That is not how Microsoft does things. They do not improve on old solutions. They replace them with something new. That is what will happen here as well.
Not true, of course they do improve, for example:
No change in UI.
Minor change in UI.
Complete replacement of Winforms with WPF, no not improvement but a complete replacement.
Minor change in UI.
So will Bob.
Well, there is much more in a software package than UI.
BS, do some research before making such stupid comments.
Well, there is much more in a software package than UI.
No need to answer, won't waste my time with you anymore.
Since the context is UI that's what we're talking about, right? Or did you mean something else? In that case you could clarify so we're on the same page.
I did more than "some research". I work with designing custom UI's in XP, Vista and Windows 7, and unfortunately I have an intimate familiarity with the changes throughout those OS'es. It's not all for the better, although for the most part the state of the art in Windows 7 is very good.
And the improvements which are not UI are for the most part done through replacement of the technology involved. That's the norm at Microsoft, as so many developers have found over the years.
That's a relief.
I'd be very surprised if they abandon Metro in the next release. The evolution of the classic desktop over the past few releases is a much more likely template for the sorts of things they're likely to do for the next few releases of Metro.
Here's a perfect example of what Microsoft is up against trying to sell Windows 8. For this user, photo uploading didn't work the same and so he gave up on a Windows 8 system after just a couple of days. I have little doubt that his problem was a trivial one and that Windows 8 could have been configured to work just like his old system, but that wasn't good enough for him.
Sean, as you and many others pointed out in that thread, autoplay works EXACTLY the same in Windows 8 as it has for the previous 3 (or more) versions of Windows. That it didn't work the first time he plugged in his SD card is unfortunate (though, surely he has experienced that in previous versions, I know I have), but simply returning the computer was quite the over reaction.
The problem is most people, and the people Sean is taking about wouldn't even know where to begin to troubleshoot or what it even is, they would only recognize the word as something they saw it a long time ago in back of some Manuel for the TV or something and are afraid to try anyway out of fear of completely breaking the computer. You are greatly over estimating the average computer user.
And you are greatly over estimating that this is a "Windows 8" problem. I can't count how many times auto run hasn't worked for me in Win 7 or XP. Simply taking out the media and plugging it back in works 99% of the time, but the poster in the other thread perhaps didn't even try that.
Oh, if it was a "snap judgement". Unfortunately that is a misclassification of the largest order. The recommendation to pass on the mess which is Windows 8 is not born out of any "snap judgement" - if it was, it would be just like all other snap judgements out there, and quickly overruled by common sense. Unfortunately, the recommendation is born from that common sense.
WHERE IS EVERYTHING?!
Not going to happen. "Hovering" is not an action. "Corners" is not a place to get stuff done, because anything could be in the corners. Images, buttons, windows handles, what have you. Just saying - or using - "corners" is a non-starter. Even if I can remember what corner does what it's going to be the last place I go, after using every button and menu available.
Nowhere. There is no start menu. There is, however, a start screen, which is not a comparable beast. And once more, "corner". Really? Who thought that was a feasible idea?
Makes sense. Not.
Makes sense. Not. Nothing is "in the corner" in anything anyone ever knew before. Or after, since the atrocity known as Windows 8 is a one-off.
Makes sense. Not, again.
Setting are for SETTINGS. Shutting down is not a setting. It's an action. Actions should be where actions normally are; in the start menu. Oh, I forgot, there is none! There is a start screen! So "shut down" is there then? Nope, it's somewhere else.
Which means it is nowhere. Corners are nothing.
I'll tell you what is "stubbornness". To defend the atrocity which is the Windows 8 UI no matter the argument, even when admitting it's broken, that is stubbornness. Windows 8 should never have been released into the wild. It's got nothing anyone wants, and plenty of things which make no sense what so ever. "Hovering in corners", seriously? Who came up with that? He should be fired! Oh, wait, he was!
Not in Windows itself, but there are lots of third-party utilities that use the corners. Lots of screensaver utilities, for example, use the act of moving the mouse to one corner to force the screensaver to start, while moving it to another corner can disable the screensaver.
Which has never made sense to pretty much anyone. Mouseover in general is obscure, to have mouse over on invisible spaces is even more obscure.
No, I do not. I have choices, and I choose not to care about what the guy that got fired over his UI design thought I should spend my time memorizing.
"Mouseover" gestures absolutely do not belong in a touch UI. "Invisible hotspots" definitely do not belong in a touch UI. That is why it's so hard to explain Kindle Touch zones to people who are used to iPhones and Android phones, and, for that matter, Windows.
Of course "hovering" is an action. I hover over text to get pop-up menus, I hover over windows and icons to get additional info, and it is most certainly an event that I can program actions for.
Yes, corners again. It's all about the corners. Once you get that through your noggin things will open up.
About as much sense as "Shut Down" being under "Start".
Numerous programs and apps use edges and corners. Even in Windows 7 the bottom right corner of the screen had a "Show Desktop" action associated with it.
Only because you refuse to think.
"I refuse to move my mouse to the corners, there is clearly nothing there."
If you ever get a small phone with visual cues for every basic function then you'll just end up complaining that the cues take up too much space on the screen.
For advanced use, indeed. But there is no basic functionality which requires that. And when there is a place to hover in a UI, there is a cue. Except in Windows 8.
And there is nothing there in any UI except Windows 8. Unless there is an icon there, in which case I will of course think there is something to do there.
The core difference, the elephant in the room, is that the menu is a cue. It's a place which says "look here, we have put things here for you to find". This is not true of basic functions in Windows 8. They have no cues. No indication there are things there for us to find.
Which ain't going to happen, because it makes no sense. I ain't going for the mouse (or trackpad) just to start searching the screen for "hot spots" which trigger actions. The only reason I use a pointer device is to do things which are inconvenient to do with a keyboard with shift, control and (at most) alt modifiers. Although I avoid alt, since I have enough to keep in my head as it is.
That actually makes a lot of sense. "Start" is where you start actions. Shutting down is an action. Not a setting.
Which is so obscure I doubt there are many who even knew it, and even fewer who used it. I definitely do not.
Au contraire. If it made sense I wouldn't have to sit down and think about it, it would just occur naturally.
I refuse to look for hidden hotspots. They are hidden. I use cues to navigate UI's - that is, after all, the entire point of a UI over a shell. To provide me with cues to do basic tasks so I don't have to memorize stuff.
Of course it is. A stubborn refusal to memorize non-cued actions and hidden activation paths. I have enough of that in my shells. I don't need any more of it in a UI which is supposed to make navigation easier, not harder. Otherwise I might as well just use a shell - which, as it may be, is what I usually do to do advanced tasks anyway, since UI's are not good for those, since those tend to be non-cued.
You mean like an iPhone? No, can't say I complain about that. I'm a very happy iOS user. There are no "hot corners" or "slide to get stuff done" there. Select an app to start it, click the close button to close it, and sliding does what one would expect sliding does.
Most people who have iPhones are quite happy with them. Can't say I see the advantage Windows 8 has here, with making things more difficult in the name of ... what exactly?
Live tiles.
