I think I've found out what the point of PC Settings applet is for.

This was something I found so redundant when Windows 8 came out in the Developer Preview, PC Settings, or at the time, Control Panel. It's the little applet that is linked from the Settings UI from the charms bar. From it, you find some basic options. Sometimes it takes you to the Desktop Control Panel to adjust more settings, like Windows Update. Sometimes, the Control Panel takes you there, like if you want to add another user. It's kind of a conundrum. Why both?

I was thinking, as I like to do, and I think I've figured this pickle out.

Windows 8 is a touch, mobile designed OS. So therefore, many Desktop items would be a pain to touch on a touchscreen as they are right now. But that's not the main point. Windows 8 is targeting mainly the average, everyday consumer of the Windows PC. Now just think, on a normal day, how many accountants, lawyers, nurses, secretaries, teachers, college students, or just a common person access and troll through the Control Panel? Weekly? Monthly? Not a lot. It seems ridiculous to US, the PC enthusiast, the IT person. But really, not many people go through this Control Panel often. And if they do, it's at the guidance of someone or just to change some simple settings, like add a user, install updates, add a device, connect to a homegroup.

So since Windows 8 is targeting that demographic of people and targeting touch as well, the PC Setting applet makes sense. It has the settings that are commonly changed by a common user: personalization, users, notifications, search, share, privacy, ease of access, homegroup, devices, Windows update, and some general settings. Would it make sense to have a simpler OS have that? For a common user using a touch screen, it's MUCH easier to have those settings right there, laid out and simple, versus navigating this huge panel of controls just to adjust something so trivial.

It's like if you're in a car, you're driving and you have some settings you can change on the instrument panel, like climate controls, radio, and some other things. Those are the things you would change often and would have them easily accessible. Sometimes, you would need to adjust something more advanced, like the throttle intake valve on the engine, so you pop open your car's hood and adjust that and be done.

To me though, I would rather have the Control Panel have ALL of the new things that PC Settings has and just consolidate them in. As a desktop user, I don't really always want to go to an applet to change something that historically, the Control Panel would be the obvious place to change that, like the Start Screen's appearance. That should be in Personalization in the Control Panel. Add a user should be in the User Accounts settings.

That's a choice I would prefer.

I'm pretty sure it's because Microsoft hasn't converted all Windows components to Metro versions yet...

Since the Developer Preview was out, there has been issues of the system now having two separate Control Panels. I think, they should just integrate both into one. I would still want the Windows 7 Control Panel but with a new section added for adjusting or changing things related to the Metro interface and its apps. I find the Metro style Control Panel, just a bit dull, lacking the icons and stuff that makes the Windows 7 Control Panel attractive. I've always had my Control Panel with the "Large Icons" view. Even some average folks will find it a bit odd to change settings for their Desktop with this new Control Panel design that has a tablet OS UI design, whereas in the old Control Panel design, its basic design seems unchanged from XP to the classic one for Windows Developer Preview so more people will be familiar with this older design by default as they share a common feel. The new Control Panel is not hard to learn at all, but it just seems a bit dull and to me lacking eyecandy.

FuturDreamz said:

I'm pretty sure it's because Microsoft hasn't converted all Windows components to Metro versions yet...

Click to expand...

I would think so too, but they've all that time and they haven't added on to PC Settings...

I think they just needed a touch version because the charms was built for touch and the mobile metro screen side. While the control panel is for the desktop. Of course how it pops up in the desktop frankly it can be used in the desktop as well. But the reason was to probably have a touch based menu to control stuff. The menu itself dull and they should have done more with it. It looks flat and even though there are two menus the colors are so light you can't even tell it has a darker background color on the actual menu selection. The typography looks badly done to me. Everything is in the same weight same style. They keep using a light weight. There is no medium/regular weight and no bold it's just the same font weight over and over besides the size and hardly visible colors the sense of hierarchy is not really there.