Windows 8

[sohum]

One release date I heard was 2013. Looking at MSFT's previous releases, it's probably safe to add a year or two on top of that.

I have no problems with the ribbon interface. People keep complaining about UI changes but the fact is that it takes less than a couple of weeks to recalibrate our brain to use the new UI. And I believe that once you get used to it, you get things done a lot quicker.

I for one enjoy all the changes brought about in the Office 2007 ribbon (which they further improved in 2010). I'd be perfectly fine if they expanded the ribbon metaphor to other areas of the operating system.

 

[Abhas]

Absolutely, I love the ribbon interface. I use it much more than the earlier menus even though I know so many shortcuts in office (The main reason I know so many shortcuts was because I hated navigating the menu). I cannot use the older versions of office anymore for anything apart from basic work.
Heck, even Paint is better with the ribbon.

I don't see why people are so against the ribbon.. If you think it wastes space, double click on the menu item, and it will go away, to become a floating menu.

People who know shortcuts don't go into the menus, so anyway it shouldn't bother them, and for those who don't, this is a much better interface than the textual menus.

As Sohum stated, the release date was rumored to be 2013 (provided we get through 2012 ), so we shouldn't expect it any earlier than 2014, and that's more than 2 years from now.

 

[Chewie]

I thought the release date was 2012?

 

[Iridium]

Microsoft unveils Windows 8 (video) -- Engadget

Seems Windows 8 will be taking a leaf from Windows Phone 7 with regards to the tile layout. When I first saw this I thought it was only for tablets but reading on a bit it seems this is for desktop PCs. The OS is optimised for touch input but will of course work with traditional mouse and keyboard commands.

Now, IMO Windows Phone 7's UI is quite simply horrid. But I have to say, from the demo in the video, the way they've executed it in W8 looks pretty nice. It's a far cry from what has been the normal UI we've been accustomed to in the past.

 

[aussie1st]

That will be good for the touch screens but don't know about the normal ones.

 

[Chewie]

I think I'd stay with Windows 7 if it's too weird and tablet-like

 

[Iridium]

Well it just seems to be the desktop that's got the tablet look. When he opens excel and open a folder, it's the same Windows 7 look. That could change though.

 

[aussie1st]

I was a bit slow out of the blocks but I see Windows 8 pre beta has been released. Looks like Microsoft is finally getting themselves back into the tablet business. Pretty good preview over here, looks to be Windows Phone 7 on a computer.

 

[aussie1st]

Finally got it, first impressions looks really good. If they really want to make it work well with both tablets and normal desktops then they will need to put the original start menu buttons back as it takes way too many clicks to get to the control panel, find your network, shutdown, etc.

Other problem I and others have noticed is once you install a program everything that came with the program becomes a tile so you have a tile to uninstall, a read me tile, etc. That's probably a compatibility thing with how the programs install on your computer although they'll need to sort that out anyway if developers are still going to make software for Windows 7.

Microsoft are definitely trying to cover all the markets, they have their own twitter app and there is meant to be a facebook one but I can't login.

 

[Chewie]

It's not too difficult to get it back to the Windows 7 style though

 

[aussie1st]

You mean there is a way to get the old start menu back or for Microsoft to go back to that?

 

[AbBh]

Yeah, its possible, but you'll lose all the new interface changes of Win 8. You need to do some registry edit. IIRC, its HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Explorer. You need to set RPEnabled to 0.

I think the start screen needs a lot of polish. It might be good for tablets but in its current form its not suitable for desktops.

Other problem I and others have noticed is once you install a program everything that came with the program becomes a tile so you have a tile to uninstall, a read me tile, etc. That's probably a compatibility thing with how the programs install on your computer although they'll need to sort that out anyway if developers are still going to make software for Windows 7.

They are working on grouping shortcuts by apps.

 

[Chewie]

To go back to the old start menu

 

[Prithvi]

Did anyone save those previews?
The site is not working now.

 

[AngryPixel]

Did anyone got the socialite app working? It is stuck in logging in for me. Twitter app works fine.