This videos a little choppy, but showcases some interesting features.


[url]http://arstechnica.com/business/news/2011/09/windows-8-hardware-touch-screens-sensor-support-and-robotic-fingers.ars

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So what do you all think? I'm pretty intrigued by this new + old windows setup. I'm pretty interested with how things will mesh between Metro and the standard desktop. So far Ive noticed the side snapping (whatever they called it) for multi tasking which looks pretty sweet.

Gonna throw it on my Asus tablet tonight to test it out.

Keep in mind the side-snapping feature only works if you're running 1366 wide resolution or larger (does not need to be 16:9/16:10). Which of course eliminates my goddamn Macbook, wtf.

I'm excited for this nevertheless, especially all the multiple monitor stuff (basically take everything Ultramon used to do, and integrate it into Windows. FINALLY). I also am excited for the option of doing web-style applications for Metro UI.

Or more specifically, it eliminates smaller screens. I wonder how the Metro UI will cope with smaller screens that can't do the snap.

That bums me out since my tablet is 1280x800. Not an issue with any of my laptops/desktops though at least.

I'm sure they have some half-assed reason why smaller screens can't support it which they'll use as an excuse not to make every feature of their OS work everywhere.

It's so developers can guarantee their application 'snaps' and always looks good.

Yup, and honestly I messed around with it quite a bit last night on my "small" tablet and it works fine without it. I'm digging it and can't wait to see an ARM build. I could also get used to the sub-10 second boot times on my regular laptops/desktops as well...

So the snap still works on smaller screens? Also, could you describe how the metro UI works with the standard desktop? Do they flow nicely together?

No, no snap on the smaller screen from what I can tell. It's easy to switch back and forth between Metro and Explorer. In Metro there's a "Desktop" icon that goes there, and in Explorer, the start button goes to the Metro start screen. That's going to be the biggest shock to people. My guess is they'll eventually let you revert back to the traditional start menu if you want, but there's no way to right now that I saw.

It's pretty nice, I would appreciate the option to have the old style start menu while in "Desktop Mode" and have a link there to get to the "Start Screen" but it works well enough. The new explorer is sleak once you hide the ribbon, and native mounting ISO/VHD images is the best thing. The new task manager is also really great, and the OS just feels quick and responsive.

Oddly, Win8 has far better compatability with old games. I.E JK now works in full screen (even the menus) when it hasn't since XP, Fallout 1/2, Starcraft, and other games with 8-bit colour that refused to work without colour issues now work fine, and there's a new "8-Bit Colour" compat mode. Loving this.

The "classic" Windows 7 interface is still alive and well.

http://www.neowin.net/news/windows-8-how-to-re-enable-the-classic-start-menu

The only catch is, right now at least, you have to completely disable Metro to get it.

Is that really a catch?

Tibby: Uh, yes?

Also, if what Microsoft has said repeatedly, that option won't last.

The only metro buttons I use are IE, Explorer, and Control Panel.

I had a chance to test it out on a server in class. Ran like garbage until we put a 512mb graphics card in it. After that, pretty snazzy.

What kind of hardware specifically? It runs great on my tablet's crummy i5 on-die GPU. Also keep in mind, drivers are going to be a big issue this early on.

CHANGE IS BAD.

If I can get the damn accelerometer working in my tablet so I can easily switch orientations, I see absolutely no reason to put Windows 7 back on here. Come on Asus, give me some working drivers.

The board in the server has terrible onboard graphics, hyperthreaded quad xeon, and 16gb ram; we put in a 512mb GT520 and it picked right up. My 2600HD would probably work well, honestly. I'm gonna try it on my laptop (Core Duo 1.73, 2gb ram, 256mb onboard video maybe) as soon as I burn it.

Also, it found the GT520 drivers pretty quickly and everything just picked right up. Windows 7 drivers seem to work out fine, but I honestly can't tell what they changed under the hood.

Ahhh, ok, understandable that the video on that couldn't handle it then. Most consumer hardware should handle it just fine as long as you're not relying on older Intel integrated video.

I'm just trying it out through virtualbox on my desktop, see how it handles that.

I'm quite interested in the metro interface, coming from a WP7 user and how it works on a desktop.

I sure as hell don't want to give up the "classic" explorer interface for working on, but for general usage I think Metro will work great.

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Well, it works suprisingly well on virtualbox, although seems a little sluggish on the response, that's probably down to the graphics not being properly handled by virtualbox than windows.

There isn't really all that much to try out if I'm honest, added my facebook account in, tried out some browsing metroUI style, looked at some news feeds.

metro clearly isn't meant for desktop usage, for those that have used Zune, it's basically that program maximised and with windows built in.

what I can see working for metro is everything other than "work".

business uses will probably bypass the fancy new style 99% of the time and go straight to the "classic" explorer desktop and they need to enable that somewhere so that you aren't faced with metro everytime you log in.

gamers will probably be fine with a game tile on the metroUI to click on and jump into games

watching video's, viewing pictures, tweeting, facebook and browsing will all be fine through metro.

The one thing I'm going to have to get used to is the new start menu taking you back onto the tile screen. Coming from a mac user, you only ever have access to applications on the taskbar and for anything else I'd usually just use finder and type in what I wanted.

In Win8 I can see myself adding control panel to the taskbar but forgetting it's there for a while, otherwise you've got to go back to the tile screen to access it, tad annoying to say the least.

They need to add something similar to the OS X finder, for other applications that you wouldn't place on the taskbar, as you don't use them often enough, but that you need every now and then, unless I'm missing some other easy way to access them? (this is assuming they remove the old start menu as they have promised).

Anyways, that's enough playing for now.

The classic explorer interface as in the folders? You still have access to those. The few things I've seen about win8s search seem awesome though.

You can just start typing away with the Metro start screen up and it's just like the old start menu search in terms of functionality, just organized differently. Easiest way to find stuff really.

Works a treat, I knew I was missing something.

Well thats my main gripe gone, although they need to add of way to get that search box up without just blindly typing away, this is on a desktop ofc, I know on a tablet you just swipe from right to left I think.

I can't get network working in VirtualBox (i.e. no internet) ... any tips?

Go into the VM settings, network, click advanced, and change the adapter type to Intel PRO/1000 MT Desktop (82540EM). You might also want to go into audio and change the audio controller to Intel HD Audio while you're at it.

I don't know how I feel about this Metro thing... mostly like I want to vomit, but like anything else, I'd give it a fair shot.

On a sidenote.. "application" has become such a god damned buzzword. Its a "program" for ****s sake, this isn't an iphone.

It's also an application. They were applications before the iPhone. The only difference is they shortened it to apps, which I don't really mind. An application is a type of program that allows a user to perform a specific activity, which frankly fits the usage quite well. Apps aren't OSes for instance, but programs are.

:shrug: call me oldschool.

CHANGE IS BAD.


Also, Microsoft DO need to take a page from apples book when it comes to designing on OS. Not everything, but they really need to focus on designing a better user experience.

Personally, I thought windows 7 was/is a fantastic user experience. Especially for those who arent doing anything overly technical with it.

Examples?

Oh I agree completely. I still think Microsoft needs to make some usability improvements though. I havent tried it yet so I cant say for sure, but I certainly think the idea behind metro is a good one.

Haven't tried it, but based on the videos I've seen it'll be okay. Definitely needs more polish but it's good to see Microsoft finally innovating on the user interface front again.

How does Visual Studio fit into this?

How does it fit into the Metro interface? As far as I know (haven't actually looked at it yet), there's a new SDK for building Metro apps using XAML with C++/C#/VB or HTML5/CSS3 with Javascript. I'm guessing it'll be just like it is for WP7: An SDK that doesn't come bundled with VS Pro/Premium/Ultimate, but can be added on, or can be installed as an Express version for people without any paid version of VS.

Thanks, that did the trick. The audio thing didn't work though (Intel HD Audio isn't an option). Any other tweaks? I turned on 2d and 3d graphics hardware accel but didn't seem to make much of a difference.

Whoops missed this before and I dont think I mean it totally.

What I meant was, Microsoft being like 'Apple' when it comes to design decisions isn't necessarily a bad thing. Snap being limited to a certain screen size is not something they would have done in the past.

Apples OS isnt without fault. The Dock / Finder / Expose for instance.

What do you explicitly mean when you say "like Apple"?

Well, it's not confined to this discussion. Lots of people see "Apps!" and think iOS.

What I meant by "like Apple" in the last post is being more strict with design decisions in order to innovate. Dropping the start menu in favor of the metro dashboard is one of those things.

2D and 3D acceleration won't work. VirtualBox doesn't have working drivers for Win8 for video.

Odd that the audio didn't work. You running the latest version (4.0.12)?