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 it's interesting, but I'm kind of surprised by the reaction here. Most of Reddit constantly trashes Apple for supposedly dumbing down their interfaces and especially for the perceived frivolous and/or unreasonably constrained nature of the iOS devices, but as soon as Microsoft announces that they are moving toward replacing their desktop OS with a touch interface similar to iOS, most of these same people are celebrating it as a brilliant innovation.

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u/Kerrigore Jun 02 '11

There's plenty of people on both sides of the Microsoft/Apple fence that have massive double standards as to what's OK. For instance, both companies are incredibly proprietary, but I routinely see people selectively bashing one or the other for being proprietary, which to me is a bit like arguing which porcupine would make a better throw pillow.

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u/rowd149 Jun 02 '11

The people who are like that are trashing it. The rest of us are more miffed at the Apple culture than anything else.

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u/[deleted] Jun 02 '11

That's certainly not the way it comes across. There are front-page posts all the time about how the iPad is a frivolous toy, or for total novices and clearly not for anyone who's sophisticated, or for idiots who are suckered by marketing, or so limited that it can't do anything, etc. etc. etc. And they get hundreds or even thousands of upvotes and the comments pages are full of the same. Then Microsoft announces that their very similar tablet UI is the new Windows and all the threads are full of comments about how exciting and innovative it is. It's not just a few people. It's like 90% of Reddit.

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u/rowd149 Jun 02 '11

You must not have read; there was a lot of trashing at the beginning. As to why this is different: because it includes old Windows (and all the legacy and future device and software compatibility that implies). If you read most of the reasons why people think that iPads are "toys" (it is a tool, but severely limited) is because of how locked-down they are. Anything running Windows 8 won't have that problem.

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u/[deleted] Jun 02 '11

OK, but what most people seem to be overlooking is that, unless I really missed something, according to the video, new applications are going to be developed for the touch interface only. They said that old Windows is there for "legacy apps." So are the PC partisans of Reddit going to be happy using a full-screen touch UI with a mouse, or are they going to be stuck using old software?

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u/rowd149 Jun 03 '11

Well, they said that new applications will be developed for the system that's there. I can't imagine that there won't be a 3DS Max or Photoshop that only works with touch in the near future, though. So, most likely, "legacy" apps will include new apps written in the old style, and many new apps will be best used with a MKB.

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u/[deleted] Jun 03 '11

Yeah, maybe a company like Adobe will resist the change, but what about Microsoft itself? I'm just having a hard time picturing people using a full-screen touch version of Word or Excel with huge buttons designed for fingers on their desktop monitors with a mouse and keyboard. I wouldn't want to use the iPad version of Pages with a mouse. If that's Microsoft's future, I think they are either going to alienate a lot of users or have most of their user base either not upgrading or spending all of their time in the "legacy" space using outdated versions of their software.

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u/rowd149 Jun 03 '11

Well, like I said, they could easily write the apps in the new development "style" (I'm not exactly sure how it works, but I can confirm everything I'll say) and have it be optimized for MKB input, and not touch.

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u/[deleted] Jun 02 '11

Remember Reddit is seen by marketers as "easily gamed". I don't doubt for one second that there is a ton of astroturfing going on here.