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Microsoft Shows Off Radical New UI, Could Be Used In Windows 8
autospa writes "In a three and a half minute video, Microsoft may have shown the world what it has in store for the eagerly awaited Windows 8. In the video Microsoft showed a radically different interface from past versions of Windows — even Windows 7. Running on Surface 2, the touch-screen successor to the original Microsoft Surface, the device accepts input from a Windows Phone 7 handset (HTC HD7). Gone are the icons that drive Windows, OS X, and Linux operating systems of past and present. In their place are 'bubbles' that interact with files and post streaming information off the internet."
And I thought Office 2010 was hard to use. The new Excel is a nightmare to learn well. And now, "bubbles"?
by whom?
"eagerly awaited Windows 8" - say what ? :)
next version of grub might be more eagerly awaited than windows 8 or whatever.
ms hired a pr company to build up some buzz ?
Rich
I read TFA, I watched TFV, and I still can't connect the summary to anything of substance.
I am Slashdot. Are you Slashdot as well?
This has got to be the dumbest thing ever. Microsoft is just being different for the sake of getting attention, because they know they are quickly becoming irrelevant.
Well, so long Microsoft, it was a good run, but you finally have reached the limit of what you can steal from others and the ideas you come up with on your own are pants-on-head retarded. Goodbye.
Microsoft research does really cool things, but somehow the bureaucracy always kill them. I don't think it will be different this time.
There's nothing here you haven't seen before. It's the usual Microsoft Surface things, drawing Fantasia-y colors by waving your hands and rotating 3D objects, which you've seen before. Add to that a lot of vagueness about how everything is going to change and a soundtrack that could easily have come from any HR video on sensitivity training or proper timecard procedure.
Maybe these features will be nifty when we get them. But this video is the worst kind of marketing speak.
I'm no fuddy-duddy. I'm willing to change when an obviously superior idea comes along. What fucks me off about Microsoft is that they rearrange where you find the fucking things but they're ultimately the same fucking screen from the last four versions. But where do you go to configure network properties? It's a goddamn easter egg hunt.
Don't even get me started on that fucking ribbon.
Kwisatz Haderach
Sell the spice to CHOAM
This Mahdi took Shaddam's Throne
The academic world worries about citations and plagiarism in their works but the commercial world never bothers or usually takes credit for others work as their own; the marketing departments go even further.
We (the community) should be pointing out and calling BS to this heavily marketing driven society that has created a world in which smart people and educational institutions lack their due respect as the true innovators and instead we are told to worship the mighty corporations; its no wonder so many Americans are anti-intellectual and pro-corporation -- they see new technologies like this Microsoft PR and think Microsoft "innovated" all that stuff when I didn't see anything there that they innovated other than perhaps the bubble thing which they didn't show much of (and I likely just missed some paper somebody did on the concept 10+ years ago.)
Democracy Now! - uncensored, anti-establishment news
While MS have been mucking about with concepts, Apple have actually added real and useful features to their next OS upgrade.
Well, that's great, except that what if you wanted to see the status of your network conenctions - your method (which requires a lot of typing) doesn't work.
Even better, I decided to type "configure network card," and the only usable option that popped up was "Manage Devices and Printers," which, interestingly, doesn't even show my network card as a device.
Why, might I ask, do you need 3-4 different ways to manage the network, some of which are inaccessible from other areas.
Why, in the network and sharing area, does a right-click on 'Home Network" not allow you to change the relationship, a right click on "Joined" for he home group does not allow you to unjoin or change the home group, and a right click on "local area connection" not bring up status, ipcongif info, the network card properties, or anything else? Why not put all those single clicks to new levels of dialog boxes into a unified interface? Why does doubl;e clicking your wireless icon in the tray disconnect you?
I can only assume that this guarantees more training dollars for everyone that has to use this stuff.
Is it just my observation, or are there way too many stupid people in the world?
My keyboard doesn't have a "Windows" key, you insensitive clod.
Yeah, let's stay with one freaking file (though there may be 3 it only takes one) that when it becomes corrupt it takes everything down. A better system would be one that decentralizes this task and only affects one or a few programs (and not the OS). If you aren't aware of it, and it really makes your argument seem silly, is that every program writes tons of files to their folders. Some write them all over the place. To look at what there was (with .ini files) and what we have today (the registry) and you consider that programs can place hundreds if not thousands of files on your computer in various folders, one would have to admit that them putting their little .ini file into their folder isn't going to add much to the complexity. The registry is a poor solution that was never improved and it is a single point of failure on the whole system that causes more than its share of grief for users.
And, as far as how Linux accomplishes the same feat you appear to be clueless about the configuration files. I actually see no detriment to being able to show hidden files and to locate the ones that correspond to the program in question and to rename them in an effort to debug issues.
And, as far as incompatible formats go, why would my photo editor need to know the file format of my CD player program's configuration file? And since when do we not have total incompatibility, even in the Windows registry, amongst programs? Why would my photo editor need to know what's happening to the registry settings (or configuration file settings) of my CD player program? They don't know anything about each other nor do they need to know.
You can lead a man with reason but you can't make him think.
Not to mention why in the hell would they suddenly shitcan everything for Windows 8 when finally, after all these damned years they got the UI right and made a major leap forward for the masses with Windows 7.
I have to say, and this is coming from an old Win2K guy that HATED the "fisher price UI" of XP, that Windows 7 UI is fricking brilliant. The new taskbar gives me instant access to my recently used folders in explorer automatically, no fiddling, jumplists gives me access to just about everything I'd want to do when launching an app, breadcrumbs makes it trivial to dive several folder deep in ANY direction in the time it takes me to make a single click, it all "just works".
And the best part, and I still haven't figured how they pulled it off yet, is that while they made it trivially easy for a guy like me that has been using Windows for years to get my tasks done faster and easier, at the same time they made it simpler and more intuitive for those like my dad who have never been good with computers. I gave dad the second beta of Windows 7 and after using it for just a couple of weeks pre-ordered the family pack so he'd "have a computer that made sense" as he put it. He has found and used more features in Windows 7 the very first week of use than he did with 9 YEARS of XP usage.
The integrated search bar is so much more than just a finder as it will give you related concepts such as me finding out and using the new performance center when looking for good old perfmon. Finally it helps the user find things they don't even know they had, such as dad plugging in his headset to chat and finding out about Windows 7 voice recognition.
So they'd be insane to just shitcan all that work when they finally have a winner on their hands. Both XP and Vista users whom I've let try Windows 7 have been quite happy to switch and never look back, it allows your older apps to work without needing the crazy constantly having to run as admin anymore, the UAC works without being clippy level of irritating like in Vista, frankly for the first time in ages they "got it right" and I just don't see them shitcanning it when Windows 8 is supposed to be released next year IIRC. My prediction is the next release will be all under the hood and an attempt to make web integration better, such as making it easy and seamless for folks like my dad to have their work and home PCs always interconnected and controllable anywhere he is.
ACs don't waste your time replying, your posts are never seen by me.
Didn't they learn from Microsoft Bob?
Have you noticed cars all have a similar interface, pedals, steering wheels and so on. There's a good reason for that, it works and people are familiar with it.