

Windows 8 Welcome Screen And Windows Explorer Screenshots Leaked - dkd903
http://digitizor.com/2011/04/03/windows-8-screenshots-leaked/

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raganwald
Well, I'm sure _eventually_ there will be something to chew on. But for now...
Reading about the ribbon feels like reading that the next Cadillac will have
chromed tail fins again. Intensely interesting if you're thinking about buying
one, but not particularly _actionable_.

Which is an interesting counter-point to the Windows of so many years ago: The
entire industry worked on a calendar dominated by Windows releases. Apps would
be upgraded on that schedule. PC purchases would spike on that schedule.
Hordes of apps would become extinct overnight as Microsoft built their
features into new releases of Windows.

But now? As a developer, what does a new release of Windows mean to me? What
does a new release of Windows mean to startups? Come to think of it, what does
a new release of Windows mean to Microsoft?

Can Microsoft count on taxing their existing customer base in the form of
upgrade revenues? Specifically, incremental upgrade revenues (people upgrading
to Windows 8 that wouldn't upgraded to Windows)?

Obviously the thing will sell to OEMs and so on, and Microsoft will claim huge
wins from corporate customers upgrading, but are we going to see another bit
of sales jiggery-pokery where most of the revenue would be money Microsoft
would have made anyways?

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iuguy
Quick question - what are the killer features that you would want to see in
Windows 8?

I can't think of any. While Windows XP was getting a bit old (in terms of age)
it did pretty much everything you'd want from an Operating System and some
security weaknesses aside (which as someone working in that field matter to
me, but may not to others) I struggle to find what, other than shininess and
less reboots on major changes Windows 7 brings to the table. Likewise, Windows
7 is so 'good enough' I can't imagine what features would possibly make me
want to upgrade. Anyone got any ideas?

~~~
TillE
Exposé. Virtual desktops.

A massive overhaul of Windows Update that turns it into part app store, part
package manager. I want a Debian-like system where it's easy to add my own
sources, and everything on the system is updated with one service.

~~~
code_duck
So, you are anticipating features that have been in other operating systems
for years?

~~~
gavinballard
I get quite annoyed when I read comments of the "hah, [X] has had [Y] for
ages!" variety in response to questions like this, as I don't believe they are
particularly helpful or address the point.

This isn't a question asking for comparisons between Windows and other
operating systems - it's looking for sought-after features (whether
implemented in another OS or not).

Responding otherwise always seems to end up in a fanboyesque argument (see
commentary on this recent TC post on desired iOS5 features devolve into an
Android-vs-Apple flamewar: [http://www.mobilecrunch.com/2011/04/01/10-things-
that-simply...](http://www.mobilecrunch.com/2011/04/01/10-things-that-simply-
need-to-be-in-ios-5/)).

~~~
code_duck
I"m not saying any of that at all. My point is that probably, there are more
exciting things to hope for in new versions of Windows. Or, perhaps as others
have stated, there really isn't much to be excited about. All of the major
desktop environments do everything a user wants, and it's really unlikely MS
will do anything majorly innovative, bold or disruptive in terms of interface
in the next version of Windows.

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lordlarm
Difficult to say if this is a April-fools joke, but if not, here is my
thoughts.

I hope Microsoft does not apply the ribbon UI to all their future programs as
it takes a lot of pixles and makes the menu messy and complex. The
minimalistic side of me would hope for more shortcuts and _one_ place where
you did settings/preferences for a program. I believe Mac OSX has done this
very good with their system preferences panel and globally accessible cmd+','
shortcut in order to get to the preferences of current program.

And what is up with that background picture?

~~~
timerickson
I will agree with you that OS X Preference windows are easy to natigate and
often have very apt UX for various types of preferences.

However, the menubar system (File, Edit, View, etc) as it currently stands is
in much need of improvement. How many times have you hunted for an
action/preference in the menubars to no avail? It's rows and rows of text with
no visual feedback for various types of actions.

The only improvement of late has been the addition of a live "search and hunt"
(by that I mean, type in a search keyword and it will hunt it out of the menu
and point to it).

~~~
cubicle67
_How many times have you hunted for an action/preference in the menubars to no
avail?_

not sure which OS you're talking about, but in OSX all menus are searchable
via the help menu (top entry in help menu is a search field. type here and it
will highlight matching menu items in any menu)

[Edit: this video shows what I 'm talking about
[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sOoOvIqiWe0&feature=playe...](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sOoOvIqiWe0&feature=player_detailpage#t=25s)]

~~~
ams6110
I find it easier to locate things in a well-organized system of menus than I
do on the "Ribbon" where everything is just sort of in your face. Countless
times I've stared at the ribbon for minutes trying to find what I want to do,
only to suddenly spot it and realize it was right in front of me all along,
but because it's so busy nothing stands out.

My number one peeve with MS is the Ribbon and if that becomes global in
Windows 8 I'm finished with the platform.

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thirdsun
I hope this isn't even close to the final design. With their Metro UI on
Windows Mobile 7 they took a big step into the right direction - an all-flat,
simple, clean interface that got rid of all those shiny, glossy elements. Why
wouldn't you stick to that approach when it comes to your flagship product?
Especially given the fact that Windows Mobile 7, despite lacking in certain
features, received a lot of praise for their original and well executed UI
philosophy. Additionally this is a chance to unify the interfaces of the
desktop and the mobile OS.

Some may say that this interface doesn't work on the desktop, but have you
seen the Zune software? It looks clean, original, simple, yet very modern and
substantial. That piece of software should have been the template for the
whole operating system.

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jackvalentine
Some kind of incentive program to stop OEMs loading new PCs up with crapware.
Most importantly, Microsoft Security Essentials installed by default thus
removing the need for Norton/Mcafee/whatever. Sure they might get a bit of
"anti-trust" flak for it, but it would be worth it to the end user.

I do student laptop support for a university at the moment, while I won't be
doing it by the time Windows 8 comes out it'd be nice to think my sucessor on
the job doesn't have to wade through tonnes of default installed junk to
connect to the university wireless.

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51Cards
"The Windows explorer has also got a lot of new stuffs - mainly the inclusion
of ribbons. Ribbons was first introduced in Microsoft Office 2007 and in
Windows 7, it was used in other applications such as Paint, WordPad etc. The
Ribbons UI makes it possible for users to notice features much more easily
than the old menu based system.

No doubt some people will complain about the change. However, I believe that
the Ribbon UI is quite a good and refreshing replacement for the old menu
based system."

So to summarize:

IE9: "We have the cleanest UI out there, more space for content, less UI!
Streamline!"

Windows Ribbons: "Show it all to the user! Less space for content, more UI,
expose every option all the time!"

And we wonder why Microsoft is conflicted. (yes I will admit to being a
'Ribbon Hater')

~~~
iaskwhy
You know you can just double click on a tab of the ribbon and it will hide,
right? I'm a sort of ribbon lover by the way! :)

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mhiceoin
Just not buying that this real. Why would they reuse Windows 7 wallpaper, and
return to NT style login. It is a repost from: <http://www.withinwindows.com/>
looks like they enjoyed the traffic too much to let it go, as a follow up
reveals more detail:
[http://www.withinwindows.com/2011/04/02/windows-8-secrets-
wi...](http://www.withinwindows.com/2011/04/02/windows-8-secrets-windows-
explorer-ribbon/)

~~~
jackvalentine
Are you referring to "press ctrl-alt-del to login" as NT style login? This
style is still in Windows 7 if you set your network up like that.

~~~
encoderer
Sorry, didn't mean to hit "down" arrow, meant to mod-up :)

You're entirely right, that's a domain-policy option. It's a security feature
to require a Ctrl+Alt+Del before showing a password box.

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lovskogen
I think Microsoft will move Windows towards Metro, as Apple moves OS X towards
iOS. Which is good, since both Metro and iOS are both less tech, and more
human.

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callumjones
Where do Microsoft hire their designers from? How can one of the richest
companies in the world not be able to hire crack designers to actually produce
something more than a glossy tacky UI.

Or is Microsoft so engineer/developer focused that they let the engineers
design the interfaces that normal every-day people will use.

And if Windows 8 is supposed to be the touch friendly OS from the ground up,
why are they still relying on Ctrl + Alt + Del and implementing that god awful
Ribbon UI across the board?

~~~
jganetsk
> why are they still relying on Ctrl + Alt + Del

That's a security measure. No application can hook into Ctrl + Alt + Del...
the OS always handles it. This way, a malicious application can't phish you
with a fake login screen.

If they were to pick another key combination to reserve for the OS, they would
break backward compatibility.

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Qz
That ribbon is taking up _way_ too much space considering 80% of it is
disabled.

~~~
estel
Considering how massively pre-alpha the software undoubtedly is, I'm not about
to leap to conclusions.

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elvirs
I would love to be able to have full customization of folders and navigation
structure on my windows pc. things like 'games' 'searches' 'links' etc. that
nobody (I've not seen one) uses annoy appearing in start menu and all other
places eating up screen realestate and making it harder to use. And actually
its really hard to get rid of them if not possible. You keep deleting them
from various dialog boxes and they some of them keep coming back making it
feel like you trying to kill a zombie that keeps coming back with one organ
less each time.

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kbd
Can anyone else _not stand_ the ribbon UI? It drives me nuts. If ribbon UIs
are going to be even more pervasive in Windows, I'm even more glad I switched
to Mac.

~~~
aantthony
The ribbon UI to me is like those websites where you have to hunt for a link.
I can't stand it either.

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start123
Here is the original post with more Pictures

<http://www.withinwindows.com>

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makecheck
Lousy use of space is something that turned me away from Windows from the
start, and they are still wasting space. Worse though, it is harder to find
alternatives that don't; even Mac OS X these days has more and more iTuneseque
apps that fill a huge display without adding much. I think I was happiest with
Window Maker on Linux or Solaris.

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sagarun
The screen shows "Friday April 1", April fools?

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rtaycher
Ribbon on explorer is a bit weird but better then then win7 no menu, weird
context sensitive button bar.

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timparker
What a mess, so much clutter still going on. Doesn't look like a very pleasant
or easy UI to use.

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swah
That's a huge menu! Respect!

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sliverstorm
I wonder if they'll continue the pattern they've set so far- Win95 => Win98SE
: Win2000 => WinXP : WinVista => Win7

The OS changes on a more fundamental level every other release. (At least,
this is how I see it)

So does that imply Win8 is likely going to be another 'rewrite' (not that they
necessarily start from scratch)?

P.S. Yes, I am ignoring WinME.

~~~
code_duck
That's what they've done with NT for the past 4 releases, yes. 2000 was the
first NT5, XP was the second. Vista was the first NT 6, Windows '7' was the
second. The actual version numbers of Windows, unlike the marketing names,
reflect this release style.

~~~
judofyr
Actually, the reason WinXP is 5.1 (instead of 6) and Win7 is 6.1 (instead of
7) is for "maximizing application compatibility":

[http://windowsteamblog.com/windows/archive/b/windowsvista/ar...](http://windowsteamblog.com/windows/archive/b/windowsvista/archive/2008/10/14/why-7.aspx)

~~~
Joeri
Ah, but they care about maximizing application compatibility more for some
versions than others. Will microsoft care as much about app compatibility for
windows 8 as they did for windows 7?

~~~
code_duck
They sure don't care about IE 9 being compatible with XP. Breaking third party
software and hardware is more of a pain, though, as Vista proved. That was
most of the problems they had with Vista, but I guess they _are_ over that
hump at this point.

