Windows 8: What happens next?

Among the coming tweaks is the removal of the current Windows Aero interface, as Microsoft officials acknowledged in a blog post (buried toward the bottom) earlier this month. Another is an expected under-the-hood code change that will prevent users from adding third-party-developed Start Buttons or altering their systems to boot directly to the Desktop, avoiding the Metro Start Screen.

Very interesting. Rumor is some of these changes preventing 3-party Start Buttons are in the CR. Did CR break anyone's Start Button add-ons??

Jim :cool:
 

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Among the coming tweaks is the removal of the current Windows Aero interface, as Microsoft officials acknowledged in a blog post (buried toward the bottom) earlier this month. Another is an expected under-the-hood code change that will prevent users from adding third-party-developed Start Buttons or altering their systems to boot directly to the Desktop, avoiding the Metro Start Screen.

Very interesting. Rumor is some of these changes preventing 3-party Start Buttons are in the CR. Did CR break anyone's Start Button add-ons??

Jim :cool:

How Apple like :(

There is a reason I do not like Apple and this is one of the big ones.

Microsoft used to sit right between Apple's completely controlled universe and Linux's "So open its brains are falling out" universe. Windows did it all, didn't require you to be a programmer to get anything done on it and was mostly very customisable with third party apps.

If Microsoft just becomes Apple... We'll lose something really great.
 

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Very interesting. Rumor is some of these changes preventing 3-party Start Buttons are in the CR. Did CR break anyone's Start Button add-ons??

I beileve this is largely false. While I have not tried it myself, few people have reported that Classic Shell is still working: https://sourceforge.net/projects/classicshell/forums/forum/1049755/topic/5315813
It is very likely other programs like ViStart will also work. If anything, there may be a problem with Start8 because it manipulates the Metro screen, and there are Metro changes between CP and RP.

The original article that started it all is here: http://www.winsupersite.com/article/windows8/microsoft-windows-8-businesses-143238
It was published before the RP was available, so it is not clear where did this information come from. Probably the author has heard from Microsoft (either from an insider, or at some pre-release press event) that they are removing the code for that old start menu, and he interpreted it as intentionally breaking start button applications. Or maybe he tried the leaked Chinese build, and maybe for some reason Classic Shell and others don't work well in Chinese. I will have to test that (Arabic as well, because it is a right-to-left language and some things may not quite work).

What's worse, this rumor was then repeated multiple times by other blogs, and many people are outraged for nothing.

Anyway I believe the rumors of the start button's demise have been largely exagerated.
 

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What happens next?

Well, speaking for myself, I'm off to pick up a copy of Win 7 Ultimate 64-bit.

I have NEVER been so disillusioned with an OS in my life as I am with Windows 8.

I'll probably install a 'hacktivated' copy of the 64-bit CP into VirtualBox for anything
that 'must' have Win 8, but it will NEVER become my primary OS.

Not as long as that dog's-dinner of an interface and the push to the 'cloud' remain.
 
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Among the coming tweaks is the removal of the current Windows Aero interface, as Microsoft officials acknowledged in a blog post (buried toward the bottom) earlier this month. Another is an expected under-the-hood code change that will prevent users from adding third-party-developed Start Buttons or altering their systems to boot directly to the Desktop, avoiding the Metro Start Screen.

Very interesting. Rumor is some of these changes preventing 3-party Start Buttons are in the CR. Did CR break anyone's Start Button add-ons??

Jim :cool:

My free Vista Start Button was deleted when I installed the new version over the old one. I downloaded and installed it from the web, and it works fine.
 

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Adding back the start menu into Windows 8 would be like adding Windows 95's start menu into Windows 3. There's a thing called UI change.
 

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No one has asked this yet. What about Windows 9? :what:
 

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No one has asked this yet. What about Windows 9? :what:

[Sarcasm] Clearly there will be no desktop mode at all. I mean everyone knows the PC is dead, by the time windows 9 comes out there wont be a single PC left in existance and all the work everyone did on them will be er... not needable any more! [/sarcasm]
 

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No one has asked this yet. What about Windows 9?

There won't be one.
MS is trying to be the next RIM. :sarc:

[Sarcasm] Clearly there will be no desktop mode at all. I mean everyone knows the PC is dead, by the time windows 9 comes out there wont be a single PC left in existance and all the work everyone did on them will be er... not needable any more! [/sarcasm]

That's exactly what the pro-Metro/Touch crowd actually think. :doh:
 

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No one has asked this yet. What about Windows 9?

There won't be one.
MS is trying to be the next RIM. :sarc:

[Sarcasm] Clearly there will be no desktop mode at all. I mean everyone knows the PC is dead, by the time windows 9 comes out there wont be a single PC left in existance and all the work everyone did on them will be er... not needable any more! [/sarcasm]

That's exactly what the pro-Metro/Touch crowd actually think. :doh:

My guess is that M$ paid some consulting agency a small fortune and this is what they were told.

As if these agencies haven't been wrong before..most of the time.
 

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I have tried the better known third party start menus. All worked 100%.:
Start Menu 7(3.88 and 4.3 : Power 8:Vistart and Vistastart.
I think the article may have been referring to, or hinting at, the original, and now redundant, registry hack. I cannot see any way that Microsoft can stop a future registry exploitation.

Forgot the Classic Menu. My own preference - working perfectly.
 

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That's exactly what the pro-Metro/Touch crowd actually think. :doh:
You are aware that laptops outsell desktops (and have for a few years), and for some time now iPads alone have outsold major hardware OEMs whole PC lines in certain quarters? The desktop is not dead, but it's not the future of what consumers really want either. Understanding Microsoft is going to make software for what people are clearly saying they want means things like Windows 8 are going to happen - it's designed for touch, and Microsoft (and OEM partners) are going to make software and hardware that make this work. Stuff we've all had for years isn't really the target.

I don't want Windows 8 on my desktop PC (or my old laptop without a multitouch pad), but I like it more on my slate and I would expect on a multitouch pad laptop that allows me to do the same things without touching the screen.
 

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Cluberti, you've pretty well got it figured out. Touchscreen devices are the wave of the future, and Windows 8 emphasizes touch screens. But if you go to the traditional desktop, it is a great OS for a desktop computer.
 

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Market Saturation

You are aware that laptops outsell desktops (and have for a few years), and for some time now iPads alone have outsold major hardware OEMs whole PC lines in certain quarters? The desktop is not dead, but it's not the future of what consumers really want either. Understanding Microsoft is going to make software for what people are clearly saying they want means things like Windows 8 are going to happen - it's designed for touch, and Microsoft (and OEM partners) are going to make software and hardware that make this work. Stuff we've all had for years isn't really the target.

You are comparing a saturated market (desktop PCs) to an unsaturated one (tablets).

Of course there are more tablet sales than desktops sales:
  • Desktops last a long time (you don't have to throw them away after 6 months use).
  • They've been sold to people for ~30 years (i.e. most people who want one, have one).

I'm sure MS want a slice of that action (consumer devices).
MS is prepared to blow 1 billion existing user upgrades, to try and steal 100 million sales from Apple and Google. :confused:
IMO, most Apple and Google users aren't going to swap to MS.

If all you ever do is read email, watch YouTube and/or Twit, touch is OK.

I use my computer to do "real" work.
How is touch relevant to actually doing "real" work?


Touch is the future, as long as the future doesn't include:

  • Creating spreadsheets.
  • Creating databases.
  • CAD programs.
  • Typing up giant reports, novels, etc..
  • VMs.
  • Editing audio, images and video.
  • etc.

I don't want Windows 8 on my desktop PC (or my old laptop without a multitouch pad), but I like it more on my slate and I would expect on a multitouch pad laptop that allows me to do the same things without touching the screen.

I have stated (on many occasions) that W8 will probably be OK on phones and tablets.
 

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MS is prepared to blow 1 billion existing user upgrades, to try and steal 100 million sales from Apple and Google. :confused:
IMO, most Apple and Google users aren't going to swap to MS.

:ditto: I know someone that owns/rents an iPhone. She said the call quality was poor so I suggested swapping it in for something that does work. Only if it's for another Apple. Kinda confirms my point that many Apple purchases are fashion accessories.

Read a review that the Nokia Lumia phone is a bargain. But, irrespective as to how good Win8 or Android is, you won't break that Apple sort of mentality.
 

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Hi there
For actual computing --unless you are hosting a load of servers are are into gaming in a big way - the Desktop IS DEAD -- and Buried too. BUT NOT LAPTOPS.

Pretty well every office I have ever been to now issues both INTERNAL and EXTERNAL staff company laptops or in an increasing number of cases are encouraging external consultants to provide their own laptops.

Tablets are "new fangled" devices that sit between Smart phones and traditional laptops.

I don't actually think they are too long for this world either (might be in a minority of one but I'm sticking my neck out here -- that stupid agency "Gartners" thinks the PC will be obsolete in 2 years so I go to the opposite view-- well I'll bet that the tablet will pretty much have died by then or "Morphed" into a netbook with an attachable external keyboard and facilities for adding external USB devices -- I.e --you've guessed it -- a laptop. !!.

In a new market people always go Bonkers over sales volumes but totally forget in a mature market these sales volumes diminish very substantially indeed.

Anything that I could conceivably need a tablet for I can do quite comfortably on a Smart phone --especially the newer ones and the only possible application I might consider would be an e-book reader -- but 99% of any books that I want to access while I'm travelling I play as Audio Books through the phone. Much easier and portable too. The internal micro SD card holds 32 GB -- loads and loads of books at mp3 can be downloaded as well as music etc etc.

I need a computer for things like presentations, spread sheets, financial analysis, Engineering design etc . All this stuff is virtually IMPOSSIBLE to do on an Ipad or any other 100% touch type device.

W8 is fine but it must embrace 2 different sets of users to be a success.

Cheers
jimbo
 

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Tablets are "new fangled" devices that sit between Smart phones and traditional laptops.

I don't actually think they are too long for this world either (might be in a minority of one but I'm sticking my neck out here -- that stupid agency "Gartners" thinks the PC will be obsolete in 2 years so I go to the opposite view-- well I'll bet that the tablet will pretty much have died by then or "Morphed" into a netbook with an attachable external keyboard and facilities for adding external USB devices -- I.e --you've guessed it -- a laptop. !!.

jimbo

You're in a minority of 2 over this as I agree 101% about those tablets as they stand at the moment. I've tried my wife's iPad and it's interesting for browsing but that's about it in my world. I still need a conventional mouse and keyboard for my work.

The problem with all these statistics is they go on and on about how many new units have been shipped and fail to take into account net growth although how they would get those figures I have no idea. Maybe, just maybe, the tablet market is not far off saturation point.
 

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