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Microsoft Sees the Future of Windows 10 as Sets, Ditching Windows For a Tabbed App Interface (pcworld.com)

Microsoft said Tuesday that it plans to overhaul Windows 10, with a browser-like, tabbed application view dubbed "Sets" that groups apps and files by project. From a report: Think of Sets as a mashup of existing and emerging Windows 10 technologies. Take Windows Explorer and the little-used Task View within Windows 10, mix in the newer "Pick up where you left off" and "Timeline" features, and wrap it all into a single-window experience. The idea is that every task requires a set of apps -- Mail, a browser, PowerPoint, even Win32 apps like Photoshop -- and those apps will be optionally organized as tabs along a single window. But that's not all. Microsoft knows that one of the most difficult things to remember isn't what you were working on a week or so ago -- browser histories help with that. It's remembering all of the associated apps and documents that went with it: a particular PowerPoint document, that budget spreadsheet, the context an Edge tab provided. The idea is that the delayed Timeline feature will eventually group and associate all of these into a Set, so that when you open one, Windows will suggest the others, too.

6 of 302 comments (clear)

  1. KDE Activities by StormReaver · · Score: 3, Informative

    This sounds a lot like KDE's Activities.

  2. Re:Haha by Rob+Y. · · Score: 5, Informative

    Or like 'Activities' in KDE, which is like multiple desktops - but much more. So much more that nobody understands it or uses it. But hey, it's really powerful. Too bad I only use my KDE-based system to browse the Internet.

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    Posted from my Android phone. Oh, I can change this? There, that's better...
  3. Optional by denbesten · · Score: 2, Informative

    TFA clearly states that this will be an optional feature.

  4. Re:A bunch of haters... by werepants · · Score: 3, Informative

    It's called "Desktops" and the *nix world has had this for ages.

    No, it isn't. Yes, I could keep a whole set of programs running on one desktop, and a different set on a different desktop. But that's not as useful as what I'm talking about. And, for what it's worth, I mainly develop in RHEL.

    What I want is almost more like a VM snapshot. Configure a state exactly, including all the applications and their positions in windows, and be able to shut it down or recall it with a single click. It's different than a desktop because it isn't a bunch of applications that are just sitting idle out of sight, and it's something that you can bring up easily after shutting the computer down, or when you haven't worked on a project for 6 months. It's different than a VM because you only want to recall the state of the workspace, not the state of the actual files, and an entire new VM is way overpowered for what this is.

    It sounds like KDE Activities are kind of like this. Some IDEs offer similar functionality in the way they manage projects or workspaces. But it really ought to be an overall paradigm for the OS itself.

  5. Re:Reinventing the Taskbar by thegarbz · · Score: 3, Informative

    Can not relocate a window from one work space to another.

    That one is untrue. Hit Windows+Tab then you can drag whichever application to and from whatever workspace you wish.

    The sticky dock at the bottom would let me switch to any desktop directly without cycling through all desktops.

    Not sure why that's relevant, hitting the Windows+Tab button brings up a list of the desktops, you don't need to cycle anything, just click the one you want. You even have a live preview of it.

    Win10 workspaces is the perfect example of too little too late.

    Actually windows 10 workspaces is a perfect example of a little bit to appease a few. It's not heavily advertised, not heavily featured, and by-n-large not at all missed by the majority of non-windows 10 users, not to mentioned not actually used by the majority of windows 10 users either.

    To be honest I've never seen the appeal. Though at one stage I was doing some work that was benefiting from the idea of having two setup discrete work spaces, so I bought a second monitor and never looked back.

  6. Re:Reinventing the Taskbar by 140Mandak262Jamuna · · Score: 4, Informative
    I understand you don't need it, most casual users wont need it.

    I have two full hd monitors. In win10, I maintain six work spaces. One running full screen remote desk top on a windows server. Two more running full screen sessions on two linux servers. Then one work space for development, code editing, running consoles. One more to run the regression suites and the validation scripts. Then the main one for browsing and internet and email and presentations

    The desktop is 128 GB, 32 core machine. Two of the servers are 256GB 32 core machines. The last linux server is 1TB memory 40 physical, not logical, processors. Every pull request I approve takes about 600 processor hours of certification testing.

    By the way, each of the full screen sessions on linux servers run the four work spaces, each work space is 3940 x 1080 pixel. I use the equivalent of 24 screens each 1920 x 1080.

    Very few people use as much screen as I use. Very few people are willing to pay as much as I am willing to pay. I will pay top dollar and defray your development costs. Then you can sell the technology to every one else for pure profit.

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    sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact