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Hands-On With Windows 8.1 Preview
adeelarshad82 writes "Microsoft launched the preview version of Windows 8.1 at the company's Build conference in San Francisco and early signs show that Microsoft heard the criticisms, and has responded with improvements. The new OS includes a number of changes starting with the return of the Start button and the ability to boot directly to the desktop. However, Microsoft hasn't given up on making the new-style tile and full-screen more usable for all users. If anything, the tile-based Start screen has gotten more flexible, with new smaller and larger tile options. Windows 8.1 also drastically improves built-in search, SkyDrive cloud syncing, mail and Microsoft Music."
Microsoft also released a preview of Visual Studio 2013 and .NET 4.5.1, and there's a program that will give developers early access to the PC version of the Kinect sensor. Other tidbits: Windows 8.1 will use a standard driver model for 3-D printers, and it's getting better support for both high-res displays and using multiple displays with different resolutions.
That's the phrase everyone has wanted to hear, including myself. Microsoft may have backpedaled, but that was the right thing to do.
I bought a Windows Vista 5 years ago. The first one exploded to blew my hand off. The next one killed my dog. It wouldn't support my joystick from 1986. The wifi screwed up and sterilized my nuts.
Overall I was left with a really bad feeling about all Microsoft products, which obviously must all have similar defects. Anecdotes by unverifiable semi-anonymous internet posters prove that to be true.
no start menu.
It is still not enough to convince Windows XP/7 users to upgrade. If they hope that the improvements are going to cause the OS to become a sellout, or even compare to 7, they are fooling themselves.
The biggest thing is the fact that you can search all sections (Apps, Settings, Files) with a single search bar now. No more having to type, mouse-move, click, and then find the option I want! Plus, you can disable the "also search Bing" nonsense, thankfully.
I already run using 0 Metro apps, and live mostly in the Desktop space (truth be told, due to my Windows Key + type letters + hit 'enter' style of start menu usage, the start screen doesn't bother me). I'm glad I'll be able to boot straight to desktop, which will further distance myself from the Metro experience.
I was hoping for Aero, or at least the option of Aero. I dislike the 'flatland' look for clarity reasons (distinguishing elements from one another).
Why OpalCalc is the best Windows calc
This release is actually just a re-branding of Windows 98 SE. If you previously purchased Windows 98 SE I strongly suggest you use that.
I really hate them. It is some modern UI koolaid everyone has been drinking apparently. The multsized grids are really hard for me to locate information. The only thing they seem to be good at is forcing me to scan over advertisements before I find what I want to get to, which might be the point, and the reason I hate them.
...who views Microsoft as a corporation with disgust due to all the immoral, illegal and downright reprehensible acts they have committed over the years to maintain their monopoly position, I'd just like to thank them for Windows 8.x, which will probably do more to damage them than the toothless DoJ ever could.
Why do people 'want' to be abused by a monopoly that does everything to make your computer cost you more? Where is the value proposition for windows 8.1? There is so much software available for so many different platforms, that Microsoft having 'the' platform no longer matters. Developers no longer need Microsoft. Better open source tools are available. Anyone buying into Windows 8.1 is buying into a niche product. Why would anyone do that?
or do you have to wipe the machine clean to install the actual Windows 8.1?
Can anybody find anything useful on how exactly this 'driver model' works? Microsoft's page could hardly be less informative.
What's the intermediate format that software interacts with to define the print job before sending it off? What interface does the device-specific driver interact with, etc, etc?
Obviously, not having 3d printers be handled entirely by a specific application is a noble goal; but there are, even after years and years of polishing and development, some truly horrible things living in the 2d printing process. What can we expect from the details of the 3d-print path?
Nothing fundemental changes no matter how much lipstick you use. It's still a pig!
That's pretty cool. One of the things that needs to happen for 3D printing to become commonplace is to take it out of the realm of specialized software and just make it a mundane action one does with a computer.
Click, print. Heads up Apple, Microsoft is preparing to drink your milkshake on this one.
3D Printing Tips and Tricks at Zheng3.com
Sorry, but until I'm able to completely deactivate the context-destroying, time and scren real-estate wasting Start Screen altogether, Windows 8 (sans 3rd party Start Menu add-ons), is nothing more than a toy.
Yes, I understand that menus are an creeping problem when adding functionality.
Yes, I understand that they're limited when implementing touch interfaces.
I DON'T GIVE A SHIT!
I don't use touch interfaces on anything larger than my phone, and even then, my current phone has a fallback to a physical keyboard. I have no use for them on a desktop or even a laptop. NONE.
I'm concerned about productivity FULL STOP. A menu system enables me to do more, faster. Especially with keyboard shortcuts (many of which were completely annihilated when they removed menus altogether in 8).
Managing systems remotely with the Win8/Server2012 interface is a complete pain in the balls, as the "hot corner" functionality for pulling up the various charms bars and other crap have a strong tendency to just not work, or work extremely sporadically in remote management situations. Yes yes. I could learn all the goofy new keyboard shortcuts. A menu system would still be more straightforward and functional.
Microsoft is acting like a kid who's been told to clean his room.
They've basically put it off as long as they can.
Now they're just going to kick some stuff under the bed and other general half-assery and hope it's sufficient.
It isn't. Period.
Chas - The one, the only.
THANK GOD!!!
Metro will *never* work. No one wants it. Give it up. Delete it.
Take Win7, and remove some junk and call it Windows9. Everyone wins.
The good:
The bad:
The ugly:
Well, in my usual attempt to stay current despite my greying neckbeard, I was prepared to tryout this regardless of the hatestorm regarding the new UI. Hell, maybe I could work around that in exchange for the alleged increased performance?
Downloaded the "upgrade assistant" which helpfully informed me that my nicely-tuned Windows 7 PCs (both 32 and 64 bit) would require shitloads of work, (some hardware 'might not work' and several screenfuls of software would 'not function' or 'require an upgrade').
Oh yes, and all of this for the modest sum of Euros 250-plus...
Per PC.
So, no thanks...
(I keeping trying to "like" the latest versions of Linux too - Mint is OK- but am sticking with BSD for my severs...maybe I'm not hip enough, or maybe I've finally realised there's more to life than fucking around with stuff when what you have works fine.)
As someone who uses Windows at home, there are two main reasons:
1.) Games
2.) I use Linux at work, and it's nice to have my OS piss me off in different ways depending on where I am
Increasingly the games I buy are cross platform and DRM free. Tying myself down to one platform is something I won't do.
My parents bought a Win8 AIO monstrosity, it was nightly support calls.
I bought them a copy of Start8 and showed them how to get to the desktop - now all is better.
It is better to be the hammer than the anvil.
Does anyone here actually use the start button/start menu still? The new start menu is much better. In my months of using it I have never once thought 'Windows 7 is WAY better.'
Also the 'start button' was never missing. It was just invisible. Can some one explain the difference between 'putting your mouse in the bottom left corner and clicking' and 'putting the mouse in the bottom left corner and clicking?'
You don't need Windows 8.1 to fix the problems in Windows 8.
What you need is three programs:
I had to get Windows 8 for work and there wasn't much choice. I struggled with it until I found those. I don't need Windows 8.1, Microsoft can go to hell.
It occurs to me the Quicklaunch Bar is kind of like a tiny tile area -- I have about 2 dozen programs and reference documents there, move mouse down to hidden task bar, it pops up, boom.
The problem with tiles is the combination of tiny screens and relatively giant icons aka tiles to press with not a mouse but giant fumble fingers adds a multiplicative effect to ugliness. You are boosting clickee size while shrinking room for arrays of clickies.
(-1: Post disagrees with my already-settled worldview) is not a valid mod option.
Seriously? Why on earth would anybody consider those an intrinsic part of the operating system? If I want to access mail from my computer, I either pull up an application that handles mail (for POP3) or a web browser. If I want to play or edit or do whatever with music, I install an application designed to do those things.
How about if my operating system just sticks to the job of system operations?
Have a look at the Windows 8.1 Preview thread at Reddit and over there NormalDefault's comment with the image link "Is THIS normal?" It seems that at some point the description of the update in Windows Store has been modified to look like leetspeak by somebody. Was this a prank by somebody inside the company or was the server cracked, I don't know.
I need my workgroups.
It really hasn't changed.
It truly is just a ".1" update. This update is made to get people to sign up with a Microsoft account (it's a pain to set up Windows 8 without one starting with 8.1) to get it via the store.
It's pretty clear that Microsoft considers desktop applications - and the accompanying Win32 API - to be obsolete. Windows 8 effectively is telling developers "my way or the highway", but seriously, people generally dislike Metro applications. Could you imagine PhotoShop having to be a Metro application?
Microsoft Windows 8 and 8.1 should have been renamed Microsoft Window.
The Start screen, even in 8.1, is effectively keyboard-based for me. I run programs in 8 by hitting control-escape to bring up the Start screen, then start typing the name of the program I want. To search through the icons is just about impossible.
"Screw Sun, cross-platform will never work. Let's move on and steal the Java language." - Visual J++ Product Manager
Windows 8.1 also drastically improves built-in search,
Does this mean that they are going to be adding even nire indexing programs to Linux? It seems like every hour on my laptop another indexing program starts up, locking the machine up until it finishes.. Whenever I disable or remove one, the updates will quickly replace it, and add two more. Why do we need so blasted many indexing programs? And why do they need to runh so frequently?
Who would win this election: Andrew Weiner vs Andrew Weiner's weiner.
Unfortunately these are largely cosmetic changes and won't fix what many users (particularly those of us found on slashdot) actually have an issue with. There are a few concessions to regular users who need visual hints like a start button, however for the power user virtually everything wrong with Windows 8 is wrong with Windows 8.1. An OS designed for touch devices shoehorned onto everything in a vain attempt to make users familiar with it so they'll choose Microsoft for the phone and tablet purchases.
Not to mention they're introducing a search behaviour which sends terms out to the Internet, just like Canonical has done with Ubuntu. I'm surprised about the lack of outcry about the privacy implications.
Now that I've angered the Windows-8 fanbase I'll irritate everyone else - unfortunately in my estimation the only desktop alternative is KDE while still clunky it is superior to OSX (design predicated on a stupid user), Unity (OSX clone), Gnome (also predicated on a dumb user) while the remainder are missing modern features.
I hate this trend with Windows 8 and Unity where instead of having your apps and files nicely organized in their respective folders, you have this chaotic jumble of icons which you have to be searching through all the time.
If you have a network connection, you MUST connect your log-in with a Microsoft account. There is no option to avoid doing this short of unplugging your landline or refusing to connect to a wifi point during setup.
I can imagine the "net required" aspect is coming in Windows Red.
I don't need Windows. Thanks Microsoft!
if it's not yet available to the general public? I got a message stating that the ISOs are not yet available when just going to the MSDN site. I have an MSDN subscription for OS & Dev tools, and was able to download it. Seems like a strange thing to make a public announcement and then be told it's not *actually* ready for public download yet.
Windows 8.1 is a nice attempt to polish a turd, but it's going to take more than hanging an air freshener off this corpse to make it live once again.
Years back, the rumor mills kept on saying that the next version would be modular and you could pick and choose which parts of the o/s you wanted or needed. Instead its almost an all or nothing proposition. Shouldnt it be possible to add metro or remove it and many other things like legacy compatibility if wanted and to choose not to have it. WHen will Microsoft begin making smart choices instead of mediocre ones they have done in the last 3 or more versions of windows, and why not have just one consumer and one business version, instead of start version home, pro, etc. Microsoft goes out of its way to confuse and difficultize whenever possible.
app store only = antitrust issues
MS better have built in side loading of metro apps in 8.1 with an easy on / off switch.
I use windows 7, if 8 doesn't offer me anything beneficial to surfing the net, playing games, or watching streaming videos then I simply don't care.
They can dress up windows 8 all they want but the bottom line is it does nothing for me to improve what windows 7 already does. It would be a complete waste of my money and time to switch to windows 8.
Come back again Microsoft when you do windows 9 and you can improve things and cater to the PC audience from the start instead of back peddling a year later for them.
If you have a network connection, you MUST connect your log-in with a Microsoft account. There is no option to avoid doing this short of unplugging your landline or refusing to connect to a wifi point during setup.
I can imagine the "net required" aspect is coming in Windows Red.
Quote from MS website for anyone who cares:
"In order to use Windows 8.1 Preview you must sign in to your PC with a Microsoft account. The option to create a local account will be made available at the final release of Windows 8.1. "
Surely this is by far THE most dumb 'improvement'? The article seems to regurgitate some MS marketing guy fluff about 'being able to instantly answer skype calls whenever grandma calls' without realising that this also means 'being able to answer anyone's skype calls on any locked device you happen to be near when they're away'.
Could be quite fun though, as anytime you see an unattended win8 device you now know that you'll be able to add some 'special moments' to their photo gallery, because the need to log in might otherwise have prevented the owner from quickly capturing some world shattering event.
Visual Studio 2013 won't work on Windows 7. Calling it right now.
Folders are a sorry metaphor for a time when computers weren't capable of doing real-time search. Trying to classify everything into a folder worked when we had just a few files to take care of. Now, with thousands of ties in our are drives, it's simply not worth the effort.
If I want to launch the notepad, it's Start button, type 'Cal' and hit return. Boom. Why do I need a hierarchical menu to do that?
Folders suck.
Why is it that every time the topic of Win 8 comes up, here or elsewhere, it almost immediately devolves into one group saying Metro and/or the start screen suck ass, and another group telling the first group that it's wonderful, they should learn to love it, and, in general, that they're wrong?
Don't the people in the second group realize that they're being just as arrogant and close-minded as MS when they push this crap on users?
Personally, I don't much care about the start button thing or even the start menu/screen. But Metro is easily enough to keep me on Win7 for the foreseeable future. If Win9 doesn't fix things then I'm headed for Linux, something I really don't want to do because of the pain of conversion. (This is where another iteration of the second group comes in and tries to tell people like me that GIMP is just as good as PhotoShop, LibreOffice is just as good as MS Office, etc. They're just as wrong as the Metro fanboys.)
Same company behind. Fixing bugs will be expressely delayed until even the NSA actively exploits them. But i suppose that the world need an updated version of the russian roulette for this century.
Hosed my machine. The usb system restore I made before I started won't work (boots but can't recover). Resinstalling now. 20+ years installing from NT to Windows 8 and this is the first time I remember that I haven't been able to recover from a command prompt (which I can get now) or the restore media (which I have) or a live cd. I have a small SSD for c: with junction points to other drives for some of the bigger directories (users, program files, etc) Maybe it didn't like that.
They will get it right, eventually. I imagine as the tiles evolve they will lose the square background over time. Perhaps M$ will start calling them icons and widgets. Oh wait they already had that.
Corporate is going to love the required Internet connection. THERE ARE CRITICAL MACHINES THAT SHOULD NEVER SEE THE INTERNET: emergency services like 911, fire control, etc! Do you really want to call 911 and be told we will send help as soon as the monopolistic ISP gets our Internet access back up so we can locate you.
tries to tell people like me that GIMP is just as good as PhotoShop, LibreOffice is just as good as MS Office
Sorry sweetness not sure of relevance Gimp is better than Photoshop http://www.adobe.com/products/catalog/software._sl_id-contentfilter_sl_catalog_sl_software_sl_photoshopcc.html which now costs $20 a month for its creative cloud version, Gimp is free...for me Gimp is a no brainer. I began using it as a consultant because I could install it on companies Desktop machines without License issues 15 years ago. I now run it from a pen drive.
LibreOffice is better than Office because the version I think I want is http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/business/office-365-small-business-premium-office-online-FX103037625.aspx which costs me $12.50 a month Its a little cheaper if I didn't need access.
What is frightening is both these companies(Adobe and Microsoft) are pushing me towards cloud(sic) versions of their products. Personally I these have no advantages but have a $32.50 Disadvantage...and have to use a always on-online DRM version.(ironically both should work on android in future or be avoided if they don't). think I'm the only one...Office launched on ios with a $100 a year fee for crippled version...nobody cared. its like its not happened.
This argument is nothing to do with Metro...which is shift in the Desktop interface to tablet one by Microsoft, in an poor attempt to convert its Desktop Monopoly into a Mobile one (say it with me ecosystem..cringe), and its a massive failure...they are installing it alongside Android now see what the article is about. This is nothing to do with comparing open source programs with Adobe and Microsoft equivalent those who have learnt to use them experience massive cost savings and smugness, although thanks for the Nostalgia.
If I want to launch the notepad, it's Start button, type 'Cal' and hit return. Boom. Why do I need a hierarchical menu to do that?
Folders suck.
If I want an editor I just type vi. Boom. Why do I even need a mouse?
I never thought I would see the day when Microsoft Apologists were advocating the GUI over the CLI, but Metro...a touch...no a Desklet interface...would finally push then to this madness.
I couldn't give less of a crap about the stupid start button. What I want is the start menu. That, they did not add.
LibreOffice is just as good as Office for 90% of tasks. GIMP, on the other hand, is still a dystopian nightmare compared to Photoshop, for one main reason: separate windows for everything.
Except Gimp has had a single window mode since 2.8 introduces an optional single-window mode these are the release notes http://www.gimp.org/release-notes/gimp-2.8.html here is ars reviewing it http://arstechnica.com/business/2012/05/hands-on-testing-the-gimp-28-and-its-new-single-window-interface/ the latest version of Gimp was released on Just a week ago and is 2.8.6 http://www.gimp.org/.
Although Multiple windows not that big a deal...was never a problem for me on the Mac version of photoshop.
So they've put the Start button back, but with no menu behind it. Is this actually what any of their users asked for?
Also, have they brought back the ability to select a logon domain via drop-down box instead of the god-awful DOMAIN/USERNAME combination that currently needs to be TYPED into the username box. How about the option to confirm on Shutdown/Reboot? Sure us uber-geeks who never mis-click won't need it but the vast majority of users are, almost by definition, not uber-geeks.
It's nonsense like this that makes me think MS really have given up on the enterprise.
"Nine times out of ten, starting a fire is not the best way to solve the problem." - my wife
I've been using windows 8 for a few months now. I use it on my Macbook and on my Surface (I went to TechEd for work, too cheap to not buy).
What I don't think people realize is Windows 8 is built for the future of computing. Yes you may not have a touch screen right now, but in 1-2 years you probably will, this is where windows 8 shines. I love using it on my surface, I can goto chill mode and just read news, view stocks etc, I dont need to type much etc. However, when I want to work, or get something done I goto the desktop mode, it makes total sense to me.
Windows 8 took me a little bit to get used to, the first 2 days was like "WTF THIS SUCKS" but now, I have to say, I'm pretty pleased with what they did.
Think of it as two different modes. Power User / Get shit done == Desktop, and consume and browse == Tile / Metro. Instead of needing two different devices I can do it on one.
The Start Menu thing.. I really don't understand why people are so pissed, you hit the windows button, you get a full screen menu-- I guess thats kind of annoying but it works well, you start typing and it searches, it's pretty easy.. I mean putting the start menu back in desktop mode is OK, I don't care either way.
One of my co workers bought a touch screen windows laptop that folds into a tablet, and it's a really good experience, I think that's the future of laptops.
There were many more things announced today at BUILD than just those. IE11 was one of the most impressive revelations. Not only does it support WebGL and streaming video, it does that both in a browser and in an app. Very cool
the requirement is purely a preview requirement. Not a release requirement. Preview = Microsoft account. RTM version is local or Microsoft account.
So apparently according to Microsoft English-speaking world consists only of those who choose en-US as their system language, anyone else does not matter. Sigh...
I have to say this about Microsoft - they have amazing capacity to piss off their customers. Not just piss off but at a deep visceral level of hate.
Its pretty much a known fact that MS employs shills to hawk their products online. Only, they don't call it shilling, they call it Technology Evangelism.
Fascinating read.
Several friends that work for Microsoft said the same thing. If that's true, then why does Microsoft keep releasing improvements? Has Microsoft changed their mind?
Just rename it to "Handbrake video transcoder", I usually do that.
I installed it today and there were a few annoyances/pleasant surprises even after reading the warnings:
1) It wipes out and replaces your driver profiles back to OEM after upgrading. You'll need to re-install any OEM video drivers etc. In my case my Dual SLI configuration didn't work very well until after I had re-installed/restored my configuration prior to the upgrade. ... If you plan on installing this go get some coffee or a few twinkies because it'll be awhile.
2) The upgrade is an endless series of "almost ready" and "getting ready" and "... we're doing this... " and
3) All of the new features promised are there, the tile layout is a bit more friendly but I'm sure I'll hit on a few of the other things.
4) A/V software gets kicked to the curb. Working with my A/V vendor now on the nice new dialog that pops up complaining about incompatible software, that you can't get around even with the Compatibility Assistant.
5) The Fish is back. I'm not sure if I like the "Mr. Limpett" fish all that much. I'm eradicating it after this post.
6) Classic Shell still works, so I have my start button context menu.
Harrison's Postulate - "For every action there is an equal and opposite criticism"
I went through the list and most of the "features" that were there were either things that I didn't care about or things that I don't want on my system.
Honestly there are only two Win8 things that I don't have on Win7: Hyper-V support and stereoscopic 3D. The former isn't really all that important as I do a lot of desktop Linux virtualization which Microsoft likes to ignore and the latter is practically useless as I'm like one of 12 people that bought a 3D monitor and all this does is gives developers libraries to use for people who both have special displays and Win8.
Unfortunately, Win8 has far too many downsides for me to ever use it. I'd be more likely to install Vista on my computer than to go to Win8 or even 8.1. Maybe by the time 8.3 comes out it will be worth using. I doubt it though.
In Windows 7, I press the start button on the keyboard, type printers, and get a link to devices and printers and a list of printers. In Windows 8 it brings me to the goddam metro view and doesn't give the same results. Similarly, in 7, I want disk management, I type it and it shows up in results. Windows 8 search doesn't work the same way, and it shows results in the horrible Metro UI that suddenly covers the whole screen. I can't think of any explanation for why the type and find anything search doesn't work the same way in Windows 8 and it's a pain to find the right place to change any setting.
>tile-based Start screen has gotten more flexible, with new smaller and larger tile options. Windows 8.1 also drastically improves built-in search, SkyDrive cloud
>syncing, mail and Microsoft Music.
Incidentally those are all the things I disabled/deleted/replaced 2 minutes after installing Win8.
Who logs in to gdm? Not I, said the duck.
Seriously, I don't want a buttom. Why would I want a buttom that does what the same place does when you click it, just without a buttom?
just a quick question if you have windows 8 will you have to buy windows 8.1 or is it free ?
And that is one of the reasons Adobe is moving their applications to the cloud.
They didn't listen to people at all. Just put the old start menu back for those who want it. Let people CHOOSE which method they like. Stop trying to force people to use touch screens on their desktops, I sure do not want to and neither do most people.
This is great.
Now i can print me some start menu for my windows 8.
During the install, you have no choice but to log in with a microsoft account. FAIL
Be or ben't
My new version 8 fork is great, each of the 4 prongs point in a different direction. While watching TV, just swipe or tap it on a plate and it gets something (maybe), Now if only I could figure how to do something useful with it,
Enough is enough. All this hoopla about
8.1 is a joke. The so called "Start Button"
is just an icon to take back to the pukee
Start Screen. MS thinks we're all Schmucks
to fall for this joke.
The new start menu was enough for me to flush Classic Shell, and be "trained" into the new way, the metro way. All it means is that you are now farther away from a bigger start menu, if you just boot straight to the desktop, as you do. I run it on an iMac with dual monitors, and it's blazing fast as a VMWare image. The only thing is that some frameworks are not supported yet, so apps like Mindjet 2012 won't install. Besides that, a nice update. love it.
I think therefore I can't be ~TTNH
Why not? You have a light photo editing program that uses the touch metro interface and works on your phone. That scales up to a more serious applications for a tablet. On a full fledged interface it starts to demand things like a drawing pad and a large screen presenting complex menus and utilizing all sorts of gestures + multiple input devices. That sounds like a huge improvement over today's photoshop.
And I should mention kinda the direction that Apple has been moving in with iPhoto and Aperture.
"a good desktop"
It is just better than Vista. I still remember my desktop architect come over, look at my screen (which I made look as much like XP as I could) and say "you don't like the new taskbar do you?"
...why aren't slashdotters taking up W8 with the same bright-eyed, bushy tailed enthusiasm and open mindedness we did with KDE4 or Unity? Oh wait...
Why everybody gets upset about the start menu in win 8? It is so easy to fix and not have to wait for Win8.1 Just instal this small ap which in my opinion is better than what windows has. http://www.reviversoft.com/start-menu-reviver/ is a free start menu for win 8 works for mouse and touch screen I like win 8 is fast and reliable and I never have to use that dumb met
The win+pageUp or pageDown to move the metro between 2 screens no longer works. I can't grab the metro with the mouse and drag it to the other screen anymore as well.
When windows 8 starts up i get the metro on first screen but second screen is a blank solid color no more taskbar desktop, i have to hit desktop tile to get both desktop taskbar on both screens, and then i can get metro on one screen and taskbar on second.
When installing applications for the first time windows no longer automatically pins the main program to the metro you have to scroll down on second page of metro and look through all that mess to find your program and pin it to the 1st page metro.
I can't pin my shutdown and restart shortcuts to the metro anymore. The metro side scrolling with the mouse is sluggish compared to windows 8.
Labels in the metro are nice but haven't found a way yet to change the font's size, color, type. But, I think i have seen this option somewhere not 100% sure.
I kind of understand it now how people perceive windows 8 and 8.1 to be schizophrenic, we only need one GUI, but people should have the option to choose between the old start menu and the full metro gui.
The metro has to extend to the second or third monitor. It has to open any desktop applications in front of it. The left side corner is basically a taskbar anyway and should manage the old desktop apps as well.
I think it's going to be a long way before this type of OS matures and one of these GUI's will win the battle.
"...basic I/O tasks..."
Actually I am pretty sure that is what the BIOS is for, a system for handling basic input/output. :)
Anyway I get what you are saying however. It is a fundamental flaw, that consumers are actually causing.
House Analogy: You want to sell your house. Your basement foundation is falling apart and leaks. Your kitchen is a bit dated. Rather than fix your basement, you decide to renovate your kitchen, because that is what people see, makes the biggest impact to the sale, increases the value of what you can get for your home. However when some poor sod buys your house they are left with a useless basement. Problem is that the homeowner has never known anything but houses with useless basements, and thus isn't all that angry about the transaction... Thus the endless cycle of MS not giving a shit about what your basement looks like.
I think a better analogy (already did a house) is that of a telemarketer. Now that I think of it, that is really what MS is, a pusher salesman, more so than anything technological.
Think of your talking on the phone to some telemarketer, and you are trying to tell them "No, I am not interested". Do they give up? No, they start to repeat the same sad sack pitch line they just told you, or try to highlight what you are currently doing wrong and how their product will fix it. You keep telling them, "No thank you" being the polite person you are, but the marketer is not going to be deterred, and will simply keep going with more and more BS, regardless of whatever objections you may have over their product/service, until ultimately in the end you hang up on them.
More people need to "hang up" on MS before they will finally get the message.
Right-click the start button and you can shutdown. Big improvement right there. But Windows 8.1 is still pretty damned stupid.
SWM seeks new sig for a brief fling
Might be easier to just load Linux flavor du jour and be done with it. Or is that now illegal?
Time for a new Political party in the US (or two!) One is off the rails Other cant pony up a leader.