duke - Windows 8 on a tablet may very well be the future for microsoft, but if they are planning on that being their desktop o/s as well, then i would have to assume that microsoft is intending to give up on desktop. I don’t see sales improving at all if Windows 8 on the desktop remains as it is today. We can argue all we want about it, but at the end of the day, the numbers tell the story…Windows 8 sales are even worse than vista was.
Microsoft in the past has caught their senses when they have made missteps. As you know, Windows 7 was their ‘fix’ for Vista and it was well received and loved (and the numbers reflected it). The only way i see Microsoft fixing this is at the very least, skinning windows 8 w/ the aero theme/style and understand that users are never going to be sitting a desktop swipping at their screen. Under the hood windows 8 is great…but hardly anyone gets to ‘see’ that because of first impressions from the tablet focused ui/experience. That assumes they really want to fix this…its no secret that desktop sales are dropping y.o.y in favor of tablets…i frankly think at some point this will level off and desktops will be around for a very long time.
I am hopeful however…with the departure of the Steven SINofsk, perhaps microsoft has already begun a secret project X to bring back windows 7 rebranded as windows 9…ah, once can dream…can’t they?
As for vs2012 and it’s 50 shades gray…you are right about it reducing distraction. That’s probably because the user has fallen asleep from the blah-ness of staring at it for hours…or he is too focused looking at the toolbars trying to figure what does what to be distracted…lol.
my opinion of course, but i don’t see windows 8 as evolution in UX design…unless by evolution, we are thinking…First here was Pong, then their was VS2012…one day their will be machines that will be able to render more than two colors and non-block shapes.
I wouldn’t be so sure of that. Just last week, HP announced that they’re going to start shipping Leap Motion sensors in their devices. This type of technology is going to quickly become a standard input alternative to the mouse & keyboard.
[quote]Under the hood windows 8 is great…but hardly anyone gets to ‘see’ that because of first impressions from the tablet focused ui/experience. That assumes they really want to fix this…its no secret that desktop sales are dropping y.o.y in favor of tablets…i frankly think at some point this will level off and desktops will be around for a very long time.
I am hopeful however…with the departure of the Steven SINofsk, perhaps microsoft has already begun a secret project X to bring back windows 7 rebranded as windows 9…ah, once can dream…can’t they?[/quote]
Actually, the strong rumors are that Windows “Blue” that’s supposed to be out in months will give you some of your desktop type features back. However, there will also be a continued evolution to the new UI but hopefully this version will help bridge that old/new gap a little better than what we currently have in Win8.
If I spent that much time looking at the toolbars, I would definitely fall asleep. Instead, I spend 12-14 hrs a day staring at the code and VS2012 has made that more enjoyable.
never is a bad word, i admit…but in general, while these new technologies are cool and innovated, i feel it will be some time before they are as effective and comfortable as sitting at your desk, laid back, hand resting on your mouse comfortably (i.e. not suspended in air which requires more work)…and be able to scroll from one end to the next for your screen by just shifting your mouse a few centimeters. It’s hard to imagine it getting any easier…perhaps technology that can navigate a mouse through eye movement or thought. who knows.
Yeah, i’ve read about windows blue…but then i got dismayed after reading this last week, where the author implies microsoft refuses to budge: Windows: It's over | ZDNET
let’s hope they do the right thing in blue.
btw…can you in Windows 8 have your Vs2012 up while next to it sits sql-server enterprise mgr and above that may be a putty window? i recall i had great frustration doing something simple as that…and thought to myself…how does a developer of all people, work in windows 8 if we can’t have at least 4 windows that he can look at at the same time. Is that supported natively now…or does it require some 3rd party?
Not today. Supposedly, with Blue you can have two apps sit side-by-side with a 50/50 split on one screen and more importantly you will be able to do this on every monitor. With the prevalence of multiple monitors, I think this is quite satisfactory for most usages.
Ian, have you spent a full 8 hours with your arm stretched out in front of you so you can move the cursor? Who needs to go to the gym if you have to use a touch screen if front of you all day?
The company I work for designes/manufactures and sells a waist high machine with a 17" SAW touch screen on top. The touch screen is horizontal with a 30 degree slant down towards you. It is a smart safe that validates money before depositing and rejects counterfeits. You use the screen to change modes/log in/log out etc. It isn’t designed to be used all day. Developing on it for any time at all is REALLY tiring as you have to move your arm a LOT. And the more vertical the screen becomes the more tiring it is to use as you have to support your whole arm.
Also, If you are forced to touch the screen then the screen must be with in reach. Having two 24" screens within reach is NOT good for your eyes…
This is why I think the combination of Leap Motion plus eye tracking could be a good alternative. You wouldn’t have to use your hands to position the mouse and you wouldn’t have to be close to a monitor. You could simply position the pointer with your eyes then raise a hand up off the keyboard and make a gesture to have the mouse click or whatever. Obviously, for graphic designers and people who really move the cursor a lot this probably isn’t going to be ideal but I think it will eliminate most of what I use a mouse for.
But that is again a mouse replacement. Not a touch interface. So the interface does not have to be “clunky” to accommodate large fingers. Thus the Metro UI is still pointless.
what happens when your wife appears at the door, hands on hips, and says 'are you still on that computer?".
You roll your eyes…only to relaize you just shorted 10000 shares of microsoft.
still…probably not as painful as the wrath of a wife that catches you rolling your eyes.
the problem IMHO is they didn’t listen to their [em]own[/em] advice in the metro design language “design for the formfactor”.
I think they could have put metro onto the desktop fairly easy, without so much pushback.
all they really had to do was replace desktop shortcut icons with live tiles, and give everything the superflat/minimalist “metro” style.
leave the start menu alone… or maybe turn it into commonly used apps / federated search results.
but that’s just IMHO.
how did this thread get turned into a discussion about windows 8’s UI?
Instead, I spend 12-14 hrs a day staring at the code and VS2012 has made that more enjoyable.