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First Looks At Windows 8.1, Complete With 'Start' Button
Ars Technica has taken a look at Microsoft's newly released preview of Windows 8.1. As widely rumored, the point release features a clamored-for concession to Windows users who rankled at the loss of Windows' Start button in the taskbar.
In addition to various tweaks to 8's search capabilities and icon presentation, says the article, "Some of Windows 8's obvious limitations are being lifted. In 8.1, Metro apps can be run on multiple monitors simultaneously. On any single monitor, more than two applications can be run simultaneously. Instead of Windows 8's fixed split, where one application gets 320 pixels and the other application gets the rest, the division between apps will be variable. It'll also be possible to have multiple windows from a single app so that, for example, two browser windows can be opened side-by-side."
Similar reports on these changes at Wired, Engadget, and SlashCloud.
Doesn't everybody all use touchscreens? That's all we're using?
Remember these are the same super-geniuses that think you need a desktop interface and a mouse/monitor/keyboard to run a server. Now you'll need a touchscreen too.
the preceding comment is my own and in no way reflects the opinion of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
Remember these are the same super-geniuses that think you need a desktop interface and a mouse/monitor/keyboard to run a server. Now you'll need a touchscreen too.
That's called design by marketing.
People are going to hate me, but I kind of dig Windows 8.
Part of this may be due to having a touch-pad input device and a 27" monitor @1440 resolution.
Don't get me wrong... I think it's BEYOND stupid how they've hidden the "Shutdown / Restart" functionality. And I think they should make Metro and the new start menu optional because some people were obviously going to not like it (for valid reasons). Kind of like how Glass was optional in Windows. And there are a lot of down-sides in general.
But I like the new start menu. Since Windows XP/7/whatever I've like the condensed start menu with my commonly used apps with the option to expand out to the full list. Click once for the condensed list, twice for the full list, or search for what you want. Which is exactly what Win 8 does, only the lists take up the full screen and searching is one more click than before.
Obviously there are a bunch of down-sides: low info density, highly GPU intensive, etc. But I like it. I think the new UI is different, which is good. We've been using the same interface since Win95.
Meanwhile, on the desktop side, I like the various changes they made to the desk-top aspects. The ribbon on Explorer, though some of my friends hate it. The new Task Manager. etc.
Ultimately, you can't really fault someone for "liking" something. Some people like Britney Spears, some people hate her music.
But I'm sure either way, this post will get modded down to oblivion.
"We also added the ability to take pictures with the built-in camera right from the Lock screen without having to log in."
This is a XboxOne feature, the video and microphone will always be on so it can greet you when you walk into a room or able
to take voice commands. The privacy issues should be obvious for a company like Microsoft.
http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2013-05-24/news/ct-met-kass-0524-20130524_1_drone-attacks-xbox-one-jeff-henshaw
To be fair it's not quite that bad - this only applies to Metro apps written for the Metro interface, you can still access the same old desktop you always accessed and run Windowed applications there.
The problem is that the start menu has been replaced with the metro interface, so when you hit the windows key it fires up the metro interface and if all you want is say the calculator, then yes, it takes up the full screen, which is obviously stupid, because who the fuck ever wanted a 24" full screen 1080p simple calculator rather than the classic calc in a simple window?
A lot of the old apps are still there, windows key + r then typing calc.exe and enter will run the old one still IIRC, but that makes it about as user friendly as Linux :p
So you do still have flexible windows as you always have, the problem is Microsoft seems to not want you to use them and tries to force you towards the new Metro fixed width full screen completely-fucking-useless versions of applications instead.
Well, quite frankly, it does take too long ... and the "Windows Patch" (reboot and hope for the best) has always been a lousy response. It doesn't solve anything, just makes the problem go away for a while (if at all).
Some of us expect our machines to stay up longer, and depending on what you run, starting everything from scratch would take forever.
My 'normal' set of stuff on my personal desktop is 3 different web browsers (with multiple tabs in each), VMWare with two VMs, iTunes, the software to sync my phone, and sometimes the software to sync my Tom Tom. That's what's open every single day, all day long. My work computer is similarly running with a whole bunch of stuff that I use several times/hour and if I had to open and close them every time I used them, it would waste half my friggin' day.
For those of us who are used to machines with uptimes in the hundreds of days range, the suggestion to reboot is the sign of a lazy and incompetent admin, or shitty software.
Lost at C:>. Found at C.