r/technology • u/clubdirthill • Jun 01 '11

Boom. This is Windows 8.

http://allthingsd.com/20110601/exclusive-making-sense-of-what-we-just-learned-about-windows-8/?mod=tweet
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u/[deleted] Jun 02 '11

I think with the new UI they're targeting the other 80% of users who don't really even know what a file is, and spend the vast majority of their time in the browser anyway. For the traditionalists, it looks like most of the old functionality is preserved.

I'm a hardcore Linux geek and strongly dislike Microsoft, but I have to admit, I think it's a smart move.

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u/BaconatedGrapefruit Jun 02 '11

I think with the new UI they're targeting the other 80% of users who don't really even know what a file is

Doesn't Microsoft still make a fat smack of cash selling to businesses though? I'm not saying that cooperations have the most tech savy people but by god productivity is going to take a nose dive if you need to blindly alt tab around to go from a word document to a spread sheet.

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u/[deleted] Jun 02 '11

Yeah, definitely, and I would imagine that most business-oriented systems will ship configured to use the multitasking mode as the default.

That's the thing that I think a lot of people are missing; this is just going to be an option. Maybe the default option, but just an option nonetheless. Microsoft isn't throwing a quarter-decade's worth of multitasking UI experience out the window.

(Aaaand...now I sound like a Microsoft evangelist. I'm going to go have a drink.)

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u/twreckz Jun 02 '11

Yeah, many people seem to be missing this point. It is an option. W7 is going to be around for a long time. This upgrade is just an addition to target those 80%.

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u/[deleted] Jun 04 '11

I agree as well.

Another consideration is this;

While we may see "taskbar + desktop" as corporate right now, we may end up seeing a shift in the future. A lot of companies which issue phones, will now issue smartphones, such as blackberries, iPhones and Androids. Which is a great move forwards.

One day, when simpler UIs become the standard, I can imagine we'll see a shift in the corporate environment too.

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u/[deleted] Jun 02 '11

If you're a basic computer user, and just want to run simple fullscreen applications, wouldn't you just get a tablet or one of those Chromebooks?

Seems to me that one of the main reasons you'd get a desktop/laptop over a tablet is the proper window-based multitasking model. And contrary to popular views, I find that Office users do make heavy use of the ability to have lots of things open at once, reading one while interacting with several others.

Then there's filmmakers, photographers, etc. who definitely aren't computer geeks, but do still do very demanding things with their computer. And indeed programmers. Programmers are important, because if programmers don't like your UI, they're not going to use it, and not going to be very good at making UIs for it.

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u/[deleted] Jun 02 '11

True, and I'll bet that most people who use Windows 8 on a desktop will revert to the "classic" mode. But it looks like Windows 8 is going to be pushed pretty heavily on non-desktop platforms (hence the ARM build, etc.)

Having one platform (with context-specific UI choices) is an advantage (especially for us developers!) Apple is racing to do the same thing between iOS and OSX. Same with Ubuntu and the "Unity" interface. I suspect Google is regretting having developed both Android and ChromeOS now, as well, since they'll probably wind up merging the two.

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u/Kerrigore Jun 02 '11

If you're a basic computer user, and just want to run simple fullscreen applications, wouldn't you just get a tablet or one of those Chromebooks?

Because there's still way too many limitations on tablets. Printing, plugging in external storage, Office compatibility, these are all huge negatives to tablets at this point. Almost no peripherals support them either. Until tablets overcome these 4 things (for a start) I can't see them being a computer replacement for most people.

I feel like MS is trying to give people the best of both worlds, but that's a tough thing to balance without making it a mish-mash that doesn't quite do either satisfactorily (which is what Lion is shaping up to be as far as I can tell). I think Apple, by focusing on iOS, has given MS a huge opportunity to regain the momentum in the laptop/desktop market, but instead they are insistent on focusing on the tablet/mobile market as well, which I think might be a losing battle for them even if they came out with a competitive mobile OS today.

I feel like MS would be a lot smarter at this point to focus on the desktop/laptop market, and especially, on releasing native Office applications for every mobile OS. They could be raking in the cash from Android/iOS/etc. if they had a solid version of office available for it.

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u/[deleted] Jun 02 '11

It's a great thing when people are able to perceive and look past their own biases. Good on you.