Is Microsoft being genuine or are they skating around the problem? As it stands many Windows 7 users are concerned with the direction that Microsoft is taking with their new Windows 8 operating system. The new OS replaces the start up menu with the Metro interface, which means that users aren’t given a choice to revert back to using the start menu. Here is what Chaitanya Sareen, a principal program manager at Microsoft, had to say:
When we evolved the taskbar we saw awesome adoption of pinning [applications] on the taskbar. We are seeing people pin like crazy. And so we saw the Start menu usage dramatically dropping, and that gave us an option. We’re saying ‘look, Start menu usage is dropping, what can we do about it? What can we do with the Start menu to revive it, to give it some new identity, give it some new power?
This observation or survey is questionable, considering that many users (myself included) pin a few programs to the task bar and still utilize the start menu. So, the accuracy of this statement is highly debatable. Following our initial impressions of Windows 8, many users agree and do not like the idea of having to use mouse gestures in conjunction with Metro instead of the start menu. The removal of the start menu in favor of touch screen devices is a controversial move and it makes many power users and traditional users alike very concerned. Many of the issues with Windows 8 are as follows:
1. Users are forced to start up in the Metro UI
2. There is no way to disable the Metro UI
3. There is no way to bring back the start menu
4. Searching apps takes up the whole screen since you must go through the Metro UI
5. The Metro UI can be counterproductive in a desktop environment
What are your thoughts? Do you think Microsoft should give users the option to disable Metro and bring back the start menu or do you think Microsoft should ignore consumers’ concerns?
Source: pcpro.co.uk
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I am also concerned about the login screen. I hope that isn’t forced. I kinda like the LIVE integration, but then again I am concerned that MS really doesn’t care about their own OS and its gamers. So, it is more or less a useless implementation IMO. I really think MS is going to drop the ball with this OS on the desktop side of things. I know I personally wont be upgrading to the OS for a bit.
If there’s not going to be a start menu on the desktop, what use will the windows key then have? If that still brings up the menu then that’s fine – but it doesn’t sound as if it will.
It’s not necessary that we won’t like it though. I mean how many programs do you guys pull up through the start menu? Most of what you absolutely need comes from the desktop or is pinned on the taskbar. Metro could do that just as well. If it’s not full of gimmicks it won’t be such a troublesome transition really.
i pin everything in my start menu, taskbar pinning is something i hate
I use the start menu a lot specifically the search function to launch regedit, cmd, etc. I also use the start menu to launch various programs as well. So, for me this will be quite an annoyance. Alsi, last I checked, when I tried the beta version, metro was not suited towards dual monitor setups.
I pull up notepad and calculator, but also use the search bar very often.
I assume there will still be a similar search function though…
well ofc there will be a search function, most likely in the metro. As for notepad and calculator, who said you can’t pin them in the metro ui? 😛
Seriously I think we are making a big deal out of nothing when it comes to metro. The problem will be with corporations and I don’t care about those. Forcing gestures or touch would also be idiotic but I want to see what they have in mind before I hate on them.And why do you hate it leo? :/ It makes no sense at all to hate something like that. It makes your life easier.
leo=karamiatos, because disqus is nasty, anyway i like oldschool stuff, and pinning stuff to my taskbar just increases the clutter, i also hate that you cant have the old style start menu in win7, annoys me to no end.
You couldn’t just set your full name as Krambaitos? But I will miss the start menu, although I do personally like how it is setup in vista and win 7. Currently I only have firefox pinned to the taskbar. I personally don’t want to pin anything else on the task bar to avoid clutter.
used my google account and stuffs, cuz im too lazy to make a account
I don’t like their icons, so they’re not allowed on the taskbar hahaah.
Nah, I don’t use them regularly enough to warrant pinning them, and to be honest my taskbar is almost full of pinned items – Steam, Desura, Firefox, Chrome, N-Vent, Nvidia 3D control panel, Joy to Key and also EVGAPrecisionX – I think pinning anything else will just make it too cluttered.
However, I think you’re right, it’s no huge deal – it’s just change. You know what folk get like about change. I HATED the fact that Win7 auto grouped multiple instances of a program in the start bar at first, but I’m fine with it now.
You are right, change does take getting use to, but I feel win 8 is more of a step backwards that is forced in its users. So, for now I and a few others who don’t agree with the changes will probably hold off.
Yeah. Mind you other stuff that win8 is changing (unsigned drivers for instance) will be a huge deal… but the metro ui in itself is something I personally believe we’ll get used to easily. Hell win8 whenever you want and then buy them. Or don’t. It’s not like they’re forcing you unless you want to play skull knights or w/e it’s called so desperately 😛
Are they making any DX version win8 specific?
Well certain things take more steps.For example if I wanted to search or launch cmd in win 7 I hit start then type in the little bar. If I want to do the same in win 8, I either go to the side (a pain for dual monitors) get the thing to trigger then click on search and then type. I could also alternatively launch metro, which takes up the full screen, then scroll over and click in search. So, as you can see metro makes simple things more complicated, cumbersome, and out of the way.
sometimes like monk, you should see my desktop theres icons everywhere, but then again i dont look at my desktop very often
lol! see? I hate desktop clutter but taskbar helped me with that. It’s why I like pinning 🙂
Then no reason to upgrade. So don’t lol. I’ll personally check it out when it launches and if I like it, I’ll buy it on the next rig. If not, to hell with it.
Well, I mean it’s upsetting as you want to see things move in a certain direction, and again this OS seems like a step backwards to me. So, of course I am going to voice my opinion on the matter regardless of the fact that, yes, I am not going to get it :P.
Meh, I think MS just goes one way or the other without considering if it’s truly an upgrade or not. Win7 for instance was a small upgrade and a major step towards winXP, while looking like vista and offering all vista offered over xp.
OS in general isn’t upgrading as fast as it should. XP at least brought a new file system.
I prefer lamp
I’m with you. I’m not upgrading either. The next OS release will tell the tale. I’m looking at Linux bistros now.
“When we evolved the taskbar we saw awesome adoption of pinning” UGH This is exactly whats wrong with the world today, its full of idiots like this outsourced douchebag who try to justify their over grossed out salary. The taskbar evolved? Are you serious. What did that take like one programmer, like 5 minutes to do? Get a real job, and start acting like a human being again.
If they wanted to get away from the traditional start menu and still keep the start button, they could do a smartphone style metro start button which people can customize. It has the smart tiles and it is small and doesn’t take up the whole screen. Users could even run smartphone style apps in the start menu for small tasks like calculator, task list, weather,… to provide snippets of information.
I also think that all metro apps should have a windows equivalent.
Also, the metro style doesn’t appear very professional or business-like.
No one ever accused Microsoft of being particularly dynamic or progressive and that still holds true.
Windows was always a ripoff of the Apple OS (think Garbage Can lawsuit), and now they are trying to rip off the application developers who created small footprint OSs for tablets, because Microsoft has found that their users are no longer buying pcs.
Tablets are popular for one reason, and it isn’t ease of use. It is the entire cost of ownership equation. Tablets are cheap and are fine for 90% of general use users. Gamers aren’t fond, because there is not enough “there” there to provide the high end gaming experience they’ve been programmed to dream of.
Microsoft in conjunction with Intel and hardware peripheral manufacturers such as vid card makers.(and also Apple, but for a different reason) have ripped off consumers for decades now by continually holding out the carrot of a better experience. NEW GRAPHICS (only $250 bucks per card!…yeah…the price of a low end tablet now), BETTER SOUND ($200 sound cards!), watch MOVIES on your 20 inch screen! you don’t need that big screen tv!
Now, the worm has turned and Microsoft is scrambling. Instead of marking down the cost of ownership of the OS (which they could have done YEARS ago given the size of the installed base), they are throwing desktop and high end laptop users under the bus. Windows 8? Why didn’t they just use 8 bit color, the performance bump would be HUGE! Ohhh…I know…they’ll get us hooked on this 2D interface and then entice us 3 years from now with “THIS is the tablet experience you’ve wanted”…loooook…transparency on the desktop (AERO has arisen!).
Such heavy handed crap.
Microsoft wants a tablet OS? Fine, build one and leave the desktop alone.
When a company needs to explain their actions, they’ve already lost.