Bits What's coming in Windows 8?

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Really if they are going to dumb down windows so heavily to make it look like a wickedly overgrown tablet they really should make it as an alternative skin to the OS like media centre if I wanted that type of overly simplified operation I'd go to apple or just use a "smart phone" or tablet which I don't like either of so I really hope they don't use that stupid interface & have it as an alternative start up option else I could easily fall out of love with pc's.

 

Actually I totally agree with you and your flight of fancy. If anyone has seen the Kal-El demo, and the latest 'padfone' concepts then convergence is obvious. Think about what most people use their computer for. They use it to access stuff on the net, do some Officey stuff, play the occasional game and watch some media. All of this stuff even Kal-El is totally capable of doing with enough performance to make it smooth. I can foresee in the future that your mobile phone will be your main device, with various docks about the place so you can get the necessary input devices to make your actions comfortable.

Using it as a phone? WP7 interface. Using it on the train, get the tablet dock out (or use the built-in dock in the table) and start working on your next presentation with the new Metro interface. Then when you get home, you hook it into another dock that connects to your TV. Use the Metro MCE interface to check a few feeds and watch your movies that have been downloading to the device all day. Then you want to get some work done plug it into your desktop dock and the interface switches to traditional Windows UI with the keyboard, mouse, and multiple monitors.

In this future your customisation options and settings carry with you, along with all of the apps you regularly use because you're basically taking your PC with you. The train company, cyber cafes, etc. all provide just universal docking opportunities. The cloud lets you store long-term data that's available for all of your devices. Think of the resource savings - rather than buying whole new computers you just buy the main bit, the docks stick around for years and years. Plus as I'm sure everyone will agree - using your own kit tends to be a more pleasant experience and everything is set up just how you like it - and no amount of settings syncing can quite match that personal touch.

I think it's a fantastic future, as long as the privacy and data-mining concerns are dealt with.

 

They do, they're the folks that brought us Win98 ME, and Vista, and Ribbon-interfaces.
They're people that try to imagine what you'd need working on a global team and how great that could be, and not seeing that the product they develop get's then used to contact the-office-one-down-the-hall for coffeebreakes

 

M$ get lost with your stupid ideas. Bring back simplicity of older Windows not make them even more cumbersome and useless. I wonder if anyone at M$ heard about words/phrases like: ergonomics, simplicity, local workstation, streamlining workload, privacy? Even now I do run whole W7 with Classic Shell freeware installed, just to hide that atrocious shell a la Vista/7. W8 is total abomination. I can hear Apple/Unix users ROFL-MAO-ing all around the world. And I also returning to Unix environment from a day I read first preview of W8. As for lack of legacy support for tablets. I couldn't care less. Tablets are gadgets for nerds that can't live without PC for more than 3 seconds flat. And finally. Any system integrated with anti-social networks is dead for me. DEAD.

And just a word to B-T crew. On that picture it is not classic interface. It is Aero rubbish next to 'W8 style' rubbish...

 

So we are getting a front end to windows

 

Honestly, I'm not seeing the problem. It looks like the OS has two GUIs, the tablet version and then desktop mode. I would imagine that MS aren't stupid enough to force you to use the tablet interface if your using it as a desktop PC.

Being able to switch between a tablet and desktop would be quite handy. You've got you're nice touch screen device docked up with a mouse and keyboard on the go in the classic GUI....then you have to leave and get the train, undock and flip into a tablet, carry on with whatever you were doing. Sure, that's not going to be what everyone wants or need, but when is it ever?

 

Actually there are two different Clone Wars. The CGI movie, and the Cartoon Network series. The Cartoon Network series was awesome, the CGI was garbage as we all know.

Anyway, I really hope Microsoft doesnt mean that Windows 9 will become WP7's OS. I would definitely be switching to Linux as my primary and Mac as my secondary just to throw my middle finger at Microsoft.

 

Um, noooo thanks... if I wanted a tablet interface on my PC I would, well, use a freaking tablet. Looks like I'll be sticking to Win7 for quite a while if this is the direction they're taking. Skip 8 and go to 9, of course assuming they don't fack that one up too.

 

Icons on a desktop, taskbar at the bottom, start button for the start menu...

It might be formatted a little differently, but it's still the classic interface.

 

To some extent, so was the Windows 3.1 shell...

 

I sure hope they'll leave the "pro" or "ultimate" version without the new interface garbage. Because, you know, there are still some people doing some actual work without wasting time on social media - a thing manufacturers tend to forget, like some Motorola smartphones that require you to have a failbook account to use the phone (motoblur crap). Somehow I just don't see using Maya, 3dsmax or AutoCAD with "apps" clogging the interface or, even worse, ona a bolted-on, slow as hell emulated pseudo-interface.

Like many people already said - if I ever want a dumbed-down, inefficient interface for idiots, I'll just buy a tablet, anything from Apple or a "chromebook", all of which highly unlikely. For productivity, the "classic" interface is the king of the hill.

 

That had to be the WORST preview/demo in the history of computing.


I get it, I do, but the way they showed and explained it, was extremely poor.
Someone needs to be fired for that because they just convinced a ton of geeks that they have effectively killed the desktop. Way to go MS!

If I was an investor I would once again be screaming for Balmer's head on a stick.



And contrary to what people think, pc's aren't going anywhere anytime soon.

 

imo the clone wars deosnt even count... im a huge fan of star wars...

 

I was a huge fan of Star Wars. Episode 1 managed to change all that.

 

Yeah, gotta love the old, purist Windows. The one with a clock on the task bar, but no date and no built in alarms or reminders and no link to your Calendar application. The one where you have to click a button labelled "Start" to shut down the PC. The one where your roaming desktop takes your printer settings with you to another PC which is hooked up to an entirely different printer, but not your Internet favourites and history, instead of the other way around.

The one which cannot do basic stuff like: send someone a calendar appointment without being on the same Exchange server; poll for votes without being on the same Exchange server, cannot have external disks or memory sticks dynamically pop up on your desktop like you can with Amiga OS, and until Vista could not unplug USB devices without having a small fit.

It's the one with Clippy, Agents (yeah, remember those? It's the cute puppy that sits in your File Search window, with the function of... well, looking cute?) and rubbish clip art cluttering your disk apace.

I could see some room for improvement.

 

You mean, unlike a certain OS, where you, amongst other things, drag a CD/DVD icon to the trash can in order to eject the media? Which, coincidentally, is the same OS, where the only way to resize a window is by dragging the lower right corner...

Sorry, couldn't help myself. I'll get my coat...

 

That OS used to have an "Eject" command in the pull-down menu... But at least the pull tag on lower right corner is clearly indicated.

Seriously, the best OS was Amiga.

 

Considering what they managed to cram into 512KB ROM (Kickstart) and a couple of 720KB 3.5" floppy disks (Workbench) I tend to agree with you.

 

Workbench? You mean the OS that spent more time telling you it had crashed than doing anything else? The one and only reliable thing about it was it's ability to inform you when it had crashed.

I remember we once managed to print out a food menu from Wordsworth (the word processor) for a dinner party, it was a genuinely exciting moment that had taken about three weeks of tinkering to get right before hand.

I don't believe we ever managed to print anything off again actually. Ah good times.

 

Apparently, we had differing experiences...