Can you survive in Windows 8's modern UI alone?

Can Windows 8’s modern UI replace the traditional desktop? That’s the question everyone’s been asking since Microsoft released Windows 8 last October.

Thus far, the consensus theory has been a resounding NO! There aren’t enough modern apps in the Windows Store, critics point out. And the full-screen view of modern-style apps isn’t conducive to PC-style multitasking, they say. And hey, the control panel is still located on the desktop!

But so what?

For all the gripes, no complainers have yet to answer the basic question: Even with these limitations, is it conceivable to spend all of your time in the modern UI, and shun the desktop completely?

Source

A Guy
 
Silly question (not stupid just silly). Why ask something that at this point in time the answer can be nothing more than, "NO."
 

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No :) ...
 

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Hi there
The answer to this question is a resounding LOAD OF TOTAL : (screenshot below)

Cheers
jimbo
 

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My answer is not as simple. Can I survive solely in Metro? No, not yet. However, I wish I could. It pisses me off that I have to keep going back to the desktop. I really hope Microsoft hold their nerve going into the future. Windows Blue looks like a step toward this, so I find that promising.

I just hope the general user out there takes the time to educate themselves about 8, and actually try it before forming an opinion, rather than just following the Apple-centric media.
 

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The general public is educated about w8. They just don't like it much.

It pisses me off to even have to see the metro screen, lol.
 

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My answer is not as simple. Can I survive solely in Metro? No, not yet. However, I wish I could. It pisses me off that I have to keep going back to the desktop. I really hope Microsoft hold their nerve going into the future. Windows Blue looks like a step toward this, so I find that promising.

I just hope the general user out there takes the time to educate themselves about 8, and actually try it before forming an opinion, rather than just following the Apple-centric media.

Hi there
Do you REALLY want to run a SINGLE full screen application on a 60 Inch Monitor with a powerful i7 processor in your PC. (Waste of a processor !!)

Might be fine for watching movies -- but smart TV's can connect to the internet anyway and play these without you even NEEDING a PC.

What would you do in a Metro screen if you had to compare say the prices on 3 different web sites, translate several documents or even insert parts of objects such as spread sheet work books into other objects such as power point presentations.

What I can't understand is in why some people just can't understand why for loads of applications you NEED to have concurrent re-sizeable windowable displays. Full screen mode - especially without toolbars / command line just doesn't work - even in a Browser.

I don't have any problems using W8 - but do I need Metro -- absolutely NOT. - I rarely if ever work in full screen mode.

Cheers
jimbo
 

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I have to agree with you there Jimbo. Metro's one screen only full screen only limitation is a big negative in my book.
 

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At this time, with the use of Stardock software, I work exclusively in the desktop environment. If the desktop eventually becomes unavailable to me, I'm sure I will find a way to adapt. As long as their is a way to install apps that are obtained outside of the App Store there shouldn't be a problem. My only current dependency is really just the task bar.
 

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No, I don't think you really can...yet.
 

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As it stands, no. The metro designed apps in Windows 8 are more internet content based. If Microsoft was smart, they'd design the core Windows Desktop apps in a proper metro form, with full feature sets of those Desktop counterparts. Also, if they used the Radial menu design in a File Explorer app, that would be REALLY awesome!
 

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Currently I cant survive only in Metro, and the answer is quite simple: Most of my production softwares are desktop based.
 

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The general public is educated about w8. They just don't like it much.

It pisses me off to even have to see the metro screen, lol.

See, I don't think that's true.

People are often led by media opinion. I think most people who think Windows 8 sucks haven't really tried it. Or they tried it for 5 minutes or a couple of days and decided it was no good. People haven't really tried it. To truly get to know a new OS, you have to run it for a couple of months. People also need to understand that 8 is not 7, and that was intentional. It has to be viewed as a brand new OS, not an iteration. Microsoft haven't helped themselves with their crummy marketing either.



Hi there
Do you REALLY want to run a SINGLE full screen application on a 60 Inch Monitor with a powerful i7 processor in your PC. (Waste of a processor !!)

Might be fine for watching movies -- but smart TV's can connect to the internet anyway and play these without you even NEEDING a PC.

What would you do in a Metro screen if you had to compare say the prices on 3 different web sites, translate several documents or even insert parts of objects such as spread sheet work books into other objects such as power point presentations.

What I can't understand is in why some people just can't understand why for loads of applications you NEED to have concurrent re-sizeable windowable displays. Full screen mode - especially without toolbars / command line just doesn't work - even in a Browser.

I don't have any problems using W8 - but do I need Metro -- absolutely NOT. - I rarely if ever work in full screen mode.

Cheers
jimbo

No, because I dont have a 60 inch moniter, and likely never will. Blue seems to be opening up metro to better splitscreen use with 50-50 and more than 2 at once.

As it stands, no. The metro designed apps in Windows 8 are more internet content based. If Microsoft was smart, they'd design the core Windows Desktop apps in a proper metro form, with full feature sets of those Desktop counterparts. Also, if they used the Radial menu design in a File Explorer app, that would be REALLY awesome!

We're thinking along the same lines :cool:
 

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Can you survive in Windows 8's modern UI alone?
Of course not, would be totally crippling. The OS itself is very good, but the restricting (and on top of that, ugly) phone UI is useless for my work\use\needs.

Edit: But the rumors seems to indicate MS may start thinking straight again after a long delirium, and offer a useable product later this year. Looking forward to that.
 

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Survive? Sure, but being productive with the metro UI only, not a chance. I have two screens with multiple programs open at once working between and exchanging data with them. Having a metro program consuming the whole screen isn't made for using multiple programs at once. Even the split screen isn't a real solution to having a flexible and functional desktop.
 

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One of my monitors died today, which means I'm pretty much working in Windows 8 MPI mode, as I no longer have the ability to open programs on two screens and, for example, searching things on one screen while having a related activity happening on the other. Splitting one screen is simply awful. This is a pain in the rear and a new monitor is on it's way (not touch either - why pay 3x plus the price for something you won't use). So working in Microsoft's desired mode of single-tasking is about as painful as it gets.
 

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One of my monitors died today, which means I'm pretty much working in Windows 8 MPI mode, as I no longer have the ability to open programs on two screens and, for example, searching things on one screen while having a related activity happening on the other. Splitting one screen is simply awful. This is a pain in the rear and a new monitor is on it's way (not touch either - why pay 3x plus the price for something you won't use). So working in Microsoft's desired mode of single-tasking is about as painful as it gets.

Hi Ray8
It makes the whole exercise even MORE absurd if you have say an Ultrabook with a nice powerful i7 processor in it -- that poor processor probably wouldn't even be at IDLE speed. !! What a total waste of using a computer. I don't have an issue with this type of working on a mobile phone -- but a computer !!!.

Cheers
jimbo
 

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The general public is educated about w8. They just don't like it much.

It pisses me off to even have to see the metro screen, lol.

See, I don't think that's true.

People are often led by media opinion. I think most people who think Windows 8 sucks haven't really tried it. Or they tried it for 5 minutes or a couple of days and decided it was no good. People haven't really tried it. To truly get to know a new OS, you have to run it for a couple of months. People also need to understand that 8 is not 7, and that was intentional. It has to be viewed as a brand new OS, not an iteration. Microsoft haven't helped themselves with their crummy marketing either.



Hi there
Do you REALLY want to run a SINGLE full screen application on a 60 Inch Monitor with a powerful i7 processor in your PC. (Waste of a processor !!)

Might be fine for watching movies -- but smart TV's can connect to the internet anyway and play these without you even NEEDING a PC.

What would you do in a Metro screen if you had to compare say the prices on 3 different web sites, translate several documents or even insert parts of objects such as spread sheet work books into other objects such as power point presentations.

What I can't understand is in why some people just can't understand why for loads of applications you NEED to have concurrent re-sizeable windowable displays. Full screen mode - especially without toolbars / command line just doesn't work - even in a Browser.

I don't have any problems using W8 - but do I need Metro -- absolutely NOT. - I rarely if ever work in full screen mode.

Cheers
jimbo

No, because I dont have a 60 inch moniter, and likely never will. Blue seems to be opening up metro to better splitscreen use with 50-50 and more than 2 at once.

As it stands, no. The metro designed apps in Windows 8 are more internet content based. If Microsoft was smart, they'd design the core Windows Desktop apps in a proper metro form, with full feature sets of those Desktop counterparts. Also, if they used the Radial menu design in a File Explorer app, that would be REALLY awesome!

We're thinking along the same lines :cool:

Hi there
Having a FIXED number of windows even on a smaller monitor is obviously IMO a BACKWARD step -- what on earth is wrong with having re-sizeable overlayable windows where the USER can arrange these according to HIS / HER needs rather than a fixed format - I sometimes have 4 or 5 Market trading (Stocks) sessions open at once, two IE sessions, an email window and usually a session where the Forum is being displayed. Even on a 14 inch screen this is quite do-able.

Fixed metro with a limited number of sessions is an ABOMINATION for a lot of people.

Cheers
jimbo
 

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Initially, it felt like someone had put a patch over my right eye, with that blank screen on the right; but later it became evident that my workflow has slowed by around a factor of three, because I didn't have the luxury of the second screen. In the days of pure paper, you'd lay out documents on the desk and be able to look at them all at the same time and cross-reference etc while taking notes et al. Without the two screens, it's akin to having a desk only able to hold one document at a time.

This is unbelievably frustrating.
 

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