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Comment by hanifvirani | Hacker News Reader

What's new in Windows 8.1 can be found here: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/dn140266.aspx

"Improvements have been made to better support users who prefer a mouse and keyboard experience to access applications."

That's pretty strange wording and makes it sound like desktop users are an afterthought compared to mobile devices.

I wouldn't agree. I haven't tried it recently, but I tried Windows 8 in a VM on a Mac Mini when it first came out as a preview release. I found it enjoyable even with just a keyboard and mouse. I could navigate the start screen extremely rapidly, not only via Win key-search, but using the arrow keys to traverse tiles. I came away thinking Metro struck the right balance between touch-only and traditional interfaces.

I used it in a pretty limited and less typical fashion, however. I did some development to port an AIR/AS application written on OSX to Windows. (We needed a native installer and creating a Windows installer required the Windows SDK, and WORA is always a lie, so extra dev was required. So instead of requisitioning a Windows box, I thought I'd try out Microsoft's latest and greatest for free.) Edit: Also had to do some Java development, same setup, different command-line SDK.

I used little more than TextPad and the command prompt (free version of SDK = no IDE), and didn't really use the Metro apps much. Except maybe IE to search for stuff. So I did spend more time in the desktop view. However, the time I spent on Metro was definitely enjoyable.

Another thing that impressed me was that it was still pretty smooth despite running in a VM on a pretty underpowered Mac Mini. It was nowhere as smooth as the Ubuntu VM I also had, but I expected W8 to be significantly more bloated.

I wouldn't agree. I haven't tried it recently, but I tried Windows 8 in a VM on a Mac Mini when it first came out as a preview release. I found it enjoyable even with just a keyboard and mouse.

Wow. I love how you disagree, but then go on to point out you are anything but an expert or regular user of it, and only used a preview, which isn't even the same as what we real users are using. Let me say, as someone that uses Windows 8 every day it is horrible. It pisses me off regularly. I've detailed it here:

http://envoy510.wordpress.com/2013/07/19/windows-8-worst-win...

Well, I did use it regularly for about 3 - 4 months, and since it was a preview, I assumed it would only get better.

Third link to your blog post in this thread. You've posted more anti-Windows 8 stuff here than anyone else- so by your own logic I am forced to assume you are an anti-Microsoft paid shill.

Woah, as you've said elsewhere there are plenty of people who do disagree about the utility of the start screen for use with kb+mouse. Personally I've found it just as, and indeed more, efficient than the start menu.

Well, that was one of the chief complaints.

They were.

They were in Windows 8. The theory was everyone would use touch, so touch first, mouse/keyboard second. Far-sighted, perhaps.

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