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"Longhorn" Alpha Preview
An anonymous reader submitted an actual review of the leaked Longhorn Alpha. Finally someone has provided us with more than a few screenshots. Here's your chance to see what the future of the microsoft desktop is gonna look like!
I've seen loads of leaked screenshots. Why should I believe this are not faked like they rest?
what about leaked videos?
;)
I'll say it again that this server is unlikely to cope with many requests - so if anyone can provide a mirror, feel free
A question I should've asked in the original post is why the heck aren't they sticking to just one application finder/launcher and making it the best it can be instead of having 4 to 5 half-assed ones? They're just adding more shiny buttons without merit.
The "plex" theme looked familiar, and then I realized where I've seen it before. It is Redhat's Bluecurve theme, with windows with rounded corners, combined with Aqua's jellybean/translucent buttons.
Or am I imagining it?
IF indeed those are real screenshots, and that is indeed a real leak of the "new windows" then I have the following to say about it.
Even if under the hood it is just as stable and powerful as win2k/XP, and even if it is faster or better with new file systems and other new features. Win2k does everything I need. And it doesn't have DRM or a crappy UI like the one pictured there.
Disregarding all the other factors in the linux vs. windows battle I must say the even though win2k's UI is pretty good, I dislike XPs UI greatly. And that even though linux might have 100 to choose from I like KDE, and at least I know that if I put in the time and effort I could make it look and work however I wanted. In Windows that option just isn't there.
You wont see me upgrading windows until they add a real UI, custom UI, or new games just don't run on 2k anymore.
The GeekNights podcast is going strong. Listen!
A few things about XP are a little prettier but I have a feeling that Win2k isn't going anywhere for a long time. I use XP at home (came w/ computer) but win2k at work. No one wants to change. Interestigly there's a mix of reasons. Part of it is the the new licencing scheme and part of it is the general fear that microsoft has instilled in people with their new OS versions. General concensus seems to be that one should wait at least 1 year before considering changing to the new OS. Given that win2k is arguably really hitting maturity now (sp3) people are really likely to stay put for a while.
and speaking of the burning capability in XP...
Does anyone actually use it? The idea is good but, the interface has some problems. Drag the files that you want to burn into the CD-R's folder, see files in the folder, forget to hit burn to CD (it just puts fake links in the folder as place holders and waits for you to hit burn to CD to actually do anything). Also, I've found that it uses a screwy driver or something. I haven't been able to burn CD's reliably this way, most (>80%) are F'd up. I've had to use the burning software that came with the drive instead of using the XP interface. It's a good idea, but it doesn't seem to work. If CD-R's were still $2 each I'd be pretty pissed. Can't wait for them to mung up DVD-R burning as well.
I especially like Windows XP in this regard.. the _professional_ edition, alledgedly for business use, comes complete with "MSN Gaming Zone" .. and all the files in it are covered by Windows File Protection, so you can't delete them easily.
Dear Microsoft, this is not a way to win over your corporate customers.
I agree with this.
Completely changing the GUI to make the OS look better won't make it more intuitive. For instance just click in the "Start" button in XP and read through the items that pop up. To me it looks like the menu has been slapped together in a day or two.
IMHO a good graphical user interface is one where you have 1 quick access point per important section of the OS. The need to have quick launch items all over the screen means poor design.
Windows isn't bad, and XP has some really nice improvements over older versions... unfortunately it can't compare to *nix bases OSes from the stability and reliability point of view. They have to show that they can win when it comes to ease of use over any other OS. And a good idea would be to spend some serious bucks on GUI research and then stick to whatever they liked most for at least a couple of windows OS generations.
Just my 2 cents,
Decameron
diegoT
I doubt Longhorn is more stable than XP (it's an alpha, after all), but I've had terrible experiences with the stability of XP. Of course, it's probably all my fault (installing drivers from the HW manufacturers instead of the ones you get from Windows Update). My point is, XP is far from crash-proof if you use crash-prone drivers. The same goes for 2000, BeOS and Linux. And probably FreeBSD, although it hasn't crashed on me yet.
The moral of this is of course: if it works, don't try to install drivers supplied by ATI.
Multiple desktops!
This is one of my favorite features with *nix systems, anytime you're running more than a few apps using one desktop even with minimizing gets just plain unmanagable this is one feature I'm very M$ glad has learned from *nix.
I stole this Sig
I think making the claim that liking eyecandy=ignorant is pretty ignorant in and of itself.
I concur. My laptop currently has 16 days uptime (only rebooted for a software update to something or other a while back).
I've yet to see it crash.
Actually, they ultimately DO want you to log onto your own computer via .NET, and use MSN as the interface. That's essentially the direction M$'s own people have been talking about at their own seminars.
And you thought you were joking!!
~REZ~ #43301. Who'd fake being me anyway?
I don't understand why people call Windows XP or Longhorn or whatever new version of Windows "userfriendly". Look at the screenshots!
There's now some kind of sidebar which duplicates the functions of the Start menu ---> confusing to new users.
If you open Windows Explorer and check My Computer, you get a complex screen with buttons, icons and progress bars.
If you go to My Documents you get overloaded with options! Any new user will get confused by that!
Not to mention all the eyecandy. Sure, it looks nice, but all those gradients and icons do is overload the user with information. New users will get confused and will have a hard time recognizing standard controls.
The entire UI is extremely cluttered.
The Longhorn GUI is good for advanced users, but will confuse new users! If GNOME or KDE do this, the Windows people will flame us down for creating a "hacker desktop" that's "not consistent" and "overloads the user with too much information". But if Windows does this, it's suddenly allright and called "huge improvements" or "innovation".
I just don't get it...
The sidebar actually looks very interesting. I've heard talk of it before, you can auto hide it and when you move the mouse over to the side of the screen you can quickly see info from all the sidebar plugins. Like, a list of unread emails and a local traffic report. Seems better than flashing icons next to your clock.
Make a software so that everyone's grandmother can use it, and only they will ever use it.
Not true!
While your remark would be true in general, it is not true in this specific instance.
The masses of sheep who aren't enlightened to open source are locked in to windows. Its like a narcotic. They can't break free of it. (Just like 50% of slashdotters who still can't break their habit.) Therefore the existing locked in users are not who the new interfaces are designed for. The new interfaces are designed for sheep who are so sheepish that they have not yet dived in and gotten a computer. How much pain this causes existing users is irrelevant, they are stuck with it. (Except for the few who get enlightened and break the cycle.)
Your remark would be true in a general sense. Make a {car,phone,tv} so that idiots can use it, and only idiots will use it. Implication: because the non-idiots will flock to competition. But in this industry there is no significant competition.
I'll see your senator, and I'll raise you two judges.
I know that XP is configurable. I know I could probably turn off the search wizards "what do you want to search for? A photo? Music?" and just type in *.mp3 like I can in Win2k. I could turn off simple file sharing, etc. I could probably find tweaks to get all my older games runnning. I could even get a hacked version that didn't require registration from MS every time I reinstall or change too much of my hardware.
However, why should I? My new Dell came with XP. I spent about 30 minutes with it, looking into how I could change it to not be so annoying. After 30 minutes, I formatted the drive and put Win2K on.
Off-topic, but I think it's pretty neat that Yukon will include support for the .NET CLR, allowing people to right stored procedure and user-defined functions in any .NET language, as well as TSQL.
TSQL gets the job done, but it's not always the most elegant solution. Also having a full featured language should allow for more powerful and flexible code.