From the B.F.D. Dept. - Microsoft releases first video preview of Win 8.1

[40hz]

Well...it's gotta start somewhere...and this is how they chose to do it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQb5caeSo00

Microsoft has released a short official video preview of Windows 8.1 that neatly sidesteps all the things real users want to know about, like: how is the revived Start button gonna work...and how well does it work with a mouse in a non-touchscreen environment...and with a large or dual monitor setup.

But you get none of that. Just Jensen Harris (who looks like Mini-Me's bigger sibling) smiling like a dork and talking about things like "cool" and being "excited" about cosmetic features and eye candy while demoing it on a (surprise! surprise!) Surface tablet.

I had hopes. But it looks like Microsoft still isn't quite ready to directly address the concerns and wishes of a very large part of their customer base. So instead we get more Metro, puff features, plus a low key pitch for Skydrive, and the Surface.

Guess we're just gonna have to wait until it's released before we have any real answers.

[Stoic Joker]

Just Jensen Harris (who looks like Mini-Me's bigger sibling) smiling like a dork and talking about things like "cool" and being "excited" about cosmetic features and eye candy while demoing it on a (surprise! surprise!) Surface tablet.

Good god man with that intro for a description I sat at my desk (at work...) through the entire video with my hand clamped over my mouth and tears coming out of my eyes hoping no one would hear me cracking up. Gushing over rainbow colors, pretty pictures, and exhibiting a marked fixation with Marilyn Monroe ...(oh dear)... They are definitely trying to directly compete with Apple in the lowest loafer weight department.

[f0dder]

Distilled: 'meh'.

[Curt]

Windows 8.1 - What's New, IT Pro Features, Devices, UI | TechNet

also:

This update also includes features like boot to desktop and improved mouse and keyboard navigation, making it an excellent choice for your existing laptop and desktop devices as well.

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Windows 8.1 includes a broad set of new security capabilities including enhanced support for biometrics for user authentication and remote business data removal, which ensures that corporate data is encrypted and can be wiped remotely.

[40hz]

I still want to see it boot to the desktop. I can't help but think there's some catch to it they're not letting us in on.

Somebody on another site also pointed out he couldn't help but want to scream since there's this big honkin' START button on the screen that this talking head won't so much as acknowledge - let alone press the friggin' thing.

And yeah... he  does seem to have a certain unholy fascination with an assassinated movie star doesn't he? Man...and here I thought my Nicole Kidman   was weird enough.

[attach]

[f0dder]

At least my little crush is still alive...

Man, all those pesky bodyguards!

Back on track, another 'meh' on integrating Windows Search with ze intarwebs. I actually quite like how it works in Vista, Win7 and Win8... it works pretty well for finding 'easy' stuff on my machine. If I want webstuff, I'm gonna open a friggin' browser.

[superboyac]

This reminds of a couple weeks ago when I lost it after watching a couple of video reviews for gadgets.  The script is usually:
--looong useless introduction
--they hold the phone in their hands and DO NOTHING.  just wave it around, make hand gestures while talking.  They will POINT at things on the phone, but not actually touch it.
--The exciting part...they will touch a button or something and...now they will talk about it for several minutes.
--oh yeah, they will repeat over and over the stupid specs.  i don't care!!

So I lost it.  And of course got the reactions "what is wrong with you?!" from all my iphone peers.

[Edvard]

From an ABC news story on Win 8.1 (emphasis mine):

"We've focused on a number of improvements to ensure easier navigation for people using a mouse and keyboard," Antoine Leblond, corporate vice president of Windows Program Management, said in a blog post. "We've improved the way you navigate to Start with the mouse by changing the Start 'tip' to be the familiar Windows logo."

Clicking on the Start tip in the lower left-hand corner will bring you back to the Start Screen. No, you won't get the traditional Start menu.

"We've learned a lot from customers in how they are using the product and have received a lot of feedback," Leblond said. "We've been watching, we've been listening."

Um, no.  No, you haven't  

[40hz]

And of course got the reactions "what is wrong with you?!" from all my iphone peers.

iPhone fanboy users are nowhere close to being the peers of anybody here IMNTHO

[TaoPhoenix]

(cringing)
iPhone user... yes
fanboy ... no! Whew! Safe!

[40hz]

(cringing)
iPhone user... yes
fanboy ... no! Whew! Safe!

me too.

[40hz]

Dear Microsoft:

Here's my suggestion for what to do with the audience after your next Windows 8 dog & pony show:

[attach]

[Stoic Joker]

Our accountant is in his late 70s. He is not an advanced user by any measure. He recently made the jump from XP to Win8 on his home computer. Neither he nor his wife have had any major issues adapting to the new UI.

Advertising in general has devolved into a constant drone of pithy palpitating attempts to reach ones heart strings, funny bone, or G-spot. solely in the interest of avoiding any substantive information about anything...and frequently leaving one wondering wtf the product even is.

While MS's Apple-ish whoppie ad is annoying, it's not nearly as mind-blowingly stupid as many of the car ads today. Kia comes to mind with hampsters trying to look Kewl in a death trap, cracker box, Mp3 player with wheels that is blasting off into space. Seriously? ...I can't watch that ad without wanting to scream.

[dr_andus]

Our accountant is in his late 70s. He is not an advanced user by any measure. He recently made the jump from XP to Win8 on his home computer. Neither he nor his wife have had any major issues adapting to the new UI.

Do they have a touch screen? If not, would they have been better off upgrading to Win7? How about if one is not an accountant in his late 70s and wants a work computer, not a home computer, without a touch screen? Is Win8 still a better option?

[40hz]

Our accountant is in his late 70s. He is not an advanced user by any measure. He recently made the jump from XP to Win8 on his home computer. Neither he nor his wife have had any major issues adapting to the new UI.

I think that may be more a function of their level of useage rather than an indication of how usable the interface actually is.

My experience with my clients seems to indicate that the more trivial (for lack of a better word) a user's involvement is with the underlying OS, the easier it is for them to become trivially proficient at using a different one. The more 'professional' and savvy users are another story.

As my grandfather used to say: Anything is easy if you aren't trying to get good at it.

I think the old man was onto something when he said that.

[Stoic Joker]

Our accountant is in his late 70s. He is not an advanced user by any measure. He recently made the jump from XP to Win8 on his home computer. Neither he nor his wife have had any major issues adapting to the new UI.

I think that may be more a function of their level of useage rather than an indication of how usable the interface actually is.

He uses an RDP connection from the home/8 machine to connect to the office and generate reports (From the accounting software to Excel) which frequently are transferred to either paper and/or the 8 machine for further processing/analysis.

Granted that ain't power user level interaction...but he ain't just farting around on FaceBook either.

[Nod5]

Could those here who have used Win 8 for some time and who don't use the new Start Screen stuff say what you wish for in 8.1 (or subsequent updates)? Is there any feature in Win 7 that you miss, and haven't found an adequate replacement/workaround for, in Win 8? Let us put the start button aside however - anything other than the start button? I'm still on Win 7 but am getting closer and closer to move up to  8.

[barney]

Could those here who have used Win 8 for some time and who don't use the new Start Screen stuff say what you wish for in 8.1 (or subsequent updates)? Is there any feature in Win 7 that you miss, and haven't found an adequate replacement/workaround for, in Win 8? Let us put the start button aside however - anything other than the start button? I'm still on Win 7 but am getting closer and closer to move up to  8.

Yeah, but the start button or Windows Key is indirectly involved.

I can remember the names of my primary programs, those that I use on a near-daily basis.

However, there are a number of apps installed whose names I cannot recall, hence cannot search for them.  These are applications that were installed for [usually] one (1) specific function not available in my mainstream programs.  For instance, there are three (3) different regex programs installed, each for a specific usage - a usage that I found lacking while working in other, sometimes similar, programs.

Since I cannot call their names off the top of my head, I've installed them in specific start menu subdivisions, e.g. _dev, _net, _note & pim, ..., ad nauseum.  When I have need, I browse the specific start menu subdivision.  The shortcut titles there will remind me which program I need.

Since there are upward of a thousand entries in the start menu, this greatly enhances what productivity I can eke out.  Lack of that listing significantly cripples my output.

Granted the Win8 Start Screen is a side-scrolling pictogram of the [/i]start menu[/i] to which I'm accustomed,  but it takes too long to traverse, and it is not, so far as I am aware, editable.  (Besides, I don't care for side scrolling  .)

That's my primary problem win Win8 ... finding the program I need to run when I need to run it!

[cranioscopical]

Could those here who have used Win 8 for some time and who don't use the new Start Screen stuff say what you wish for in 8.1

I don't want to spoil your sense of optimism but I'm told that the presenter's wish had been for a full head of hair.

YMMV.

(I never see the 'tablet side' of W8 and have been quite happy with 8.0.)

[Stoic Joker]

Granted the Win8 Start Screen is a side-scrolling pictogram of the [/i]start menu[/i] to which I'm accustomed,  but it takes too long to traverse, and it is not, so far as I am aware, editable.  (Besides, I don't care for side scrolling  .)

Yes the Win8 SS groups are editable if you are in the zoomed out view. Item groups can be created, deleted, modified, and named.

Not the best tutorials...Just the first I could find to get you started.

http://www.thewindowsclub.com/create-manage-groups-start-screen-app-tiles-windows-8

http://www.howtogeek.com/108546/how-to-name-groups-of-apps-on-the-windows-8-metro-start-screen/


Another thought is if you rename an icon to something meaningful to you it could make it easier to search for (i.e. ProgName - Thing_I_Use_For_X)

[Nod5]

I don't want to spoil your sense of optimism but I'm told that the presenter's wish had been for a full head of hair.

That wish is unlikely to materialize given the fact that Microsoft have handed the reigns over to Ballmer who, among other things, is not a keep-a-full-head-of-hair-expert.

[Nod5]

However, there are a number of apps installed whose names I cannot recall, hence cannot search for them.  These are applications that were installed for [usually] one (1) specific function not available in my mainstream programs.  For instance, there are three (3) different regex programs installed, each for a specific usage - a usage that I found lacking while working in other, sometimes similar, programs.

I have a lot of such seldom use programs too. But I don't worry about that in moving to Win 8 since I don't use the start menu in Win 7 anyway. I use three tools instead:
1. the Quicklaunch toolbar on the taskbar. I have it show a few of the programs I use most (Firefox, VLC, etc) and then the drop down (or rather drop up) menu has around 50 more. I've there renamed some links to seldom use programs by adding descriptive tags. E.g. "shellexview shell extensions manage edit nirsoft". The drop menu shows all the (small) icons and names at the same time without having to scroll. That makes it very quick to browse and find an app, even if I don't remember its name.
2. FARR. The description/tags added to the program link names makes the programs easy to find in a FARR search. E.g. typing "shell ext" shows shellexview as the number one result in FARR.
3. Everything. If I haven't found it after a few seconds using FARR I pass the search to Everything which then almost always finds it.

Maybe the same search/browse setup could work for you too? I don't have a thousand programs but I think this way of finding/launching programs would scale up well. Quicklaunch and FARR both work in Win 8 (caveat: I've only played with the Win 8 RTM trial a bit).

[cranioscopical]

2. FARR.
3. Everything.

Heartily agree 
Win-X can sometimes help.

My wife finds Start8 quite useful — Stardock practically gives it away.
FWIW, the way my wife's machine is set up, she can't tell that it's not W7.

[Carol Haynes]

I have yet to meet a customer who likes Windows 8 (mostly home users) and they are relieved when I point them at Start8.

From what I have gathered the 'new' start button in 8.1 just takes you back to the start screen (saves scrabbling in the corner I suppose but doesn't address a fundamental need for business and mouse users).

[40hz]

I don't want to spoil your sense of optimism but I'm told that the presenter's wish had been for a full head of hair.

That wish is unlikely to materialize given the fact that Microsoft have handed the reigns over to Ballmer who, among other things, is not a keep-a-full-head-of-hair-expert.

I understand his "state of the pate" had something to do with his days as a college freshman when he kept hoping he'd get bald real soon...