2012 - Microsoft introduces Metro to much wailing and gnashing of teeth
2013 - Microsoft retracts Metro
2014 - Google/Apple produce a new desktop/laptop interface that is functionally identical to Metro to the delight of everyone who uses it
2015 - Microsoft re-introduced Metro, is told they are copying
Exactly. When people are pushing for things that are DEMONSTRATED as ineffective it means they're either terribly incompetent or they have an ulterior motive.
I only briefly glanced at Ubuntu once the new UI hit. It's not really an either-or thing though, if the Ubuntu UI is converged as well that just means they're both ahead of the curve (the curve in this case is the consumer expectations).
If the keyboard port at the bottom has the bandwidth (and Microsoft stated they planned to release more accessories for it) then it could be just a snap-in setup with no cords needed at all. That's what I would do with that port at least.
Indeed. I've said before and I'll say again, I think MS is finally ahead of the curve. It's possible they're too far ahead, changing things too fast, but I expect that in 5-10 years Google and Apple will both have converged their Operating Systems as well and the idea of a computer without a tablet-oriented default interface will be considered silly.
MS needs to release a docking station for the Surface that lets it act like a desktop, of course they'd prefer to keep people buying both as long as possible.
I think some of it has to do with the competitive mindset that we have these days. The things we create are a sort of scorecard that we use to determine how valuable our lives have been with non-tangible things being much harder to score and much harder to assign a value to.
Cell phones could do the job as well, but as a single-device they are a little more difficult to work with. The tablet form-factor is good for most things but using a cell phone to power a tablet seems like it would be clumsy. Tablet+Cell phone+Docking station is the future.
Current ARM chips are powerful enough for everything normal people do except high-def video, which is handled in hardware already. Stop thinking like an enthusiast and think like an ordinary consumer, ordinary consumers don't need i7s or octa-core Xeons, excepting my computer the fastest computer in my extended family is my dad's 2.3 Ghz Pentium Dual-core and that's fast enough for everything he does.
As I have to keep saying eery time this is brought up, ENTHUSIASTS WILL ALWAYS HAVE DESKTOPS AND DESKTOP INTERFACES, but everyone ELSE will be happy with a tablet and a docking station.
They are unifying the METRO interface across those three platforms.
Correct, which makes sense since for most people tablets and phones are more important already than computers and that's only going to get stronger.
The desktop interface (the one where you can actually do useful things) will not be on the tablet or phone (except maybe the Surface which is sort of an overpriced hybrid).
Why would they put the desktop interface anywhere else? It doesn't fit anywhere else.
Metro is not ahead of the curve. It is for consumers, it is not for producers. The usability for doing actual work is not there, even if it does happen to be simplified enough for passive watchers of media. ALL the apps metro has today are dumbed down smartphone like apps, it does not have serious productivity applications, not even in its productivity area of the store (at the most it has some utilities, like Evernote). No spreadsheets, no word processors, no developer tools, no command line shells, no GUI builders, no visual design tools, no circuit layout tools, no databases, no accounting and financial suites, no CAD tools. But tons and tons of social media applets...
When it does have some apps you might want to use (as utilities) it requires you to sign up for your Microsoft Account, complete bullshit. You can't download free open source apps from their store without first giving away your privacy. No one doing real work would use Metro instead of the desktop.
Which is why the desktop is and will always be still there. I find it amusing how every time there's a discussion about this people pretend that the desktop isn't still there and fully usable. It IS there, I promise, I'm using it RIGHT NOW. Installing Windows 8 did not hamper my ability to do real work on my computer AT ALL. It just pushed me towards a faster way to start applications that was available in 7 but I didn't use because I was stuck in the Windows 95 mindset. If I wanted to go back to Windows 95 I still have the ability to do that as well with the "All apps" button, but I can't think of a compelling reason why I would.
So we can put a separate CPU and RAM and storage in the docking station, we could call it...oh I don't know...a "personal computer" perhaps?
Requiring people to have two devices when they can easily get by with only one. A Docking station will be $20, computer are not likely ever drop below $200. It'll be more convenient and cheaper for most people to use tablet+docking station.
Hardly. I know the name of the program I want to launch and so do you. If it's one of the few that you don't remember then there's an All Programs button that'll give you the whole list. Most people use fewer programs that we do as well, if my sister had Windows 8 there'd probably be a total of 3 tiles on her Start Screen and she'd never need more.
Hence docking stations. When tablets fully replace desktops/laptops people who want them will get docking stations that allow them to use their tablets as desktops when they want to. SOME people will, of course, stick with traditional form factors because of their needs, but the vast majority of people would be fine with a tablet+docking station. Having that setup would simplify things as well, my dad currently has a desktop, laptop and tablet, the tablet has the POWER to do anything he's using his computers for, the only thing it lacks is the interface. If he had a docking station for the tablet and the tablet had Office then he'd probably be totally fine making the switch.
No, YOU don't get it. It works fine in practice, it really does, and all theory aside that's all that's really important, does it WORK, and it does. You may not LIKE it, because it's different and you didn't ask for the change, but the fact of the matter is that for typical computer us it works no worse and sometimes better than the previous style of interface. The ONLY thing I missed from the Start Menu is the Computer button, and even for that I've switched to Windows+E which is faster anyway.
Tablets are the future for consumers, tablets+docking stations will suffice for most creators by giving them the keyboard and mouse they want. In 5 years only the dedicated enthusiasts will have a need for a desktop.
And yet nothing, nothing at ALL, is preventing you from getting real work done with Metro in place. The difference in actual fact is tiny and it's trivially easy to go through a day seeing the Start Screen for no more than a few seconds. THE HORROR!
I have no attachment to my local area so I wouldn't mind traveling. I just don't want the kind of responsibility that comes with a job where that much money is on the line.
Which is why tablets will have docking stations that give them access to full-size monitors and keyboards (or at least laptop size). When you're reading Facebook on the toilet it's a tablet, when you actually need to type something then you drop it in the docking station, type, send and disconnect. Done.
Corporate users may stick with desktops due to not wanting users to be taking tablets anywhere, so they may stay the course with desktops at least for the pleb-level workers.
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Would I reject it? No. But I'd look to trade it for a 16:10 monitor ASAP. Some games (particularly strategy games) are better with taller screens.
"preserves a lot of old idioms and computer access schemes in the new format"
Just like Windows 8 then. Unless you're one of those people who believes it when you're told that the desktop doesn't exist on W8.
Not according the majority of people who have never used it/stopped using it after a day. Who are you going to believe? Them, or your own lying eyes?
2012 - Microsoft introduces Metro to much wailing and gnashing of teeth
2013 - Microsoft retracts Metro
2014 - Google/Apple produce a new desktop/laptop interface that is functionally identical to Metro to the delight of everyone who uses it
2015 - Microsoft re-introduced Metro, is told they are copying
You're paranoid.
On the other hand I am not a member and I have no interest in joining, but if I had the money I'd be buying guns left and right.
Exactly. When people are pushing for things that are DEMONSTRATED as ineffective it means they're either terribly incompetent or they have an ulterior motive.
They are ahead on convergence of UI, which your post says nothing about. My post said nothing about hardware.
I only briefly glanced at Ubuntu once the new UI hit. It's not really an either-or thing though, if the Ubuntu UI is converged as well that just means they're both ahead of the curve (the curve in this case is the consumer expectations).
If the keyboard port at the bottom has the bandwidth (and Microsoft stated they planned to release more accessories for it) then it could be just a snap-in setup with no cords needed at all. That's what I would do with that port at least.
Indeed. I've said before and I'll say again, I think MS is finally ahead of the curve. It's possible they're too far ahead, changing things too fast, but I expect that in 5-10 years Google and Apple will both have converged their Operating Systems as well and the idea of a computer without a tablet-oriented default interface will be considered silly.
MS needs to release a docking station for the Surface that lets it act like a desktop, of course they'd prefer to keep people buying both as long as possible.
I wrote my first check EVER last month at the age of 27.
I think some of it has to do with the competitive mindset that we have these days. The things we create are a sort of scorecard that we use to determine how valuable our lives have been with non-tangible things being much harder to score and much harder to assign a value to.
Cell phones could do the job as well, but as a single-device they are a little more difficult to work with. The tablet form-factor is good for most things but using a cell phone to power a tablet seems like it would be clumsy. Tablet+Cell phone+Docking station is the future.
Current ARM chips are powerful enough for everything normal people do except high-def video, which is handled in hardware already. Stop thinking like an enthusiast and think like an ordinary consumer, ordinary consumers don't need i7s or octa-core Xeons, excepting my computer the fastest computer in my extended family is my dad's 2.3 Ghz Pentium Dual-core and that's fast enough for everything he does.
As I have to keep saying eery time this is brought up, ENTHUSIASTS WILL ALWAYS HAVE DESKTOPS AND DESKTOP INTERFACES, but everyone ELSE will be happy with a tablet and a docking station.
They are unifying the METRO interface across those three platforms.
Correct, which makes sense since for most people tablets and phones are more important already than computers and that's only going to get stronger.
The desktop interface (the one where you can actually do useful things) will not be on the tablet or phone (except maybe the Surface which is sort of an overpriced hybrid).
Why would they put the desktop interface anywhere else? It doesn't fit anywhere else.
Metro is not ahead of the curve. It is for consumers, it is not for producers. The usability for doing actual work is not there, even if it does happen to be simplified enough for passive watchers of media. ALL the apps metro has today are dumbed down smartphone like apps, it does not have serious productivity applications, not even in its productivity area of the store (at the most it has some utilities, like Evernote). No spreadsheets, no word processors, no developer tools, no command line shells, no GUI builders, no visual design tools, no circuit layout tools, no databases, no accounting and financial suites, no CAD tools. But tons and tons of social media applets...
When it does have some apps you might want to use (as utilities) it requires you to sign up for your Microsoft Account, complete bullshit. You can't download free open source apps from their store without first giving away your privacy. No one doing real work would use Metro instead of the desktop.
Which is why the desktop is and will always be still there. I find it amusing how every time there's a discussion about this people pretend that the desktop isn't still there and fully usable. It IS there, I promise, I'm using it RIGHT NOW. Installing Windows 8 did not hamper my ability to do real work on my computer AT ALL. It just pushed me towards a faster way to start applications that was available in 7 but I didn't use because I was stuck in the Windows 95 mindset. If I wanted to go back to Windows 95 I still have the ability to do that as well with the "All apps" button, but I can't think of a compelling reason why I would.
So we can put a separate CPU and RAM and storage in the docking station, we could call it...oh I don't know...a "personal computer" perhaps?
Requiring people to have two devices when they can easily get by with only one. A Docking station will be $20, computer are not likely ever drop below $200. It'll be more convenient and cheaper for most people to use tablet+docking station.
Hardly. I know the name of the program I want to launch and so do you. If it's one of the few that you don't remember then there's an All Programs button that'll give you the whole list. Most people use fewer programs that we do as well, if my sister had Windows 8 there'd probably be a total of 3 tiles on her Start Screen and she'd never need more.
Hence docking stations. When tablets fully replace desktops/laptops people who want them will get docking stations that allow them to use their tablets as desktops when they want to. SOME people will, of course, stick with traditional form factors because of their needs, but the vast majority of people would be fine with a tablet+docking station. Having that setup would simplify things as well, my dad currently has a desktop, laptop and tablet, the tablet has the POWER to do anything he's using his computers for, the only thing it lacks is the interface. If he had a docking station for the tablet and the tablet had Office then he'd probably be totally fine making the switch.
No, YOU don't get it. It works fine in practice, it really does, and all theory aside that's all that's really important, does it WORK, and it does. You may not LIKE it, because it's different and you didn't ask for the change, but the fact of the matter is that for typical computer us it works no worse and sometimes better than the previous style of interface. The ONLY thing I missed from the Start Menu is the Computer button, and even for that I've switched to Windows+E which is faster anyway.
Tablets are the future for consumers, tablets+docking stations will suffice for most creators by giving them the keyboard and mouse they want. In 5 years only the dedicated enthusiasts will have a need for a desktop.
And yet nothing, nothing at ALL, is preventing you from getting real work done with Metro in place. The difference in actual fact is tiny and it's trivially easy to go through a day seeing the Start Screen for no more than a few seconds. THE HORROR!
I have no attachment to my local area so I wouldn't mind traveling. I just don't want the kind of responsibility that comes with a job where that much money is on the line.
In America the finding what you want to do phase has been moved to college for the most part. It's way more profitable that way.
Which is why tablets will have docking stations that give them access to full-size monitors and keyboards (or at least laptop size). When you're reading Facebook on the toilet it's a tablet, when you actually need to type something then you drop it in the docking station, type, send and disconnect. Done.
Corporate users may stick with desktops due to not wanting users to be taking tablets anywhere, so they may stay the course with desktops at least for the pleb-level workers.
Of course, because no one wants to type on a tablet sized touchscreen, but most usage doesn't involve a lot of typing, so that's a moot point.