Comment by bobsy | Hacker News Reader

Comment by bobsy | Hacker News Reader

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Windows 8 looks great for phones, tablets and hell the XBOX doesn't look too bad either.

However... PC's need productivity. The current way Windows 7 works provides that just fine. It is easy to find and launch programs. You can open up many programs at once and instantly jump from one to another.

You can see everything you are working on. Its nice.

Metro doesn't appear to allow this. I really don't see why you would use Metro in a desktop environment. Enterprise won't pick it up. They won't want to retrain their workforce to use something completely new.

There is no reason to buy Windows 8 if you are happy with Windows 7. Windows 7 was an upgrade for Vista. Vista was an upgrade for XP. Windows 8 is a completely new OS. Its a different product.

Packaging Metro with Windows 8 desktop editions is fine. However the classic desktop view should be the default. You can then switch to Metro if you want and sync that up between devices or whatever. I get the unified interface across devices. I just don't get why Microsoft thought it was a good idea.

Metro doesn't appear to allow this. I really don't see why you would use Metro in a desktop environment.

I'm not convinced that MS wants you to- hence keeping the full desktop environment. My impression is that they're preparing Windows for a future where phones, tablets and PCs are entirely converged (sharing data between all) and the desktop is less relevant. We're not there yet, but when we are, MS will be in a great position to cover everyone's bases.

Where are you getting this crap that the Desktop is gone on Windows 8, or that it's soooo difficult to enter, that it might just be impossible.

Boot Windows 8 up in Desktop Mode. Make a settings change. Or select it as default on install.

Microsoft is not dropping the desktop or the enterprise. They make an enormous amount of money from that market and work-flow.

It seems fairly obvious that Microsoft is anticipating single-device computing and getting out in front of it.

A cell phone that can drive HDMI still needs a nice UI for the little touch screen. Apps that run everywhere might not be perfect everywhere, but it is still a nice feature.

(Perhaps 'single-device' is the wrong description, but the barriers to running the same environment everywhere are shrinking, not growing)

You're basically saying Windows 8 looks good on tablets, ok on Xbox, and terrible on desktops. This why I've always thought that you can't shoehorn a single interface and UX on every single form factor, from 4" to 40". If you want "optimized" interfaces and not shoehorned ones, then you will make a different UI (though you can maintain similarities) for each form factor - the best one for that form factor.

Tiles look awesome on WP7 and on the tablets I've seen. But this desktop looks awful: http://thenextweb.com/microsoft/2012/06/05/windows-8s-proble...

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