Windows 8 Will Be Available Oct. 26th

heatlesssun said:
What do you want it to do?
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In KDE, I have it configured so that the active window is the window that the mouse cursor is over. In addition, clicking on a window does not bring it to the front (you have to click on the titlebar to raise rather than just anywhere on the window). I can have a small window overlaying a bigger window and access the bigger window without having the small window disappear (such as if I have a web browser window on top of a word processing window for say, doing research).

I have never found a way to do this in Windows. The closest I found was a program called TXMouse but that doesn't work properly with Windows 7 (there are numerous unfixed bugs with the new taskbar involving parts of it that have incorrect window hints).
 
wonderfield said:
As for 'clutter', the appeal of a decent virtual desktop implementation is that it actually reduces clutter. I have a desktop that's just a text editor. Another just for a web browser, an IRC client and a mail client. Another for the file browser and an FTP client. I can switch between the apps and I'm switching between desktops (so I don't need to worry about what app is where). Each app is assigned to a certain desktop, and they always open on the desktop I've specified. I no longer need to manage the windows, where they are, whether they're visible or not and so forth, and that reduces a lot of clutter and the frustration windows management entails.
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This sounds a lot like Win+Number keys. And I'll take multiple monitors over virtual desktops all day long. I understand that some people swear by virtual deskotps for efficiency and if that's what works for someone great, it's not like Windows can't do it and I have in the past and with multiple monitors and actually using things like Windows+Numbers keys, meh. And I'm bouncing between programs constantly, hell even on my tablets.
 
Yeah - on the one hand there's all this angst about full screen only applications and having to hot tab between them, and on the other there's all this complaining about how windows doesn't hot tab like multi desktop users are used to... which to me is a lot like hot-tabbing between applications. I've never really understood the need for multi desktops. Folder groups on the taskbar for applications, or pinned to the start menu. Especially with win7's start bar where the windows open for any pinned application is live-previewed. I'll hate it if that's gone on the Win8 non-metro desktop.

I mean, how many fracking things CAN you do at once? There's no such thing as multitasking, just bitesized serial mono-tasking.

BB
 
The main problem for Windows 8 is that we haven't got the same level of disgust we had for tired old XP and the need something better to replace it.

Vista was okay but a disappointment for many so the change to install a more streamlined and performant version of Vista (Windows 7) was a breath of fresh air. Plus the public Beta made it feel like a more community event. It felt like MS was listening to users and delivering what they wanted.

We'd waited nearly 10 years for a worth successor and we got it in 7.

Now three years later we have the successor for 7 (kinda) and its largely not required for most of us, has changes that hardly anyone asked for or wanted and it appears that MS is definitely not interested in listening to users this time on the beta.

It's like MS served up the most delicious banoffee pie with Windows 7 and has now followed it up with 8 as a cheese plate consisting of a couple of soft broken crackers and some mouldy cheese.

"Excuse me waiter?...I didn't order this!"
 
Given the cheap upgrade price, and the under the hood improvements, I'm willing to deal with the odd UI changes.
 
daglesj said:
Now three years later we have the successor for 7 (kinda) and its largely not required for most of us, has changes that hardly anyone asked for or wanted and it appears that MS is definitely not interested in listening to users this time on the beta.
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Microsoft's biggest Windows customers are it's PC OEMs and they have most certainly wanted Microsoft to develop a tablet capable OS. It's defiantly a bigger deal to them than built-in virtual desktops.
 
heatlesssun said:
Microsoft's biggest Windows customers are it's PC OEMs and they have most certainly wanted Microsoft to develop a tablet capable OS. It's defiantly a bigger deal to them than built-in virtual desktops.
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Yet there is Acer etc. all bitching about MS and its new Tablet OS and hardware.

Hmmmm.

Mixed messages much?
 
daglesj said:
Yet there is Acer etc. all bitching about MS and its new Tablet OS and hardware.

Hmmmm.

Mixed messages much?
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Well of course PC OEMs don't care much for Microsoft creating the most interesting and anticipated Windows devices ever. But at the same time as long as Microsoft keeps the supply and distribution limited and prices relatively high I think the OEMs can see the benefit as well. If Surface is well regarded it will I think help to spur interest in other Windows 8 tablets as long as they aren't crap.
 
heatlesssun said:
Microsoft's biggest Windows customers are it's PC OEMs and they have most certainly wanted Microsoft to develop a tablet capable OS. It's defiantly a bigger deal to them than built-in virtual desktops.
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All Microsoft had to do was fix the half-assed touch implementation in Windows 7.
 
Monkey God said:
All Microsoft had to do was fix the half-assed touch implementation in Windows 7.
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But there's more to it than that. Touch enabling the Windows shell is only a tiny piece of it, there also need to be touch enabled apps. And while that's possible on the desktop, the Windows desktop is simply not well equipped to handle touch and physics based applications, not like mobile platforms of today.
 
heatlesssun said:
But there's more to it than that. Touch enabling the Windows shell is only a tiny piece of it, there also need to be touch enabled apps. And while that's possible on the desktop, the Windows desktop is simply not well equipped to handle touch and physics based applications, not like mobile platforms of today.
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Thats included in the "fix the half-assed touch implementation."
 
bboy said:
Not I. Windows XP, FLP and 7 will be the last versions of Windows I ever use. If Microsoft gets their head on right for Windows 9 I may reconsider but until then my main desktops will be Mac OS X and Ubuntu. Microsoft can thank themselves for driving me, a Windows user since WFW 3.11, away.
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So, because you do not like Win8, you instead spent about 1500 on a new machine instead? Seems like priorities are not your thing, eh?
 
I'm not buying Windows 8 at the special upgrade price nor shortly after it comes out. I'm satisfied to let others be the first adopters this time around while I wait. I'll probably check out the RTM bits on a trial license basis. I'm not sure how long I want to wait, be it for an SP or two or for Windows v.Next/9.

I held off on XP. I bought a new computer when Windows Vista came out, and I bought Windows 7 upgrade early. I'm certainly willing to be wrong on this, but I don't see what's to lose by waiting (and being wrong on Windows 8). I don't see that early adopters and pre-release fans have much to lose either by buying early or possibly being wrong.
 
Is it me or does it feel like Metro is a shit ploy by MS to get you use to the fugly WinMo so you go out and buy the shitastic Nokia phone..

Thanks I will stick with my Droid.
 
Wrench00 said:
Is it me or does it feel like Metro is a shit ploy by MS to get you use to the fugly WinMo so you go out and buy the shitastic Nokia phone..

Thanks I will stick with my Droid.
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Metro is a direct attempt to enter the touch enabled market. Phones, tablets, etc.
I just wish there was a way to skip it, and that things people use on regularly on laptops, and desktops, were not stripped out so that MS could carry on with it's idiotic belief that one gui works best on every device fantasy. Win 8 is a damn good OS, or it would be, if they restored a few things, and made the Metro UI an option.

Not just resisting change here, I hardly resisted Vista (once the third parties had drivers for it), or Win 7 at all. I am resisting change that does little to benefit me.

While I might like the direction the surface pro is taking touch screen ultrabooks, I am not really in the market for an ultrabook, i will almost certainly stay with Android on the tablets I buy as toys, and will stick with regular desktops and laptops. I will either have Win 7 on those, or a heavily modified so that it works like Win 7, Win 8. I don't foresee me having much use for the Metro UI itself, at all. Oct. 26 is going to come and go relatively unnoticed by myself. Much like how the Xp launch went, (there was little reason to leave 98SE for games or 2k/Nix for everything else, for the first 2-3 years Xp was out.), there is little reason to leave 7 for 8 on the desktop, or laptop. And the third parties are already at work fixing Win8, so that may change, and who knows, MS may give the option themselves at some point.
 
GORANKAR said:
Metro is a direct attempt to enter the touch enabled market. Phones, tablets, etc.
I just wish there was a way to skip it, and that things people use on regularly on laptops, and desktops, were not stripped out so that MS could carry on with it's idiotic belief that one gui works best on every device fantasy. Win 8 is a damn good OS, or it would be, if they restored a few things, and made the Metro UI an option.
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So the Start Menu and button are gone. But I use Windows 8 on laptops and desktops and there's not one thing that I've found that I can't do on those Windows 8 machines that I can do on them with Windows 7. With Windows 8 I see better boot times, better overall performance and ease of use enhancements to file backup and failsafe storage. And there's some Metro apps that I like using on the desktop, Sure, not for a lot productive tasks, but I do spend a lot on PCs for fun and I like to enjoy my PCs as well do work on them. People keep saying all sorts of things are missing from Windows 8 but I'm certainly having tremendous difficulty finding many things that are gone, anything that I use much.

GORANKAR said:
Not just resisting change here, I hardly resisted Vista (once the third parties had drivers for it), or Win 7 at all. I am resisting change that does little to benefit me.
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And this will always be a challenge for a widely deployed and popular product like Windows, not everyone will like it. Windows 8 benefits me enormously as I use Windows tablets and have for years and love having the same power and flexibility on my tablets as my desktops and laptops,

GORANKAR said:
While I might like the direction the surface pro is taking touch screen ultrabooks, I am not really in the market for an ultrabook, i will almost certainly stay with Android on the tablets I buy as toys, and will stick with regular desktops and laptops. I will either have Win 7 on those, or a heavily modified so that it works like Win 7, Win 8. I don't foresee me having much use for the Metro UI itself, at all. Oct. 26 is going to come and go relatively unnoticed by myself. Much like how the Xp launch went, (there was little reason to leave 98SE for games or 2k/Nix for everything else, for the first 2-3 years Xp was out.), there is little reason to leave 7 for 8 on the desktop, or laptop. And the third parties are already at work fixing Win8, so that may change, and who knows, MS may give the option themselves at some point.
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Just a general observation. There's obviously a lot of people are saying "Because Metro is being 'forced' in Windows 8, without a way to make Windows 8 like Windows 7 Microsoft just lost sales from me". If that's the thought process and one already has Windows 7 Microsoft probably wouldn't have many upgrade sales from this crowd to begin with no matter what Windows 8 would have been.
 
I am looking forward to it myself. I have been using it on all my machines and very much enjoy it so far. (It is cool coming across something you did not know before like file history.) Also, I am looking forward to new, stable drivers from AMD and all the bug fixes and Metro apps that will be out for the RTM.
 
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