Hi, i was reading about the upcoming Windows 8. Even though i don’t regard Windows as an option for myself, it makes me wonder if Windows could be a game changer in many ways.
It appears that it is build like a smartphone OS in which you click applications that go off in kiosk mode.
Also touchscreen is a big thing that will appeal to a lot of people.
So in that sense i think that the approach taken by the Gnome team with Gnome 3 is a good step in the direction everyone is heading.
KDE does it too, which i use right now, the netbook mode.
I worry that Windows 8 will even more tie in consumer to the DRM world and restrict even more what you can do and don’t.
So Windows is out of question for me personally, but it is quite interesting to see where things are going. Especially since Windows is such a big elephant.
Surprisingly it will come out pretty soon (around a half year?).
Did you hear or read anything more?
Most what i am wondering is, what we can take home from Windows 8 as a Linux user.
Take home nothing. I just got an update from tech republic about the new windows 8. It is trying to be everything to anybody with no focus on being anything for anybody. Their UX replaces their UI which the experts say is a brave new step toward making windows work intuitively on tablets and windows phone while at the same time ruining the UI for the desktop and netbook users. Also gone will be the power of server only capability as the new touch GUI requires a full blown windows version. They site that even on the limited resource tablet and windows phone systems you will have a full blown windows system which they suggest will overload these devices with more apps and backbone than they are designed to handle. They concluded that M$ needs to gain focus and do things right by putting out two versions (cut down UX to better utilize the windows-phone/tablet market) and the standard block based style (minimum for server or full for desktop).
What I think we can take away from this is ‘don’t go down the road of trying not to offend anyone while actually offending everyone’
Windows 8 changes nothing; instead of a screen plastered with icons from the left hand side to the right, people will have icons covering the whole screen. Right from 2000 when I first encountered KDE, I loved the fact that you could do everything with far fewer icons and I love my desktop with a lovely view and a family photograph on it. I don’t want to have it plastered with icons.
My point exactly … you as one user like a desktop without all the side to side top to bottom icons. I too like my desktop to look like and react like a computer, what’s the point in having just a big rendition of my cell phone screen (which by the way I got rid of my cell phone because it wanted to be more of a cell-computer rather than a phone which is all I want it to do).
To be fair. You can still enable the classic desktop if you wish.
But it has, from what i understand, apps instead of widgets. I am not dismissing the idea, but it is a change from the classic desktop experience. My worry is more how much control i give up with Windows 8 compared to Windows 7 or even XP.
There is a trend to being seen here. Just recall Unity on Ubuntu and Gnome 3. It leads in the same way, although different approach.
Sorry but according to tech republic when they attended the preview seminar they were far from impressed as gone is all the classic stuff so that people with tablet or windows phone could not accidentally switch to classic view causing a hardware incompatibility issue. The speaker at the seminar apparently stated that now the desktop, tablet, and windows phone will function interchangeably and provide for a singular experience with the only discernible factor being the displayed size which will be different on each device. But just as with Vista and windows 7, there are likely to be changes from what they demonstrated in the preview seminar. Yes the seminar stated gone are all widgets in favor of dedicated apps, some will be free download but many more won’t be free siting a move to apples istore style of operation.
Cnet has a lengthy series of screenshots with write-up here is part of what they say …
We’ve already had our first taste of Windows 8 – Microsoft’s all-new operating system for touchscreen tablets and desktop computers. The software mega-corp’s been showing the new OS off at Computex in Taiwan, so we figured we’d talk you through the most important new features.
Click through the photos above to check out some screenshots – that up there at the front of the queue is the new lock screen, for instance.
Here’s the skinny: Windows 8 is essentially a large-scale version of Windows Phone, the slick and colourful OS Microsoft built for mobile phones.
Gone is the Start button, along with the taskbar and the traditional desktop (wave goodbye to the rolling hills of Bliss) – all replaced by mobile-style homescreens, which you scroll through with a swipe of the finger, or if you’re using a keyboard, the page up and page down keys move you around.
Every tile is a widget that displays information, in a similar way to Android. A tile could cycle through photos, for example, or show your newest emails or your Twitter or Facebook feeds, without having to open those apps to see what’s going on (as you do in iOS). Click on a tile and the app will open, running in fullscreen, without a system tray or window pane.
One interesting feature is a new style of on-screen keyboard, where the keys are split into two separate grids, placed to the left and right of the touchscreen, within easy reach of your thumbs. …
Have to check about that desktop thing.
But of course, the aim will be the new ‘touchable’ desktop.
From seeing the video, i think that this will be the new world for a couple of reasons.
with the right hardware it will attract people to it.
people are already accustomed with cellphone to interact between applications and the gadget.
it will make it easier to just do it
It will be interesting to see what Apple brings to the table. Of course this could be also backfire for Microsoft.
It think its exciting, but that doesn’t make me buy it. I just think that it makes the desktop experience more intuitive.
So i am not just nay on it, but credit it with a bold move for a desktop environment. There are some pro and cons about apps as well.
If i use the netbook environment on KDE, its presenting me with a traditional icon setting. And its more mouse interaction, although i don’t know if KDE has touchscreen option as well.
If a touch desktop will be becoming a reality, it makes you wonder how the desktops in the future will look like.
Windows 8 seems to basically say the cell phone interaction paradigm is the right one - the user will only use one app at a time, each application with be maximized when in use, and it’s all about touch-based interfaces.
Thinking about the typical user, that’s not too far from the truth. Maybe there’s music and/or chat in the background, but it really is one maximized application at a time. It’s power users that run the more complex ‘workspace for this, workspace for that, 50% opacity on my file browser so I can keep an eye on my CLI, 3 windows open in perfectly interlocking fashion’-type workloads.
The trend seems to be - ‘we sell more product to group A than to group B, so let’s best satisfy the workstyle of group A’. Personally, I need to learn more about the full breadth of Windows 8, but based on what I know at this stage and how I like my desktop machine to work…for now it seems the best part of Windows 8 will be lowering the cost of Windows 7. Still, the classic paradigm isn’t optimal for touch… so we’ll see who devises the best solution for workstations.
Now I don’t know what to think! Cnet comment says all ‘tiles are widgets’, and tech-republic says ‘gone are the widgets … each tile runs a predefined app’
As for a touch desktop, we have had the technology for well over 25 years. Price has been what has really come down. My first touchscreen was a 12" monitor fitted with a resistive membrane film that couple through a regular serial interface and acted just like a wheel mouse. The software was for DOS and took up two parts. The first part was used to calibrate display to mouse pointer limits. The second did the actual work of displaying image maps and handling finger interactions. When windows 3.0 came out a windows version of the software also came out (about 3 months later) but I have to tell you the early touch screen worked better in DOS than in windows.
In the video (the promo video) i got stated that unlike the phone it is multitasking still.
They even showed how to arrange different apps on the same screen.
I am not sure if Windows 8 is intended for use on a workstation, its obviously for consumers.
Also, technologies may existed already for a long time but does it matter. Just see what Apple did with the tabled. The technology was old, but Apple brought it to the masses.
It doesn’t matter in the end how you view it. If the masses adapt it, it will be the new norm.
Now i understand the personal view of things, but i think they way we use a desktop now might be not how we use it down the road. Before people used the computer with out a mouse. And then everyone used it. Its not quite the same, but it shows that people adapt to new technologies.
Keep in mind that i don’t wave here for MS but i think we will see more of this.
Btw, MS tried touchscreen for eons and perhaps finally they got it right. Is there maybe some code from opensource in it?
Windows 8 will probably fall flat for many reasons:
With its interface more touch screen in looks many might not like the idea and want classic style back, or at least the style of windows 7.
Touchscreens are still not practical for many people, with the economy bad and people probably jaded with Microsoft 8 will fizz out quickly
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>john_hudson;2348783 Wrote:
>> Windows 8 changes nothing; instead of a screen plastered with icons from
>> the left hand side to the right, people will have icons covering the
>> whole screen. Right from 2000 when I first encountered KDE, I loved the
>> fact that you could do everything with far fewer icons and I love my
>> desktop with a lovely view and a family photograph on it. I don’t want
>> to have it plastered with icons.
>My point exactly … you as one user like a desktop without all the
>side to side top to bottom icons. I too like my desktop to look like and
>react like a computer, what’s the point in having just a big rendition
>of my cell phone screen (which by the way I got rid of my cell phone
>because it wanted to be more of a cell-computer rather than a phone
>which is all I want it to do).
A possible alternative to packing a full desktop into a phone is to move
to cloud computing and thin client phones. Of course there are some
interesting privacy issues (and government snooping opportunities)
involved.
I never really understood how touchscreens could become so popular. Maybe it’s only me, but I don’t like to hide parts of my screen all the time just because I want to use the interface.
I wish there was a merger between two world. The touch and the keyboard world.
Most of the time i wish i can just select or underline with a finger or a pen on the screen. But at the same time still use a regular keyboard.
In a 100 years from now, i am sure you will be able to just talk to your computer without touching anything. Just like in StarTrek.
“Hey computer, where are my files of project bimblejuice?”
“But Dave, i can not let you access those files.”
