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Microsoft Announces Windows 10
Today at a press conference in San Francisco, Microsoft announced the new version of their flagship operating system, called Windows 10. (Yes, t-e-n. I don't know.) With the new version of the operating system, they'll be unifying the application platform for all devices: desktops, laptops, consoles, tablets, and phones. As early leaks showed, the Start Menu is back — it's a hybrid of old and new, combining a list of applications with a small group of resizable tiles that can include widgets. Metro-style apps can now each operate inside their own window (video). There's a new, multiple-desktop feature, which power users have been demanding for years, and also a feature that lets users easily grab objects from one desktop and transfer it to another. The command line is even getting some love. The Technical Preview builds for desktops and laptops will be available tomorrow through the Windows Insider Program. They're requesting feedback from customers. Windows 10 will launch in late 2015.
You're not the only one, obviously, and that's intentional. By calling it Windows 10, they're trying to put as much distance as possible between it and Windows 8. And make 7 look even more "old".
"Transparent" is a shit show that trades on every stereotype going. A man in drag is NOT a transsexual.
I've been using JS Pager Virtual Desktop since the 1990's. It has all the features described here, and still works in Windows 7, even though it hasn't been updated since 2000.
When I was a kid I remember reading that in Japanese, "4" sounded like death and "9" sounded like suffering. A quick bit of Googling 25 years on and:
"[In Japanese] Nine is also sometimes pronounced ku, which can mean suffering."
I'm guessing they skipped Windows 9 because they didn't want it to sound like "Windows Suffering" in parts of the world!
I guess they want version parity with MacOS? Or they want to put it in people's minds that this version of Windows is so much better than 8, they had to skip a version number.
I just hope they listen to user feedback this time about the UI. If the Start menu is back, that's a good sign. I know a lot of people say it's a throwback, but the Metrofication of the familiar desktop was what caused our group to skip Windows 8 for inclusion in our product. (We provide a managed IT service to a very staid, boring industry that actively resists change.) I really really REALLY want Aero Glass or something like it back in the OS, or at least theming support that would allow a third party hack. Windows 8.1 Update 1 was pretty decent in terms of UI cleanup, and I hope they continue. Maybe they'll answer my other wish and fix the Office UI...having a background choice of white, bright white and insanely bright white is a killer on any screen larger than a tablet.
We'll see if they learned their lesson with Windows 8. Hopefully by the time the release rolls around, the tablet/social/mobile bubble will have at least deflated a little, and people might be back down on Earth wanting to do actual work on a laptop or desktop. Windows 8 and Server 2012 R2 are actually really nice under the hood, and excellent upgrades to Windows 7 -- but they're hobbled by a clunky UI that I've only recently come to terms with.
That's what Windows 10 looks like to me - a Camel. Mixing "traditional" apps with "Metro" tiles looks ridiculous. Why can't MS just leave Windows 8 behind? It was an experiment and it failed - massively. Yet they are still stubbornly handing on to "tiles" and such.
On the bright side...
1) Nice to see the Start Menu back...if only they could drop those stupid tiles.
2) Multiple desktops is nice. Been using it on OSX and Linux forever. From what I can tell the functionality seems a bit limited in Windows 10 but it's a start.
I've been using Windows 8 for about a year now on my home PC and, metro interface aside, it's great. Very stable, requires little in the way of resources. It looks awful but runs well. That's what Microsoft should be taking away from this. The guts of the system are fine. Fix the interface.
What I'd like to see is something similar to Linux where you can choose the interface you want (Mint, KDE, etc.) from the login screen and it just loads it up. So if you're running a desktop with a big screen you get something that looks a lot like Windows 7. If it's a table or phone, give 'em tiles.
This "one size fits all" approach is just an abomination.
And the OS version will probably report something linke 'Version 6.5.xxxx'
This seems odd, but they do it on purpose for driver compatibility.
All my liberal friends think I'm a conservative, all my conservative friends think I'm a liberal.
Why not just merge the Start menu and the desktop once and for all, with all the best features of both?
Hold down the Windows key to instantly hide all but the desktop.
Basically like clicking in the lower right corner on Win7, but much faster, while bringing in some of the UI features from Win8.
Get rid of the various "hover/slide in from the edge" Win8 conventions - put those options on the desktop.
Make the task bar default visible only on the Desktop (optionally always visible, of course).
For touch, keep a transparent Start button hovering in the lower left - hold touch on it if you don't have a Windows key/button to show the desktop.
Apps could request true full screen to get rid of the button, of course.
Not just driver compatibility.
Windows 7 fixed a bunch of Vista compatibility issues with programs built for XP simply by having the version be set to 6.1.
Turns out that companies doing braindead Windows version detection of
had it fail spectacularly for version 6.0.
Particularly bad since Windows does have built-in functions to compare version numbers (eg. major.minor.patch.build format)
Any insufficiently advanced magic is indistinguishable from technology.
Terseness??
PS C:\> Get-ChildItem
[INSERT LONG ASS LIST OF FILES HERE IN SIMILAR FORMAT TO ls -l THAT SLASHDOT REFUSES TO LET ME POST]
PS C:\> Set-Location dev .....
PS C:\dev> Get-Content _vimrc
How one might obtain a directory listing in a concise format is beyond me.
Sure, those stupid commands are aliased to ls and cd, but the "real" versions are indicative of how all the commands are named. Names only a Java dev could love. Invoke-some-random-command-with-a-very-long-name-for-no-reason. LOL.
My personal favorite, however, is command invocation:
PS C:\> 7z.exe
Bad numeric constant: 7. (What??)
PS C:\> '7z.exe'
7z.exe (Uh...)
PS C:\> & '.\7z.exe' (WTF?)
7-Zip 9.20 Copyright (c) 1999-2010 Igor Pavlov 2010-11-18
Every command drags you further and further down into the soul crushing hell that is COM, or whatever the current framework du jour is this year. I suppose it must be useful for something, but I think I'll stick with GnuWin32 and the powershell's idiot cousin, cmd.exe when I absolutely must work on a windows box.
Terseness. Hah. I'm sure the poor sons of bitches stuck administering a bunch of crufty Windows boxes get some millage out of it, but I'll be damned if I'd use it for day to day CLI work.
Celebrity worship is a poor substitute for Deity worship and costs more to boot.