Microsoft BUILD: Windows 8, A Pre-Beta Preview
by Brian Klug & Ryan Smith on September 13, 2011 12:05 PM EST- Posted in
- BUILD
- Windows
- Microsoft
- Windows 8
- Trade Shows
First Thoughts
With under a day to see, play with, and write about the Windows 8 pre-beta it’s hard to fully digest what we’ve seen and to come up with a meaningful opinion. With Microsoft it’s a safe bet that there’s more to be seen when they’re still this far away from shipping the final product.
For a tablet-focused event I don’t think you will find much disagreement that Microsoft has hit the mark with Metro. Metro feels like it belongs when used with a tablet – it’s smooth, it’s easy to use, it’s gesture-driven, and it’s finger-friendly. Virtually everything Windows Phone 7 did well as a touch screen OS has been ported over to Metro and it shows.
The converse of that is that Metro feels awkward and out of place when used with a mouse and keyboard as a laptop/desktop. It fails to take advantage of the precision of the mouse or the fact that not everything needs to be in size 28 font when sitting down to use a computer. At this moment it feels like trying to use a tablet with a mouse and keyboard, which isn’t far off from what it really is in the first place.
The underpinnings look interesting, but there’s still a great deal left to see such as DirectX 11.1 and WDDM 1.2. I believe that in the long run the class driver additions will help further simplify using Windows, and integrating Microsoft Security Essentials into the OS is a long overdue change. At the same time if nothing else Metro will go even farther to improve security thanks to the fine grained permissions system.
Ultimately this is just the beginning, in fact it’s the beginning of a beginning. Windows 8 is still at least a year off – Microsoft isn’t even close to committing to a date – and the pre-beta is pre-beta in every sense of the word. The real fight starts today when Microsoft pitches it to developers. Because so much rides on Metro, Microsoft needs to convince developers to start writing Metro applications, otherwise most of the work Microsoft has put into Windows 8 will languish. Microsoft looks to have the tools their developers need, but will it be enough? Perhaps this is what BUILD is meant to find out.
Stay tuned as we’ll have more from BUILD this week, including coverage of today’s opening keynote.
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ilkhan - Wednesday, September 14, 2011 - link
I think MS is going to have even more of a problem getting people off of 7 and onto 8 than they did getting people off XP and onto Vista, for the same reason.From what I can see here, visually and productively 8 is going to be even worse than Vista.
MrBungle123 - Wednesday, September 14, 2011 - link
I agree... If this is windows 8, I'll be buying 10 or 15 copies of Windows 7 OEMs before the Win 8 launch pushes them off newegg.nofumble62 - Thursday, September 15, 2011 - link
why bother?thrasher32 - Thursday, September 15, 2011 - link
I don't want my office PC desktop to look like a windows phone/tablet display. If this is Windows 8 then I'll stick with 7, and I'm usually the guy that buys the new version of Windows on the day it's released.Saidas - Thursday, September 15, 2011 - link
From what I understand, you will be able to disable Metro. I plan on doing so for my desktop and lappy and using it for my tablet and Smartphone. Perfect.Rand - Thursday, September 15, 2011 - link
As the article said, and Microsoft said at Build. You cannot disable Metro. It is there from tablets on up to servers.Any application launches and system configuration, and bootup etc always goes through Metro.
Moricon - Thursday, September 15, 2011 - link
To sum it up, this is just a huge pile of FAIL!!!I see a massive backlash from the Tech world.
Give us improvements to the OS, Give us better performance, Give us new useful features but for GODS SAKE remove Metro from desktop use!
Its fine for tablets ( MEH to be fair) but it is completely pointless for dektop use for anyone who auctually does any work on the PC.
As for Windows Live integration, Yeah lets see how happy people are having to create a Live ID just to add on another user acount!
FAIL FAIL FAIL FAIL FAIL FAIL FAIL FAIL FAIL"!"!!"!"
I build and repair Windows PC's for a living, have done so for years, and I can honestly say this is all wrong!
F*****G Social Application Integration into the OS ( FFS Only teenagers and losers want this)
Stupid gestures to navigate the OS
Tile based huge icons are crap ( What are we all running VTECH Kit designed for kids now)
XBOX Live Integration FFS who the blast gives a shit except XBOX Users! People who work are NOT cared about XBOX Integration.
I do hope they allow metro to be switched off!
Wellsoul2 - Thursday, September 15, 2011 - link
I really like the idea of using this OS with my HTPC though since it will make iteasier to use all my programs with a remote control. The article didn't address
that but the future may also be using your computer hooked to a TV alot of the time.
For that purpose this is a good beginning.
Like Media Center it's clunky but functional for a remote control.
Wish they had a switch so you could change to high res Win7 desktop for mouse/keybd though.
Taurus229 - Thursday, September 15, 2011 - link
It is very sad that Microsoft is building a new OS for tablets and netbooks and totally ignoring the desktop power user. My thought at this point is that win 7 is the desktop os, and win 8 will be the mobile os. Microsoft has made it's bed, and will have to lie in it. Just too bad!Booster - Thursday, September 15, 2011 - link
MS can't be that stupid, honestly. Even Windows 95 has better multitasking than Metro. They're abandoning the whole Windows concept where you can have multiple windows open at the same time and switch between them. Metro on the other hand lets you do only one thing at a time.Just through how many screens of dumba$ tiles do I have to scroll to copy a text for citation from a web page and insert it into a word document, for example?
Metro is destined to fail epically. It's better if MS realized this sooner than later, gave those responsible the boot and start working on a major overhaul. This isn't going to fly, people, don't you see it? Even Apple wouldn't allow itself to cripple it's users so foolishly. Hell, people resisted Vista like there was no tomorrow, just how exactly MS plans on shoving this disfunctional POS down their throats once users realize they can't do what they need to do with Metro, like at all???