Deep inside Windows Blue: 10 coolest features

After an abundance of rumors, whispers, and slip-ups in job postings, we now have more concrete evidence of Microsoft's secretive Windows Blue operating system: An honest-to-goodness leak of an early build of the OS.

The leak of "Windows Build 9364" appeared on torrent and file sharing sites Sunday morning in the form of a 2.6GB ISO file, and news of the leak blazed across the Net like wildfire after an initial appearance on Windows 9 Beta. Although Microsoft hasn't issued a formal statement about the leak, it's been dissected hands-on by WinSuperSite and numerous forum-goers, and Build 9364 appears to a 100 percent legitimate (and 100 percent unauthorized) look at the future of Windows.

Source

A Guy

 

[Ray8]

I have for about a week. I will be sinking money into it. And no, I had no arm cramps, once again, I must be doing something right here.

Perhaps your physiology is suited to reaching out 3-4 feet to a touch screen, and to do so all day, without any aches or pains. Most people aren't gifted like that and would tire fairly quickly from holding their arms in the air for protracted periods of time.

 

[whs]

I've said this before and I'll say it again, you don't need a mouse with a touchscreen. If you do, you honestly are doing it wrong or doing something wrong. Never had to use a mouse, never felt like I needed one, and won't ever. Why? I don't know, maybe I'm doing something right.

You always make the assumption that the billions of PC users want touch screens on their PC. But that is not so.

Touch screens on PCs make some sense for people with disabilities, children at the kindergarden age and Orangutans.

Touch screens do, however, make a lot of sense for smartphones, small tablets, Garmin navigation screens, small screens on cameras and anything else that is being used away from the desk. Plus for businesses that employ associates that cannot count to 10.

 

[Wenda]

Neither of my laptops have touch screens. Nor does my desktop box.

Nor will their replacements.

Touch is a wasted technology on 'real' computers, and is useless for doing anything productive.

Nothing I do is made easier by using touch, and many things are rendered impossible.

A mouse/101-keyboard combo is BY FAR the most efficient way to operate a computer.

Touch is not, it doesn't even come close, and will not become a satisfactory alternative for serious users.

Wenda.

 

[Ray8]

Touch is akin to flicking through pages in a magazine or the like, handling a finished product. Touch is not for producing the content of the magazine ie composing the text, cropping and aligning photos etc.

That's why the mouse and keyboard, predominantly, are essential for those who create content, not consume content.

 

[HippsieGypsie]

LOL.

---

Unfortunately some poeple have preceded your humor in reality...

How am I supposed to drive with the left hand while I regulate heat, radio or the gps with the right one? This is the same stupidity as touch screen or whatever is invented to look new.

---

If the steering wheel is round shaped and in front of yourself (not on the side) on all of the billions of vehicles on the roads globaly it's because it's the best way to drive safely and acurately. If all of the billions of computers in the world have a keyboard and a mouse and also resizeable windows and a taskbar, it also because it's the best way.

---

Do they think we haven't tested other systems before?!!!

Ok. Agree. The joystick may be in the wrong place. Place it in the driver center, on the left, or wherever. Place the controls you mentioned to use with the left hand. Use a portable game controller. Whatever.

Quite honestly the link was to get some here to think past their noses. Just because we use a traditional means of navigation, doesn't mean there's not a better way.

I think the human finger, hand gestures, or body motions for that matter to be the fastest way of navigation or interacting with a system. Look at the technology of Kinect.

Some here state that a touch monitor to navigate with a desktop PC is absurd, but then you state it's ok on a pad or a laptop, so therefore I'll assume that you must see the advantages of touch. Yes? No?

I've read anywhere from "My arms will tire" to "We shouldn't sit so close to the monitor" to "I'll go blind" to all sorts of stuff. As to the first one, lower the desktop or raise the seat/chair. Who says it has to be at traditional levels? Tilt the monitor more. Who says it has to be at the traditional angle? As to all of them, we'll shove tablets and phones in our face, yet we're going to complain that a monitor is too close? I don't understand that at all.

Bottom line about 8.....I'm a shortcut keys user. I dare say I get around in 8 much faster than 7. I dual boot so I trained myself to use the mouse with 8 and 7 for a few weeks each. Guess what? 8 won so far as I'm concerned. Why is that you may ask? The Start Screen/All Apps versus the Start Menu/Taskbar.

Those are my test findings and thoughts, but hey. That's me.

 

[Lomai]

LOL.

---

Unfortunately some poeple have preceded your humor in reality...

How am I supposed to drive with the left hand while I regulate heat, radio or the gps with the right one? This is the same stupidity as touch screen or whatever is invented to look new.

---

If the steering wheel is round shaped and in front of yourself (not on the side) on all of the billions of vehicles on the roads globaly it's because it's the best way to drive safely and acurately. If all of the billions of computers in the world have a keyboard and a mouse and also resizeable windows and a taskbar, it also because it's the best way.

---

Do they think we haven't tested other systems before?!!!

Ok. Agree. The joystick may be in the wrong place. Place it in the driver center, on the left, or wherever. Place the controls you mentioned to use with the left hand. Use a portable game controller. Whatever.

Quite honestly the link was to get some here to think past their noses. Just because we use a traditional means of navigation, doesn't mean there's not a better way.

I think the human finger, hand gestures, or body motions for that matter to be the fastest way of navigation or interacting with a system. Look at the technology of Kinect.

Some here state that a touch monitor to navigate with a desktop PC is absurd, but then you state it's ok on a pad or a laptop, so therefore I'll assume that you must see the advantages of touch. Yes? No?

I've read anywhere from "My arms will tire" to "We shouldn't sit so close to the monitor" to "I'll go blind" to all sorts of stuff. As to the first one, lower the desktop or raise the seat/chair. Who says it has to be at traditional levels? Tilt the monitor more. Who says it has to be at the traditional angle? As to all of them, we'll shove tablets and phones in our face, yet we're going to complain that a monitor is too close? I don't understand that at all.

Bottom line about 8.....I'm a shortcut keys user. I dare say I get around in 8 much faster than 7. I dual boot so I trained myself to use the mouse with 8 and 7 for a few weeks each. Guess what? 8 won so far as I'm concerned. Why is that you may ask? The Start Screen/All Apps versus the Start Menu/Taskbar.

Those are my test findings and thoughts, but hey. That's me.

I agree, natural motion is the future.
Hoping MS develops a "Kick-Centric App" for 8 and subsequent versions, in the near-term. That way, if your arms tire out, you can use your feet to type out your post.

 

[Ray8]

I think Windows 8 also needs a head bobbing detector, with maybe a tongue sensor included. Thus all major body parts can be integrated into a seamless device control system.

 

[Lomai]

...

 

[chrisa]

Touch is akin to flicking through pages in a magazine or the like, handling a finished product. Touch is not for producing the content of the magazine ie composing the text, cropping and aligning photos etc.

That's why the mouse and keyboard, predominantly, are essential for those who create content, not consume content.

Right. Which is why the 4-way interface will be the standard. You use touch for those things which are best done with touch, and the mouse/kb for those things best done with the mouse/kb. If you want to use mouse/kb exclusively, you can, but are much less effective for certain tasks. If you want to use touch exclusively, you can, but are much less effective for certain tasks.

Its a strawman argument to claim that touch is bad because the keyboard and mouse are going away as options for input. They aren't. Touch is simply a different method of input, and generally much faster and far more efficent for those things like you say.. consuming content, of which happens a lot on the PC.

And in case you guys haven't been noticing, more and more people are coming around to the fact that the 10" form factor is going to be owned by the convertibles. They won't have the same adoption rate as the tablets due to price, and generally it will take longer for adoption given the life of laptops. But even Apple is starting to get their act in gear and have the iOS and Mac teams actually in the same room.

Why? Its probably exactly what you think.

At some point in the near future they're going to want a touch-enabled macbook air that can run the iOS ecosystem and compete at 10". In doing that, OS X has to be updated to support it, at which point you get touch on the Mac by default. Who knows.. they might even have a breakaway keyboard .

See, thats the thing here... touch had to come to make Microsoft Surface tablet products possible. And if they were going to update Windows, you simply got PC compliance as part of the deal.

But really.. just sit back and watch... no way Apple cedes the 10" arena to Microsoft & their OEM Friends. At least they have plenty of money to throw into it.

 

[Rickkins]

My tablet and my smartphone both have touchscreens. However, like the vast majority of people, neither has win8 on it. My touchscreens both have android. I cannot foresee that changing, regardless of what ms does. It's not impossible, just not likely.

 

[Coke Robot]

Touch is akin to flicking through pages in a magazine or the like, handling a finished product. Touch is not for producing the content of the magazine ie composing the text, cropping and aligning photos etc.

That's why the mouse and keyboard, predominantly, are essential for those who create content, not consume content.

Actually, some of those content creators use touch through a Wacom style touch pad, or a touch screen with stylus. Anyone that is a graphic designer of any kind once introduced to touch would hands down use touch over an awkward mouse all the time. You don't draw with a mouse, it is not natural.

 

[Coke Robot]

I have for about a week. I will be sinking money into it. And no, I had no arm cramps, once again, I must be doing something right here.

Perhaps your physiology is suited to reaching out 3-4 feet to a touch screen, and to do so all day, without any aches or pains. Most people aren't gifted like that and would tire fairly quickly from holding their arms in the air for protracted periods of time.

You're probably doing touch wrong as I never have my arms extended like a zombie when I use touch....

 

[tseven]

It's a great idea to update it with these features. I wish they would work more on the apps though. The music app is lacking and the media player itself is lacking. I mean they need to work on what comes right out of the box. The media player hasn't been updated for a while. I know people will probably recommend other media players. I know about them but I'm looking at this from the perspective of a regular user. They need to work on what they have. I'm so glad they started working on internet explorer since before 10 the overall browser was in a bad place in terms of catching up to and maintaining the standards of the web. They need to do that same overhaul for their other programs/apps. Of course it doesn't hurt to work on more features for the update as well.

 

[crawfish]

Quickely put: they redo the desktop on the modern-style Start Screen. Now you can snap two apps 50/50 instead of 25/75. + smaller tiles (refrain from calling them "icons" please).

---

A huge progress for desktop PC users. Maybe in 3 years we will see resizeable windows?

Now it's truly as good as the crippled version of GEM after the Apple lawsuit in the 1980s.

 

[SnowyChuwi]

I've been hearing that there are more customization options (on the Metro side of Windows - like the Start Screen, Immersive Control Panel (PC Settings), not really n the desktop side. Aero Glass might never make a comeback. :shock:

And the latest build of Windows Blue/9 I've heard of is Build 9622.

 

[alphanumeric]

This is basically some of the changes I wanted to see in Windows 8.

 

[DavidY]

Who says it has to be at the traditional angle?

In the UK, the law does. Or at least the Health and Safety Executive's practical guidance for compliance with the law. The actual PDF is here.

Part of the checklist for "risk assessment and to help comply with the Schedule to the Health and Safety (Display Screen Equipment) Regulations." says, in the context of setting up a workstation:

Are forearms horizontal and eyes at roughly the same height as the top of the VDU?

Basically the things you use to control the computer (mouse/ trackpad/ keyboard/ whatever) need to be level with your elbow height and the top of the screen needs to be level with your eye height.

Using a touchscreen for long periods mean either you're looking down all the time (bad for the neck and back) or you're reaching up all the time (bad for the arms). This is poor ergonomics in all countries and if an employer tried it on you in the UK, you could quote the health and safety regulations at them until they replace the computer with something compliant.

Although the regulations are a few years old, whatever the advances in technology, people still come with the same model of neck, back and arms as they did back then.

 

[HippsieGypsie]

I think Windows 8 also needs a head bobbing detector, with maybe a tongue sensor included. Thus all major body parts can be integrated into a seamless device control system.

What did you say in a post about doing what to the messenger???...........

 

[whs]

Basically the things you use to control the computer (mouse/ trackpad/ keyboard/ whatever) need to be level with your elbow height and the top of the screen needs to be level with your eye height.

Using a touchscreen for long periods mean either you're looking down all the time (bad for the neck and back) or you're reaching up all the time (bad for the arms). This is poor ergonomics in all countries and if an employer tried it on you in the UK, you could quote the health and safety regulations at them until they replace the computer with something compliant.

Although the regulations are a few years old, whatever the advances in technology, people still come with the same model of neck, back and arms as they did back then.

This is an excellent point. At least when you use a mouse, keyboard and screen, you change your neck position from time to time when you type. But on tablets you look at it always the same way. I noticed when I use my tablet that I cannot do that for a longer period of time without my neck stiffening up.

 

[jimbo45]

I've been hearing that there are more customization options (on the Metro side of Windows - like the Start Screen, Immersive Control Panel (PC Settings), not really n the desktop side. Aero Glass might never make a comeback. :shock:

And the latest build of Windows Blue/9 I've heard of is Build 9622.

Hi there
Current latest LEAKED version is X-86 (32 bit) Build 9634 available from the Usual places.

If your ISP blocks these sites -- either use OPERA enabling the TURBO MODE (has a built in Nordic proxy not subject to a load of Court restrictions in other jurisdictions) or use one of the alternate sites-- use of PROXIES even if the site itself has been blocked is NOT ILLEGAL -- even in CHINA (but whether you can find a working one in China is another issue though).

Touch on a LARGE screen itself is largely a waste of time -- however in conjunction say with a laptop where you can SLIDE the screen via touch on to the 2nd monitor is actually quite useful.

Cheers
jimbo