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Windows 8 Consumer Preview released.

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Re: Windows 8 Consumer Preview released.

#111

Post by Zirro »

trotsky wrote: post #61
acabal wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sounds like echoes of the Gnome Shell critisicm... trying to be both tablet and desktop at once leads to neither side being very good.

People mostly hate change, and metro gnome shell and unity all represent that. Why did people like Engadget go from hating Vista to loving Vista SP1 aka Win7? They had gotten used to it and microsoft gave them a good excuse to change their minds. While gnome shell was a bit rougher around the edges as most dot oh open source projects tend to be, you'll emd up seeing the same behavior in n years when people will be sc…

"Why did people like Engadget go from hating Vista to loving Vista SP1 aka Win7?"

If I'm not mistaken, the main reason for the Vista-hate was the too frequent UAC-prompt, buggy drivers and extreme slowness. This was generally resolved by Windows 7, and that's why I think they started praising it.

I don't think I heard many complaints about the "new" UI. Rather, if anything, people was saying it looked like XP with a new theme. That's not much to get used to over time as a previous XP-user.

Re: Windows 8 Consumer Preview released.

#112

Post by greedo »

leviathant wrote: post #66
greedo wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Of course people who bought the Zune are going to like them. They're a self-selected sampling... Even if they thought that deep down, the Zune was a POS, human nature is to defend decisions you've made, especially ones that involve money. The real question is why was the Zune a failure. It was a failure because it didn't offer what the market was buying. The fact that the few who did buy the Zune liked it in no way c…

I got my first iPod around the time Zune launched, and my wife ended up doing some promo jobs for the Zune - and at the end of that summer, got a Zune out of it as a bonus. To rank my experience between portable music playback devices: iPhone > Zune > iPod She swears by her Zune, and having used both it and the iPod, the Zune is far and away a better device on every front. Having said that, the iPhone's interface is…

You're contradicting yourself:

"the Zune is far and away a better device on every front"

followed by:

"the iPhone's interface is just that much better - and has the benefit of in-depth integration with third party devices."

Which is it?

Re: Windows 8 Consumer Preview released.

#113

Post by jader201 »

Lewisham wrote: post #102
tjoff wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm sorry, I don't get what everyone is on about. The first thing a power user will do is to go to the old-desktop and stay there, basically not interacting with metro at all. There is no point, it's about as useful as the winkey+tab is on Vista/W7. "Cool" but useless for real work. And there seems to have been numerous improvements to the windows experience (outside metro), the ability to pause file-copying etc. pro…

The first thing a power user will do is to go to the old-desktop and stay there, basically not interacting with metro at all. There is no point, it's about as useful as the winkey+tab is on Vista/W7. I don't know if you're trying to troll or you're just incredibly short-sighted, but I'll bite. Windows 8 is clearly designed as a hybrid OS, in the same vein that Ubuntu on Android is, even if Microsoft's marketing team…

The problem with this logic, IMO, is that they are still ignoring that, in spite of consumers wanting a single device that supports multiple interfaces, they're still trying to cram two very different experiences into one unified experience.

To me, Microsoft and Apple should realize that once you plug a keyboard/mouse into a tablet, it becomes a notebook, and the user should be presented with a new experience -- because it now has a new interface (keyboard/mouse vs. touch screen only).

If they could figure out how to intuitively transform your experience from a tablet experience to a notebook experience without jarring or confusing the user, then they could have an OS that could work with both devices -- or a single device that supports both interfaces.

Re: Windows 8 Consumer Preview released.

#114

Post by stonemetal »

untog wrote: post #43
stonemetal wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The ZuneHD released September 2009, pronounced dead October 2011. Then there is the aforementioned Kin. WP7 devices will be shortly. No WP7 device is capable of running WP8(or at least that is the rumor.)

The ZuneHD released September 2009, pronounced dead October 2011. I don't know what you mean by that exactly- have all the ZuneHD devices out there stopped working? No. Is the Zune desktop software still being updated? Yes. And 'Zune' wasn't killed, it was integrated into Windows Phone. MS are just responding to the market in that regard- no-one wants to carry around a dedicated media player any more- they use their…

Is the Zune desktop software still being updated? Yes.

That is rather like saying the iPod mini wasn't killed off because iTunes is still updated. You are unable to build software with the current sdk that will run on a Zune. Zune device software hasn't been updated since before it was discontinued. So no Zune devices were not integrated into windows phone, they were dropped in the dust bin.

Re: Windows 8 Consumer Preview released.

#115

Post by khalidmbajwa »

tjoff wrote: post #99
nextparadigms wrote: post #17

Engadget's conclusion: "We really liked Windows 7 when it launched. It felt like a big step forward in the short time that had passed since Vista. Now, as we creep closer to a likely release near the end of this year, we can't shake a sense of doubt. Windows 8 still feels like two very different operating systems trying to be one. The potential is hugely alluring -- a single OS to rule both the tablet and the desktop…

I'm sorry, I don't get what everyone is on about. The first thing a power user will do is to go to the old-desktop and stay there, basically not interacting with metro at all. There is no point, it's about as useful as the winkey+tab is on Vista/W7. "Cool" but useless for real work. And there seems to have been numerous improvements to the windows experience (outside metro), the ability to pause file-copying etc. pro…

And here is the thing, Majority of users ARE average-joes. That's why iPad has been an incredible success. It's a power user's nightmare,and yet look at how it has fared. The average-joes are the ones who will dig Metro, and that's a vast, overwhelming majority.For power users, there is regular desktop. However, Gradually, as an eceosystem of apps starts thriving, the power users will start to discover that are okay with giving up a little of that power for well-designed Metro apps that make their lives a whole lot easier and will start shifting away from desktop to Metro. Just as content writers, programmers, musicians etc have started taking to the iPad for their day-to-day work. I say W8 is a win-win for everyone !

Re: Windows 8 Consumer Preview released.

#118

Post by drivebyacct2 »

ConstantineXVI wrote: post #28
nextparadigms wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Will Chrome or Firefox even work in the "tile interface"? My guess is it won't.

Native code is still allowed, so it's technically possible provided they write new UI code for Metro. The main issue is "will Microsoft let other browsers in the store?"

The real question is, will Google bend to Microsoft's Store terms to list it there?

Keep in mind, you can't install WinRT (aka, Metro) apps unless you go through the Store.

Re: Windows 8 Consumer Preview released.

#119

Post by nolok »

Zirro wrote: post #111
trotsky wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People mostly hate change, and metro gnome shell and unity all represent that. Why did people like Engadget go from hating Vista to loving Vista SP1 aka Win7? They had gotten used to it and microsoft gave them a good excuse to change their minds. While gnome shell was a bit rougher around the edges as most dot oh open source projects tend to be, you'll emd up seeing the same behavior in n years when people will be sc…

"Why did people like Engadget go from hating Vista to loving Vista SP1 aka Win7?" If I'm not mistaken, the main reason for the Vista-hate was the too frequent UAC-prompt, buggy drivers and extreme slowness. This was generally resolved by Windows 7, and that's why I think they started praising it. I don't think I heard many complaints about the "new" UI. Rather, if anything, people was saying it looked like XP with a…

There was a lot of small and discrete but very effective ui changes in windows seven. The kind that transformed "why is it asking me to add tags and rating to my dll" into "what i need is right there under my mouse already".

And as you said the completely broken uac in vista didn't help, they had managed to make limited accounts worse to use than in xp somehow.

Re: Windows 8 Consumer Preview released.

#120

Post by nolok »

trotsky wrote: post #61
acabal wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sounds like echoes of the Gnome Shell critisicm... trying to be both tablet and desktop at once leads to neither side being very good.

People mostly hate change, and metro gnome shell and unity all represent that. Why did people like Engadget go from hating Vista to loving Vista SP1 aka Win7? They had gotten used to it and microsoft gave them a good excuse to change their minds. While gnome shell was a bit rougher around the edges as most dot oh open source projects tend to be, you'll emd up seeing the same behavior in n years when people will be sc…

> Why did people like Engadget go from hating Vista to loving Vista SP1 aka Win7?

Because the last polishing step for an OS, like for every other software, is the most important ? Vista was filled with things that were one little short step from being great, or said another way vista was filled with things that were not great.

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