Topic: Windows 8

[ThePerm]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p92QfWOw88I

I think I have Windows 8 on my Wii

[Ceric]

That's Metro.  The interfaces are similar which reminds me I need to make a WP7 Mango thread.  That update is going to be awesome and should have been what MS launched with.  Oh well, it says fall but with ATT I won't get it for a year or 2.

[Morari]

Meh. It's good for tablets, I suppose. Otherwise, it's a pretty limited looking interface.

[Ceric]

Meh. It's good for tablets, I suppose. Otherwise, it's a pretty limited looking interface.

That's what its meant for.  Tablets and small devices. A traditional Desktop is meant for desktops.  Though I think their are even plans to allow you do some live tile stuff with where your wallpaper would be.

[nickmitch]

They've said that it'll be cross platform: desktops, laptops, netbooks, tablets, etc. It's still a terrible idea for anything other than tablets.

[oohhboy]

Exactly, why call it Windows 8 if they weren't going to use it for desktops.

They are trying out Apple, Apple. Apple has been smart enough to separate out the 2 different OSs to ensure they feel like Apple, but take the different environments into account. iOS is designed to be subservient to the primary OS for that very reason. That kind of UI is designed to be for locked down systems and as "smart" as they try to make it out to be, it in variably reduces options and breaks the whole idea that is desktop for negative gain.

If they ever release this joke, they are going to have to code in a classic mode or else it's going to make Vista and Me look like the second coming of computing.

[ThePerm]

i kinda liked windows 3.1 style of interface, groups is a way more efficient means of organizing programs and files then the start bar. Having file structure independent menus is the way to go. The key to a good interface is quick load time, and for what it is it never seems windows is as fast as it should be....ever.

It seems that when I use my OS, that the desktop is always lost to the main programs i use. I've installed Rocket Dock a few times and used windows 7 and osx, but yeah it seems like the desktop could be faster and more usable.

[Ceric]

They've said that it'll be cross platform: desktops, laptops, netbooks, tablets, etc. It's still a terrible idea for anything other than tablets.

Its still Windows 8 but different interface options is nothing odd in an OS.  Linux is known for its desktop varieties.  Windows clunkily has a few choices.  Apple is known for how they lock down their desktop interface.

It will be Windows 8 on all of them.  Take for example Apples current paradigm  OSX on the desktop iOS on the tablets.  Windows 8 be the same as OSX on the Desktop and Tablet just with different more appropriate UIs.  None of this junk of Desktop apps not working on table devices due to OS.

[NWR_insanolord]

iOS is OS X, just with a drastically different interface. I'm not sure what Microsoft gains by tying the desktop and mobile versions to the same name if they're going to offer different interfaces, and having the same one on both would just be stupid.

[Ceric]

iOS is OS X, just with a drastically different interface. I'm not sure what Microsoft gains by tying the desktop and mobile versions to the same name if they're going to offer different interfaces, and having the same one on both would just be stupid.

iOS is not OSX regardless what Apple says.  Like Windows Mobile is not Windows.  They share a lot a whole lot but if you have to program something for both iOS and OS X you become painfully aware of how different they are.

[Enner]

More details:
First Official Look at Windows 8 Reveals Metro-Style Start Screen [Video]
Microsoft Details Some Windows 8 Tablet Requirements

Tidbit of note concerning tablets:

Microsoft demoed hardware with ARM SoCs from Qualcomm, TI and Nvidia and x86 processors from Intel and AMD. Windows 8 is Windows 8: the OS runs the same on ARM and x86 with one major exception. ARM Windows does not include an x86 emulator, which means traditional x86 software (i.e. virtually everything on Windows) will not run on ARM devices. However, since the drivers and underlying OS code base are identical, ARM versions will (hopefully) be easy for software devs to recompile and offer alongside x86 downloads.

Exactly, why call it Windows 8 if they weren't going to use it for desktops.

They are trying out Apple, Apple. Apple has been smart enough to separate out the 2 different OSs to ensure they feel like Apple, but take the different environments into account. iOS is designed to be subservient to the primary OS for that very reason. That kind of UI is designed to be for locked down systems and as "smart" as they try to make it out to be, it in variably reduces options and breaks the whole idea that is desktop for negative gain.

If they ever release this joke, they are going to have to code in a classic mode or else it's going to make Vista and Me look like the second coming of computing.

Well, it's just the new Start screen. In the video, it looks like there is still the Windows 7 task bar and such. Maybe Microsoft has confidence in being able to make an operating system that scales very well to all sorts of hardware.

Curious to see if Microsoft will be able to have and eat their Windows 8 cake. After having listened to a podcast talk smack about Microsoft being late and lacking vision, it sounds like they need to.

[jamesfriedman]

For now it seems that Windows 8 is designed for tablet PCs. I wonder if we'll see some tablets with it beginning next year.