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.

Comments

the return of the Start button

[Anonymous Coward]

That's the phrase everyone has wanted to hear, including myself. Microsoft may have backpedaled, but that was the right thing to do.

Re:the return of the Start button

[Entropy98]

That's the phrase everyone has wanted to hear, including myself. Microsoft may have backpedaled, but that was the right thing to do.

What good is a start button without a start menu?

Re:the return of the Start button

[Anonymous Coward]

What good is a start button without a start menu?

Works great in my car.

So by analogy, it'll work great in a computer.

Re:the return of the Start button

[SoCalChris]

Except that they totally missed the point of what everyone wanted.

Yes, there is a start button there now. But all it does is bring up the start screen, the same as pressing the Windows key. The start menu, which is what most people really want back, is still missing from the OS.

Re:the return of the Start button

[Vanderhoth]

I was going to say, the start button isn't what people wanted, they wanted the start menu. METRO sucks on the desktop, I don't want it and I don't want to see it. Tablet or phone sure it makes sense.

Now we're probably going to have to sit through hundreds of posts for "I've been using windows 8.1 for 10 years and it's just so awesome with the new start button, just what everyone wanted. MS is such a great company that listens to their customers."

Re:the return of the Start button

[tripleevenfall]

It'll be a real improvement (a 180) if there's something as simple as a checkbox that says "Suppress Metro interface".

I still don't think MSFT gets it. No one wants to see Metro, ever.

Re:the return of the Start button

[tripleevenfall]

MS is such a great company that listens to their customers... after their market share erodes, after they miserably fail in mobile and tablet spaces, and after they face the prospect of another Vista-like iteration of an OS that business customers will skip altogether.

Re:the return of the Start button

[vux984]

Yes, there is a start button there now. But all it does is bring up the start screen, the same as pressing the Windows key. The start menu, which is what most people really want back, is still missing from the OS.

I disagree. Most people were just confused by the lack of a physical button to click on to do anything.

A MUCH smaller subset actually wanted the old start menu back. I know I don't. There are elements of the old start menu that I liked, but most of it was a bad idea. Start -> All Programs was a complete disaster -- lets put a hierarchy of everything installed on your computer in a small non-resizable popup menu. Sorry that was just awful. For anything you need the start MENU for, the start screen is a LOT better.

Pinned aps on the start menu? Use a toolbar if you want a popup menu for those on the taskbar.

The only real loss is the search box that many power users use as a quick launcher - the start screen works for this, and is better if you are actually doing any sort of real search. But a desktop widget would be more appropriate for the "quick launch task of things we already know about."

But this is a power user function / feature not something "most users" do. Personally I'm looking for good 3rd party options, that just address this small shortcoming, rather than try to recreate the disaster that the old start menu was.

Re:the return of the Start button

[rot26]

This is not the start button you were looking for.

Re:the return of the Start button

[andrewa]

I haven't really used the start menu in Windows 7 in a long time. My typical workflow is to hit the Windows key then type the first few letters of the application I want to start, and then hit enter. As long as Windows 8 allows that easily now with booting to desktop and a start button, then it works for me at least. Admittedly I haven't really played with Windows 8 much.

Re:the return of the Start button

[WaffleMonster]

That's the phrase everyone has wanted to hear, including myself. Microsoft may have backpedaled, but that was the right thing to do.

This is so disingenuous that it qualifies as an outright lie.

Re:the return of the Start button

[SoCalChris]

A MUCH smaller subset actually wanted the old start menu back. I know I don't. There are elements of the old start menu that I liked, but most of it was a bad idea. Start -> All Programs was a complete disaster -- lets put a hierarchy of everything installed on your computer in a small non-resizable popup menu.

Most users don't use the heirarchal menu very often. They usually either type the first few characters to search, or use one of the recent programs listed. But if you're in one of the instances where you're trying to access a program that you don't use very often, and don't remember the exact name of it, the hierarchical menu is light years beyond the start screen.

For example, take a look at what my Windows 8 start screen looks like. It's an absolute mess, and nearly unusable in my opinion. The Start8 menu that I installed is much easier, quicker, and far more intuitive to use. I suspect that many users feel the same way as I do.

Re:the return of the Start button

[jones_supa]

I still don't think MSFT gets it. No one wants to see Metro, ever.

Agreed, the interest does not seem too high. I've noticed how on Slashdot a lot of the discussion focuses on the problems surrounding the Start screen, but no one even mentions the Metro apps, which for Microsoft is actual big thing with Windows 8.

Re:the return of the Start button

[atlasdropperofworlds]

I'm not a fan of the metro screen, but I don't hate it enough to go back to 7. All I care about is a flat search, which I guess is back in, a less jarring transition from desktop, and booting to desktop. All those issues are addressed. For those with touchscreens, Win8 is far better than 7. I have an HP touchsmart thats a few years old now. It's touchscreen wasn't very usable with 7's interface, it's fine with 8. I do like the concept of a single OS on all devices, and hence you get all the apps and content you buy in all locations automatically. However, MS is still falling short on that vision.

Re:the return of the Start button

[CCarrot]

Start -> All Programs was a complete disaster -- lets put a hierarchy of everything installed on your computer in a small non-resizable popup menu. Sorry that was just awful. For anything you need the start MENU for, the start screen is a LOT better.

Certainly, instead of a tidy, hierarchical, collapsible interface that only takes up (maybe) a third of the screen, let's make it a mandatory full-screen, scrollable (and scrollable and scrollable) interface instead, with gigantic, cryptic, space-wasting, two-tone icons instead! Brilliant!

You're one of those people who prefer to keep all their filing in a nice big pile right on their desktop, aren't you? Sure, you have to reach around the pile every time you want to use the phone, or grab your stapler, but hey, all your papers are 'at your fingertips'! No more need to open those pesky filing cabinets, or flip through individual folders!

What I *especially* love about the start screen is how it pretty much makes my family wallpapers useless. On Windows 7, I put the shortcuts around the edges of the desktop, then I can see the wallpaper subject (and smile) every time I go back to the desktop. With Windows 8...well, I don't have many photos of my family where the important parts (faces) are pressed right against the top, bottom or either edge of the shot. Yes, I could put a photo widget in the start screen...then be constantly annoyed at the need to scroll past it to get to my shortcuts.

No, ClassicStart and Start8 have pretty much saved Microsoft's ass on this release. If I were them, I'd be asking for a reward or something...

Re:the return of the Start button

[Anonymous Coward]

Start -> All Programs was a complete disaster -- lets put a hierarchy of everything installed on your computer in a small non-resizable popup menu.

To be fair, though, a LOT of that problem stems from companies making installers that seem to "helpfully" assume that you FIRST want to sort your applications by company name rather than, say, "Games", "Internet", "Graphics", "System", etc, and then the application or a company name under THAT. Did you just install four games, three graphics programs, and two system tools, each by different companies? Guess what? You've now got nine brand new top-level folders, each containing one program icon, one to three readmes, and maybe an uninstaller! Because that makes sense, right? Now keep going until you've got sixty or seventy top-level programs.

It wasn't so much that All Programs was a disaster, it was companies using it as secondary advertising space on your desktop.

Re:the return of the Start button

[lgw]

I just love this from TFA:

The tile-based Start screen (which is actually where that new Start button leads to), has gotten more flexible, with new smaller and larger tile options. And more than two modern apps can now share the new interface's screen. No longer are you restricted to a large window and one slender side panel, but two apps can each take of half the screen, or, depending on what the app's developer has allowed, any portion you choose

Exciting times we live in, when I can have 2 apps running at the same time, side by side on my desktop, and even resize them! C'mon, this is ground-breaking. Though I guess it's not entirely novel, since I could do this with EMACS (and presumably VI), but it's pretty cool to see in a GUI.

Re:the return of the Start button

[Aaden42]

Plus you get all the new feature that windows 8 offers.

Those being?... Serious question.

Other than Metro, what does Win8 offer that Win7+updates doesn't, assuming you're not a movie company that wants even moar DRM locked into the operating system?

Re:the return of the Start button

[Hal_Porter]

He's jiggling it back and forth, muttering 'work you fucking stupid bastard' under his breath.

Re:the return of the Start button

[Hal_Porter]

Here's a novel idea. How about have tablets default to Start Screen and Metro mode and desktops and notebooks defaulting to looking just like Windows 7 - i.e. Start Menu and desktop mode? And having a user option to override that default.

Then the 0.001% of users who exclusively use Metro apps on their tablet would be happy and the rest of us could just ignore it completely. The only reason they're pushing Metro down everyone's throat is so that people write and use Metro apps and the Microsoft store has something to do.

As it is they've got the boat anchor that is Metro dragging down Windows 8 because people who like Windows 7 hate it. It's dragging down Windows RT too because no compelling Metro apps means that Windows RT is screwed. It's dragging down the Windows Store because no one actually wants Metro.

They've got one very unpopular product - Metro and a number of very popular ones - most notably Windows itself. They've tried to force the people that like and use Windows to use Metro. And probably the reason for that is because if Metro apps take off then so will Windows Phone. Which right now is tanking too.

However instead of this strategy making Metro and Windows Phone more popular they've actually managed to make desktop Windows less popular. PC sales are down and they've made Windows run much less well on non touchscreen machines but the tablets people are buying instead are running Android and iOS, not Windows.

Re:the return of the Start button

[Anonymous Coward]

The file copying is much better now

I'm intrigued - how can anyone screw up something as fundamental as copying a file so badly that some 28 years later it can still be made "much better?"

Re:the return of the Start button

[Darinbob]

What is wrong with you people? Microsoft has said that Metro is great, so you're being treasonous to suggest otherwise. Please report for reeducation and recertification.

Re:the return of the Start button

[soundguy]

How the fuck is it "much better"? Try copying 100,000 files over a LAN from an XP box to a Win8 drive. The OS will shit itself and lock up entirely. Not even a blue screen, completely unresponsive DOA requiring pulling the plug. How about the "full line select" bullshit in file manager windows that makes it a huge pain in the ass to select files with a mouse?

All the review talks about is a bunch of stupid top-layer eye-candy bullshit that NO ONE CARES ABOUT. The goddamned OS should not be an "experience". That's what programs are for. The OS should shut the fuck up, do exactly what I tell it to do WHEN I tell it to do it, and generally stay the hell out of my way and out of my sight. Vista, 7, and 8 are abject failures that can't even correctly perform the minimal basic I/O tasks that are the exact reason we even HAVE operating systems rather than writing directly to the hardware.

Microsoft, you absolutely DON'T GET IT! You keep trying to pander to the idiot teenager mobile device crowd and people too stupid to even OWN a powerful computing device and you are pissing in the faces of everyone who actually uses your shitty OS to do REAL WORK and put food on their tables (mainly because the applications they use won't run on a REAL OS). Quit fucking around and DO YOUR GODDAMN JOBS OVER THERE. Fire the stupid assholes responsible for the abomination that is Win8 and put out an OS that at least does the bare minimum. Window dressing and eye candy is for children. Try aiming at the grownup market for a change!

Re:the return of the Start button

[gman003]

That's not how car analogies work, and you know it.

Re:the return of the Start button

[real-modo]

1) Now try typing a few letters of what you are searching for. Much better.

Hmmm...lessee. I want to reduce the size of this here video, to play it on my phone. What the heck was that app called, again? Maybe something like "transcoder"? (types) ... Hmmm..... Nope. Doesn't look right.

Types: <backspace><backspace> (&c) .... Ok, how about "video"? (types) ... Hmmm, nope, that's not it. I don't think so, anyway.

(Types: <backspace><backspace>...<backspace>) Okay, um, "resize"? (types) ...nope.

*clicks around in menu* .... Oh, yeah. Handbrake. Typing transcode did work, but I couldn't tell.

The search interface works really well.

Re:the return of the Start button

[batkiwi]

Things that have improved:
-the dialog has an expanded mode which shows a real time copy speed graph
-the time estimates are based on total transfer history as opposed to instantanious speed
-conflicts have more/better/safer options (replace all, replace if newer, etc)
-copies to the same destination are grouped together even if you drag and drop a few different times

That's all from the top of my head.

Windows Sucks!

[Anonymous Coward]

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.

Good Changes All Around

[Secret Agent Man]

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.

Re:Good Changes All Around

[g0bshiTe]

I have all that too it's called Windows 7.

Re:Good Changes All Around

[JDG1980]

Plus, you can disable the "also search Bing" nonsense, thankfully.

Good, I was concerned this would be a gaping privacy hole. On the original Windows 8.1 post on the Windows Blog, I asked the Microsoft rep several times whether this would be optional and he said he didn't know yet and that an answer would be forthcoming. (Not usually an encouraging sign.) Having *local* searches automatically send a http request to Bing (and, presumably, the NSA) isn't something that I think most Windows users want.

Re:Good Changes All Around

[JDG1980]

Interestingly, apparently Canonical thinks it's something that most Ubuntu users want.

And most of us on Slashdot thought it was a bad idea there, as well.

Don't be fooled

[Anonymous Coward]

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.

Grid layouts

[Reapy]

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.

Speaking as someone...

[Anonymous Coward]

...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.

Re:However

[jfdavis668]

No, I am going to test it out again. Spent nearly a year with the 8 preview, and dropped it. To many tasks took too many steps. Will try this again to see if it is ready for prime time.

Re:Why would anyone want Windows 8.1?

[atlasdropperofworlds]

They want it because they can use things like office or the creative suite. They want it because it allows for far cheaper systems than their one main competitor (the other greedy, immoral company), they want it because games are written for it and it runs without issue on their gaming rigs.

Standard Driver for 3D printers

[Guano_Jim]

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.

Still no Start Menu - Pass!

[Chas]

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.

Re:Still no Start Menu - Pass!

[CCarrot]

If you're concerned about productivity "FULL STOP", why the fuck are you opening programs using a mouse anyhow? Win key -> type a few letters of a program name -> Enter, and you can launch anything on the system faster than you can find the item you want even in the Most Commonly Used section of the Start menu. If you have menu animations turned on (which I'm guessing you don't, but most people do) you can be launching a program before the menu finishes drawing itself.

This has existed since Vista. It took a step back in Win8, when "Apps" and "Settings" Start search results were segregated, but it was still usable there. On 8.1 they're integrated again. If you're still launching programs with the mouse and yet claiming you're only concerned about productivity and that's it, you're frankly a liar. You're just whining They Changed It And I Don't Like It like so many other people.

Alternatively, set keyboard shortcuts (possible since at least Windows 2000, still possible on Win8) for the programs you use most (for example, Ctrl+Alt+I to launch your favorite web browser, Alt+Shift+C to launch your development environment, etc. and whatever). That's faster still, once you memorize them, although it won't work on other peoples' computers.

Yes, let's discuss working with other people's computers, shall we?

You know what's installed on your computer. My parents (and some other family members), on the other hand, don't. Trying to provide the obligatory phone support for them with a Windows 8 interface was, shall we say, a wee bit frustrating on both sides of the conversation.

"No, Dad, just drag your finger onto the touchpad from the corner. Nothing? Maybe you were too fast, try again a bit slower...oh, you think you opened something by accident? *sigh* Okay, what does the screen in front of you look like now? Hmm, what color is the background? Okay, lets try that Alt-F4 thing again, but remember, hold down the alt key and only press the F4 key once this time...you did it? You're back at the screen with the boxes now? Yes, you can let the alt key go..." etc., etc., etc... Until I installed ClassicShell on their computer, that is, now they (and I) love it :o)

Good, bad, and ugly

[JDG1980]

The good:

• The Start button is available again.
• Hot corners can be turned off.
• You can now boot straight to the desktop.
• The context menu for the Start button now has shutdown options.
• High-DPI support is supposed to be better now (though third-party developers will still figure out ways to break this).

The bad:

• The real start menu still isn't back, and the Metro start screen is nowhere near as good – it's more obtrusive and less functional.
• The window titlebar text is still centered, with no supported way to put it back to left-justified. For those of us who have been using Windows for years, this is a very annoying change since it breaks the muscle memory of our eyes. When I've tried Windows 8, I always find myself looking at the wrong place to see a window title.
• There's still no supported way to get back the Aero theme. I understand why people with tablets or low-powered laptops might want an interface that doesn't stress the GPU as much, but why should desktop users have to suffer through something that looks like it's straight out of 1995? The Windows 8 theme is the UI equivalent of brutalism – those ugly bare concrete buildings that architects were putting up in the 1970s.

The ugly:

• Metro. Or, as I call it, the Knots Landing user interface. Seriously, you shouldn't be looking to the theme songs of 1980s soap operas as your inspiration for UI design...

Still don't want...

[Bearhouse]

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.)

I'll wait for 8.11

[WillgasM]

I need my workgroups.

Re:Lipstick on a Pig

[wonkey_monkey]

Now that I've angered the Windows-8 fanbase

I wouldn't worry about him.