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Comment by glimshe | Hacker News Reader

I'm enraged by the new UI where you can't have multiple instances of the same application side-by-side in the taskbar. It's one of the things I hate in chromebooks, which Windows decided to adopt as their only (non hidden) option.

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Yeah you're not alone there, the stupid idea that windows now needs to be fully tablet capable without a keyboard to the detriment of everyone else using it normally. Literally making the interface less informative and adding clicks, waiting and gestures to achieve actions that should've been a single point and click.

I call it the "BIG BATAN" ideology, as everything needs to be a clean oversized button without any extra options or functionality. Stupid mobile OS features creeping into desktop for no good reason.

I swear if MS eventually removes the don't group fallback I'm finally ditching Win for KDE and never coming back.

This is especially ridiculous when seeing how few tablets are sold by Microsoft, despite them try harding for a decacde or so.

I have used/owned old HP Tablet PCs that ran Windows XP Tablet PC Edition, and one of the bigger Surfaces. The HP with XP was a better experience. Windows 10 on the surface closes the on-screen keyboard after every change of focus from one input field to another. It doesn't open the keyboard automatically. And the Surface's battery swelled up and popped the case open.

I'd actually like a modern pen-enabled PC, but they seem to be getting worse at software (and batteries!) over time. And when I'm at a desk with a keyboard, mouse, and large monitor, nothing else from MS beats the classic 2K/XP (7's okay too) UI.

  > I swear if MS eventually removes the don't group fallback
  > I'm finally ditching Win for KDE and never coming back.

Exactly the switch that I did - get this - in 2005. And I never went back. Even in multiple software development roles, having to interact with Word- and Excel- using colleagues, and having "UX experts" sending me Photoshop files, KDE has pulled me through.

I have been using KDE on-and-off since 2001 before switching fully in 2005, and in all that time KDE has had a single disruptive UI switch, going from KDE 3 to KDE 4. The upgrade to KDE 5 went all but unnoticed.

Yeah, I hated this too. I've been using the 7+ Taskbar Tweaker program[0] to change this behaviour and I honestly couldn't imagine using Windows without it at this point.

[0] - https://rammichael.com/7-taskbar-tweaker

I think it might be application specific behavior? Because I can for example have multiple instances of the modern calculator app and they show up side by side in the taskbar. But I cannot have multiple instances of the modern alarm app, it just focuses on the already open instance.

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