Microsoft Previews Windows 8 with Cues from iPad and App Store

[xxBURT0Nxx]

You can put lipstick on a pig but, at the end of the day, it'll still be a pig.

Put all the window dressing you want, it'll still run horribly like Windows 7, Vista, and the rest of them.

windows 7 runs pretty good.. what are you talking about?

 

[ct2k7]

You can put lipstick on a pig but, at the end of the day, it'll still be a pig.

Put all the window dressing you want, it'll still run horribly like Windows 7, Vista, and the rest of them.

Windows 7 doesn't run horribly... nor did Window Vista.

 

[Steve121178]

This is insane. Microsoft has no respect towards user experience for their customers. This seems like a dying act to get some attention. How can you go from Windows 7 to this. This is a HUGE, RADICAL, INSANE change. It's almost as different as switching from PC to MAC. User interfaces suppose to change gradually to something better with one goal on the horizon. How does Microsoft expect a 50 year old to switch to this completely new way of thinking.

I'm sure Gramps will be ok with the desktop version of Windows 8. You people do know that this is just the tablet/touch screen version, right? RIGHT..?

 

[Steve121178]

You can put lipstick on a pig but, at the end of the day, it'll still be a pig.

Put all the window dressing you want, it'll still run horribly like Windows 7, Vista, and the rest of them.

If your judgement tells you that Windows 7 runs horribly, then by the exact same logic, OS X also runs horrible.

You argument is laughable.

 

[xxBURT0Nxx]

Windows 7 doesn't run horribly... nor did Window Vista.

vista was actually very terrible and quite a resource hog. I agree about win 7 though

I'm sure Gramps will be ok with the desktop version of Windows 8. You people do know that this is just the tablet/touch screen version, right? RIGHT..?

umm no this isn't the touch "version"

Did you miss the part where they said ONE version of windows for all devices (tablets, desktops, laptops, etc.)??

 

[Dustman]

Windows 7 doesn't run horribly... nor did Window Vista.

While I agree Windows 7 actually runs great, Vista did run horribly. I'm not on the trash vista train, I'm speaking purely from experience. I was an early adopter and file copying operations were like a quarter of the speed compared to XP, not to mention Window refreshing when moving windows around was horrid. It did get better with the reliability update they pushed out a few months later, and ofcourse when hardware got better, but it WAS bad, compared to XP anyway. I feel like Windows 7 isnt actually any faster, it just came out on 2009 hardware instead of 2005 hardware.

On a side note, while i like the new eye candy in windows 8 (it sure is purrdy), it seems like an OS with an identity crisis.

 

[Lennholm]

Microsoft has a curse where every other OS is failed to be doomed. Windows ME and Vista are good examples because 98>Me>XP>Vista>7>8. 😉

Yeah, they all failed miserably and MS is now on the brink of bankrupcy... The only "curse" MS has with every new OS is people like you being pre-determined to hate it. "Failed to be doomed" (or did you mean "doomed to fail") is only in your assumptuous minds.

 

[djpaetkau]

Maybe it's just me, but I feel like that just looks horrendously ugly to me. I've never had the slightest interest in WP7 and its tile interface, and bringing that interface to Windows 8 is the furthest thing from appealing.

Also, if every application I have has a tile... does that mean I'll have to scroll through nearly 200 tiles to find the application I want? What about if I just want to open a document, do I really have to scroll through to the correct application and then open it once the app is open?

I've always loved my Mac and mostly just put up with Windows anyway, and while I'm sure I'll give this a shot when it comes out, for now you can count me as giving up on Windows.

 

[2499723]

This new operating system has no business being on a computer with a mouse and keyboard. It's great for a tablet, as it even gives you a full OS to work with (which is more than iOS devices can do). However, when I use my desktop PC, it is usually for very specific programs that would not be very useful if they had a mobile UI. I'm thinking things like Photoshop, Handbrake, Quark and other much smaller third party apps with very niche purposes. It's why I have a Windows desktop and maintain a Boot Camp partition on my Mac. If everything goes the 'touch' route too soon, we'll lose our useful third party application, particularly older ones that don't receive regular updates.

One final point, which has already been raised, but which I wish to reiterate: If I want to use just the 'flashy' interface, do I have to cycle through tens of screens just to find my applications? Plus...what about obscure applications that have old, pixellated icons? Are they going to have a flashy new tile or are they going to be a solid colour with a crappy pixellated icon in the middle, or simply the name. Sometimes Windows Registry doesn't even recognise the applications I have installed. It's one of the main reasons Windows 'Game Centre' doesn't really work. It only sees about a quarter of the games I have installed on my system. I use Steam just to keep my games (both Steam and non-Steam) organised, because Windows does such a terrible job of it. I can see this being a problem for the new Windows 8 interface.

 

[johncarync]

Getting it to run and having a good user experience can be quite a chore and at times impossible with an older machine, depending on the specs. There are problems with sleep mode, not coming out of sleep mode, features that won't work or work properly etc.

It's not whether Windows 7 will run on a 5 year old machine... it's that who would spend $179 for a copy of Windows 7 for a machine that old?

It wouldn't even be worth it to put a cheap OEM or upgrade copy of Windows 7 on a machine that old either.

If you're still running an old XP machine... you: a) are fine with it.. or b) will wait to buy a new machine that will come with Windows 7.

I have to be honest, these justifications are foreign to me being a Mac-only user. I was surprised to read these explanations. So Windows users don't upgrade their OS because it's a hassle, it often doesn't work, and it's not worth the money?

Now I understand why my PC friends who have switched to the Mac always call me before upgrading their Mac OS--they're afraid of what might happen. My reaction has always been one of confusion. I say, "You don't need me. Just pop in the DVD and click the install button...what's so hard about that?" They don't seem to trust me when I tell them this.

We have over 50 Macs where I work they range from 5 years old to brand new and they are all running Snow Leopard. Upgrading a Mac's OS is a cost-effective way to speed up a machine, gain more features, and keep current.

If upgrading Windows is such a nightmare, I can see why PC users opt to just buy a new computer. I guess Windows 8 will be a success simply because it will ship on all new PCs starting some time in 2014.

 

[AidenShaw]

Looking forward to these 2 aspects.

UEFI, makes me regret spending £1,400 on a Laptop with a BIOS.

And pictured below, the same app running on ARM and a regular desktop.

The same app recompiled for ARM running on ARM.

It's not the same binary, but it could easily be the same source project. (Microsoft's Visual Studio supports quite a few different architectures (x86/x64/IA64/ARM and in the past MIPS/Alpha/PPC).

 

[walangij]

This looks like an interesting update, but lets hope it's not just an added layer on top of Win7. Its already easy enough to setup rainmeter to look like that with using very few resources. For example

full res
I will admit that the GUI is refreshing.
I'm starting to get really excited to see Lion next week.

 

[Jookbox]

Aesthetically it looks nice. It seems to be consistent with a lot of Microsoft's newer designs - Zune desktop software, Phone 7, Xbox Live. There's something about the lack of rounded corners and drop shadows that I like about it.

 

[viperGTS]

And here i am thinking that Apple would be the first to have its mobile OS completely take over its desktop one. 🙄

 

[cmChimera]

This is actually getting pretty positive responses. Surprising, since it seems so ill-suited for the mouse/keyboard and power user desktop and laptop world.

 

[inlovewithi]

This is what I don't like sometimes about the article on Macrumors. I've been reading about this since last night and never did any of the articles mention anything about Apple, ipad, etc, but how it takes some things from Windows Phone 7. But here they add "Windows 8 is said to have been influenced by the iPad," which sounds like a comment made by a friend of whoever wrote the article, and they decided to put it. Just put in there so rile up a couple of people here.

 

[inlovewithi]

its pretty ironic that Microsoft is turning to ipad and its flawless touch screen interface, I guess they are very envious about the tablet they could had it. Since i left windows from vista I have never used windows 7 and I doubt i will taint my macbook and imac with windows 8, looking forward to the new os x though.

See, a comment like this is what I'm talking about. How an article, can influence a person. Now some people will go on for years how Windows 8 is a copy of IOS.

 

[AppleScruff1]

Wait...

First they tried to say that their Windows 7 worked perfectly fine for tablets (which is of course wrong).

Now they have designed an UI that is clearly designed for small touch devices and want to tell us that this works for computers just as well?

Did I miss something or is it safe to say that these people are totally confused? 😛

You missed something. Maybe you're confused?

Windows on a tablet? I think I finally have a reason to buy a tablet. 😀

And so will a lot of other people.

Plus, "Fresh" does not mean "good".

I could see users flipping through apps trying to figure out what the heck they have running. It could be a mess if there's no "home base" (desktop) to come back to. IMO you need something that is a known location so you don't get lost in the UI.

Good point about the home screen.

And everything will work old and new together, touch screen or mouse. That's the point.

Exactly.
You have to understand that when you are dealing with some Mac users there is no logic or reason. They can't grasp such a difficult concept.

 

[Lennholm]

So funny to see how people who normally complain about MS copying Apple now is in the mindset of "If it's done differently from how Apple does it, it won't work".
And who said this is influenced by iPad? More influenced by their own WP7 obviously. Is it the idea of integrating concepts from two different types of os' into one, synergy? Not a revolutionary idea no matter who came up with it first and you can't copyright mere ideas.

 

[Rodimus Prime]

In the US 1/3 of Windows users are on Windows 7 and 1/3 are still on XP. The rest are using Vista and other OS. I wonder if Windows 8 will grab Windows 7 users first or the XP and older people?

Snow leopard is the dominate OS X used. OS X overall is around 15% market share last I heard.

one big difference is MS supports their older OS compared to Apple that as soon as a new one roles out they pretty much drop all support for it forcing you to update. It is very safe to say that Apple does force obsolete in its OS.
I laugh because older Windows PC can support and run iTunes than Macs. It is very sad.

 

[yg17]

Like anything Microsoft do... Who actually cares..

Obviously you cared enough to read and reply to this thread.

 

[Lennholm]

Interesting, HTML5. Could this be another nail in the Flash coffin. Is another major OS abandoning Flash?

No, as I understand it, this means HTML5 will be natively supported ny the OS itself, that you don't have to have a browser to run HTML5 apps. MS isn't abandoning Flash, they never supported it in the first place, just like they don't support any 3rd-party software that can be installed on the os.

 

[AppleScruff1]

Like anything Microsoft do... Who actually cares..

You do. And so do all the Mac users. They fear Microsoft for some reason.

It most likely would run - but one might need to upgrade the RAM. Some budget video cards might not work, so you might need to upgrade those as well.

I check Fry's May 12 2006 sale, and virtually every system there would work as long as the 1 GiB RAM requirement is met.

In that ad, the MBP was a 1.83 GHz Core Duo with 512 MiB RAM and an X1600 graphics. The Imac had the same specs. Bump the RAM to 2 GiB, and these would be good Windows 7 systems. Not as snappy as a Core i7, but fine.

Windows 7 System Requirements




Agree if "older" means 6 to 10 years old. Five years ago was when the Core Duo was the headline CPU, and 3+ GHz Pentium 4 was the standard CPU (from Intel). Adding RAM would be important, since Win7 should have at least 2 GiB for good performance - and 512 MiB seemed to be the norm for mid-2006.

I was thinking in the 6-8 year old range.

I'm sure Apple will copy it...

Apple will probably sue them, that's the modus operandi today.

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Copy what? Copy more complexity, more cruft?

This is the same old Windows. The same baggage with a layer over it.

Apple's approach is completely the opposite. And it's the one that actually works.

You must be getting very scared. You're looking over your shoulder all the time now.

Please, the power of OSX is not just the polished UI. It is the power of Terminal, Darwin, POSIX, PLUS the polished UI. Windows can make the best UI in the world but they can never get back into the herd of quality OS's because of deviations they made early on.

Windows 7 is a quality operating system. There are a few hundred million satisfied users.

Even if you don't like to hear it, Windows is a quality OS.

Mac weenies don't like to hear anything about competition. They are too narrow minded to accept anything that not made by Apple.

Steve Jobs was right to say that the iPad changes everything...

He was also right when he said chipped beef on toast gives you diarrhea.

 

[CommodityFetish]

Microsoft backs HTML5 + Javascript !

The big news to me is that MS is backing HTML5 + Javascript apps, rather than Silverlight, Flash, proprietary iOS, etc. These apps will be cross-platform, not tied to one platform be it Microsoft's, Apple's, Google's, etc.

What a concept! This is great. 🙂

(Also, good to see UEFI replacing BIOS for the windows users. That will have to make its way into Bootcamp, and hopefully make it easier to dual-boot Linux as well.)

 

[Lennholm]

one big difference is MS supports their older OS compared to Apple that as soon as a new one roles out they pretty much drop all support for it forcing you to update. It is very safe to say that Apple does force obsolete in its OS.
I laugh because older Windows PC can support and run iTunes than Macs. It is very sad.

It IS sad. When I worked at AppleCare I had a lot of customers frustrated because they had to buy a $129 upgrade to 10.5 for their 4 year old PPC MacBook just to be able to start their new iPhone 4, while if they had skipped switching from their 2002 Win XP PC to that MacBook they wouldn't have to buy anything additional.
A lot of customers got angry because suddenly now their iP4 became a lot more expensive than they expected and all I could do was refer to the system requirements and apologize that whoever sold them the iPhone didn't mention this.