Windows Blue 9364 Screenshots Show Feature Enhancements

An anonymous reader writes "As expected, a new pre-public version of Windows Blue (build 9364) has leaked online and it reveals a handful of features that are coming in the next big Microsoft Windows 8 update." Several sites have screenshots from the build; Hot Hardware says "Assuming this is all completely legitimate, the most obvious change pertains to the Metro UI, including greater flexibility in sizing Live Tiles and customizing the Start screen, particularly as the Personalize setting (among others, including Devices and Share) is now under the Settings charm. The Name Group feature for the Start menu looks a little more polished, too."

Comments

And it still looks like

[Anonymous Coward]

Shit.

Re:And it still looks like

[Penguinisto]

Unfortunately, I have to agree.

If they would have even hinted at bringing back the normal desktop, it would have been big news. Well, at least they didn't mandate ribbon menus on all applications written for Windows. But then, until they ditch Metro, I'm afraid that enterprise adoption will remain a little slow...

Re:And it still looks like

[spd_rcr]

I keep getting suckered into this articles just to see if the failing PC market has finally forced them to pull their heads out of their *sses and reinstate the desktop by default and the start button...

Maybe I'd better luck wishing for some higher res displays as standard on notebooks... How is it that cell phones need 1080p displays, but for doing real work, 1366x768 is supposed to be great ?!

Re:And it still looks like

[the_Bionic_lemming]

Windows 2000 desktop please..

Some of us just want to use a pc, not get entertained by dancing buttons and other crap.

Re:And it still looks like

[Nerdfest]

They're going to keep heading that direction, and the old desktop is going to go away. The problem with the old desktop is that they don't get 30% of the cost of every piece of software installed on it. They they people will knuckle under and pay it, because their only choices other than Windows is Apple, who will most likely have the same app store lock-in in OSX by then as well, and Linux. They figure the extra money is worth the loss of customers. Personally, I'm hoping there is a rush to Linux and they die a horrible death, but I'm probably overly optimistic.

Re:And it still looks like

[jhoegl]

I can get around the start menu, I can get around the interface changes, I can even deal with the "control panel" not remembering my settings (I always have to select small icons), but until they fix Windows 8 to enable the reason for Windows existance, easy interface for multi-tasking... then they can literally fuck off.

Re:And it still looks like

[aXis100]

And somehow desktop shortcuts, quicklaunch bars, favourite apps, and pinned apps didnt help you???

Re:And it still looks like

[hairyfeet]

Ya know what pisses ME off about Metro/Win 8 way of doing things? Not only does it give you NO fucking choice in the matter but things that took one click now take 3 or more, and things that take a couple takes a shitload of submenu bullshit! Take safe mode, push F8 and there ya go, right? WRONG, now its shift PLUS F8 PLUS 3 fucking pages of extra options to get through when all you want is safe mode!

I get the "fun" of finding drivers for a Toshiba that was "made for Win 8" therefor doesn't fricking have drivers for anything else. i tried warning the guy but he was all "How bad can it really be?"...snicker...he called me 3 weeks later saying "Take this God damned thing OFF my PC! I hate this stupid thing!" and frankly he IS the target audience, has little exp with computers and needs lots of hand holding but win Metro is laid out so damned stupid and has so much extra shit running (like the live tiles mess, which seriously sucks ass on wifi with limited bandwidth) its slowing his little Bobcat laptop to a fricking crawl. When he asked "Does Win 7 REALLY make that big of a difference?" all I had to do was hand him my Bobcat netbook and say "our chips are virtually identical, try it and see" and it didn't take him 10 minutes before he said "That's it, I've had it, make that damned Win 8 go away".

This is NOT hyperbole, this is NOT from someone who has trouble picking up new OSes, hell I can run a half a dozen including the more esoteric Linux DEs along with Android and iOS but this...its just fucking stupid, it makes assumptions and acts like its on a damned cellphone, expects touch (which will NOT be coming to a good 95%+ of desktops and laptops because holding your arm out like that isn't pleasant and the cost is too high for large touchscreens) and frankly tries its damned best to get in your way and treat you like a moron. this is the first MSFT OS since WinME I will NOT have in my shop and if they refuse to listen to their customers and give us the option of killing this shit dead I predict MSFT will be the next RIM, a company that USED to be a big deal but only has legacy customers that are looking for the exit.

And if on the off chance any MSFT bigwigs read this? Hi, I'm your customer, I sell and support your product and you are ROYALLY FUCKING UP if you think you can use the damned desktop to EEE your way into the cellphone market, you can't, it won't work, it would be like putting a bubble on a moped and calling it a car hoping to break into the 2 wheeler market off the backs of your car buyers. If you want to compete with Apple in mobile? Then SPIN OFF MOBILE and let them sink or swim on their own, you have hundreds of millions of customers that are either hanging onto what will soon be a two release behind OS of yours or looking at your competitors and that is NOT the way to do business. The desktop is NOT touch, will not BE touch, and nobody wants their PC to be a giant smartphone. Hell watch the video, even usability experts, you know, the people actually PAID the big bux to design UIs? Yeah even they say your design is stupid. The PC is designed for content CREATION and you are trying to push a content CONSUMPTION only design and ya know what? Not gonna work, hell Win 8 has worse numbers than fricking Vista.

So please MSFT, just stop it, its not gonna work, you can't "pull an IE" and jam your OS into a space where nobody wants it, not like this. All you are doing now is making yourselves look like a bunch of idiots run by marketing drones...which sadly really isn't far off if you look at the output. You are NOT Apple, Redmond is NOT Cupertino, just stop it already because you are just embarrassing yourself.

Re:And it still looks like

[Entropius]

We don't, and we did.

Re:And it still looks like

[epyT-R]

yeah, because having to take your hand off the mouse constantly to use a stupid search box is much faster than a quick hotkey combo. For those of us who know how to use hotkeys, they're much faster than search boxes or idiotic fisher price full screen menus. Having the search box at all is a concession that your gui sucks because the whole point is to NOT have to type much or guess at what you're looking for. If you're going to add search boxes to every window, then just give me a full fledged command prompt back again.

Re:And it still looks like

[epyT-R]

1. starting a program should not be a fullscreen interruption that requires you to navigate a scrolling panel of oversized tiles. this is not better than a little menu that offers easy access to links.
2. search boxes do not make up for shitty gui layouts. in fact they're crutches for bad layouts. a lot of people around here seem to think they excuse shitty guis, but they don't. search boxes that let users 'guess the command you want' are not as efficient and far more stressful than a simple, well laid out GUI...or command prompt for that matter.

Re:And it still looks like

[hairyfeet]

Riiight because making us play "Guess WTF Microsoft called that" is soooo much more modern than two clicks with a mouse...I'm sorry but search boxes are a giant sign that says "We don't know how to make a GUI so just deal with this".

As others have said if you are gonna do that you might as well just replace the cycle sucking FB tweeting twitter shitting live tile mess with a Powershell prompt and call it a day, after all it'll do the same thing your "much more modern" search box will AND let you use pipes and flags so...hey! It must be the most super duper modern way to do things, right?

Oh and BTW how in the fuck is your search box gonna be worth shit on a tablet which MSFT obviously designed TIFKAM for? you gonna have to play "poke at the virtual keyboard" every time you need anything?

Charms? Live Tiles?

[ThorGod]

As a Win7 user, did anyone else feel completely lost reading the summary?

Re:Charms? Live Tiles?

[Penguinisto]

I can agree to that, but only to an extent - doing so would show that Microsoft is playing a short game, not a long one.

Win7 will likely hang around enterprises for at least the next 5-7 years (or more) if this is the case, but then what? An "enterprise" version that has the familiar desktop?

I'm not seeing anyone, not even Microsoft, demanding that the workplace convert over to touch-screen UIs, even in a distant future. The reason why is as close as the nearest heavy user of Excel...

Re:Idiocracy!

[gagol]

Guess what? Consumers generally consumes content on their computers... you know, the vast majority of human beings.

Refusing to give customers what we want

[JDG1980]

Several sites have screenshots from the build; Hot Hardware says "Assuming this is all completely legitimate, the most obvious change pertains to the Metro UI, including greater flexibility in sizing Live Tiles and customizing the Start screen, particularly as the Personalize setting (among others, including Devices and Share) is now under the Settings charm. The Name Group feature for the Start menu looks a little more polished, too."

They don't get it, do they? Power users and most business users don't want to tinker with the Metro UI. We want to be able to get rid of it and boot straight into the Desktop with a traditional Start Menu.

Re:Idiocracy!

[Lendrick]

It doesn't really give you both, though. The whole thing is built to make it inconvenient to use in desktop mode, because now you have to go back to a full screen menu every time you want to start another application. The purpose of Windows 8 is to throw Metro in your face, so as to push Windows developers to use Metro, and therefore be forced to go through Microsoft's app store (or whatever the fuck they're calling it since Apple apparently owns the phrase "app store"). Short of purchasing extra programs, there's no way to avoid fucking around with Metro when using Windows 8.

Re:Idiocracy!

[Penguinisto]

The "vast majority of human beings" don't sign massive EA contracts that pay Microsoft's bills.

We'll see how it shakes out when enterprises begin tinkering with OSX and/or Linux on larger scales towards the end of their upgrade cycles.

Perhaps your looking at the wrong OS.

[tuppe666]

Maybe I'd better luck wishing for some higher res displays as standard on notebooks... How is it that cell phones need 1080p displays, but for doing real work, 1366x768 is supposed to be great ?!

...maybe you should look at a chromebook like the pixel. [2560 x 1700 at 239 PPI] which has a higher than 1080P resolution :)

http://www.google.com/intl/en/chrome/devices/chromebook-pixel/

Re:Perhaps your looking at the wrong OS.

[besalope]

The Chromebook Pixel is a laptop that brings together the best in hardware, software, and design to inspire future innovation.

While using an Intel 4000 integrated graphics chipset... pass.

Re:Idiocracy!

[epyT-R]

man you people just don't get it

If you're resigned to typing out executable names, then you don't need a gui or menu at all, fullscreen or otherwise, ergo metro is useless

If you want to start programs with out extra keyboard/mouse/(touchscreen) context switching, a little menu in the corner is far better than a fullscreen context interrupting scrolling pile of crap, ergo metro is useless.

It's meant for a touchscreen! Stop making excuses for it!

Re:Idiocracy!

[hairyfeet]

Dude do you think keyboard and mouse survived for 30+ years because...what, nobody could build a pad? The K&M has survived this long because it is the most efficient interface for complex tasks. Sure if all you want to do is surf or passively watch video? Then touch is fine but all that content has to be created somewhere and pads just don't cut it once the software UI gets any measure of complexity.