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Microsoft Asks Users To Call Windows 10 Devs About ALT+TAB Feature (bleepingcomputer.com)
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Bleeping Computer: Microsoft has started to display notifications in the Windows 10 Action Center asking users to have a phone call with Microsoft developers and provide direct feedback about the ALT+TAB feature in Windows. While using a Windows 10 Insider build today, I was shown a Feedback Hub notification stating that "Microsoft wants to hear your opinions! To set up a phone call with Windows engineers, go to: http://www.aka.ms/alttab." This link then redirects to a web page at https://ux.microsoft.com/?AltTab. It is not known if this is only being shown to Windows Insiders users at this time.
When users visit this link they will be shown a Microsoft User Research page stating that a Windows 10 product team is looking to "understand our customer needs" and would like to have an anonymous 5-10 minute phone call with the user. In this particular case, the phone call will be with Microsoft engineers to discuss how users use the ALT+TAB feature to switch between apps. Microsoft states they are performing these calls in order to get a better understanding of how a feature is being used while they are in development. According to the web site, Windows engineers will be available on 3/11/2019 between 11:15 AM and 1:00 PM PST and on 3/12/2019 between 9:30 AM and 11:30 AM PST to schedule a call. The page goes on to say that users can expect a 5-10 minute call, but that it could last longer if there is more to discuss. They also state that the calls are not being recorded, are anonymous, and the content of the call will not be stored.
When users visit this link they will be shown a Microsoft User Research page stating that a Windows 10 product team is looking to "understand our customer needs" and would like to have an anonymous 5-10 minute phone call with the user. In this particular case, the phone call will be with Microsoft engineers to discuss how users use the ALT+TAB feature to switch between apps. Microsoft states they are performing these calls in order to get a better understanding of how a feature is being used while they are in development. According to the web site, Windows engineers will be available on 3/11/2019 between 11:15 AM and 1:00 PM PST and on 3/12/2019 between 9:30 AM and 11:30 AM PST to schedule a call. The page goes on to say that users can expect a 5-10 minute call, but that it could last longer if there is more to discuss. They also state that the calls are not being recorded, are anonymous, and the content of the call will not be stored.
MS engineer: "Yup, yet another very satisfied customer. Man are we good!"
Sure it was originally implemented in Windows 3.0 in 1990, but now it's Alt-Tab with APPS!
Users don't need more than 640k... oh, yes they do. Whoops!
Users don't need the Start Button... oh, yes they do. Whoops!
and now
Users don't need ALT-TAB... get your FSCKING hands off of my interface Microsoft!!!
... my left thumb on ALT and ring finger on TAB. How complicated does it need to be?
I use that combo at least 100 times a day. And Ctrl-Tab for web browser tab switching.
Another favorite: Window+arrow keys is awesome for resizing and moving windows (the 50% of screen shift is nice to put two programs on one screen).
BlameBillCosby.com
Shows all opens windows and cycles through them, add shift to go backwards. It already does exactly what you need and works fine. I wonder how far they can go with fucking up such a simple, functional solution.
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As primarily a linux/mac user, i find the alt+tab (and its equivalents) quite crude and ineffective when you're running a large number of applications (having to cycle through a large number of applications one by one)...
I generally have multiple virtual workspaces which are each setup for a specific purpose (usually multiple apps laid out in each) and then switch directly to the numbered workspace that i require.
When i've seen people heavily using alt+tab it's usually on systems where a very small number of applications are in use (maybe 3-4), they are running maximized and the user is switching between them. From my desk right now i can see another user doing this with a browser, a mail client and a spreadsheet.
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Leave it the fuck alone
...they're going to screw us by changing one of the most well known shortcuts, which the majority of users already have in their "muscle memory".
people donâ(TM)t do that these days, maybe 10 years ago.
Alt-tab is a UI thing Windows did right. It's a feature that was lacking from contemporary Macs, and was first added by a freeware extension about the System 7 era before being ripped off wholesale in System 7.5 (from memory) and I also remember the Apple lot openly acknowledging where it had come from.
My feedback on it? My feedback would be instantaneously suspicious and the phone call would consist of me repeating over and over "for gawd's sake leave it alone and don't faff".
Wonder how they selected people to offer phone calls.
A small chill went down my spine when I read this headline.... Are they thinking of breaking alt-tab now??? I am relived to find no such indication in what I've read, but also disappointed that I apparently missed this call with MS engineers. I'd love the opportunity to tell them about now annoying the giant app preview thing is when using alt-tab, which is why I use https://winaero.com/ to make alt-tab behave like it did in the 90s, with just the icons of the software I have open, not a useless full-screen preview effect. Of course, "apps" just show a broken icon, for whatever reason, but that's fine, since I mostly use actual software, since my PC is not a phone.
Might makes right irrelevant.
I mean, change is alright as long as it is backward compatible, but completely rearranging functions I use every day gets annoying. Excel changed their keyboard shortcuts at one point. I used to be able to do pretty much everything in Excel without touching my mouse, then something changed and I had to use the ribbon for way too much, rather than fast keyboard combos.
"Oops, looks like we missed something, there's a highly useful feature there we haven't removed or screwed with yet!"
Why is it modern software companies are obsessed with 'improving' features that already work perfectly well? It's not just Microsoft, but Mozilla, Google and most others. They're 'improving' the life out of their software. Their 'improvements' are generally significantly inferior to the original implementation, and commercial software has been moving backwards for the last 15 years. It used to be that you could just install Windows 2000 and use it, but with Windows 10 you have to apply about 100 registry hacks, and even then it's garbage. Firefox is trash compared to version 3.0 and the UI simply doesn't work. As for Google, they couldn't produce a decent UI to save their lives.
The problem seems to be the rise of the UX designer, and while interfaces were previously created by developers, they're now made by people who believe themselves to be highly creative and innovative, and believe they can do a better job then the developers that preceded them. However, their confidence is greatly misplaced, and these UX designers have destroyed modern commercial software, rendering it completely worthless.
All of the software I use now is FOSS, not so much because I planned it that way, but because each time a company destroyed the UI of their product, I've moved to a free alternative with a functioning UI. Now I'm on all FOSS because UX designers have so thoroughly destroyed commercial software. When I see articles like this it makes me glad I bailed out.
...and you have no idea how your customers use a key feature in Windows 10?
Way to fail there, Microsoft.
A change I would like to see is that Alt-tab only functions as expected if the user wiggles the mouse cursor near the upper right corner of the screen. Make this the default behavior.
MS using the Insiders program to try to gather more information about how people are using Windows...well yes of course. I understand that MS = BAD and all that but this is exactly what they should be doing, isn't it?
This posting is provided 'AS IS' without warranty of any kind, implied or otherwise.
What is this, the 90s?
Win-tab ftw.
if ms reads this (they're all about open-source now - do they know slashdot exists?) just don't screw it up like gnome did - alt-tab only cycles through groups so you can't, for example, select a specific terminal window, defeating the purpose of alt-tab - basically, LEAVE IT ALONE because it's worked for decades as-is
.
If only...
I use it everywhere because it's what I'm used to from the very early days of Windows. Why the hell would you change that in Windows? Seriously is Microsoft trying to scare people off from their products for good? *Clings tighter to the penguin*
and install the latest version of ubuntu. That would be the most functional solution.
I use Alt-Tab to find the nasty pop-up window that is preventing me from going forward in my Windows 10 application.
Alt-Tab is the best bloody feature in XWindows for switching apps, when the mouse is not handy. Because twm is lean, it doesn't have Alt-Tab, but other window managers do have the Alt-Tab feature.
Android and iOS keyboards don't need the equivalent of Alt-Tab. The left button on Android should have the same functionality as Alt-Tab, but it loses inactive apps.
Double clicking on the start button (soft or hard) in iOS works well, as it should, for switching apps.
When Windows 8 came out, Microsoft famously stated that users do not really use the Start menu anymore. Hence, Microsoft removed the Start menu in exchange for a Start screen. Microsoft said they came to this conclusion after hours and hours of usability studies and feedback from users. By the next major version, Windows 10, Microsoft backtracked and restored the Start menu after a ton of backlash and low sales from users.
So here we are again. Microsoft seems to once again have a half-assed notion, this time that they can take away Alt-Tab, and nobody will care. Even the thought of doing this is just plain stupid. Hopefully Microsoft will stop this nonsense and instead work at making new updates not, for example delete all user data, among the many, many other recent bugs.
Holy shit, stop fucking things up Microsoft.
On KDE and MacOS, alt+tab goes from application to application, while alt+~ goes between windows of the same application. This is super helpful when you have a bunch of terminals open and want to switch between them or multiple web browser windows and want to switch.
I wish this feature were available on Windows.
-- Political fascism requires a Fuhrer.
Question 1: On a scale of 1 to 5 with 1 being excellent and 5 being most excellent please rate how much you would enjoy watching a short video ad each time you press alt-tab?
It's okay, you can just press Windows + f to give them feedback about it.
If you're going to ask users about features, do it over Web and keep it public.
Some people: are deaf or hard-of-hearing; are mute, stutter or are otherwise speech-impaired, or do not speak English; are shy or telephonophobic; sleep, work or are otherwise unavailable during your chosen hours; want to have a persistent record of their feedback and/or the following discussion.
Taking feedback over the phone discriminates against all of the above.
I'm on Win10 1809, not insider preview, and I got the notification.
(I work for Microsoft, but this machine isn't on-prem domain joined or using an MSIT image. It is connected to AAD.)
I'm astonished. This is a phisher's wet dream. Microsoft has started training its users to call random numbers which pop-up on their screen. Expect to see an increase in successful "Your computer is infected, contact XYZ" type attacks. This is one of the worse things they could have done.
Thinking of changing it to TAB-ALT.
Because if so, I hope those engineers are prepared for a lot of penises. Or maybe that's the plan.
Hey free labor is free labor amiright?
What year is this?
- Users want to be able to trust their O/S
- Users don't want Microsoft to force spy on you
- Users want their machines / hardware to be thiers, not Microsofts
- Users don't want an evil Advertising ID in the O/S that they paid $200 for. That's just evil (Well, Spying is more evil)
- Users don't want APPs installed automatically.
- Users don't want the Evil Microsoft Store
- Users don't want to have to ID themselves to Microsoft to install free software
- Users don't want to have to ID themselves to install a fucking Office suite that's way over protected for what it is. Let us buy it and have an key
- Users don't want the Evil that's baked in.
- Users don't want a hateful partner in computing.
It's about tricking you into using Skype.
They want to authenticate your identity on a windows 10 pc as if it were a cell phone - that way they can compete with the more widely used operating systems: android and apple
The Alt Tab thing is complete misdirection.
If that surprises you, then rest assured, it probably would surprise the folks who are working on this project.
There's nothing like clueless employees and customers when you want to dominate the universe with authenticated skype zombies with a credit line.
If you don't believe me just ask God or get a Ouija board.
- Users want to be able to trust their O/S
- Users don't want Microsoft to force spy on you
- Users want their machines / hardware to be thiers, not Microsofts
- Users don't want an evil Advertising ID in the O/S that they paid $200 for. That's just evil (Well, Spying is more evil)
- Users don't want APPs installed automatically.
- Users don't want the Evil Microsoft Store
- Users don't want to have to ID themselves to Microsoft to install free software
- Users don't want to have to ID themselves to install a fucking Office suite that's way over protected for what it is. Let us buy it and have an key
- Users don't want the Evil that's baked in.
- Users don't want a hateful partner in computing.
You are exactly correct.
M$ needs to authenticate the unique Win 10 user... preferably with a dual layer ID of IP address combined with reference to cellular or skype or whatever unique communications identifier may be utilized. This is an attempt to socially engineer insiders users join an ad-hoc captcha of human behavioral manipulation, We dance like a marionette, waltzing to the bullshit Bolero. This may assure their clients of the user data integrity. True Anonymity leads to redundancy in the data mine...The best way to optimize their earnings is to violate our privacy. We ain't worth squat unless we are a positively authenticated and itemized cataloged inventory UNIT. Why would corporate scum pay a premium for owning redundant user data probably previously mined. Data from Apple, Amazon, Google, and Verizon? Just buy and sell the unique M$ accounts not yet exsanguinated - and for a premium,
This is so lucrative that they will even pay a human to pretend to be a "Dev" (aka D.ata E.xtraction V.ampire) to "talk" to "you" in "reality", In fact a Mumbai call center boiler room zombie pretends to be a caucasion M$ developer in WA, just to nail you down, you wannabe mysogenist honky piece of cybermeat..
Forgive my cynical Tourette's syndrome. I forgot to take my anti psychotic, tri-polar, paranoia & impotency re-uptake boner inhibitor analgesic ( Anal..Geez..Ick ) halucination meds that I found in a dumpster at a hipster retirement community in San Bernadino County If you don't believe me then ask God... He'll remove any doubt. Unless you are in doubt God exists, which might be an existential delemma causing a borderline personality disorder or vaginal discharge. We must take this very seriously even if we've never seen a vagina, or have one installed and configured biologically.