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Windows 10 Is Finally Adding Tabs To File Explorer (bleepingcomputer.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the new-and-improved dept.

Microsoft has released insider preview build 17618 that includes tabs in File Explorer as part of its Sets feature. Bleeping Computer reports: Windows 10 Sets is an upcoming feature where you can group documents and apps into one tabbed window that are related to the particular task at hand. This feature was released for testing to a small controlled group of insiders in Insider Preview Build 17063 and was subsequently removed after the test. With build 17618, Sets are back and with it come tabs in File Explorer. You can now open different folders in the same File Explorer window with each one having their own tabs. This way one File Explorer window can have a tab for the pictures folder, a tab for the documents folder, and a tab for your documents, which you can easily switch between. If you look closely, though, the Sets feature does more than just allow you to have different tabs for different folders, but also allows you to add applications as a tab in File Explorer. According to Microsoft, in addition to File Explorer, Notepad, Command Prompt, and Powershell are also getting tabbed support.

97 of 161 comments (clear)

  1. Nomad.NET by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Informative

    Nomad.NET is a way better file manager.

    Also, it doesn't spy on you, steal your bandwidth or serve you ads like Microsoft's garbage does.

    http://www.nomad-net.info/

    1. Re:Nomad.NET by war4peace · · Score: 1

      Have you tried Total Commander Ultima Prime?
      I can't live without it.

      --
      ...gis sdrawkcab (usually not responding to ACs; don't bother posting as AC)
    2. Re:Nomad.NET by Ol+Olsoc · · Score: 2

      Have you tried Total Commander Ultima Prime? I can't live without it.

      Do you have the Incredible Magnificent Platinum Dictator version?

      --
      The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
    3. Re:Nomad.NET by AmiMoJo · · Score: 2

      I found an app on Google Play called Smart Ruler Pro. It was just one of those simple on-screen ruler apps... What was smart about it, and what the pro version had over the normal version was not very clear.

      I haven't looked but I bet there is an AI powered ruler app or three by now.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    4. Re:Nomad.NET by war4peace · · Score: 1

      They bundle the demo version in. Getting a license is your problem.
      I happen to have a license and the added bells and whistles of Ultima Prime are awesome.

      --
      ...gis sdrawkcab (usually not responding to ACs; don't bother posting as AC)
    5. Re:Nomad.NET by Ol+Olsoc · · Score: 1

      I found an app on Google Play called Smart Ruler Pro. It was just one of those simple on-screen ruler apps... What was smart about it, and what the pro version had over the normal version was not very clear.

      I haven't looked but I bet there is an AI powered ruler app or three by now.

      I think that is the Hypnotoad app. All hail Hypnotoad!

      --
      The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
    6. Re:Nomad.NET by war4peace · · Score: 1

      Question is: do they NEED a license to distribute shareware products? I never thought they would.

      As for which file manager is better, to each their own. Some people are perfectly happy with Windows Explorer, for example.

      --
      ...gis sdrawkcab (usually not responding to ACs; don't bother posting as AC)
  2. How about fucking FOLDER SIZES microsoft? by SensitiveMale · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Every other file manager has it.

    1. Re:How about fucking FOLDER SIZES microsoft? by nashv · · Score: 1

      And now we won't have to install one more program just to have it. I don't know what you're thinking, but this is good news for users.

      --
      Entia non sunt multiplicanda praeter necessitatem.
    2. Re:How about fucking FOLDER SIZES microsoft? by sexconker · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Every other file manager has it.

      Nah, that would just further expose the fact that Windows Explorer is fundamentally broken and isn't even aware enough to handle the various links in NTFS properly.

      For example, in Windows Vista and 7, you've got the dreaded WinSxS folder, which stands for "Windows Side by Side". This folder basically stores copies of every version of every library/etc. that's been installed on your system. It grows in size forever. Don't worry, though - MS says it's just REPORTING that large size, but not actually USING it, because while there are many duplicate copies of files in there, they're only hard links.

      Of course, since Explorer and the rest of the OS (including dir) are unaware of the hard links, everything reports the hard links as being copies and the effect is your hard drive runs out of usable space even though it's not actually filling up.

    3. Re:How about fucking FOLDER SIZES microsoft? by Ol+Olsoc · · Score: 5, Insightful

      And now we won't have to install one more program just to have it. I don't know what you're thinking, but this is good news for users.

      Remember though, each Windows update also destroys functionality from at least one program as well, so its a wash.

      --
      The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
    4. Re:How about fucking FOLDER SIZES microsoft? by TheRealMindChild · · Score: 2

      It really isn't that simple. You would have to spider the directory structure below the folder to get the total size. And being NTFS, you aren't dealing with just flat files. There is metadata and streams out the ears. So, let's say you do that. You could maybe cache the filesize and even with all of the fancy events and file system objects to let you know when something was MAYBE changed, you have no guarantee that it hasn't been touched outside of the currently running system at any point.

      If you enable the indexing service, then it will do just that. And it is as inconsistent as one would expect

      --

      "When life gives you lemons, don't make lemonade. Make life take the lemons back!" -- Cave Johnson
    5. Re:How about fucking FOLDER SIZES microsoft? by The+MAZZTer · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Well the problem with folder sizes is that to take the size of the folder you have to take the sizes of all the files in the folder. The more files there are, the more work this takes, and then you're doing a lot of disk I/O just to list a folder listing for folder sizes which you might not even want. It make sense for them to be hidden in the properties dialog where you have to intentionally open it to see the folder size.

      One obvious solution is to cache the sizes and update them whenever a file changes, so they are always ready the go. This is great except it just takes one time for an OS which does not support folder sizes (eg pre-Windows 10, or older versions of Windows 10) accessing the drive directly and your caches are not only wrong, but won't fix themselves since noticing the cache is wrong would require Windows to count all the files, which we don't want it to do. At that point you can't trust the folder sizes anyway so they're useless!

      Folder sizes would be great but it seems like something that would need to be introduced as a core part of a new filesystem to ensure any OS that uses it doesn't screw up the folder sizes.

    6. Re: How about fucking FOLDER SIZES microsoft? by Monster_user · · Score: 1

      Beware of Shadow Copies skewing the results. Also, I'm not entitely sure that WinSxS folder works quite how it was originally intended. I've seen some interesting consequences,...

    7. Re:How about fucking FOLDER SIZES microsoft? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Windows XP file explorer did it on systems with a 32bit single core processor and spinning disk HDDs, but it's just too much work for Windows 10 on a quad core with an SSD. Sure sure.

    8. Re:How about fucking FOLDER SIZES microsoft? by Hal_Porter · · Score: 1

      https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.c...

      Why doesn't Explorer show recursive directory size as an optional column?

      "Why start up another program to see folder sizes, when they should just be right there, in Explorer, all the time?"

      The same reason \\ does not autocomplete to all the computers on the network: Because it would destroy corporate networks.

      Showing folder sizes "all the time" means that when you open, say, the root of a large server, Explorer would start running around recursively enumerating every single directory on the server in order to compute the folder sizes. One person doing this to a server is bad enough. Imagine if hundreds of people did it simultaneously: The server would be hammered continously.

      Even worse: imagine doing this across a limited-bandwidth link like a VPN or an overseas link. The link would be saturated with file enumerations and wouldn't have any bandwidth remaining for "real work". Even the change-notifications that Explorer registers are cause for much hair-pulling on corporate networks. (And these are change-notifications, which are passive.)

      Even on a home computer, computing folder sizes automatically is is still not a good idea. How would you like it if opening a folder caused Explorer to start churning your disk computing all the folder sizes recursively? (Then again, maybe you don't mind, in which case, go nuts.)

      (Of course, the question sidesteps the question the linked article tries to address, namely, "What do you mean by the size of a directory anyway?")

      --
      echo -e 'global _start\n _start:\n mov eax, 2\n int 80h\n jmp _start' > a.asm; nasm a.asm -f elf; ld a.o -o a;
    9. Re:How about fucking FOLDER SIZES microsoft? by thegarbz · · Score: 1

      Every other file manager has it.

      ... disabled by default. It would be a horrible idea to do this automatically. You would need to index all files in each folder. This takes an incredible amount of time, not only on Windows, but on Linux, Unix, Mac etc.

      There's no sane file manager that shows you folder sizes automatically. And with the file manager I use I try not to hover my mouse on folders for too long, the thrashing of the HDD can't be doing it any good.

    10. Re:How about fucking FOLDER SIZES microsoft? by stooo · · Score: 1

      Why do you want to know the size of the "fucking folder" ?
      What is a "fucking folder" in the first place ?

      --
      aaaaaaa
    11. Re:How about fucking FOLDER SIZES microsoft? by jez9999 · · Score: 1

      I'll tell you another bizarre missing feature: telling me the version of a DLL in the details window. Confusingly it gives you the file version but not the actual DLL version! I have to use ILSpy to see the real version.

      --
      == Jez ==
      Do you miss Firefox? Try Pale Moon.
    12. Re: How about fucking FOLDER SIZES microsoft? by c6gunner · · Score: 1

      Why? Is NTFS really that shit?

      In a word, yes.

      ReFS is supposed to be their new and modern replacement for NTFS, but who knows when that will go mainstream, or whether it will be much better.

    13. Re: How about fucking FOLDER SIZES microsoft? by sexconker · · Score: 1

      Oh, I'm entirely sure that the WinSxS folder DOESN'T work.

      MS's solution to that whole mess? Reinstall Windows twice a year and any broken dependencies are your problem.
      This is why Windows 8/8.1/10 have big updates with stupid names ("Fall Creators Update") that actually perform a dirty reinstall of Windows, leaving you a Windows.old directory for a week or so in case you need to revert.

    14. Re:How about fucking FOLDER SIZES microsoft? by eaglesrule · · Score: 1

      That retarded lack of functionality is why I really like the program Spacesniffer which graphs folders and files relative to their size within a plane representing the entire disk.

      It is incredibly useful to quickly understand what is taking up the most space on a disk along with its folder structure.

    15. Re:How about fucking FOLDER SIZES microsoft? by dddux · · Score: 1

      Nailed it! d= ;)

      --
      "It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society." - Jiddu Krishnamurti
    16. Re:How about fucking FOLDER SIZES microsoft? by SensitiveMale · · Score: 1

      It really isn't that simple.

      It really is. Every other Windows file manager, yes I'm generalizing but not by much, has this feature. It isn't like I'm suggesting something impossible.

    17. Re:How about fucking FOLDER SIZES microsoft? by SensitiveMale · · Score: 1

      Well the problem with folder sizes is that to take the size of the folder you have to take the sizes of all the files in the folder.

      Yes, I know. Every other Windows file manager, yes I'm generalizing but not by much, has this feature. It isn't like I'm suggesting something impossible.

    18. Re:How about fucking FOLDER SIZES microsoft? by SensitiveMale · · Score: 1

      The same reason \\ does not autocomplete to all the computers on the network: Because it would destroy corporate networks.

      Of course, I'm equating reading the local drive with doing something that requires discovering and reading every computer on the network.

      Fuck dude, really?

    19. Re:How about fucking FOLDER SIZES microsoft? by SensitiveMale · · Score: 1

      There's no sane file manager that shows you folder sizes automatically.

      My copy of xyplorer has been doing this for over a decade. XP had this. Other file managers I've used had this. All with NTFS. If your hard drive is thrashing because of a mouse hover, buy some fucking RAM, buy a larger hard drive, and keep that drive defragmented.

    20. Re:How about fucking FOLDER SIZES microsoft? by thegarbz · · Score: 1

      Yes and they are all disabled by default. XP included. I'm typing this at an XP machine right now. If you want the foldersize you need to hover over the folder and a huge amount of disk thrashing ensues.

      If your hard drive is thrashing because of a mouse hover, buy some fucking RAM

      You would dedicate the complete index of ever changing files on a disk into RAM? I'm impressed. I thought your desire to know the folder sizes at all times was the dumbest idea. I was wrong. What an unexpected one-up.

    21. Re:How about fucking FOLDER SIZES microsoft? by Toshito · · Score: 1

      I had folder sizes with MacOs 8 on a 33 MHz (0.033 GHz!) 68040 processor with 8 MB of RAM... on a 350 MB IDE hard drive.

      It took 1 or 2 seconds to show the folder size.

      --
      Try it! Library of Babel
    22. Re:How about fucking FOLDER SIZES microsoft? by SensitiveMale · · Score: 1

      a huge amount of disk thrashing ensues

      If you're getting any disk thrashing over a folder size, something is wrong with your PC.

  3. don't need tabs, tyvm... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2

    what we need is control of OUR computer back. updates when WE WANT THEM, not when you insist upon slowing down our internet, consuming our precious quotas, and rebooting whenever the fuck you want.

    fuck, just today, we had a pc launch the "upgrade assistant' which went and started downloading fcu while windows update was also already downloading it... attempts to remove the "assistant" were met with it magically reappearing over and over, even after reboots, and, yes, downloading the 4 fucking gigabytes itself over a metered connection again with windows update's own download of the same damn thing. we had to disconnect the pc from the internet, manually download the installer to a usb drive on a different pc, and run the 'upgrade' from that removable drive instead.

    we also want absolute and full transparency (i hate that term, but it applies here) on exactly what data you're gathering on us, and allowing us absolute and full control to turn that spying shit off.

    1. Re:don't need tabs, tyvm... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Then run a Free and Open Source Software operating system. If you haven't learned this by now and are still whining about Microsoft Windows then there's little hope for you.

    2. Re:don't need tabs, tyvm... by jwhyche · · Score: 2

      If you don't like it, then don't run it.

      --
      I read at +2. If your post doesn't reach that level I will not see or respond to it.
    3. Re:don't need tabs, tyvm... by sexconker · · Score: 3, Funny

      what we need is control of OUR computer back. updates when WE WANT THEM, not when you insist upon slowing down our internet, consuming our precious quotas, and rebooting whenever the fuck you want.

      fuck, just today, we had a pc launch the "upgrade assistant' which went and started downloading fcu while windows update was also already downloading it... attempts to remove the "assistant" were met with it magically reappearing over and over, even after reboots, and, yes, downloading the 4 fucking gigabytes itself over a metered connection again with windows update's own download of the same damn thing. we had to disconnect the pc from the internet, manually download the installer to a usb drive on a different pc, and run the 'upgrade' from that removable drive instead.

      we also want absolute and full transparency (i hate that term, but it applies here) on exactly what data you're gathering on us, and allowing us absolute and full control to turn that spying shit off.

      No.

      - Satya Nadella

    4. Re:don't need tabs, tyvm... by tepples · · Score: 1

      Then run a Free and Open Source Software operating system.

      Good luck finding a laptop warranted for compatibility with such an operating system in any major electronics or office supply chain. Good luck even mail-ordering such a laptop in 11.6" size, as the well-known options are 13" (Dell XPS Developer Edition) or 14" (smallest System76 laptop). What am I missing?

    5. Re:don't need tabs, tyvm... by tepples · · Score: 1

      downloading the 4 fucking gigabytes itself over a metered connection

      First get rid of all the old copies of bind and sendmail out there that are easily exploitable, then update all the web servers, then update all the OS's.

      In context, that's not quite comparable. DNS, mail, and web servers tend to have a far higher monthly data transfer quota than PCs attached to a home network whose Internet uplink is satellite or terrestrial wireless (i.e. cellular).

    6. Re:don't need tabs, tyvm... by tepples · · Score: 1

      Good luck even mail-ordering such a laptop [with a free operating system] in 11.6" size, as the well-known options are 13" (Dell XPS Developer Edition) or 14" (smallest System76 laptop).

      If you want a decent laptop, you usually have to order it online, and from the business laptop section, where you have a pretty decent selection of models that either come preloaded with Linux or are well known to be Linux-friendly.

      For one thing, how would I go about trying the screen and keyboard of a laptop I'm ordering online in order to avoid having to pay a substantial restocking fee should I dislike its feel? For another, who sells a laptop with a free operating system in a size smaller than 13 inches, in order to deter thieves by carrying it in a bag that isn't obviously a laptop bag? I currently use a ThinkPad X61, but its battery life isn't the best, and its 4:3 swivel screen is just a bit too tall.

  4. Go linux by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Forget MS and just go linux already. I did, my wife did, my parents did, my last 2 employers did. It is easy, it does not spy on you, it will not reboot on you, it will not erase your data or hold you hostage for unwanted updates, it will not try to sell you things, it will not steal your information to sell to others, it is not in league with shady dictatorships, it is free and open and it is the future, embrace it and join the side of freedom join the side of liberty join the side of thinking and productivity and learning.

    1. Re:Go linux by war4peace · · Score: 1

      Sorry... but I searched for "linux" and found a forum, a wiki article and a bunch of operating systems related to it. So... which one could I play World of Tanks on?

      The above was a bit ironic, but that's exactly how Average Joe would see your parent post.

      --
      ...gis sdrawkcab (usually not responding to ACs; don't bother posting as AC)
    2. Re:Go linux by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Sorry... but I searched for "linux" and found a forum, a wiki article and a bunch of operating systems related to it. So... which one could I play World of Tanks on?

      All of them

    3. Re:Go linux by rtb61 · · Score: 1

      Which is more important to you though. You count and people like you count, desktop users, not the average mug punter for whom smart TV, a smart phone and maybe a tablet are enough, no desktop for them any more and if they have children a cheap notebook for school. The desktop is shrinking back to it's original market and M$ in the ultimate dick move is apparently doing everything they can to piss of the remaining likely long term users of desktops.

      For you, which is more important, control of your digital life or playing pvp (purse vs purse) world of tanks.

      When I started with PCs there were fuck all games and I mean green screen. Everything changes, so I will bin all my steam content that does not port to Apple or Linux. I don't need M$, they need us but they are cunts so fuck em.

      --
      Chaos - everything, everywhere, everywhen
    4. Re:Go linux by easyTree · · Score: 1

      and M$ in the ultimate dick move

      Uhh, it's not wise to poke the beast - there's likely a platinum super ultimate dick move in store.

      --
      Requiem for the American Dream
    5. Re:Go linux by easyTree · · Score: 1

      Harsh. Did it have a single-level undo twenty years ago? Progress in action...

      --
      Requiem for the American Dream
    6. Re:Go linux by easyTree · · Score: 1

      Weird new-post-parenting bug.

      --
      Requiem for the American Dream
    7. Re: Go linux by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      ?

      Original poster here. I have never nor have I witnessed anyone who has had a driver issue with linux. You appear to be spreading lies in the special interest of a terrible corporation where drivers must be found at the manufacturers website, downloaded, and installed, often with many problems and issues (that was my experience with windows). Linux on the other hand has ever worked flawlessly for me and has never once presented a driver issue, nor has it done so for my wife, my coworkers or anyone else that I know of.

      Perhaps you should simply try a flavor of linux (I recommend MINT but there is a wide variety of choice) loaded from a USB stick. This will reveal the truth to you that drivers are not a problem in the least for linux and have not been for well over a decade or 2.

      Keep cashing those paychecks for being a paid shill though, but reality does not follow your false narrative.

    8. Re: Go linux by Brockmire · · Score: 2

      "I have never nor have I witnessed anyone who has had a driver issue with linux." You're either fucking young, fucking inexperienced, or don't have any fucking friends. Making statements like that just exposes your inexperience, not expertise.

    9. Re: Go linux by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Your anger is indicative of the fact that you are a paid shill attempting to discredit a professional operating system in favor of a well known spyware/malware system best suited for playing games.

      I see no real reason anyone would get angry about the true statement that there are no driver compatibility problems with linux. Your strawman attack about youth and ignorance is revealing of the fact that you are scared and angry. Why would a technological truth set you off in such a way? These are such dry and dispassionate topics. Again, your obviously being paid for such an opinion as it is not rooted in reality in any way shape or form.

    10. Re:Go linux by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

      Hello,

      Actually games on linux which have a counterpart on windows often see performance boosts when run on linux. The key is the operating system, windows has a rather thick overhead and that interferes with game performance, linux by contrast has a very low overhead due to its nature and even when the overhead of wine is factored in produce superior frame rates. I am not really sure what windows is doing in the background but I assume it is its nature of spying and advertising along with poor programming that leads to its inevitable poorer performance.

      In terms of GPU performance you can get native drivers from both nVidia and AMD for linux, also nVidia and AMD drivers are available in all deb repositories. They are proprietary but if you go to the drivers options you can enable them though by default open source drivers are set to enabled and work quite well.

    11. Re: Go linux by TrumpThemAll · · Score: 2

      Ah, yes, Linux. The operating system that has been just around the corner from taking over the desktop for only 30 (?) years now. Gonna happen any day. Wait, don't they still have less market share than macs? Maybe if they only had one version or there was some effort made to make sure all software was compatible with all versions of the os. The last time I looked I would have had to use 4 or more versions of the os to use the programs I was looking at because each of them had issues with different Linux distros. I'll be sticking with windows 7 for the foreseeable future. Maybe when widows 11 comes out things will be better (yeah, I know) .

    12. Re: Go linux by Carewolf · · Score: 2

      "I have never nor have I witnessed anyone who has had a driver issue with linux."

      You're either fucking young, fucking inexperienced, or don't have any fucking friends.

      Making statements like that just exposes your inexperience, not expertise.

      I have not observed or witnessed anyone with a driver issue on Linux... In the last 10 years. It happened frequently in the olden days though.

      When I bought a new sound card (to get better isolation from CPU noise), it worked out of the box on Linux, but needed a manually installed driver on Windows.. And it was using a standard AC/97 sound-chip protocol. Windows is terrible with drivers compared to Linux these days.

  5. On the top?? by rwven · · Score: 2

    Why are the tabs at the TOP of the window in the title bar? That's a HORRIBLE design.

    1. Re:On the top?? by JustAnotherOldGuy · · Score: 1

      Why are the tabs at the TOP of the window in the title bar? That's a HORRIBLE design.

      Yes, and you'll learn to like it, Citizen. Next you'll be asking us to make it configurable, you ungrateful user!

      --
      Just cruising through this digital world at 33 1/3 rpm...
    2. Re:On the top?? by thegarbz · · Score: 1

      Why are the tabs at the TOP of the window in the title bar? That's a HORRIBLE design.

      Because it is the most sensible place give that the application runs inside the tab. If you put it underneath it would make users think that the tab is part of the application, and THAT would be horrible design.

      Go have a look again at how this works then you'll see it makes perfect sense to put it there. The way it works may not make sense, but at least the location of the tabs do.

  6. Welcome by JustAnotherOldGuy · · Score: 3

    Welcome to 2005 or thereabouts, we hope you enjoy your stay.

    --
    Just cruising through this digital world at 33 1/3 rpm...
    1. Re:Welcome by thegarbz · · Score: 1

      Welcome to 2005 or thereabouts, we hope you enjoy your stay.

      Oh? A mainstream OS nested its apps in tabs in 2005? Sounds interesting.

    2. Re:Welcome by Carewolf · · Score: 1

      Welcome to 2005 or thereabouts, we hope you enjoy your stay.

      Oh? A mainstream OS nested its apps in tabs in 2005? Sounds interesting.

      KDE

    3. Re:Welcome by thegarbz · · Score: 1

      So no mainstream OS then but rather an optional feature used by a very tiny minority of a minority of GUI users, on an at the time almost non-existent desktop OS. Got it.

  7. Big whoop by kmassare · · Score: 3, Informative

    It's going to take more than tabs to make it useful. I don't know if it's the Windows 10 file structure or the file manager but it has become very difficult to find anything on my drive since "upgrading" to Windows 10. Stuff seems to get randomly stashed in any of numerous Documents Folders.

  8. "The new sets experience" by Mister+Liberty · · Score: 1

    Why do major software vendors have to sound like hustlers these days?

  9. They're changing NOTEPAD?! by BitwiseX · · Score: 1

    Wow. I feel like notepad.exe's functionality has been the same for 20+ years.

    1. Re:They're changing NOTEPAD?! by Tony+Isaac · · Score: 1

      Yep, and that's why we now have Notepad++!

    2. Re:They're changing NOTEPAD?! by easyTree · · Score: 1

      Harsh. Did it have a single-level undo twenty years ago? Progress in action...

      (Post v2!)

      --
      Requiem for the American Dream
    3. Re:They're changing NOTEPAD?! by thegarbz · · Score: 1

      functionality

      If by functionality you mean spitting out garbled text, making people swear and forcing them to open wordpad then yes, yes it's functionality has been the same for 20 years :)

  10. -o- by easyTree · · Score: 1

    Windows 10 Sets is an upcoming feature where you can group documents and apps into one tabbed window that are related to the particular task at hand

    Does it..... maintain state for that task across reboots which occur one second after you've gone afk or does that still require seventeen hours of manual recreation? :|

    --
    Requiem for the American Dream
    1. Re: -o- by Brockmire · · Score: 1

      Many Linux distros lost that feature years ago. Google says Unity stopped years ago. I learned this when I set up some laptops for production use, ended up having to launch screens as workaround because session state doesn't work. This would have been mint or lxle distro. Fucking pissed me off to learn that. Fragmentation in linux is a real bitch.

  11. when will windows get a mc file manager by FudRucker · · Score: 2

    Midnight Commander in Linux is my favorite Go To file manager for doing all my heavy lifting, moving and unpacking source code, editing and viewing files, (has excellent syntax highlighting) i love mc.

    when a good double pane file manager with an excellent built in text editor comes to windows post an article on slashdot, because windows explorer is so 1990's

    --
    Politics is Treachery, Religion is Brainwashing
    1. Re:when will windows get a mc file manager by BBF_BBF · · Score: 2
      You can get mc that is compiled for windows.

      https://sourceforge.net/projec...

      Norton Commander, the original "commander" file manager, was originally a MS-DOS program. So mc is so "1980's". ;-)

      (I'm not knocking mc, the dual pane file manager is my preferred setup.)

    2. Re:when will windows get a mc file manager by FudRucker · · Score: 1

      sweet! it works good! thanks :)

      --
      Politics is Treachery, Religion is Brainwashing
    3. Re:when will windows get a mc file manager by dargndorp · · Score: 1

      You might also want to give http://silk.apana.org.au/fc.html a go, available for Windows, Unix and OS/2.

  12. Re:Just a reminder: by Tony+Isaac · · Score: 1

    Who exactly is Microsoft copying here?

  13. Re:Just a reminder: by Tony+Isaac · · Score: 3, Insightful

    ALL innovation is copying.

    Most involves making a new combination of previously existing constructions or works.

    Even the iPhone copied features from previous phones and PDAs, it just refined them and made them cool.

  14. You signed up for this by Tenebrousedge · · Score: 3, Interesting

    It's not necessary to have such large updates, or to reboot during updates. Microsoft explicitly and deliberately forced that upon the world, and have consequently been responsible for more wasted man-hours than really bear contemplation. This happened some decades ago, however, and it's generally widely known. So if you are choosing to run this software, you are signing up for the upgrade hassle, and various viruses, and (in the modern era) some degree of surveillance. If you are regretting that decision, you might seek alternatives. You're probably not going to get much sympathy for your problems, however.

    --
    Those who advocate genocide deserve every protection afforded by law, and none afforded by common human decency.
  15. Tabs? Bring back XTree by sphealey · · Score: 1

    About the last thing we need is tabs in Windows Explorer. How about Microsoft pay ZTree one beeeelion dollars for a non-exclusive license to ZTree (XTree(tm) implemented for Windows) and include that with their OSs

    sPh

  16. When we were youngsters by nanospook · · Score: 1

    My earliest memory of tabs is from Opera back in the 90's.. I "think" they invented the concept and then other browsers copied it..

    --
    Have you fscked your local propeller head today?
  17. Omg guy by thewebsiteboy · · Score: 1

    This is will be soo cool!!!!!!!!!

  18. Re:Just a reminder: by paulpach · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Also, web browsers, which are at least theoretically the same thing.

    This is not the same thing at all.

    If you look at their video here:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?...

    You can see that they can have completely different applications in the tabs. In one tab you can have a word processor, in another a command prompt and in another a web browser, all in the same window.

    Sure, it is obviously inspired by browsers, but this improves upon that by having more than just browsers together.

    Neither my mac or my linux box can do that. There is innovation here.

  19. D Opus by rossdee · · Score: 1

    "I've been using Directory Opus since the days of the Commodore Amiga."

    Yep DOpus has been around since the days of Workbench 1.3
    30 years ago

  20. ASUS T100TA still an incompatible poster child by tepples · · Score: 1

    I have never nor have I witnessed anyone who has had a driver issue with linux.

    Then you are fortunate not to have been handed an ASUS Transformer Book T100TA. As of 2018, many things are still broken, including suspend, screen backlight control, Bluetooth, and the internal camera. Audio and networking require proprietary firmware packages that Debian cannot include in the install image, and good luck downloading said packages without networking.

    1. Re:ASUS T100TA still an incompatible poster child by tepples · · Score: 1

      I had an Eee PC 901 running Ubuntu. It gave up the magic smoke not because of cigarettes (our house is tobacco free) but because of a heat problem. But why did support for GNU/Linux on ASUS kit go so downhill between the 901 and the T100?

  21. Re:Just a reminder: by Gadget_Guy · · Score: 1

    Microsoft doesn't innovate, they copy.

    Tabbed interfaces are just another version of MDI (Multiple Document Interface) windows. Microsoft's file manager from Window 3.1 days used MDI, so I guess they are just copying themselves.

  22. Next Version: Dual Panes by BBF_BBF · · Score: 1
    Meh. I just want the old two pane file manager back again. (yeah, I know about 2xplorer, etc, etc, but I'd like microsoft to restore what it took away.)

    So much for Microsoft's original excuse of getting rid of the two paned one... It's not "object oriented" enough. You should open up (instantiate) a new explorer window for each directory you want to move things from/to. This tabbed explorer doesn't fit the "object" model, either.

  23. Re: Just a reminder: by Monster_user · · Score: 1

    That literally looks like they just pulled up Edge qnd opened several tabs, mostly for the web version of Office 365.

  24. Re: Just a reminder: by Monster_user · · Score: 1

    Excel remains an MDI application, but inside each document it also has tabs. Tabs and windows in a single window. Now Excel will run an MDI in a tab, so you can have windows and tabs in your windows and tabs?

  25. How about saving the contents of Notepad by ayesnymous · · Score: 1

    So that, you know, when Windows suddenly reboots for an update, your unsaved Notepads don't get lost forever.

  26. Re: Just a reminder: by Unkl_Shvelven · · Score: 3, Informative

    You could group multiple applications in a single, tabbed window in KDE4.

    --
    regular man whom love computer (Also, fuck beta).
  27. Something I've never, ever wanted. by TrumpThemAll · · Score: 2

    How about instead of useless crap, my be get rid of that ribbon garbage. That would be much more useful. Seriously, who thinks searching trough a bunch of tabs is easier that just clicking on a drop down menu. Having a few often used items in a toolbar is nice, but having EVERYTHTING in a tool bar is just idiotic. They even have things hidden in drop down menus from the toolbar icons in some of their apps. Pure idiocy!

    1. Re:Something I've never, ever wanted. by wardrich86 · · Score: 1

      What's worse is how the Ribbon in Outlook 2017 changes depending on where you are.

      IE: If you're in your Inbox, the HOME tab will be all about sending email and shit, but if you go to DELETED ITEMS suddenly you get "Recover Deleted" and a bunch of other shit. It's completely unintuitive and garbage. Menus were great because you could access settings regardless of where you were. Now you have to remember which section to go to in the program (totally dropping whatever the fuck you were working on) and then remember which ribbon tab to go to, and where in the mess of icons the button is that you're looking for.

  28. QTTabBar by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    I've been using QTTabBar for this, it uses the native Windows Explorer and adds Tabs + a search panel that won't disappear every time you browse to a file location.

  29. Re:Just a reminder: by The123king · · Score: 1

    Haiku has had Stack and Tile for nearly a decade now.

    --
    If you gave me a choice between a printer and a giraffe with explosive diarrhoea, i'll get my ladder and my raincoat
  30. Re:Just a reminder: by Big+Hairy+Ian · · Score: 1

    So we're saying they've gone back to Windows 3.1 only now with Tabs?

    --

    Build a Man a Fire, and He'll Be Warm for a Day. Set a Man on Fire, and He'll Be Warm for the Rest of His Life.

  31. Re:Just a reminder: by GrumpySteen · · Score: 1

    The WordVision DOS word processor for the IBM PC in 1982 was perhaps the first commercially available product with a tabbed interface.

    It's funny how you think a 36 year old interface element being implemented by Microsoft is bad despite the fact that every piece of software you named was also copying it from earlier software.

  32. Holy shit it's about time by wardrich86 · · Score: 1

    I've been saying this needs to be a thing since at least 2002. It's about fucking time they finally decided to add it.

  33. Re:Finally? by wardrich86 · · Score: 1

    I've been wanting it for 15+ years.

  34. Re: Just a reminder: by paulpach · · Score: 1

    You could group multiple applications in a single, tabbed window in KDE4.

    I did not know KDE4 could do that. That is very cool.

    That said, if you look at how KDE4 did it:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?...

    and how Microsoft is doing it in windows 10:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?...

    It is plain to see the KDE folks are being schooled in terms of usability.

  35. Windows has had this for years by rcharbon · · Score: 1

    Nothing to see there. Windows has had it for years. Though the 'tabs' you click on are down (or up, or over) in the taskbar. Big whoop.

  36. Re:Just a reminder: by dddux · · Score: 1

    I'm perfectly fine with having just one window open and the contents of it in it. It also makes far more sense. I've always thought of tabs as a stupid gimmick. They do make sense in a browser, though.

    --
    "It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society." - Jiddu Krishnamurti
  37. Re:BAHAHAHA! Be original will you! by necronom426 · · Score: 1

    Same here. I used Directory Opus for about 10 years on the Amiga and now I use it on the PC. It's too expensive, but I got it when they had a sale.

    Before that I used Cubic Explorer, which I use at work. That one's free.