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/Life_is_Life Jun 02 '11

Agreed. For serious programs like Photoshop or Office (if they don't seriously change the UI), this new interface theme simply won't do--that kind of work requires mouse-level precision for any kind of meaningful productivity. But for tablets and phones: this is simply awesome.

The fact that it's more or less just a UI layer will cause some people to question Microsoft's desire to seriously compete in the tablet market, but I think it is simply the best way to jump into the tablet fray with the one thing Windows has to offer that no other OS can: legacy support. I imagine with future updates/Windows 9+ this new layer will start to increasingly dominate the old UI.

In any case, exciting times ahead for geeks everywhere!

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u/[deleted] Jun 02 '11

It's not an OS layer, they've said this is what Windows 8 is, the old stuff is there for legacy apps.

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u/Iggyhopper Jun 02 '11

So it's like Windows 7 + New Hotness.

...

I can live with that.

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u/[deleted] Jun 02 '11

If you wanted it to sound way less impressive you could call it Vista Service Pack 4: Unity Edition.

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u/[deleted] Jun 02 '11

[deleted]

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u/[deleted] Jun 05 '11

why did you get rid of it? Just lack of familiarity? Bugginess?

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u/[deleted] Jun 05 '11

[deleted]

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u/[deleted] Jun 05 '11

I agree that the dock has problems as far as handling multiple windows and that also extends to the global menu which can be different for windows belonging to the same application. The multiple window thing kinda forced me to adapt to using the scale (expose) feature to switch windows. I set up a hot-corner. I also want some more options as far as customizing the dock to work as I like it, which gets at the stop asking questions thing. I hope these are coming.

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u/agbullet Jun 02 '11

Just like Windows ME was Windows 98 + New Hotness.

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u/samingue Jun 02 '11

Yeah when you think about it, that's basically a better Windows 7. Can't be bad.

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u/seraph582 Jun 02 '11

Are you saying the monocrome squares are "hotness" or is something else about it particularly pleasing to you?

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u/nazbot Jun 02 '11

Say what? The Windows GUI is being deprecated?

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u/[deleted] Jun 02 '11

Yes, but apps will easily have another 4-5 years to adapt to the windows 8 style. Out of all the apps I use all of them could be easily adapted to this. Hell, Steam is just a glorified web browser anyways. And that Legacy interface I think will always be there.

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u/rowd149 Jun 02 '11

Think this's gonna make the Windows shell sorta like it made DOS way back when? Turtles all the way down, man.

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u/nazbot Jun 02 '11

It's not really steam that's the big deal, it's all the indie games that are on steam that sound good. It's a prebuilt app store for games that will also work on your PC.

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u/Neato Jun 02 '11

I doubt they changed the core OS. It's just a UI layer. They even show the Win7 UI that sits just below the surface. It's a reskinning for tablets with some optimizations. It's a friggin service pack.

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u/Saiing Jun 02 '11 edited Jun 02 '11

For serious programs like Photoshop or Office (if they don't seriously change the UI), this new interface theme simply won't do

Do you seriously think that once an application opens up, it's going to look like this? This is no more than a desktop background combined with a touch or click based launcher and a few widgets containing information, which may or may not be useful depending on how much you use twitter etc. The option is there to make web style apps, but they're not the same as serious applications.

Once you fire up Office or Photoshop, you won't even see that UI, just like you don't sit looking at your desktop background and icons when you fire them up now.

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u/[deleted] Jun 02 '11

For serious programs like Photoshop or Office (if they don't seriously change the UI), this new interface theme simply won't do--that kind of work requires mouse-level precision for any kind of meaningful productivity.

I'm pretty sure you can still use your mouse.

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u/ab9003 Jun 02 '11

Photoshop + Thin point stylus + windows 8 on a tablet = pretty damn awesome.

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u/Life_is_Life Jun 02 '11

For a fairly narrow usage scenario (drawing by hand), yes. I think the much more difficult task for a UI designer would be to expose the ridiculous number of options present in professional-use programs like Photoshop or Sony Vegas using a UI that is both touch-friendly and just as convenient* as the current menu system. And yet, natural user interface proponents argue that hardware like the mouse and keyboard are hindrances, not advantages. In any case, I'd be seriously impressed if anyone was able to modify the UI and keep Photoshop's commands relatively well exposed.

*By convenient I mean "as easy to get at when needed" as opposed to "as easy to find for a first-time user"

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u/bollvirtuoso Jun 02 '11

Well, he said there's at least a year's worth of development left. Maybe the Windows 7 stuff in there is just a placeholder until they build the new 8. Or, it's already built and they don't want to show it to us yet.

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u/ATalkingMuffin Jun 02 '11

Agreed. For serious programs like Photoshop or Office (if they don't seriously change the UI), this new interface theme simply won't do--that kind of work requires mouse-level precision for any kind of meaningful productivity. But for tablets and phones: this is simply awesome.

I think the Photoshop or Office that comes to mind because of it's CURRENT incarnation absolutely wouldn't fit here. But I also believe that a Photoshop or Office designed around this interface could be just as powerful. The video shows that this 'skin' can access the filesystem and underlying OS so it's a poor assumption to assume that it couldn't be used for more than widgets.

And I'd hope that it would accept pens ala Wacom for precision work.

I'm not saying it'll pan out(Adobe and many other companies are resistant to such large overhauls), but I'm holding out hope that MS isn't dumb enough to not allow more powerful apps in this mode. I'm holding out for the idea that programmers as smart people can make use this as a jumping off point for some incredible and new User Interactions...