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Couldn't be more disappointed in Windows 8 :(

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tranglos:
You do realize the whole point of this demo was to showcase the tablet UI features, right?
-Josh (September 21, 2011, 08:29 PM)
--- End quote ---

I hope it is, because it is entirely unusable, seeing as you need the entire desktop uncovered to do anything. You'd have to minimize all apps before opening another one.

tranglos:
Still people assume that metro is forced on them. Do remember that windows classic interface (98ish) is still possible in win 7. Why do you think they'll dump their user friendliness and lose the market ?-mahesh2k (September 21, 2011, 09:04 PM)
--- End quote ---

I guess they won't, but the situation is not similar at all to the residual "classic Start menu"  in XP and later. There, the new interfaces are supposed to be better, are preferred and default. You are expected to use them and they are perfectly usable. Choosing the "classic" interfaces is  merely a matter of preference.

With Metro, it is not a matter of preference, because Metro is entirely unusable on a desktop system. Whenever an app is open on the desktop (i.e., always), you have no access to the Metro controls. You cannot choose it, you will never choose it on a desktop machine, because you won't be able to work that way. Unless you accept that you have to minimize everything before you can open or access anything else.

On a desktop system, that's way beyond ridiculous, way beyond insane. Why would anyone make it part of a desktop OS? It would only make sense if Win 8 was designed ONLY for mobile devices.

GHammer:
In the 3 hours I had it installed, I noticed that apps that were not 'in focus' were marked as suspended in task manager.
Well, I like everything running, not to be suspended when it is in the background.

I also hated (too weak a word actually) the interface.

Hope it gets better as time goes on.

Renegade:
In the 3 hours I had it installed, I noticed that apps that were not 'in focus' were marked as suspended in task manager.
Well, I like everything running, not to be suspended when it is in the background.
-GHammer (September 25, 2011, 01:04 AM)
--- End quote ---

This is a form factor issue for the platform.

All mobile platforms that I've seen use an OnForeground and an OnBackground event for the application.

The purpose for the OnBackground is for you to save any settings and dispose of any resource intensive resources or processes.

The OnForeground event is for you to resume your application.

These are needed due to the limited CPU, memory, and battery life of mobile devices.

As far as the desktop is concerned with Metro, my guess is that people would be sticking to convention there for the time being, and later on when the platform is released, developers will then check to see where the app is running and deal with things more comprehensively.

These are still very early stages for the platform, so there will be issues like that.

mikiem:
Purely FWIW, the hype & release of the win8 dev prev. is a marketing push to try & avoid another hugely expensive game of Catch Up like MS is going through with Bing. They want into the cell & tablet market. It's not like it's going to cannibalize their Windows or Ofc sales, and with Microsoft's history of just abandoning projects & perceptions that they may not be the best company for devs to work with, they need a big marketing push.

Metro is a cell phone/tablet interface -- perhaps the main advantage of having it available on PCs/laptops is as part of that marketing push... publish in their store & you get access not just to cell & tablet owners, but every machine running win8. It *may* also help less PC literate folks use Windows, but there IMHO the jury's still out. It *may* help corp IT when/where they need/use touch screens like on the factory floor. It's not for everyday, normal PC use -- for that you have the normal Windows interface...

Long story short, fingers are fat, sometimes clumsy things that are best suited to holding & using tools. Ignoring biometrics for a moment, you don't sign your name or write notes dipping your fingertip in ink. Fingers/thumbs work on a cell/tablet because 1) you're not doing something terribly precise, & 2) carrying/using a stylus can be a PITA. And then there's this: desktop monitors are not normally placed in your face, but sit towards the back of your desk, so among other things you can see the entire screen at a glance. Would you rather stretch your arm out or keep it comfortably at your side? IMHO that's why touch just doesn't work on/for most desktop users. And if you don't use touch, you don't need huge buttons/icons. That said & to be fair, Metro might be useful for moving some of the stuff you do on-line to your desktop, if/when/where that makes sense -- you can write a Metro app using JavaScript for example.

SO what else does the win7 SE have to offer? Any tech improvements they can manage to get ready by the time it's RTM. Better support for VMs, a more capable Windows' Explorer, the capability to run on less powerful hardware, *Maybe* Windows to Go [my guess is that it might be restricted to corp, and bring with it heavier DRM], along with other assorted bells & whistles like being able to open ISOs. Nothing more than a guess, I *think* that MS might be focusing more on special cases or situations they can sell to IT dept.s that have already moved to win7 -- convincing them to move the complete enterprise might be too much of a hard sell [Gartner seems to think so anyway].

PCs started as a hobbyist device [toy?], slowly moved into business use, & today are a large part of many, many everyday lives. PCs have also [& always] been very much Jacks of all Trades -- that's where things are changing nowadays... if all you want to do is watch movies &/or browse the web you simply don't want or need all those other capabilities, & certainly don't want to pay for them [in money, effort, or inconvenience]. Specialized PCs as appliances aren't just here, now, but they're being bought far more often than desktops. Cell phones, tablets, cable boxes, DVRs, TVs, eBook readers, hand-held players, cars, anything that can benefit from more intelligence is either becoming a PC or contains one. The general use PC isn't dead or dying -- it is being outnumbered. And if you can have a piece of every one of those sales, that's HUGE -- it may turn out that no one company can manage that, but it won't stop Microsoft, Google, Apple etc. from trying.

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