ZylonBane on 29/10/2012 at 18:26
Quote Posted by Subjective Effect
If they had just allowed total replacement of the Desktop with the Start screen they may have been able to change the way people use Windows and get everyone use to this on a mobile platform too.
Including the Start screen on a desktop OS
at all was a horrible mistake. Making it the only choice would have been commerical suicide. The Start screen is an appliance interface. It is suitable for content consumption devices. The desktop PC is, increasingly so, used for work. It should have a GUI designed to allow people to create a
workspace that suits their individual needs and preferences, not a one-size-fits-all toy flickety-flick-flick interface.
Chimpy Chompy on 29/10/2012 at 18:40
Ask a stupid question - are there still such things as 32 bit and 64 bit versions? I'm looking at the online Upgrade Assistant and it doesn't seem to mention the distinction anywhere.
Renzatic on 29/10/2012 at 18:49
It all depends on what OS you're using when you run the upgrade advisor. If you want 64-bit Windows 8, you have to be running 64-bit Windows Vista/7. If you want to upgrade from 32 to 64 bit, you have to spend $30 more and buy the disc.
Dumb? A little bit.
SubJeff on 29/10/2012 at 19:11
ZB - I do know what you mean. The problem with this system is that it doesn't have an emulation of all the things you can do on the desktop and is therefore inferior.
And it does some dumb things. Email attachment? You can open it. Fine. But you dare download it? Good luck finding where it's been downloaded to sucka!
Whilst I don't mind the Start screen I do find it odd flipping in and out of the Start stuff to get to programs.
Renzatic on 29/10/2012 at 19:41
Quote Posted by Subjective Effect
ZB - I do know what you mean. The problem with this system is that it doesn't have an emulation of all the things you can do on the desktop and is therefore inferior.
It doesn't need to emulate the desktop yet because you still have full access to it even on the ARM rev. Right now, all Metro needs to be is a platform for launching applications, with the new start screen acting as the mediator between the new and the old.
Windows 8 is very much a transitional OS. The things you want out of it are likely to come on down the road.
ZylonBane on 29/10/2012 at 19:53
Quote Posted by Renzatic
It doesn't need to emulate the desktop yet because you still have full access to it even on the ARM rev.
What I've read is that the WinRT "desktop" exists only to run the ARM port of Office. (
http://gizmodo.com/5883801/) *
Renzatic on 29/10/2012 at 19:55
Plus IE and explorer. But whatever. It's there.
SubJeff on 29/10/2012 at 20:44
I don't really want to change but I get why they want the same system on destops, laptops, tablets and mobiles. If they really want it working they need the Start screen to replace the desktop altogether and if you think about it wouldn't really be that hard. It's just another way of showing the same info really.
ZylonBane on 29/10/2012 at 21:42
The Start screen is not a desktop replacement. The Start screen is a Start menu replacement. The very concept of a desktop doesn't exist in Metro. Hell, the concept of windows barely exists in Metro. It's a GUI for small-screen devices.
Jason Moyer on 1/11/2012 at 15:08
I just installed Windows 7 finally, and...if Metro makes the interface even *less* usable, you can count me out. I don't think I'm one of those "OMG IT'S DIFFERENT THIS SUX" people, but even Win7 without ClassicShell is completely useless. I think it's possible that a radically different graphical shell could be designed that is functional/efficient, but I also highly suspect that Microsoft's creative apex in that regards came with Windows 95. I mean, is it really that hard to come up with a way to efficiently access hundreds of programs without start-->programs-->nested menus?
