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Do you use Windows 8 apps?

Metro, Semi-Metro or No Metro?

  • Total voters
    46
  • Poll closed .
J

jlocohustler

Weaksauce
Joined
Jan 25, 2012
Messages
81
For people who have installed Windows 8 previews already:

There's a lot of alternative 'Metro' apps on Windows 8 that serve the purpose of replacing the 'old' desktop apps like Windows Media Player, Photo Viewer and so on.

However, old desktops apps are fast and integrate better with the desktop. For example, when using WMP, you can easily pause the video or music by mousing over the icon in your dock. With the metro app, you need to mouse over the left corner, click on it then hit pause (unless there's a shortcut that I don't know about!) but the app actually takes the whole screen, so, you need to minimize it again. So, what if you're watching some X-rated (or even R-rated) movie and circumstances force you to move fast?

Anyway, that said, do you guys use metro apps IN STEAD of regular apps, use it in conjunction or don't use them at all?
 
I rarely use the metro replacement apps. That said, the notification features of Mail and Calendar are useful, and the weather app is much easier and quicker to get to than going to it online.

With most apps, you can "pin" the app to the side, where it will take up the left or right 1/5 of your screen, depending on your preference. You can't pin to both sides though, and there's no way to change how much of the screen it takes up.
 
A lot of folks are looking at this a zero sum game when it's not. If one is just on a conventional desktop or laptop there's no reason to replace those apps with Metro apps. There are some games, content apps and such that don't really have desktop equivalents and as time goes on there'll be more general Metro apps that people will enjoy on the desktop. But if one has desktops apps on a desktop or laptop that fit the bill then by all means continue to use them.

But if one is using a tablet say, then a Metro app might be more suitable. On my desktop I have IE 10 desktop set as the default browser but on my tablet I have the Metro version set as the default.
 
Can't imagine I'll find any of them useful (or an efficient use of space) when I have three 24"displays on my desk... Then again I don't find them offensive either, still can't believe how out of hand the start screen hate has gotten. It's like a self fulfilling prophecy where people want every other MS OS to suck so they can avoid upgrading or something.

How do the Metro apps interact with multiple displays? I think I read the whole dynamic was much improved since the RC and they were easier to move around etc? I could see myself using one of the side displays for them eventually if something particularly useful pops up.
 
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I'm using Windows 8 on two displays at the moment, and will be using 3 once my 6990 gets back from RMA.

What I really like is the taskbar cloning across the screen. Having the same set of icons on each screen makes things a lot easier to get to.

Metro apps are easily dragged between screens now. Just grab the top, drag it over, and drop it.

One thing I really dislike is that you cannot keep the Start Screen up. If you pull up the Start Screen on one monitor, then click on the desktop on a different monitor, it'll minimize the Start Screen. There needs to be a way to keep it up, especially with the live tiles ability.
 
The taskbar stuff, wallpaper options, and nearly every other multiple display feature/enhancement that I've read about were mostly ideas copied from existing apps like Display Fusion, nice to have them built into the OS but long overdue... The exception seems to be those hard corners that make it harder to overshoot from one display to the next when mousing over to corner elements like the close button, that seems very neat.
 
Mostly desktop apps & games with the occasional Modern UI app every once in a while.
 
Impulse said:
Can't imagine I'll find any of them useful (or an efficient use of space) when I have three 24"displays on my desk... Then again I don't find them offensive either, still can't believe how out of hand the start screen hate has gotten. It's like a self fulfilling prophecy where people want every other MS OS to suck so they can avoid upgrading or something.

How do the Metro apps interact with multiple displays? I think I read the whole dynamic was much improved since the RC and they were easier to move around etc? I could see myself using one of the side displays for them eventually if something particularly useful pops up.
Click to expand...

I think it's like Tsumi said below you, you can easily drag between monitors. I believe one monitor can be split in 3 screens with 2 apps and one desktop window. I'm not really sure, I haven't had the chance to try out the improved multi-monitor part but I think it's a little like on Windows 7 when you drag a window all they way to the edge of your screen it adjusts it so you can view multiple windows at the same time. However, the metro apps actually integrate better with this.

They actually refined the dragging at lot on 8 plus you really need to use keyboard shortcuts if you wanna move around quickly. For example, ALT+F4 to close everything and show the power menu.

Not sure but I think I'll actually enjoy this new Windows.
 
Tsumi said:
One thing I really dislike is that you cannot keep the Start Screen up. If you pull up the Start Screen on one monitor, then click on the desktop on a different monitor, it'll minimize the Start Screen. There needs to be a way to keep it up, especially with the live tiles ability.
Click to expand...

I'm hoping this is fixed, too. That's one thing that I would love to have. Microsoft is rumored to have an update incoming for Windows 8, and hopefully this is one of the things that will be added.
 
I've tried a few. My opinion of them ranges from "meh" to "this is crap". To be honest, there just really isn't anything there that screams "must have!!"

The ones I use on any kind of regular basis are the Weather app, NetFlix and Solitaire. They work fine, but not anything I'd run out and buy a Windows RT tablet for.

I really hope the MS Store has more interesting things to offer on launch day, otherwise I'm afraid it's going to flop big time. They really needed to launch this with at least a couple of exclusive, must have killer apps, not rehashes of games people are already tired of like "Cut the Rope" or "Angry birds".
 
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maw said:
I really hope the MS Store has more interesting things to offer on launch day, otherwise I'm afraid it's going to flop big time. They really needed to launch this with at least a couple of exclusive, must have killer apps, not rehashes of games people are already tired of like "Cut the Rope" or "Angry birds".
Click to expand...

Yet, if it didn't have Angry Birds people would say "This is crap. Doesn't even have Angry Birds.".

It does need some killer, exclusive apps. Things that bring it into the limelight and make upgrading to Windows 8 worthy. Right now, you gain very little upgrading to Windows 8. But, if you had to have Windows 8 and the Windows Store for a certain killer program, people would upgrade just for it.
 
Ur_Mom said:
Yet, if it didn't have Angry Birds people would say "This is crap. Doesn't even have Angry Birds.".

It does need some killer, exclusive apps. Things that bring it into the limelight and make upgrading to Windows 8 worthy. Right now, you gain very little upgrading to Windows 8. But, if you had to have Windows 8 and the Windows Store for a certain killer program, people would upgrade just for it.
Click to expand...

Exactly. Nothing wrong with including Angry Birds, etc.., and yes, they are going to be expected. But the "me too" apps alone aren't going to convince people to buy a whole new device to get something they already have on their existing iPads or Android tablets. They need the me too apps in addition to their own exclusive, killer apps.
 
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maw said:
Exactly. Nothing wrong with including Angry Birds, etc.., and yes, they are going to be expected. But the "me too" apps alone aren't going to convince people to buy a whole new device to get something they already have on their existing iPads or Android tablets. They need the me too apps in addition to their own exclusive, killer apps.
Click to expand...

That tablet market is still pretty open, much more than say desktops, laptops and phones. And there are some killer features in the Windows 8 world at least. You can buy a device that works as both a laptop/desktop and a tablet. More expensive than mobile devices but if one still needs a laptop that separate tablet may not be necessary.
 
heatlesssun said:
You can buy a device that works as both a laptop/desktop and a tablet. More expensive than mobile devices but if one still needs a laptop that separate tablet may not be necessary.
Click to expand...

Really? You mean I can run regular windows programs on a Windows RT tablet like I can on a regular laptop? Oh wait, no I can't. Then how is it different from me just buying an iPod or Android tablet and bluetooth keyboard?
What does the Windows Store offer that is so compelling that I would want to get a Surface tablet?
 
maw said:
Really? You mean I can run regular windows programs on a Windows RT tablet like I can on a regular laptop? Oh wait, no I can't. Then how is it different from me just buying an iPod or Android tablet and bluetooth keyboard?
What does the Windows Store offer that is so compelling that I would want to get a Surface tablet?
Click to expand...

Acer Iconia W700. Microsoft Surface Pro. Samsung Series 5 and 7. All fully featured x86 tablets.

The RT tablets will be direct competitors to Android and iPad. Like any competing product, the one you choose depends on your personal preference. It's never bad to have more choices in a market.
 
Tsumi said:
Acer Iconia W700. Microsoft Surface Pro. Samsung Series 5 and 7. All fully featured x86 tablets.

The RT tablets will be direct competitors to Android and iPad. Like any competing product, the one you choose depends on your personal preference. It's never bad to have more choices in a market.
Click to expand...

But the Surface RT tablet is what I'm talking about. That's the one in the same competitive space as the iPads and Android tablets. As far as I know it only runs apps from the Windows Store, not win32 apps. So that's why I ask what does the Windows Store offer that is so enticing that I would choose a Surface RT over the other tablets? Where is the exclusive "killer app" that no else has?
 
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maw said:
So that's why I ask what does the Windows Store offer that is so enticing that I would choose a Surface RT over the other tablets? Where is the exclusive "killer app" that no else has?
Click to expand...

On the tablet side of apps, no there's nothing killer. However you can take a Surface RT device, hook it up to an external monitor, mouse and keyboard and have a desktop that very much the same as Windows 7 and use IE, Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote. That's a good deal of what a lot of people would even buy a laptop for and they also have a touch tablet.

Yes, Windows 8/RT hasn't gone on sale. Yes, there's not a lot of apps so if lots of apps are ones things then this isn't the device. But for a lot of people, as long as the basics are there, web browsing, eReading, music, video, social networking, that's all they are going to use. And it's not like everyday that there won't be lots of new apps for Windows 8/RT, Microsoft is investing a ton of cash to make sure that the app store gets populated quickly.

But Windows RT isn't the only option and that's what I was talking about. Bottom line, yes the app count is thin in the Windows Store space now, but that's probably going to change very quickly and if one is looking for just the basics on the tablet side for now or wants a laptop that can work just like a tablet, that's a new option that hasn't existed previously.

This is not a zero sum game and Microsoft isn't going to dominate the tablet space like it did the desktop, but it is brining a unique products to this market and they will work well for a lot of people.
 
That's the one usage case that I can see some of the hybrid Win 8 devices excelling at, being able to use it as a tablet, as a small laptop when docked (pseudo netbook really), AND as a full fledged desktop when at home... But they're really gonna need Haswell (at the high end, next gen Atom at the low end) and possibly Thunderbolt to make the last option a really slick/functional reality IMO. Such a system would be killer for college students, people with light workloads, etc.

I'm struggling to see a huge market for the hybrid systems that are debuting this year though. People want cheaper tablets, and in many cases smaller ones that are more comfortable to read on etc (I'm thinking of trading my 10" for a 7" personally). The market isn't screaming for $500-1500 devices that are more unwieldy than existing tablets (or similar at best) and can't really replace a laptop (at least not for anyone that requires one to do a few hour's worth of work, 10-12" just doesn't cut it, specially with crappy 1336x768 panels).

Win 8 is definitely about the long view tho... Even if sales are slow and the press condemns it and MS declares it a mulligan, they'll have laid fundation for a lot of better devices (and for a well received Win9, cause there's no way anything unseats Windows in 2-3 year's time). So even the worst case scenario paves the way, starts attracting devs, and puts them on their way. As cool and innovative as some of the hybrid devices coming out this year are, it's just the beginning IMO.

I'm still not buying the convergence trend where absolutely everyone will want a single do-it-all convertible tho. Pricing's gonna have to change a lot for me to prefer any alternative over a cheap/small $200-300 tablet + a high res 13-14" laptop. That's just me tho, and I do look forward to the alternatives
 
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I've been trying to use it in a virtual environment because our company tends to jump to the latest and greatest right away, so I know I'll be running Windows 8 at work by the end of the year.

I am surprised, but I like it. I have no need for the metro apps, and no need for the start screen, but it is different, yet refreshing??? I use keyboard and mouse and will always be in the desktop, but going to the start screen isn't as cumbersome, plus I've configured it to resemble what I traditionally see when I have things pinned to the start menu (I don't like pinning to the task bar).

It's forced me to become more of a power user...learning and using keyboard shortcuts and typing for searching for the programs I want to use. I also like the interface, the aero feel never caught on with me, so the stark contrast and bold colors is again visually appealing to me. I've been tyring to use office 2013 preveiw for various applications, however it seem to lag on my virtual machine, not sure why and have not had much time to mess wit it.

All the functionality is there, and again for me the "apps" won't provide much value to me within my work environment, however I do see corporate developing internal apps, which may or may not be useful.

All and all its new, and I'm ready to try it on my work laptop. With virtualization if I need to go back to Win7 or WinXP for various reasons it's easy and not a burden to me. Thankfully I'm not an "average joe" when it comes to computers.
 
Paully's5.0 said:
I also like the interface, the aero feel never caught on with me, so the stark contrast and bold colors is again visually appealing to me.
Click to expand...

I also love the new desktop look and feel. It's clean, functional and overall has a "snappier" feel to it.
 
I uninstalled all of the metro apps - full screen apps on desktops and laptops = highly irritating
 
99% of Metro apps are shit, all about consumption and that's it., I also will not be giving windows shit store my money. I already pay cocksucking MS enough money, Technet, MS partner channel and their stupid fucking cert tests which are more expensive this year. Ballmer can suck me off as far as I am concerned, I rather give my money to apple. Ballmer stupid Developers rant will be consumption, consumption consumption.
 
Wrench00 said:
99% of Metro apps are shit, all about consumption and that's it., I also will not be giving windows shit store my money. I already pay cocksucking MS enough money, Technet, MS partner channel and their stupid fucking cert tests which are more expensive this year. Ballmer can suck me off as far as I am concerned, I rather give my money to apple. Ballmer stupid Developers rant will be consumption, consumption consumption.
Click to expand...

I feel like you are holding back. Can you please let loose a little bit and tell us how you really feel? I mean, please don't use any restraint or mental reasoning...just let us know.
 
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