Microsoft Previews Windows 8 with Cues from iPad and App Store

[Starship77]

Man... I was LOVING it until I saw the windows 7 interface underneath... :/ I wish microsoft was brave enough to simply abandon all that old windows 3.x icon-based paradigm and shift to a completely new interface based on this "tiles" thing. It would be AWESOME... sigh...

Too bad apple is not doing that either... I mean, Lion is cool, but is not that big of a change from Snow Leopard as it could be. Maybe in 10.8

 

[kiljoy616]

Looks good can't wait to see it in real team to see if it really works just as they demo'd it.

Nice to see Microsoft finally doing more than just copying.

 

[*LTD*]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPad; U; CPU OS 4_3_3 like Mac OS X; en) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8J2 Safari/6533.18.5)

It's just a layer, folks.

 

[ArchaicRevival]

I'm glad to see Windows branching out and making something a little more original, but at the same time, I never liked the UI of the Windows Phone 7 and I just couldn't figure out how to use it by simply taking the device and playing around with it. I found myself having to google how to do this, how to do that, etc...

I definitely like iOS better and OS X a lot better because things are simple, and when you hold any Apple device the UI is so friendly that it really doesn't take a genius to operate. And I've only had a Mac since 2009-2010 so not even 2 years just yet, but it was the best switch that I made, and I don't think I'll ever find myself using a Windows computer anymore. I'm too used to Mac, and for the things that I do on a computer, it's enough for me...

But I guess everything is subjective!

 

[Jason Beck]

I like this idea because I would shoot tethered to my tablet and dump RAW images onto the tablet and be able to have fully functional Lightroom on the tablet if I need to do editing on the spot. The ability to also have a mirrored setup on the home computer is nice too.

I have been waiting for a fully functional desktop replacement tablet that actually performs well. I know you won't be doing more than 2 threads on it in Lightroom, but I think a Windows 8 Tablet would be good for in-field editing. I need something like this. An iPad with eye-fi is an option, but I also jumped ship from Apple to get more bang for the buck in a processing station I built. (See sig)

I am 100% behind MS for giving me a fully functional OS on a tablet. I can shoot with eye-fi to the tablet and then do some Lightroom work or Photoshop Full even. None of this express crap. This is just my two cents as to what I would need a fully functional tablet for.

I understand Apple in why they made the iPad. I don't understand why they didn't put complete OSX on it to compete in the netbook market as well as the tablet market. People still buy netbooks for the full OS functionality on the go. I see Apple releasing an iPad or something in the future with desktop/tablet OS for both, mirroring eachother. Makes app switching, file transfer, device communications, everything, all that much easier.

Saying that the iPad cannot handle OSX is foolish. I hackintoshed a Dell Mini to run OSX and it was very snappy. Especially with an SSD. The iPad has a dual core cpu? I am sure they could have slimmed OSX down and made an iPad version. OSX on the go is amazing on a Dell Mini. Cramped at times, but was worth it when I had it. There is a niche there to be filled Apple, get on it before MS beats you there : ).

 

[kiljoy616]

You clearly haven't used Windows Phone 7. It's at least as fast as shown in this video on a weak mobile phone processor. A full desktop processor will have no problems doing what is shown here.

And exactly which Phone 7 are you using? Please do tell us.

 

[Jason Beck]

Granted they have fully functional Windows 7 tablets now that I can do this on. But, the UI is crappy. A pain to use. Next gen Windows 8 Tablets look promising.

 

[sporadicMotion]

Pretty interesting... the windows UI looks out of place in a tablet environment. Clean that up and I think it's pretty good.

 

[NAG]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPad; U; CPU OS 4_3_3 like Mac OS X; en) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8J2 Safari/6533.18.5)

It's just a layer, folks.

And if Kinect interface on the Xbox 360 is any indication it will be a very thin one. I think Microsoft should be praised for at least trying a new direction. I really like the promise of things like Kinect but the execution was completely lame (e.g. Netflix Kinect interface).

At the end of the day Windows will probably still have things like the registry and the touch mode will be a thin facade to sell tablets to people who purchase using a check list instead of actually using the device (e.g. I want touch and Adobe Lightroom but won't bother to see if the result is me pulling my hair out). And don't be fooled, putting a touch interface on a keyboard and mouse computer is almost as foolish as the other way around. Apple can get away with gestures because they've shipped computers that can read them for years. Microsoft? Not so much.

 

[Lightey]

*Facepalm*.

Microsoft.

Windows is not a mobile OS. DO NOT MAKE IT ONE.


I hate companies that do this, like seriously, I'd rather we just have flip phones and regular computers than this crap, I'm sticking with Windows 7.

Congrats on your new Vista, Microsoft.

 

[SeattleMoose]

Extrapolating From Past Experience....

It can predicted with 99% certainty that Windoze 8 will be.....AN EPIC FAIL!!!

 

[*LTD*]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPad; U; CPU OS 4_3_3 like Mac OS X; en) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8J2 Safari/6533.18.5)

Remember Aston Shell for XP?

It's the first thing that came to mind once the video hit 2:20.

 

[jprocha]

Looks interesting. I'm imagining this paired with Xbox Live and Kinnect when it comes out. Voice commands will probably be a big part of this OS. It's fun for companies to be daring and try something. It will be funny to see how Apple's OS is in comparison at WWDC. Seems like all tech companies are really working on innovation these days.

And for those who hate touch interfaces... it is pretty much guaranteed to replace traditional input devices. I'm thinking a combination of touch, voice, and motion controls with a bluetooth keyboard and mouse for certain tasks when needed.

 

[kockgunner]

This is for people who said that tiles look complicated and it would take time to find appropriate app to launch, compared to how easy it is to find an icon.

The reason why it is easy for you to find appropriate icon is because you are used to it. Every single iOS is the same, it's icons. Of course after 3 years of having same icons over and over the screen, you will get used to it. I am sure if you are to have tiles on a device for that long, it would be easy to located needed app too.

And where are the cues from ipad? There is nothing, absolutely nothing that is similar to the iPad. How the hell can tiles and icons look the same? I wish some people would just put their fanboyism aside and see that Microsoft did a fantastic job on it. And being able to snap on different windows to side of the screen is the best feature on Windows and absolutely blows away anything other companies offer. Win 8's type of snapping looks even more fantastic. I can't wait to try this one out, although I will replace my Xoom only after Win 8 and MeeGo hits tablets.

And it's pretty clear that this type of UI will be for tablets, while old school Win UI will stay on desktops. Why would a giant like Microsoft shoot themselves in the legs by substituting good old desktop UI for tiles on full machines.

I completely agree. I'm really surprised at all the anti-Microsoftism in this thread and even in other blogs. This interface looks really neat and I like how Microsoft isn't afraid to do something completely different. It really shows something to those who say "how else are you going to design a tablet interface with many apps?", doesn't it? The snap feature is really intuitive and the animations are extremely fast (granted, they are running it on a desktop right now). The only thing that's jarring is how it resumes to Windows 7 and how they haven't really rethought that part of the OS. But this is a very fresh, but powerful approach to a tablet interface.

 

[mr_matalino]

Looks forced. It appears that microsoft is pushing touch too hard on non-mobile devices. This is exactly what Steve Jobs said wouldn't work...touching the screen on your computer.

Perhaps some promise for mobile devices...

 

[NAG]

*Facepalm*.

Microsoft.

Windows is not a mobile OS. DO NOT MAKE IT ONE.


I hate companies that do this, like seriously, I'd rather we just have flip phones and regular computers than this crap, I'm sticking with Windows 7.

Congrats on your new Vista, Microsoft.

This is part of Ballmer's Windows everywhere initiative. He wants full Windows on tablets even though such devices really aren't able to run a full OS. So they seem to be fixing it by putting a thin veneer over the top so the tablet experience isn't like driving nails into your fingers.

 

[*LTD*]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPad; U; CPU OS 4_3_3 like Mac OS X; en) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8J2 Safari/6533.18.5)

This is for people who said that tiles look complicated and it would take time to find appropriate app to launch, compared to how easy it is to find an icon.

The reason why it is easy for you to find appropriate icon is because you are used to it. Every single iOS is the same, it's icons. Of course after 3 years of having same icons over and over the screen, you will get used to it. I am sure if you are to have tiles on a device for that long, it would be easy to located needed app too.

And where are the cues from ipad? There is nothing, absolutely nothing that is similar to the iPad. How the hell can tiles and icons look the same? I wish some people would just put their fanboyism aside and see that Microsoft did a fantastic job on it. And being able to snap on different windows to side of the screen is the best feature on Windows and absolutely blows away anything other companies offer. Win 8's type of snapping looks even more fantastic. I can't wait to try this one out, although I will replace my Xoom only after Win 8 and MeeGo hits tablets.

And it's pretty clear that this type of UI will be for tablets, while old school Win UI will stay on desktops. Why would a giant like Microsoft shoot themselves in the legs by substituting good old desktop UI for tiles on full machines.

I completely agree. I'm really surprised at all the anti-Microsoftism in this thread and even in other blogs. This interface looks really neat and I like how Microsoft isn't afraid to do something completely different. It really shows something to those who say "how else are you going to design a tablet interface with many apps?", doesn't it? The snap feature is really intuitive and the animations are extremely fast (granted, they are running it on a desktop right now). The only thing that's jarring is how it resumes to Windows 7 and how they haven't really rethought that part of the OS. But this is a very fresh, but powerful approach to a tablet interface.

Until 2:20 when it all falls apart, and you see that nothing's really changed.

Different for the sake of different (or purely as a "me too" reaction) is a waste.

 

[Rodimus Prime]

Looks forced. It appears that microsoft is pushing touch too hard on non-mobile devices. This is exactly what Steve Jobs said wouldn't work...touching the screen on your computer.

Perhaps some promise for mobile devices...

I really hope they do not force that layout on the desktop version.

For a tablet lay out I think the design is great. It gives the full power desktop for when you convert lets say a tablet to laptop mode and you have tablet mode while it is in a tablet lay out. Gives you truly the best of bother worlds in terms of an OS lay out.

 

[faroZ06]

Looks forced. It appears that microsoft is pushing touch too **** non-mobile devices. This is exactly what Steve Jobs said wouldn't work...touching the screen on your computer.

Perhaps some promise for mobile devices...

Yeah, aren't there already those epic fail Touchsmart things out there?

 

[NAG]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPad; U; CPU OS 4_3_3 like Mac OS X; en) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8J2 Safari/6533.18.5)



Until 2:20 when it all falls apart, and you see that nothing's really changed.

Different for the sake of different is a waste.

I completely agree. The instant they started showing off how "oh look you can run old Windows applications" meant the death of it. Notice how they never used the old Windows environment, such as closing a window. We will have to see what is required for an application to be able to use the new Windows 8 UI and not the older one, but I'm not holding my breath for it being easy.

 

[SolRayz]

This looks nothing like iOS. It makes iOS4 look like a child's toy OS. Apple better bring some heat next week or they're about to be leapfrogged in terms of software.

I agree on this point. Apple better bring some fire soon. I think all of us who have been using iOS since the 2g iPhone revolution would begin to agree that iOS UI is a little dated cosmetically. However, Microsoft has yet to prove that it can master stability, efficiency, and design considering their abysmal track record. And is Win7 really all that exciting to use?

 

[LagunaSol]

AppleScruff1 you seem to have an immense hatred for all things Apple... I mean it's perfectly fine to dislike something and reasonably voice your opinion but why do you seem so hell bent on attacking every person supporting Apple (with very stale, canned responses to boot)? To be honest your demeanor (or poor attempts at sarcasm) has ironically shown to be far worse than the "fanboys" you seem to mock, and it's not even close. I'm guessing you've had bad Apple experiences in the past? Either way, the attacks are unwarranted, from anyone really. And I'm also interested in how each of your posts are voted up while virtually every person you attack is conveniently voted down. Coincidence? I think not.

Yet amazingly the mods let him (and others like him) carry on with their intentional agitation month after month after month after month...

I don't get it.

 

[Justinf79]

I don't like it much. It looks like you have to click through a bunch of bloated tiles to get anywhere. And what about running a bunch of apps side-by-side on the screen to look at? Talk about a step backwards in desktop UI's.

I don't know, maybe I have to play around with it first.

 

[darkplanets]

Of course you hate it, but if Uncle Steve made it it would be great, wouldn't it?

I think if you looked at my posting history you would realize that I am neither an apple apologist or a zealot. Perhaps you shouldn't be so rash as to stereotype others so quickly, especially based on a rather sardonic attitude that screams ineptitude.

 

[Rodimus Prime]

I completely agree. The instant they started showing off how "oh look you can run old Windows applications" meant the death of it. Notice how they never used the old Windows environment, such as closing a window. We will have to see what is required for an application to be able to use the new Windows 8 UI and not the older one, but I'm not holding my breath for it being easy.

I think it is fine for a tablet but if it is forced on a desktop then we have problems. Tiles do not work for a mouse based OS. Tiles are great for touch so for a tablet it is fine as a lot of stuff will not support the new format.

It gives tablet huge amount of legacy support right off the bat.