Will Windows 8.1 allow users to boot to desktop?

Maybe.

If they do that and a new start menu - that will likely help sales considerably.

Boot to desktop on it's own is pretty pointless.
 

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Why with all the ruckus I think they'll need to. I'm thinking the change to RT was just too drastic for most. It's been reported that 90% don't care to learn the change. Perhaps "weaning" is the word they should focus on.

The big question to me is will it boot to the desktop portal with a Start Menu or Programs menu? Then what about the Start Screen? Will that remain? It seems to defeat the whole purpose of the RT system if it doesn't.

Seems like MS is caught between a rock and a hard place playing a game of chess. As in chess, the more one plans moves ahead, the better odds of "weaning". It'll be an interesting game indeed. :)
 

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The desktop is 1 click or tap away. It takes maybe 1-2 seconds.

The Start screen is your Start menu.

it takes 3-5 minutes to find, download and install Classic Shell. It can do those things easily.

Windows 7 still works
 

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  • OS
    Windows 8 Pro
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Dell
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    1280x800
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    Surface RT
The desktop is 1 click or tap away. It takes maybe 1-2 seconds.

The Start screen is your Start menu.

it takes 3-5 minutes to find, download and install Classic Shell. It can do those things easily.

Windows 7 still works

As I've said before, when everything gets sorted out, they'll realize you have two separate interfaces, and never the twain shall meet. Simply pick the optimal one for the device you're using, and then you should never leave it. If using a desktop, Apps can launch from icons and when they do they'll be windowed. If using a tablet(especially one of the mini ones), perhaps the Mobile Interface is more your taste.

But they'll spin their wheels until they realize there isn't a unified interface that works for everyone. It simply doesn't work that way. Some people like channel surfing(Mobile Interface), others like control over what they watch on one screen. Its simply different tastes and tailored for different devices.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 7 on the desktop, Windows 8 Surface Pro mobile
The Start Screen already is a start menu....
 

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  • OS
    Windows 8.1 Pro
    Computer type
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    ASUS
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    AMD FX 8320
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    Crosshair V Formula-Z
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    x2 3 TB Toshibas
    Windows 8.1 is installed on a SanDisk Ultra Plus 256 GB
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    A current work in progres as I'll be building the physical case myself. It shall be fantastic.
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The Start Screen already is a start menu....
No, that's an UI on its own. The desktop is something and it lacks the Start Menu. Metro & Desktop UI should be separate, not mixed together.
 

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    Windows 7 Home Premium FR x64
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    Custom
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    Intel Core i7 950 3.06 GHz
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    Corsair XMS3 DDR3 3x2GB 1333MHz
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    1x OCZ Vertex 2 90GB SSD, 1x Hitachi 7200RPM 500GB, 1x 1TB WD Green
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    Scanner : Canon LiDE 200
    Printer : Samsung ML-2010
The Start Screen already is a start menu....

No, its not.

The start button is a UI element of the desktop which can run commonly used desktop elements along with control shutdown of the computer.

The start screen is a UI designed to be used in place of the desktop to manage and control apps and applications through the use of tiles.

Things will start to make more sense when you understand they're(the mobile interface and the desktop interface) two distinctly different interfaces for controlling apps and applications. They simply vary in how they accomplish that task.

The Mobile Interface is analogous to a TV Guide. You pick the channel you want to watch, it loads the app via a tile in that channel at full screen, and you can flip between apps as if you were Channel Surfing. They're even putting more abilities to have multiple viewports as if you were a producer at a tv network. Which feed do you want in which tv?

The Desktop Interface uses resizeable windows to contain and run its applications, which are loaded via icons, and allows the user to dynamically control where they want the particular windows.

It really is simply two different paradigms and ways of controlling a computer. The mobile interface works better on mobile devices, and the desktop interface tends to be far superior on workstations. Either way, there is no reason they can't exist in parallel, so long as they do whats needed to prevent bleed over.

Apps should be windowed, and to be perfectly honest.. the Start Button should return. Instead of the Start on the Charms menu, have it be Desktop if in the Start Screen and Start Screen if in the desktop. So you can flip back and forth. If you hit the window key it toggles to whichever one you aren't using. But having to flip over to the Mobile Interface to launch a desktop program which then launches the desktop interface is a fairly retarded way of setting up your operating system.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 7 on the desktop, Windows 8 Surface Pro mobile
Should be separate, not mixed together > ok > your point of view.
Booting to the desktop bypassing the start screen is like auto launching an app.

No, that's a UI on its own.

I really don't want to be disagreeable but, no! Not a separate UI on its own.

winRTwin32.JPG

It's complicated.

The desktop is something and it lacks the Start Menu.

Sorry. The start screen and apps area are the start menu for the desktop.

sm4.jpg
 

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    Server 2012 / 8.0
    Computer type
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    Home Built
    CPU
    Intel i7 QuadCore 3770k
    Motherboard
    Asrock Extreme 4
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    16GB Crucial Ballistix
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    intel embedded gpu
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    Sound Blaster Z
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    AOC / Westinghouse
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    1920x1080
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    Plextor pcie msata
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    Rosewill Silent Night 500W Fanless / PicoPSU
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    open bench - no case enclosure
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    Silverstone HEO2 Passive Silent
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    logitech washable K310
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    logitech wired
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    ie / maxthon
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    Totally silent. No fans at all.
But having to flip over to the Mobile Interface to launch a desktop program which then launches the desktop interface is a fairly retarded way of setting up your operating system.

Flipping as you refer is easier than accessing old fashioned orb contents. Your decision to define the start screen as a mobile interface is completely inaccurate and subjective, so to speak, since many desktop computers are not mobile and it is only your point of view.

Stating that the new design is fairly retarded is the view of someone who does not like Windows 8 as a desktop Operating System.
 

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System One

  • OS
    Server 2012 / 8.0
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Home Built
    CPU
    Intel i7 QuadCore 3770k
    Motherboard
    Asrock Extreme 4
    Memory
    16GB Crucial Ballistix
    Graphics Card(s)
    intel embedded gpu
    Sound Card
    Sound Blaster Z
    Monitor(s) Displays
    AOC / Westinghouse
    Screen Resolution
    1920x1080
    Hard Drives
    Plextor pcie msata
    PSU
    Rosewill Silent Night 500W Fanless / PicoPSU
    Case
    open bench - no case enclosure
    Cooling
    Silverstone HEO2 Passive Silent
    Keyboard
    logitech washable K310
    Mouse
    logitech wired
    Browser
    ie / maxthon
    Other Info
    Totally silent. No fans at all.
Should be separate, not mixed together > ok > your point of view.
Booting to the desktop bypassing the start screen is like auto launching an app.

HAHA no.

You can even see in your picture there, you're wrong. Study it more.

The Start Screen and The Desktop would be two separate programs which sit above your stack there and can call and run either Metro Style Apps or Desktop Apps. Do not confuse the black boxes with either the Start Screen or the Desktop. Those represent actual programs you can run. The interfaces to launch them would sit on top of all that.

If Microsoft purposefully launches the Start Screen at bootup and then runs the desktop from it, then that's just them being stupid. The Start Screen need not be there to launch the desktop in any way, shape, or form. Its just one executable running another. They can simply launch the desktop once the environment is setup, or the Start Screen. And where stuff gets put on a hard drive largely means nothing. You can stick stuff anywhere and intermingle files to your hearts content, it doesn't make it a start menu simply because it puts some files there.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 7 on the desktop, Windows 8 Surface Pro mobile
The Start Screen already is a start menu....
No, that's an UI on its own. The desktop is something and it lacks the Start Menu. Metro & Desktop UI should be separate, not mixed together.
No...it's pretty much on the Desktop.

Screenshot (86).png
I don't see how this isn't something for the Desktop. I have my Desktop things there. I have some metro app things there. I can go to the Desktop in a literal click of a mouse button.
 

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  • OS
    Windows 8.1 Pro
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    ASUS
    CPU
    AMD FX 8320
    Motherboard
    Crosshair V Formula-Z
    Memory
    16 gig DDR3
    Graphics Card(s)
    ASUS R9 270
    Screen Resolution
    1440x900
    Hard Drives
    1 TB Seagate Barracuda (starting to hate Seagate)
    x2 3 TB Toshibas
    Windows 8.1 is installed on a SanDisk Ultra Plus 256 GB
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    OCZ 500 watt
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    A current work in progres as I'll be building the physical case myself. It shall be fantastic.
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    Arctic Cooler with 3 heatpipes
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    Logitech K750 wireless solar powered keyboard
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    Microsoft Touch Mouse
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    Windows Defender, but I might go back on KIS 2014
Booting to the desktop bypassing the start screen is like auto launching an app.

You can even see in your picture there, you're wrong. Study it more.

I have studied it. I did research on the topic. Things were changed from Windows 7 to 8.
In 7 the desktop is an integrated UI. In 8, desktop is an app that can be closed (paged to memory) and is not initially launched upon arrival at the start screen. One has to click the desktop tile or other means to launch the desktop app.
 

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System One

  • OS
    Server 2012 / 8.0
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Home Built
    CPU
    Intel i7 QuadCore 3770k
    Motherboard
    Asrock Extreme 4
    Memory
    16GB Crucial Ballistix
    Graphics Card(s)
    intel embedded gpu
    Sound Card
    Sound Blaster Z
    Monitor(s) Displays
    AOC / Westinghouse
    Screen Resolution
    1920x1080
    Hard Drives
    Plextor pcie msata
    PSU
    Rosewill Silent Night 500W Fanless / PicoPSU
    Case
    open bench - no case enclosure
    Cooling
    Silverstone HEO2 Passive Silent
    Keyboard
    logitech washable K310
    Mouse
    logitech wired
    Browser
    ie / maxthon
    Other Info
    Totally silent. No fans at all.
The Start Screen already is a start menu....

No, its not.

The start button is a UI element of the desktop which can run commonly used desktop elements along with control shutdown of the computer.

The start screen is a UI designed to be used in place of the desktop to manage and control apps and applications through the use of tiles.

Things will start to make more sense when you understand they're(the mobile interface and the desktop interface) two distinctly different interfaces for controlling apps and applications. They simply vary in how they accomplish that task.

The Mobile Interface is analogous to a TV Guide. You pick the channel you want to watch, it loads the app via a tile in that channel at full screen, and you can flip between apps as if you were Channel Surfing. They're even putting more abilities to have multiple viewports as if you were a producer at a tv network. Which feed do you want in which tv?

The Desktop Interface uses resizeable windows to contain and run its applications, which are loaded via icons, and allows the user to dynamically control where they want the particular windows.

It really is simply two different paradigms and ways of controlling a computer. The mobile interface works better on mobile devices, and the desktop interface tends to be far superior on workstations. Either way, there is no reason they can't exist in parallel, so long as they do whats needed to prevent bleed over.

Apps should be windowed, and to be perfectly honest.. the Start Button should return. Instead of the Start on the Charms menu, have it be Desktop if in the Start Screen and Start Screen if in the desktop. So you can flip back and forth. If you hit the window key it toggles to whichever one you aren't using. But having to flip over to the Mobile Interface to launch a desktop program which then launches the desktop interface is a fairly retarded way of setting up your operating system.

Why would you want to segregate and then switch interfaces like that? I'll be blunt, I don't really need anyone to make me understand how Windows 8 and the Start Screen is designed such. How you see isn't even really close to how I see it, it's different. The reason why it's called the "new" Windows on the Start Screen is because of the live tiles and the internet based content on those live tiles. They are legitimate little "windows" to that app. Bing Weather's tile? Weather information. Finance tile? Current stock index prices. News app? Latest news feed. So and so forth, you really don't have to open those apps up to find some content like that when that content is condensed onto the live tile. Windows Phone also does this very well, on Windows it will take time for developers to realize that and take advantage of it. If the Windows Blue leak shows anything, it's that very thing right there as there is an even larger tile option that may or may not be used.

There really isn't a difference of the Start Screen on a laptop or tablet or a desktop other than viewable tiles.
 

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    PC/Desktop
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    ASUS
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    AMD FX 8320
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    Crosshair V Formula-Z
    Memory
    16 gig DDR3
    Graphics Card(s)
    ASUS R9 270
    Screen Resolution
    1440x900
    Hard Drives
    1 TB Seagate Barracuda (starting to hate Seagate)
    x2 3 TB Toshibas
    Windows 8.1 is installed on a SanDisk Ultra Plus 256 GB
    PSU
    OCZ 500 watt
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    A current work in progres as I'll be building the physical case myself. It shall be fantastic.
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    Arctic Cooler with 3 heatpipes
    Keyboard
    Logitech K750 wireless solar powered keyboard
    Mouse
    Microsoft Touch Mouse
    Browser
    Internet Explorer 11
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender, but I might go back on KIS 2014
Let's face it, some folks simply do not like how Windows 8 was designed and will never like it.
 

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    Server 2012 / 8.0
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    PC/Desktop
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    Home Built
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    Intel i7 QuadCore 3770k
    Motherboard
    Asrock Extreme 4
    Memory
    16GB Crucial Ballistix
    Graphics Card(s)
    intel embedded gpu
    Sound Card
    Sound Blaster Z
    Monitor(s) Displays
    AOC / Westinghouse
    Screen Resolution
    1920x1080
    Hard Drives
    Plextor pcie msata
    PSU
    Rosewill Silent Night 500W Fanless / PicoPSU
    Case
    open bench - no case enclosure
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    Silverstone HEO2 Passive Silent
    Keyboard
    logitech washable K310
    Mouse
    logitech wired
    Browser
    ie / maxthon
    Other Info
    Totally silent. No fans at all.
But having to flip over to the Mobile Interface to launch a desktop program which then launches the desktop interface is a fairly retarded way of setting up your operating system.

Flipping as you refer is easier than accessing old fashioned orb contents. Your decision to define the start screen as a mobile interface is completely inaccurate and subjective, so to speak, since many desktop computers are not mobile and it is only your point of view.

Stating that the new design is fairly retarded is the view of someone who does not like Windows 8 as a desktop Operating System.

I'm saying the crossover between interfaces(launching the mobile interface to run a desktop program which then launches the desktop interface) is retarded. I actually quite like Windows 8 if they'd straighten some stuff out, and as stated before, nothing i'm saying would be hard at all.. in fact third-party applications already do some of the stuff to the extents available to them.

And btw, 'easier' can be quite a subjective thing to measure. 'Easier' tends to be whatever method you(as in people in general) use that you're most comfortable with. But then, I've never suggested getting rid of the mobile interface. It works quite well on tablets. I'm simply suggesting that the bleed over between them cease and they become equals and work in tandem, something they should have done in the first place.

Why didn't they? Because they want to push as many people as possible into The Mobile Interface where Microsoft can be raking a 30% cut via the Windows Store. Something that third-party Windows Developers(the ones who have traditionally made desktop programs), will never do. Apps are for marketing and freeware versions of the tool. The licenses and full desktop applications will always go via the web and if Microsoft tries to lock it down, companies will simply develop for the oldest version of Windows that supports full desktop applications. And their consumers will only ever use the version they develop for.

It really is a genie that Microsoft cannot put back in the bottle. Ever.
 

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System One

  • OS
    Windows 7 on the desktop, Windows 8 Surface Pro mobile
Let's face it, some folks simply do not like how Windows 8 was designed and will never like it.

Correct! And it's not just 'some' folk.
 

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  • OS
    Windows Phone 6, Windows CE 5, Windows Vista x32, Windows 7 x32/x64, Windows 8 x64
Let's face it, some folks simply do not like how Windows 8 was designed and will never like it.

Once they fix it I will. And it'll come, you watch. If it doesn't? Oh well, its not like there isn't Mac and Linux.. eh?
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 7 on the desktop, Windows 8 Surface Pro mobile
Let's face it, some folks simply do not like how Windows 8 was designed and will never like it.

For a time at least! :p
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 Pro
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    ASUS
    CPU
    AMD FX 8320
    Motherboard
    Crosshair V Formula-Z
    Memory
    16 gig DDR3
    Graphics Card(s)
    ASUS R9 270
    Screen Resolution
    1440x900
    Hard Drives
    1 TB Seagate Barracuda (starting to hate Seagate)
    x2 3 TB Toshibas
    Windows 8.1 is installed on a SanDisk Ultra Plus 256 GB
    PSU
    OCZ 500 watt
    Case
    A current work in progres as I'll be building the physical case myself. It shall be fantastic.
    Cooling
    Arctic Cooler with 3 heatpipes
    Keyboard
    Logitech K750 wireless solar powered keyboard
    Mouse
    Microsoft Touch Mouse
    Browser
    Internet Explorer 11
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender, but I might go back on KIS 2014

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 Pro
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    ASUS
    CPU
    AMD FX 8320
    Motherboard
    Crosshair V Formula-Z
    Memory
    16 gig DDR3
    Graphics Card(s)
    ASUS R9 270
    Screen Resolution
    1440x900
    Hard Drives
    1 TB Seagate Barracuda (starting to hate Seagate)
    x2 3 TB Toshibas
    Windows 8.1 is installed on a SanDisk Ultra Plus 256 GB
    PSU
    OCZ 500 watt
    Case
    A current work in progres as I'll be building the physical case myself. It shall be fantastic.
    Cooling
    Arctic Cooler with 3 heatpipes
    Keyboard
    Logitech K750 wireless solar powered keyboard
    Mouse
    Microsoft Touch Mouse
    Browser
    Internet Explorer 11
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender, but I might go back on KIS 2014
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