10 Things Microsoft can improve in Windows 8.1

[DPI]

This guy raises a lot of excellent points that could help improve Windows 8.1.
http://www.tbstactics.com/2013/07/10-things-ms-can-improve-on-with.html

Adding "boot to desktop" and "no edge shortcuts" options in Windows 8.1 was a first step, but they need to do more for desktop users. Here are 10 things MS should change or add to make it more functionally equivalent to previous versions of Windows:

1. Ability to resize the start screen so it only takes up a fraction of its current space and doesn't obscure the desktop. We should be able to make it more like a sidebar.
2. All Apps sorting is still a mess. Folders and shortcuts are stacked on top of eachother in uneven columns instead of nested, making a giant mess of shortcuts. This is far worse than the start menu for quickly eyeing and spotting a needed folder/shortcut that you don't remember the name to.
3. True context menu functionality. If I right click a shortcut I want the real deal, renaming, deleting, copying, command line properties, etc. from inside the start screen itself, not having to open a separate window in explorer.
4. Nested folders, including the nested control panel, network, favorites, recent documents/programs, etc.
5. If Metro apps are to be of any use to multitasking desktop users, they have to be able to be run in a desktop window. Aka ModernMix from Stardock. Docking is not a windows replacement and is antithetical to the idea of windows.
6. The start screen search function is still inferior to desktop/explorer windows search, yet there's no way to use explorer search by default from the start screen.
7. The new explorer ribbon and networks sidebar have functionality issues, along with other newly metro-ized dialogue boxes.
8. Bringing back Aero and other desktop/UI customization functionality that was removed would be nice. Yes Aero is superficial but I liked it.
9. Let us make the start screen background transparent, not just show a mockup of the desktop wallpaper. Give us more options for adjusting the color scheme of start screen shortcuts. Not all of us like the ugly neon red/green/purple/orange palette.
10. Let us access Metro settings from the desktop. Do I really need to dig through a fullscreen purple colored Settings app to find an option that MS failed to add a desktop/control panel equivalent to?

 

[elzeus]

Add a unified inbox in the mail app ffs.

 

[Dogs]

3. True context menu functionality. If I right click a shortcut I want the real deal, renaming, deleting, copying, command line properties, etc. from inside the start screen itself, not having to open a separate window in explorer.

9. Let us make the start screen background transparent, not just show a mockup of the desktop wallpaper. Give us more options for adjusting the color scheme of start screen shortcuts. Not all of us like the ugly neon red/green/purple/orange palette.

These are two things I'd really like to see. There isn't any technical or business need barrier to giving us more customization within the Metro environment and the development time for such changes wouldn't be all that large. The backgrounds available in the UI aren't very interesting, and the means to which you have to go to change the background to something you want are beyond the reach of most users. Also, the color palettes aren't bad in my opinion, but there aren't many of them and they're all pretty similar. If you don't like one, you probably won't like the others either.

5. If Metro apps are to be of any use to multitasking desktop users, they have to be able to be run in a desktop window. Aka ModernMix from Stardock. Docking is not a windows replacement and is antithetical to the idea of windows.

If it's something you'd need to do while multitasking heavily, why are you using a metro app for it?

Here are 10 things MS should change or add to make it more functionally equivalent to previous versions of Windows:

This is what I don't like about journalists. They're logically challenged. Some of these 10 changes have nothing to do with 'functionality' and aren't a barrier to how functional the OS is at all. So really it's a list of 10 things the author wants done but may or may not improve the functionality of the OS. He's also making the drastically incorrect assumption that Windows 8.1, out of box, is less functional than older versions of Windows, and that just isn't true.

Here's a key example:

5. If Metro apps are to be of any use to multitasking desktop users, they have to be able to be run in a desktop window. Aka ModernMix from Stardock. Docking is not a windows replacement and is antithetical to the idea of windows.
6. The start screen search function is still inferior to desktop/explorer windows search, yet there's no way to use explorer search by default from the start screen.

These are two examples of functionality that weren't present in the previous versions of Windows. So how is this a list of things that would make Windows 8.1 more equivalent to older versions? This is just terrible e-journalism. He wants to say that they would make 8.1 more equivalent to the older versions because he believes that 8.1 is a step down, but his logic doesn't support that. The guy who wrote this is backwards.

8. Bringing back Aero and other desktop/UI customization functionality that was removed would be nice. Yes Aero is superficial but I liked it.

9. Let us make the start screen background transparent, not just show a mockup of the desktop wallpaper. Give us more options for adjusting the color scheme of start screen shortcuts. Not all of us like the ugly neon red/green/purple/orange palette.

As part of what I said above, these are two things which have nothing to do with the functionality of the OS. So why are they on the list?

 

[heatlesssun]

Guy's been floating this around for a while. The sizeable Start Screen and better context menus I agree with and have advocated for some time. However I don't think the new UI needs to become just like the desktop. Now if the desktop where to go away that would be different but I don't think that's going to happen or realistic or necessary.

 

[blazend]

Did they bring back the start bar in any updates? i have my TV setup running Windows 8 but i have not updated in a long time.

 

[longblock454]

You can't polish a turd, just give up on it and be done.

Flame away

 

[Mikeyyb]

I wish they would make it easier to modify the "Default User Profile", I remember back in the Desktop Administration days this was always a nightmare - and there are some things that just can't be done with GPO.

 

[wonderfield]

Regarding Start Search: In some ways, I'd agree. In other ways, the 'unified' search offers some more functionality. There's no clear winner there in my opinion.

Regarding the Explorer Ribbon: I'm actually a fan, and I consider it to be a significant improvement: being able to pretty easily get at file/folder hiding options is a pretty big plus, and there isn't any aspect of the Ribbon I think is worse than the old-style Explorer menus. Is there an example of how the Ribbon fares worse here?

Regarding Aero: Weren't you railing against further bloat in the OS in another thread? Microsoft should be stripping stuff out, not adding shit back in: the OS is tens of gigabytes of stuff at this point (granted, there are a lot of drivers which suck up quite a lot), and that trend desperately needs to reverse. If there's a universal law regarding code base size, it's that increasing the size of a code base decreases its reliability. Windows doesn't need to be even fractionally less reliable to provide for gaudy aesthetic fluff. Operating systems exist to facilitate the running of applications in their own windowing contexts and for little else.

Regarding accessing Metro settings from the desktop: Don't provide the same functionality in multiple places. Microsoft simply needs to unify the way user preferences are dealt with. What the best way to do that is I don't know, but it's probably actually best dealt within the Metro context (so it's as touch- and tablet-friendly as is feasible).

Agreed on all other points.