Windows 8 Developer Preview

[Elimentals]

lol... From a laymans perspective other than the ribbon and the Metro UI Windows 8 is not very different to 7 which IMHO is a good thing. One thing I don't enjoy is change for the sake of change and too often new OS are just that.

Agreed, they say the ribbon is more aimed for the average user, that normally not aware of most of the functions.

With personal experience I would go and say its counter productive, ribbon telephonic support seem to be more trouble than what its worth for one, as it was simpler to tell a person on the other end to click on File -> New .... but I guess we lost that ability in Windows 7 already.

Also another problem with ribbons for power users is that they do not present the shortcut keys in your face so you can not easily see what the key shortcut would be to access a function quickly anymore.

 

[Elimentals]

Oooh Anti virus vendors not gonna be happy with this one: Microsoft Security Essentials is now included into Windows 8 and called (Windows Defender)

I remember a certain antitrust case in EU about this move back in the day... guess M$ forgot about it or this is just included for now and will not be in the final version.

 

[sand_man]

Agreed, they say the ribbon is more aimed for the average user, that normally not aware of most of the functions.

There should at least still be the choice to switch in on or off in the organize>layout drop down menu...

 

[Elimentals]

There should at least still be the choice to switch in on or off in the organize>layout drop down menu...

You can Auto-hide it by pressing [Crtl] + [F1], at least that will look close to the old version, you will still get the ribbon if you click on the menu options on top.

 

[|tera|]

Oooh Anti virus vendors not gonna be happy with this one: Microsoft Security Essentials is now included into Windows 8 and called (Windows Defender)

I remember a certain antitrust case in EU about this move back in the day... guess M$ forgot about it or this is just included for now and will not be in the final version.

Windows Defender is already bundled with Windows 7. It's an antispyware solution and not the same as MSE.

 

[Elimentals]

Windows Defender is already bundled with Windows 7. It's an antispyware solution and not the same as MSE.

I am well aware of windows defender in Windows 7, and trust me this is not it See image

This is full on Microsoft Security Essentials.

 

[S3cretz]

Agreed, they say the ribbon is more aimed for the average user, that normally not aware of most of the functions.

With personal experience I would go and say its counter productive, ribbon telephonic support seem to be more trouble than what its worth for one, as it was simpler to tell a person on the other end to click on File -> New .... but I guess we lost that ability in Windows 7 already.

Also another problem with ribbons for power users is that they do not present the shortcut keys in your face so you can not easily see what the key shortcut would be to access a function quickly anymore.

Try pressing alt...

 

[Elimentals]

Try pressing alt...

That only gives you the short-cut keys to get the menus

What about the command keys like [Ctrl]+[a] or [Ctrl]+[c]/[x]/[v] and so on? I am sorry but there is no simple way anymore to get all the shortcuts like in the old File/Edit/About menus anymore, and yes I know we lost them with Windows 7/Office 2007 already but you must admit the ribbon just makes it worse. If only Microsoft defaulted to ribbon but gave us a way to turn on the old menus I would have been happy.

I guess fast navigation using keys only will become a lost art.

Image of what I mean is now missing

Update: Aaah, now instead of pressing Crtl + C that still works the new system wants me to press "Alt" wait for letters to appear then "H" wait for next letters and the type "CO" Wow, talk about making things worse....

 

[S3cretz]

That only gives you the short-cut keys to get the menus

What about the command keys like [Ctrl]+[a] or [Ctrl]+[c]/[x]/[v] and so on? I am sorry but there is no simple way anymore to get all the shortcuts like in the old File/Edit/About menus anymore, and yes I know we lost them with Windows 7/Office 2007 already but you must admit the ribbon just makes it worse. If only Microsoft defaulted to ribbon but gave us a way to turn on the old menus I would have been happy.

I guess fast navigation using keys only will become a lost art.

Image of what I mean is now missing

Update: Aaah, now instead of pressing Crtl + C that still works the new system wants me to press "Alt" wait for letters to appear then "H" wait for next letters and the type "CO" Wow, talk about making things worse....

I understand where you are coming from but do note. the keyboard/mouse set-up is fast becoming legacy method of interface. Everything is migrating to touch. so ctrl-c and ctrl-v will soon become absolute and be replaced by gestures. Now if you can show me a easy way to implement a gesture tooltip...

 

[Elimentals]

I understand where you are coming from but do note. the keyboard/mouse set-up is fast becoming legacy method of interface. Everything is migrating to touch. so ctrl-c and ctrl-v will soon become absolute and be replaced by gestures. Now if you can show me a easy way to implement a gesture tooltip...

I will believe that when offices all over the world start rolling out touch screens, even then I am glad I am not the sucker cleaning them. Can you imagen a touchscreen in a warehouse not to even speak about help-desks where people swap all the time.

Touchscreens will still take a loooooong time before it becomes the norm, if it ever does.

 

[|tera|]

I am well aware of windows defender in Windows 7, and trust me this is not it See image

This is full on Microsoft Security Essentials.

I see. They might pull it in the RTM, would be interesting to follow this.

 

[S3cretz]

I will believe that when offices all over the world start rolling out touch screens, even then I am glad I am not the sucker cleaning them. Can you imagen a touchscreen in a warehouse not to even speak about help-desks where people swap all the time.

Touchscreens will still take a loooooong time before it becomes the norm, if it ever does.

People said the same thing about the mouse

 

[Elimentals]

People said the same thing about the mouse

Well the mouse was invented in 60's, only started shipping with computers in the early 70's and Apple shipped it with the Lisa since 1983. It only became the norm in 1995 when Windows 95 started entering the workplace with force.

I can see how you think it became the norm overnight.

 

[S3cretz]

Well the mouse was invented in 60's, only started shipping with computers in the early 70's and Apple shipped it with the Lisa since 1983. It only became the norm in 1995 when Windows 95 started entering the workplace with force.

I can see how you think it became the norm overnight.

You win

 

[sand_man]

I will believe that when offices all over the world start rolling out touch screens, even then I am glad I am not the sucker cleaning them. Can you imagen a touchscreen in a warehouse not to even speak about help-desks where people swap all the time.

Touchscreens will still take a loooooong time before it becomes the norm, if it ever does.

Agreed. Touch screen is not as practical as we might believe especially as the screen gets bigger.

I couldn't sit at my desk with 24" dual monitors and use them as I would a touch screen. It's very impractical.

The ergonomics of both monitor and desk design would have to change radically before it would be physically viable to sit at one's desk touching your monitor all day and then you still require your keyboard for the majority of input.

You literally have to be an arm length away. I assume remote touch pads would be a work around for the touch screen but then what's the point. May as well stick with the mouse.

And then there's gaming. Not sure touch screen is practical in a gaming environment..

 

[Stickfigure]

Any idea how to change the temperature of the weather app from Fahrenheit to Celsius?

 

[Elimentals]

Any idea how to change the temperature of the weather app from Fahrenheit to Celsius?

In the weather app, move your mouse to the bottom left of screen, on the menu select settings. Under weather app's settings click one Weather preferences and click on Celsius.

 

[Elimentals]

I know someone mentioned before on a hack to get Windows 8 to show the normal Windows 7 start menu

Here is a better way using Regedit

Just navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer

and change RPEnabled to 0

And enjoy.... no more metro

 

[MyWorld]

I just got the chance to test Win8 and I'm quitting, right now while I'm ahead.

I just know this will not go down well with most of our staff and I'm going to be on the phone for ever trying to explain where what went and how it now works, I'm sending out an email as soon as this hits the shelves that they should not bother phoning me unless it is *nix related, no more Windows support thank you.


EDIT:
If that hack still works on the final release I'm pushing it to ALL the PCs.

 

[Basjohn]

I just got the chance to test Win8 and I'm quitting, right now while I'm ahead.

I just know this will not go down well with most of our staff and I'm going to be on the phone for ever trying to explain where what went and how it now works, I'm sending out an email as soon as this hits the shelves that they should not bother phoning me unless it is *nix related, no more Windows support thank you.


EDIT:
If that hack still works on the final release I'm pushing it to ALL the PCs.

Why not just avoid a migration all-together? Plenty of (cheap) companies still refuse to even move from XP.

Though I can absolutely agree with you, in IT too and W8 is a nightmare for practicality. The constant switching between interfaces to do each task and having specific applications built for EACH UI is just going to cause even more headaches.

The only thing that could get me even remotely interested in W8 is a supported, fully featured Metro disabling option. Not a registry hack that might die off during any random critical update MS pushes out and cause utter hell.......