Great Debate: Is Windows 8 headed in the right direction? | ZDNet

Thanks, whs, I missed that one in the mess of Tech emails I get everyday.

I'm gonna have to pay closer attention.

I'm siding with Ed Bott on this one (not just because I respect him immensely, mind you).

He said what I have mentioned on this forum a number of times. MS is seeking the smart phome and tablet market as well as the PC market and homogenizing the whole experience.

It will serve them well in the long run.

Again, I disagree with the two posts above. Have y'all actually used the Metro Interface for any length of time?

I have. I like it. It flips to my main apps when I want it to but it's alway there when I run the mouse to the left side of the screen.

Seriously, MSFT is going in the right direction with this, IMHO.

Imagine the comfort you'll have when you pick up your smart phone or tablet and have, basically, the same interface.

Granted, a "full-fledged" PC will always have more options and more powerful programs ... for now ...

The problem is that MS is caught between a rock and a hard place. They have to go after this tablet/smartphone market to keep up with the crowd and to grow. On the other hand they have to eveolve the PC system.

The option of producing 2 seperate systems is probably prohibitive from a cost point of view. So I am afraid that we will have to live with this mush until they get some better ideas. But I have to agree; the current UI is awkward for a smooth operation with keyboard and mouse.

Originally Posted by mikedl

Have y'all actually used the Metro Interface for any length of time?

Why do people assume disagreement always comes from no good reason? I've used it and I hate it. In fact, I'm using it and hating it at the same time. It's been on my laptop since the dev release came out.

MS has the right general concept but to me the execution is pathetic. Maybe they'll improve it. My guess is it won't be improved well enough until Windows 9. Meantime, Metro can go to hell. You're correct that the phone, tablet and PC will have the same interface. You also won't be able to run the same apps on ARM devices and x86 PCs. Can't wait to see the faces on people who buy stuff not knowing this and find out after the fact. What about switching business to Windows 8? Business people care about business stuff, and maybe Metro can handle that for them well, but as I see it, Metro is for everything that will get you fired.

Originally Posted by Colonel Travis

Originally Posted by mikedl

Have y'all actually used the Metro Interface for any length of time?

Why do people assume disagreement always comes from no good reason? I've used it and I hate it. In fact, I'm using it and hating it at the same time. It's been on my laptop since the dev release came out.

Sorry about that, it was a legitimate question, however.

The more I use the Metro Start interface, the more I like it.
That's my experience and, from what I can see so far, I appear to be in the minority.
I can respect other's opinions but only after they've given the Metro Start a fair shake. I apologize for implying you haven't (I've got to be a bit more careful in the future how I word my responses - again, my apologies)

Originally Posted by Lebon14

...Do you think that they will pay huge amounts of dollars to get it wriiten in WinRT or Javascript like MS want them to? No way.

Where does it say they have to? And where does it say they have to use the new interface? You do know it can be turned off with a simple edit to group policy or the registry, right?

why the desktop users have to suffers through this single focus interface?

Their are two interfaces in Windows 8, not one. So their is nothing to suffer.

Leave the touch and Javascript programming to the mobile device and keep the keyboard, mouse and regular programming (C, C++, C#, VB.net, Java, etc) to the PC and laptop area.

Umm how does adding Javascript to the mix of programming languages make things bad? You can continue to use C++, *.NET and all the other programming languages you learned. Javascript was merely added as another option, what is the big deal about that?

I think you need to step back and take one giant chill pill.

Mikedl - no apology necessary, I'm not jumping down your throat, don't want to give you that impression myself. I've got no beef with anyone who likes it. Like I said, I'm glad to see MS thinking in this direction. It's just that I find Metro geared more toward a tablet or phone, plus I don't think it looks so hot. The other day I watched some video with Paul Thurrott, who said Metro was "beautiful" or "gorgeous" or something like that. In find it incredibly pedantic looking, like a bulletin board for 4th graders, bloatish, intrusive. I understand this is the developer preview, I know it's gonna be more mouse/keyboard friendly, etc., but they're gonna have to seriously overhaul this crap before it becomes useful to me. Other parts of 8 I love, just not Metro.