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You Can't Bypass the UI Formerly Known As Metro On Windows 8
colinneagle writes with this excerpt from Network World: "The final build of Windows 8 has already leaked to torrent sites, which is giving the propellerheads a chance to dig through the code. One revelation will probably not sit well with enterprise customers: you can't bypass the don't-call-it-Metro UI. Normally, you have to boot Windows 8 and when the tiled desktop UI (formerly known as Metro) came up, you had to click on one of the boxes to launch Explorer. Prior builds of Windows 8 allowed the user to create a shortcut so you bypass Metro and go straight to the Explorer desktop. Rafael Rivera, co-author of the forthcoming Windows 8 Secrets, confirmed to Mary Jo Foley at ZDNet that Microsoft does indeed block the boot bypass routine from prior builds. He also believes that Microsoft has blocked the ability for administrators to use Group Policy to allow users to bypass the tiled startup screen. There had been hope that Microsoft would at least relent and let corporate users have a bypass, if only for compatibility's sake."
Didnt we just cover this very thoroughly yesterday?
....Make people need you. - bill gates
And the way you make people need you is to not teach them to fish, but limit what they can do for themselves and make the rest so difficult that they have to need you.
It's not horrid on a touch-enabled device. The problem comes when you try to use an interface obviously designed for touch with no touch input. Sure, you can use it with a mouse, but that just feels awkward and weird.
Windows 8 is probably going to be amazing on tablets, but i don't see why Microsoft tries to force it on desktop users. In their stead, I would just keep the Windows 7 UI, and put that on top of the upgraded codebase. Or if they want to tie the platforms together so badly, make the OS detect the type of device it is installed on, and use the appropriate interface (Not-Metro for touch-based devices, regular for non-touch-based ones).
Hyperbole: I use it liberally!
They want people to make what was formerly known as Metro apps to play in the new UI, because they'll also work on the tablet & phone version. The goal is to have a unified platform to boost the amount of applications on the tablet and help it sell.
Of course, making Metroized apps means they don't work in Windows 7, which now that XP is gradually going away will be the dominant enterprise OS. And of course Metro is so unpopular with desktop users that the tablets are going to get a bad name just due to bad name recognition. So it's a risky strategy at best.
-- "So they told me that using the download page to download something was not something they anticipated." - Bill Gates
I can understand why Microsoft decided to remove that option, though I disagree.
They want to the users to give Metro a fair try by living with it for a while. It is different enough where most people only see it once until they set an option to get rid of it. I've been using Windows since 3.0 and the first thing I do at a new job is get rid of the XP theme and set things up to look classic.
I think this is a mistake for Microsoft. Forced changes without easy options to go back angers users. Ubuntu and Unity are in a similar situation. Between Microsoft and Canonical trying to promote a tablet desktop on non-tablet PCs I think Apple and the KDE will be the winners.
On my formerly Ubuntu box at home the change motivated me to give the KDE and Kubuntu a look for the first time in years. Luckily I really like it and am now unlikely to go back to Ubuntu and Unity(or GNOME )
It's called Windows 7. You can expect it to be a lot more popular in the enterprise then 8.
-- "So they told me that using the download page to download something was not something they anticipated." - Bill Gates
While I admire the desire to be really creative and shit and try to come up with a cool "new" interface, functionality still remains one of the key desirable attributes for a user interface. We can thank Apple and all the Apple wannabe copycats for useless, ridiculous new ways of doing things that are less accurate and more time consuming by design. Who said that dragging page after page of stacked thumbnails as if they were pages from a book is an improvement over a plain old list? Especially when the constraints are so narrow that you often end up "dragging" two at a time. Want an example? Here, go look for a specific picture on this site. Have fun. Oh it looks cute. It's not functional. You will waste time waving your mouse back and forth trying to get the picture you wanted. A UI is supposed to be something that helps you, not something you have to fight with.
Now I'm not saying this is how (formerly known as) Metro is going to work, I haven't used the beta, and I've only seen a couple screen-shots. But I understand that Microsoft is going for the "smart phone" look and feel, and that means lots of big colorful buttons you have to drag everywhere, and crap like this. And considering what they've done with "Ribbons" when they obfuscated their "Office" suite - and I'm talking about the 2007 version, I refuse to "upgrade" and see what else they managed to fuck up, I can't imagine this UI will be better. I remember an argument in the late 80's about how computers hadn't really lived up to their promise of greater productivity in the office. Well Microsoft, I guess we'll have to congratulate you for lowering the bar even more...
Seven puppies were harmed during the making of this post.
...the year of the Linux desktop, because if this doesn't turn people away from Windows in droves, I don't know what will.
That only works for a limited period of time. Eventually, they stop selling Windows 7, and eventually they drop support for it.
This is the most ignorant, useless release of Windows 8 ever made. Change for change sakes it seems.
I recently tried installing it on my netbook with a resolution of 1024x600 (the typical netbok resolution) and I cannot run a SINGLE metro apps because my resolution is not at least 1024x768. What is that bullshit? The apps can scale at all? They expected this to be on some older devices that supported it, so why the limitation? I know future Surface devices will have to meet a certain standard, but why throw compatibility out the window? Why not an 800x600 resolution minimum? That way you'll know everyone within a reasonable time period (not the short time period of 2 years ago where my netbook sits) can use the full features.
There reasoning I think is so app developers don't have to cater to tons of resolutions, which is fine. FOR A MOBILE DEVICE.
They expect Windows 8 to be used on Desktops but completely cripple usability.
It's true I only really use the start menu for searching programs and rarely go straight to the icon itself. But the search is even worse in Windows 8! I hit the WinKey and start typing. I type in "device" looking for the Device Manager. Nothing. There are some metro quicklinks for installing hardware and whatnot, but not the Device Manager. Not until I search "device m" does it show up. Meanwhile in Wndows 7, I type just "d" and there it is, as well as everything else that starts with "d".
Now the sad part is, I would use it if it still had the start menu. It runs wonderfully on my netbook. It scrolls smooth and everything is snappy.
But it's useless. The XP I ran before worked better.
And all this crap they're giving to corporate users is hopefully gonna hurt them. It'll run terrible, it'll *feel* terrible. Maybe they've just decided to give this area to linux like Apple has and just focus on consumers. Well that's fine and dandy but the Apple user experience on a laptop or desktop is not in any way horrendous, while Metro leaves me feeling frustrated.
Can't wait for Windows 9 now. Its sure to be good.
Everyone marked it funny but it should have been insightful. After playing with it a couple of months and talking with my customers....what does it offer REALLY? what does win 8 bring to the table except being a "LOL I iz a cellphone LOL" PITA UI?
Its "faster boot time" is nothing but a classic MSFT cheat, in this case its more like a wake from hibernate than an actual boot, the UI is frankly crap on a cracker if you're not using touch which means a good 90%+ of machines out there are gonna suck with it, the "easy reinstall" is kinda pointless since I haven't found a reason to actually NEED to reinstall Win 7 with my customers, hell the only real positive I could find was the overhaul of Windows services but honestly that was such a "WTF are they thinking?" that should have been done years ago and certainly isn't worth putting up with "LOL I can haz touch?" MS Bob UI!
If you use Windows for work or play there really isn't a point in having Windows 8 unless you are going for a touchscreen device, there really isn't. You look at the reviews and they all say the same thing "Windows 8 is pointless" and I have to agree. I have gone through every MSFT OS since Win 3.x, including clunkers like WinME and WinVista but I can say without a doubt that Win 8 has to be the worst Windows I've ever been forced to use. At least with Vista you could kill UAC and tweak it into a halfway usable OS, with ME if you had a Win98SE disc you could build a frankenstein of the two and actually have a decent OS, whereas unless you are buying it on a tablet or cellphone Win 8 is a boat anchor on your workflow.
So just skip it, no point in dealing with Metro or Tiles or whatever they call it next week, unless you just really desire having your PC feel like it is a supergigantic smartphone
ACs don't waste your time replying, your posts are never seen by me.
Oh, wait. That's not what happened at all.
It kind of did. Windows 7 is really Vista Service Pack 3. Which Enterprises are moving to. Windows XP has two years of support left.
If you hate the UI changes in Windows Vista, which Windows 7 kept, and you don't like Metro, then you are kind of screwed.
There's already 3rd-party start menu replacements ready.
No we just need a good 3rd-party Metro remover, which probably won't be too far off...
I'm fairly sure the reason they're pushing it is because they get a cut of all software sold for the 'Metro' UI. The better the uptake is, the sooner their profits and level of control goes up. I posted this same thought on another article relating to this and got modded 'Troll', so I may be more accurate than some would like.
as Windows XP still holds half of the market. Enterprises are still getting around to rolling out Windows 7. Those companies are not going to touch a brand new operating system to begin with, especially one that makes such a radical departure.
any OEM that does the lock down will not only lock them self's out of the web sever market but the desktop and laptop Enterprise market as well.
You already have Windows 7, so Windows 8 doesn't look too appealing to you. But if you're starting from Windows XP/Office 2003, which is being retired on April 8, 2014, then Windows 8/Office 2012/Windows Server 2012 might be the platform you are targeting as replacement instead of Win7/Office 2010. Why? Because if you're the guy who stuck on XP for a decade, then you're probably going to want to go as far forward as you can. The 4/8/14 deadline for retirement is not an accident. Microsoft left enough time for slow adopters to get the first service pack for Win8/Office 2003 when they push out their new systems.
For corporate/business/enterprise users, Windows 8 offers:
(1) upgraded version of Windows Defender baked in.
(2) faster boot compared to Win7, so it must be so much faster than WinXP, right? Hybrid boot makes this go faster.
(3) UEFI will, unfortunately, be sold as "protection against malware".
A NYC lawyer blogs. http://www.chuangblog.com/
Windows 8 is probably going to be amazing on tablets, but i don't see why Microsoft tries to force it on desktop users. In their stead, I would just keep the Windows 7 UI, and put that on top of the upgraded codebase. Or if they want to tie the platforms together so badly, make the OS detect the type of device it is installed on, and use the appropriate interface (Not-Metro for touch-based devices, regular for non-touch-based ones).
The problem with that is that the apps are designed for tablets too. There's so much wasted screen real estate to accommodate fat fingers instead of precise mice, and assumptions that the apps will run full screen. Running them in any sane way in a desktop UI might be difficult at best.
And what about functionality that's gone away, like support for multiple mouse buttons? It won't magically reappear.
The insanity that infests Microsofts UI design people that brought forth that abortion previously called Metro, seems to have attacked the suits at Canonical/Ubuntu, such that they feel the need to shove their turd, Unity, down loyal Ubuntu users throats.. I'm a long LONG time Linux user (Slackware-1994), and a Ubuintu user since 7.04, and this idiotic abortion called Unity, makes me reconsider my loyalty to Ubuntu. For now, I'm upgrading my systems to 12.04, and putting Cinnamon DE on it.. After installing 12.04 on a test machine, I made a valiant effort to actually try to use Unity in my day-to-day workflow... NO WAY.. It had me screaming and tearing my hair out by the roots.. I gotta say, WHOever designed Unity, needs some serious mental health care.. Since I weaned myself off Microsoft's teat a while back, I wasnt too worried about what kind of idiocy MS had come up with this time, but since I'm the defacto neigbhood tech guy, I figured I'd better check it out, so took a spare machine and installed the preview.. I'm sure it would be perfect for a tablet pc but on a DESKTOP?? WHAT the hell is MS smoking???? There's just too much insanity in the world today....
THANK YOU, Edward Snowden!! Americans owe you a debt of gratitude (whether they know it or not..)
but i don't see why Microsoft tries to force it on desktop users.
Here's my theory: MS knows desktops users will hate it. Enterprises will skip it. Win 8 is not about advancing desktops or enterprises. Win 8 is about MS trying to force their way into the mobile/touch space. If MS had developed a separate OS for tablet/mobile, it would languish just like WP7 when it comes to developers. Instead MS will force all future Windows developers to be Metro developers. Developers will have no choice; problem solved in the minds of MS.
Well, there's spam egg sausage and spam, that's not got much spam in it.
All Ubuntu are doing is adopt Apples marketing methods.
The difference being this: OSX has a damn good interface, while Unity is just horrible.
Circumcision is child abuse.
You just got nailed by some MS shills because you are totally right.
MS is doing it by the MS book. 1. See someone else make a lot of money/capturing a market doing something. 2. Scramble to make a plan/software/hardware to enter the market. (Note I did not say make money.) 3. Enter market dumping a ton of resources in exchange for a some of the market share but no promise of profits. 4. Stay in market while continuing to put in their own resources. 5. Maybe...big maybe profit at some point if the income can ever dig them out of the amount spent on the overall project.
Really, I know what I'm doing...Ohhhh, look at the shiny buttons!
1) You have 100 employees who use MS Office. .docx docs and xlsx spreadsheets they are starting to receive? Yes.
Did they want a new interface? No.
Did they need one? No.
Do they have learn one to use the flood of
Do you have to spend money retraining them again? Yes.
Did a whole generation of macros become useless? Mostly
2) You have 50,000 employees (say, Seimens) using XP who must now upgrade to Windows 8.
Did they want a new interface? No.
Did they need one? No.
Do you have to spend money retraining them again? Yes.
Did a whole generation of software build around Windows XP become useless? Pretty much.
3) You have 1000 customers using your VB6 application. You employ 3 programmers
Did they want to learn new code? No.
Despite the promises, does their VB6 app work on 64-bit Windows 7? Yes, it just crashes every few minutes now.
Do they have to learn new code and then recode and then retest to keep their customers? Yes.
Microsoft's Motto? Who cares about how much you have to spend upgrading or training or re-developing, asshole? You'll eat our shit with a smile.
Or not, actually. Linux gets more usable each year, and android pad OSs aren't standing still either.
Please do not read this sig. Thank you.
Instead MS will force all future Windows developers to be Metro developers. Developers will have no choice; problem solved in the minds of MS.
But it doesn't work that way.
Suppose you're a Windows developer, even a new one - as in just writing your first app. You can:
1. Write it for Metro, such that it'll run only on Win8 PCs and tablets.
2. Write it for the desktop, and it'll run on any Windows PC, except for ARM Win8 tablets.
Even if Surface is a roaring success (hmmm), the numbers are still like an order of magnitude different. Some people would certainly write for Metro just to get a slice of the new market before competition is in, in hopes that it'll be big enough later on. But I don't see how the majority would do that.
Heck, have you seen the uproar that happened when it was announced that VS 2012 Express will only run on Win8 and only let you develop Metro apps? That was taken back pretty damn fast.