did not work during my tests. Maybe it has something to do with suspending apps.
I already said that. No Metro, if I’m not well-paid for using it. Metro is very ugly.