yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[Windows 8 General] theangi:
In my opinion Metro will be very useful mostly because of the search feature. Now if I want to open any application I just have to press the windows key and type the first 2/3 letters and hit enter, in a nicer view and faster than w7. The fist week it was... unusual, but now after some month of daily use I can say that's very nice. And for those who can't handle it, it could be disabled so it's like using w7 with ribbon interface in every window. ;-)

Sent from my Nokia 3310
[Windows 8 General] deth4uall:
Windows is just trying to be mac again, and look what they did last time they did that? Windows Vista. It is fast and good to use, IF you don't have to use the horrid Metro start menu. If they were to get multi touch trackpads like macbooks I would say that I would definitely look into it further but I tested it out and wasn't impressed like I thought I would be.
[Windows 8 General] Abuuu:
Windows 7 is good enough, ppl are still using xp and dont want to change.
[Windows 8 General] Strike_Eagle:
Well said. Cover pretty much what i think about Windows 8 and Metro.

Also have a good point on pointing abou the idea bout using the widgets without having them covered up our wallpaper, i have never thought about it.
[Windows 8 General] Seketh:
I usually use that argument against Android. If they want to have even half the information a Windows Phone user gets, they have to fill their screen with widgets, which ends up becoming a wallpaper with random stuff on top.

On Metro, you have the information right there, and the different tiles are your "wallpaper".
[Windows 8 General] telep:
I tought that we are talking about pc os not phones, so i dont understand why you bring android. My desktop looks like this and i dont need stupid blocks on my desktop to show me twitter and facebook updates. They could make some pop up window for notifications like on osx not to take my whole screen, plus u dont use pc for same stuff like phones, because pc is for doing serious stuff, i think that biggiest fail of win8 is that is dummbed down to look like phone os.
[Windows 8 General] Strike_Eagle:
Because this is what you said. And No, it could be your taste is different, but Sale of Windows Phone is going up.
[Windows 8 General] ohgood:
Were there sales numbers released by microsoft ?

I've seen percentages of growth claimed, but never a number of units from an official source. Please link !
[Windows 8 General] Strike_Eagle:
They never actually release a chart.

But they announced that both during MIX 2012 (last year) and During CES Also.

There is an article that Nokia makes a jump in Finland after Lumia was released.
[Windows 8 General] Award Tour:
I fully expect two things to happen between now and the retail release:

1. Touchpad gestures, think edge swiping for app switching, etc.

2. A avalanche of touch enabled mouses like the Microsoft Touch Mouse. If you ever used it, you know that it could handle a lot of the gestures in W8 really well.

I of course ball so I got three displays, two 1080p's stacked vertically, Envy 17" 3D (SB i7, 16GB, 120 SSD + 1TB HDD) display on top and the bottom one being a 23" touch display plus a 24" 1920x1200 to the side titled in portrait used mostly for design purposes. A slim keyboard on a sliding tray with a MS touch mouse next to it, plus a Wacom pen/multi-touch tablet next to the touch screen. I'm ready for Windows 8. I have an overkill of input devices but I bet 1 of them would seal a great W8 desktop experience.
[Windows 8 General] link68759:
Well on windows phone, the untampered "wallpaper" is the lockscreen picture :D

Arguably available on android as well, though not vanilla and probably not stock, I forget if sense brought over that feature from WinMo.

Here is a prime example of the ignorant hate poster I was talking about. What's dumb about live tiles? Why is a particularly exemplary system considered 'dumb' just because it was on a phone first? Also, read my last post, I think you'll find that rather enlightening.

Also, judging by your picture you wish you had a mac don't you? Go get one, there is plenty of room in the Apple community for people such as yourself. :D

Rather than attacking your obvious "the world revolves around me" approach to this, I'll address something that will benefit others reading this: you have missed the entire point of tiles. A popup notification demands your attention and distracts you from your current work. You might ignore it and get to it later, but nonetheless it still distracted you for a second; something that is very detrimental to a productive workflow. You might not be able to appreciate the significance of this yet, but trust me, it's important. If you don't check the notification right away, you might forget about it entirely... experiences vary per person obviously, but the fact of the matter is that most people will respond in some way to an active notification, completely forget about them, or be unable to focus on what they were previously working with because the unanswered notification is looming over the back of their mind.

Live tiles on the other hand are rather passive in function. You must consciously choose to look at them; the information is aggregated on one place, spread out in a wide, easily accessible format. The notifications in tiles aren't going anywhere, and you aren't notified the moment they arrive. Thus you may work in peace, uninterrupted. Time permitting, you can then check a whole number of notifications in one slot of time rather than at random points in time in your use of the computer. What I'm trying to get at here is that the human mind is bad at multitasking; it generally detracts from performance, and regular popup notifications divide your concentration. Tiles are an elegant answer to incoming data that doesn't necessarily demand your immediate attention (an instant message would perhaps warrant a regular notification for example, since people expect you to reply in a timely fashion). This is why I love windows phone; I get more done in less time, since I'm not constantly pulling out and putting away my phone for each and every individual notification. Moreover, this practice saves battery life.

This passive system isn't entirely new or unfamiliar; I'm sure users of IRC will appreciate the fact that you don't get notified for every message unless someone explicitly wants you to be notified. I generally prefer IRC because of this... I can segment work and periodically enter conversations, rather than the back and forth demand of regular messaging clients.
[Windows 8 General] benjoid:
Maybe it wouldn't be so butt ugly if they allowed you to have a wallpaper and semi-transparent tiles.
[Windows 8 General] Award Tour:
The funny thing is that his desktop is much uglier than Metro. Plus he'll probably be able to keep the same ugly desktop in Windows 8 if he wants. Metro is just a touch launcher plus a new ecosystem of apps.
[Windows 8 General] telep:
And how do i use touch launcher on my laptop and desktop? You find this nice and beautiful? Where do you see wall here, wall will be cluttered with block, only 30 % is wisible.
[Windows 8 General] Award Tour:
1. The dockbar only fits a handful of shortcuts. This fits more even in the limited "first look" viewing area. Plus the dock STILL exists.

2. The old startmenu was a maze of non visible sub menus. This is more simple.

3. Desktop can be cluttered and doesn't provide anywhere near as much context as the metro start page.

4. Start keyboard key > type out application name. The fastest way to do things.
[Windows 8 General] link68759:
I bet you that'll be the first third party customization metro receives; transparency over your desktop, or maybe set a custom picture and transparency over that. Don't forget Windows operating systems get a LOT of 3rd party customizations and tweaks.

Have you tried the developer preview yet? I'm starting to think you just looked at a picture and are now talking your mouth off without A) having tried it and B) knowing anything about how it works.

You start out in the metro screen, and you can press the windows key to switch to the regular explorer desktop. This is where your wallpaper is, it is 100% visible... it is the same old desktop from every iteration of windows; that's not going away. I don't think you read my earlier post like I told you to: I explicitly stated that metro is an additional feature that does not replace any previous feature from 7. Since it doesn't replace anything and only *adds* to the operating system, you cannot logically say the system is "dumbed down" since no previous feature has been removed to make for the one you happen to dislike.

So on a laptop or desktop computer, you will spend 90% of your time in the explorer desktop interface, since that is what normal programs use, and what normal programs will continue to use. Now, you can press the windows key at any time to bring up the live tiles, look over them, poke around a few "apps", etc. On a tablet or one of those newfangled touch laptops they showed off on CES, you'll probably be spending more time in the metro interface with the apps instead of on the desktop part with programs because it's touch friendly and the laptop is meant to be portable.

Like Award Tour said, you can just start typing and it will switch to an app list view (which is just the start menu shortcuts, not live tiles), and select/launch whatever you type. This is identical to the behavior of the 7 start menu, so no they did not remove the start menu's search function. Also this is one of the things I was talking about when I said it was easier to visualize what you have installed; in this app list view (again this is where you see the shortcuts of programs installed that get sent to the start menu), the entries are fullscreen, and larger than in 7; you can both see more of them at a time and you can quickly get at the one you want with either a finger or a mouse. I personally hate 7's start menu... they made it so visually cluttered you were forced to use the search feature and it was a hassle to just view what was installed... easier to just go look at the 'add or remove programs'.
[Windows 8 General] Strike_Eagle:
You fail.

What you were looking at, was the Start Menu of Windows 8, don't try to be smart when you haven't actually used it yet.
[Windows 8 General] telep:
No you fail, i know that i can use standard desktop, but he said that metro is touch launcher, so my question is how to use "touch launcher" on desktop and why is that important on desktop pc (i know i can use mouse)?

Im done, because you are a WP7 fan and you defend metro because you like it , on the other hand i dont. For you metro is something good for me it is totally opposit, and i will use classic desktop if they dont lock that option in final build.
[Windows 8 General] Strike_Eagle:
I have said that thing like multiple times.

It is your OP, i don't blame it. Everybody has different tastes. But don't think that the world circle around you.

I have my own OP about other OS, but i am not a hater , i don't go to other forums and post bad stuffs about it.

PS: Everyone, Socialite now is usable ( but need to be hacked a little bit)
[Windows 8 General] NairobiWP:
Exactly. Metro is a clean, modern and efficient design that is devoid of the "chrome". Microsoft made a daring move to keep moving forward and not end up like RIM or many of the relics that litter the tech highway (Kodak anyone?). I WANT my computing UX to be consistent across my phone, laptop, gaming console, tablet and yes even my Car. Don't be be blind to the future, it's happening right now.

To all those whining about how Windows 8 will be a failure WITHOUT spending any time on the Consumer Preview (which HASN'T been released), you my friends need something else to go and do. I suggest that you take some time and head over to WinSuperSite.com and educate yourselves, before spewing incorrect facts as the Truth.
[Windows 8 General] PinkDroyed:
Im posting from a windows 8 development preview pc right now and its just windows 7 with crap all over it. Theres a hack to disable the ui tho and the os itself does have a couple nice features. Hardly a big breakthru tho.. And i agree the metro crap is just in the way really. And the new logo sucks lol
[Windows 8 General] xenoposeidon:
Kinect to control PC? I dont think so...
[Windows 8 General] benjoid:
For desktop: widgets > tiles > icons.

Widgets look so much nicer than tiles. Metro is like the wireframe mockups that were given to the Microsoft executives and they thought it was the finished product.

If Microsoft insist on using Metro over widgets, I might like it better if they: -

1. Put the taskbar underneath Metro

2. Had a full screen tile on a Metro page for icons (i.e. a desktop tile)

The current separation between Metro and the desktop feels soo disjointed to me.
[Windows 8 General] dazza9075:
Lol, perhaps its disjointed because ITS A TECH PREVIEW, or more accurately a proof of concept. I can understand if people do or do not like what's on offer, that's personal choice but please people, have an open mind, if you go in hating it you will spend the whole time looking for things You don't like an miss the good stuff whilst you spend rest rest of your time time blindly believing that XP or Win 7 is the pinnacle of personal computing and totally ignore the fact that even these OSs are flawed in some way too!! Be open minded and wait for something that will even remotely look like an RTM, such as the customer preview program!
[Windows 8 General] benjoid:
I know it's a preview. I'm saying it is disjointed because it is disjointed and at this time, I can only base my judgement on what has been released so far.

I'm giving my thoughts on how Microsoft could solve that problem in future releases, by integrating the taskbar and desktop into Metro and thus avoiding flipping between Metro and the Desktop. Have one page (if "page" is the correct terminology?) with a desktop tile. Swipe (or whatever) and you are into the first page of regular tiles.

If Microsoft don't receive constructive criticism, what is the point in them releasing a preview!?

I did say tiles and widgets are better than icons, which we have in Windows 7 didn't I! Chill ;-)

***EDIT***

Actually what would be better than having a desktop tile, would be to just have the taskbar under Metro, then show the desktop when you mouse over the taskbar, and show Metro when you mouse off the taskbar without clicking a program/start menu. Problem solved!
[Windows 8 General] Liamm:
will be ok when people get used to it I will just have to invest in a new touch screen
[Windows 8 General] link68759:
Nah this doesn't work either. Metro is purposely separated from the desktop because programs/desktop does not interact with metro/apps. If your mouse leaves the taskbar and metro activates, that would break pretty much *everything*. Can't interact with the desktop, can't multi task, can't move windows, etc.

A desktop tile is a huge waste of space; only one application, one set of data, entire screen? More or less useless. Moreover that would break the ability to set a wallpaper (unless you want to add a third layer; explorer / metro / big tile)

Additionally the taskbar is an element of the desktop so it would serve no purpose in metro, unless they made a metro-taskbar for the purpose of displaying what metro apps are "running". But this in itself is useless too, since the apps are made to be frozen in the background, thus allowing you to have a great number of apps "running" and very quickly overfilling a taskbar so as to make it useless because of clutter.

From your suggestions to improve it, I think that you just don't fully understand how the system works and thus perceive it as unfinished (though the developer preview is clearly unfinished, the design / end goal of metro is *not*). You mentioned that the experience was disjointed; well that's how it is supposed to be; this is by design. Every "program" ever will run as expected but the new metro "apps" are quite different. Tiles and their related apps are essentially all built off of one template, a template that emphasizes speed, efficiency, touch friendliness, etc.. you cannot seamlessly integrate metro into the desktop portion without breaking the template. The separation helps keep consistency and efficiency and all that junk by making the environment a little less flexible... whereas the desktop is very flexible. two separate entities, and any attempt to make them "less disjointed" would destroy all that metro stands for. But I appreciate you having an open mind and not being a troll :)
[Windows 8 General] ohgood:
Your summary makes it sound even more like an unneeded redunancy, that isn't quite redundant, similar to apples dashboard. Placing a widget on a desktop is a very nice thing to do without switching to a completely different ui (dashboard/metro), and works very well. Hitting a hot corner to "splash in" all the metro widgets/tiles would make more usability sense.

Maybe I'm just too used to os ten, and fondly remember the speed / simplicity of xp ? After attempting to find wifi settings in vista I knew it was the new ME, and wondered if 7 was the new XP. Now, with 8's already controversial dual GUI's, I wonder if 9 is the new 7 to wait for?
[Windows 8 General] kainppc6700:
That's what I was thinking. Good call.

- 2B
[Windows 8 General] link68759:
I understand what you're saying but you don't understand that metro isn't just widgets, that's only a portion of what it does, and like I said it's a separate UI element from the desktop so that the template can remain untampered.

Moreover keeping it separate from the desktop allows for one to get in/out quickly without having to "show desktop" / minimize all the windows, and then there's the issue of having a wide desktop (metro scrolls horizontally to fit many tiles).

Just remember that touch friendliness is probably the biggest reason metro is segregated; if tiles were on the desktop, you would not be in a completely touch friendly isolated environment, and that's bad design for tablets. Beyond that, I guess it's just personal preference if you like it or not for a desktop without touchscreen... I personally like the segregation... besides, I think they're trying to keep the desktop as unchanged as possible to as to avoid breaking any compatibility with existing software, and to avoid confusing people who don't want to learn a whole new interface (separated keeps familiarity).
[Windows 8 General] benjoid:
I didn't mean for Metro & Desktop to interact; I was thinking more like using Metro like a sort of screensaver role (like that "light OS" HP uses on its laptops for instant internet access). If Microsoft have 100% separation between Desktop & Metro, I can see probably the majority of people switching it off on a desktop PC pretty much straight away.

My last laptop had Windows Media Center on it and I soon switched it off. If it interacted with the XP Desktop I might have used it, but with 100% separation I had absolutely no reason to use it over what the 100% integrated Window Media Player had to offer.

On reflection, I thought a desktop tile wouldn't work very well :)

I understand. I say it looks unfinished because of the ugly flat colour visual styling of Metro. The visual style looks like when a website has an admin section made and it doesn't get involved with aesthetic considerations because the public won't see it. The Android Market *cough* Metro *cough* styling looks like a step in a nicer looking direction of tiles.

But how can it be speedy and efficient if it doesn't handle multitasking very well?

I need to rapidly move between many programs at work, dreamweaver, Firefox, IE, Photoshop etc. If it isn't as fast as the Desktop ALT + TAB switching, surely its not as speedy or efficient?

I'm skeptical, but open minded :)

Is Microsoft looking to replace the Windows Desktop environment in future Windows iterations or is there always going to be two 100% separate systems in future Windows versions?
[Windows 8 General] ohgood:
nevermind, found something interesting. :-)
[Windows 8 General] benjoid:
Oh ye god no! I think the high gloss button look is a done to death Apple/PhotoShop 101 too ;)

I'm talking about a bit of subtle designing. Like comparing http://screenshots.en.sftcdn.net/blog/en/2011/09/metro.jpg with http://www.charleshudson.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/Screen-Shot-2012-02-24-at-8.56.53-AM.png. I mean like the subtle gradients and mono "watermarks" on the Editors Choice and special offers tiles. Or the left border on the righthand side column of this screenshot: http://mobilegamebuzz.com/wp-conten...een-shot-2011-07-13-at-5.17.46-AM-300x499.png. Plus a decent font like on the Market screenshot makes it look a lot nicer. Then I'd like to see how a tiny almost transparent/unnoticeable drop shadow on the tiles would look.

I don't like the garish colours used in Metro also, but like you say, I sure themes will let you dull them down a bit.

Yep, seen that and I like that on a mobile OS too. Not as good as webOS cards and stacks, but HP well and truly cooked the goose on that one :(

Good, long live Desktop! :) (and I'm not an Apple fan either) ... although you have heard of the New Coke disaster I'm sure...so big companies can do stupid things ;)

If Microsoft put Metro on desktops like HP did with their light OS, i.e. as a quick boot OS to nip on the Internet, which went away when I loaded Windows Desktop until I rebooted the machine, I'd be ok with that. If it keeps popping up like the "Updates need you to reboot your PC" nag box I would probably turn it off.
[Windows 8 General] randomblame:
They actually made it worse than the last preview. Using a mouse to control this is like trying to drive a car with a tv remote. There should at the very least be an option to go back to the standard desktop environment without a hack and completely be rid of the metro interface - the start menu should do what it has always done in that case.

This operating system requires a touchscreen to be useable - I say that because no one is going to want to use it without one it's painful. They are marketing this as a replacement to windows 7 and 90 percent of the computers running windows 7 do not have touch screen functionality. This is going to be their biggest mistake ever. Forget windows Me and vista. This could kill microsoft and I don't say that lightly. I imagine they will have to quadruple their support staff to deal with the poor saps who purchase this and can't figure it out.

Mark my words there will be a windows 7 downgrade program just like the vista to xp program. Unless microsoft requires a multitouch display on new systems shipping with this and does not sell boxed retail versions it's gonna be a flop. They need to manage this very carefully and market it as a niche product like media center was in the olden days.

More thoughts:

This is a mobile operating system and shouldn't even ship on notebooks or desktops in my opinion. If I'm on my tablet on the couch and I'm just browsing and consuming data it's fine. When I sit down at my desktop I mean to get some work done. One open app at a time pisses me off, I know alt tab but I like to be able to move windows around, see what's open in my start bar, and I have two screens. This is designed for media consumption and nothing else. It's like they're trying to turn my desktop into a CE device. This is not an internet appliance it's a WORKSTATION I don't care about twitter and facebook updates I want a REAL desktop environment that is intuitive and multitasking friendly. If microsoft wants me to buy another version of windows in the future they will spend time building me a windows 2000 for 2012 - I'm not alone in this there are billions of dollars in the hands of IT departments world wide that agree with me!

This is the opposite of their windows mobile problem, they tried to put a desktop interface on a mobile platform and now they're trying to put a mobile interface on a desktop platform. It's crazy!