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
The Desktop User Experience & Business Use
While we’re primarily focusing on Windows 8 as a tablet OS since the hardware we used was a tablet, we also wanted to evaluate it some as a desktop OS. As the sample tablet was compatible with Bluetooth peripherals, we were able to pull out a BT keyboard and mouse and use it like a traditional laptop/desktop environment. With that said I’d like to preface our impressions with the following: as it stands Windows 8 is clearly focused on tablets first and Microsoft’s presentation was equally tablet focused, and it’s almost certain the experience will change before Windows 8 ships.
Overall Windows 8 is extremely jarring right now from a desktop user perspective. Metro is the Windows shell, no ifs ands or butts. Metro applications can only be accessed through the Metro shell (i.e. the Start Screen), and the Metro shell is always what the tablet will boot up into. Explorer as we know it is the Metro shell – if you kill it, you kill Metro shell with it – so at this time it’s not possible to boot up into the traditional Windows desktop. Even if you could, the Start Menu is gone, replaced with Metro charms.
So what we’re really evaluating is the ability to use the Metro shell and Metro applications with a mouse. For all the good Microsoft has done implementing multi-touch, the mouse has clearly suffered as it currently stands. Click & drag does not operate the same as tap & drag, which creates some oddities when you want to scroll around. In fact scrolling is probably the biggest oversight right now, as the Metro style dictates applications are laid out left-to-right rather than top-to-bottom. The mouse wheel will (slowly) scroll through tiles on the Start Screen, but in other places such as the Microsoft BUILD application the mouse wheel is useless. In its place you have to drag a scroll bar around, which is about as fun as it was prior to mice coming with a wheel.
Internet Explorer is particularly weird. Because it takes the full screen approach there isn’t a menu bar to speak of, and the tabs and URL bar are hidden. Invoking them requires right-clicking, with right-clicking pulling double duty as a way to open a link in a new tab and invoking the various bars. This also means that right-clicking for other purposes (e.g. View Source, etc) are unavailable.
The good news is that most of the traditional keyboard shortcuts still work, including Alt-Tab, WinKey + D, WinKey + E, and Ctrl-Alt-Esc. You can even Alt-Tab between launched Metro applications. The Start Menu search bar is also faithfully replicated on the Start Screen, so when you start typing Windows 8 will start narrowing down results of things to open. So overall keyboard users maintain much of their advantage in quickly executing applications. At the same time we’ve encountered fields that we can’t tab to, so not everything is working as it should.
While we’ve only had a short period of time work play with Windows 8 with a mouse and keyboard, at this point in time there’s not a lot to say that’s positive. Metro works well as a tablet interface, but with a mouse and keyboard it’s like using a tablet with a mouse and keyboard. Hopefully Microsoft will have a more suitable mouse & keyboard control scheme ready to go for Windows 8 farther down the line.
Windows 8 the Business OS
So far Microsoft has been focused on the consumer side of Windows 8, but business users won’t be left out in the cold. Windows 8 will also be the basis of a new version of Windows Server (also using Metro), and Windows 8 clients will have some new features.
The business additions announced so far for Windows 8 revolve around Remote Desktop and Hyper-V. Windows 8 Remote Desktop includes proper support for multi-touch controls, so tablets and other touch devices will be able to RDP into other machines and correctly interact with them. Meanwhile Windows 8 will add support for Hyper-V (previously it was Server-only), allowing Windows clients to spawn virtualized instances of Windows through the Hyper-V hypervisor.
Microsoft also used their discussion on the business side of Windows 8 to announce that Windows 8 will support installation onto and booting off of a USB drive, allowing business users to carry their copy of Windows with them. This has been a repeatedly requested feature for many years from more than just business users, so hopefully it will be everything everyone has always wanted.
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yankeeDDL - Wednesday, September 14, 2011 - link
I perfectly agree.Like with the security features of Vista, and with the Ribbon in Office, MS choose their way and are moving forward, thinking that they know what's best for you, despite having been proved wrong times and times again.
From their dominant position, they can still afford it.
Now they're pushing for the Metro UI, something interesting, but hardly revolutioning, like IOS and Android have been, an UI that will disappear from Samsung in 2012, because of its abysmal adoption.
PCs is the last stronghold of Windows: it disappeared from TVs, cars, mobiles: maybe it's about time they follow suit.
mlambert890 - Thursday, September 15, 2011 - link
Your own arguments prove you are completely wrong except possibly in your own mind.The security features of Vista evolved into the security features of W7 and are the same security features in OSX and Linux. On an extreme niche of curmudgeons that fancy themselves "super power users" bitch about dual privelege levels and access control gates within the OS.
Same with the ribbon. I was on the front lines of the most prepostrous bitching and moaning and DOOM calling over the ribbon. Today it is universally regarded as a good change or at the very least a neutral one.
One thing for sure thoug is that even folks who self describe as "technophiles" and truly believe they are cutting edge will act like 90 year olds whose drug store has moved as soon as *anything* changes. Sad really.
robinthakur - Wednesday, September 14, 2011 - link
I agree, but that isn't when you would be using Metro is it? It's for touch devices, although I don't understand how they are going to get it to work with legacy apps in the slightest. You need special versions of Excel, Word etc, build from the ground up for touch as Apple has done with Pages, Numbers, iMovie et al or it's just going to be a flashy acelerated interface which lacks full functionality and this guarantees that end users will hate it.This seems similar to how on an HTPC, to play a Blu-ray, you need to launch a 3rd party player which has a different look and feel and you need to break out the keyboard to control it. Awful, and so counter intuitive to users.
On the other hand, the fact that MS is involving developers at this stage, hopefully means that it's own first party products like Office/SharePoint etc. will work properly with it. They are doing alot right with Win 8, but seems like they are constantly playing catchup to Apple these days.
realmike15 - Sunday, September 18, 2011 - link
I think you're over simplifying the issue. Computing for toddlers? Last I checked toddlers aren't checking their stocks, the weather, rss feeds, and news. The simplified UI design is a good starting point, it makes navigating the computer interface easier those who find previous Windows releases daunting. Most old school techies aren't going to embrace this, but that's not because of poor design... it's because they're stuck in their ways. The old desktop system is clunky and archaic for everyday browsing. By no means is this a replacement for gaming, or other industries that require the tried and true keyboard/mouse setup. But that's why there's still a standard desktop.This IS a step in the right direction though, I have any delusions about this implementation being perfect. It will probably take many more versions of Windows to get this transition right, but it's a starting point. A starting point that your mother, grandmother, and all your non-tech savy friends will appreciate.
Belard - Tuesday, September 13, 2011 - link
Wait till it comes out on beta...Its still rough. I'll admit, I don't think of METRO much for a desktop and mouse... Why would I want to scroll through pages to get to some APPS when I can click on it from my task bar? But there is most likely something like that anyways. So think of Metro's arrangement switched around a bit to the side - which makes better use of todays STUPID 16:9 screens.
Look at Mac and Amiga - their "MENU" is at the top - MS has been at the bottom since Win95. Now its being shoved to the side
I bet MS has been studying user behavior quite a bit. And much of my work space is on the left side of the screen... tools on the right.
This is also perhaps the ONLY way MS has a chance to take on Apple's iOS and that MAKES perfect sense. It can improve future versions of MS-OS...
Windows7 tablets suck. WP7 is not made for tablets and is struggling to get market share. An MS-Tablet today will most likely go down in flames like WebOS, RIM and whatever... Android is not doing well against iPads.
But... MS commands about 90% of the world market in PCs. (about 75% in the USA in new sales). So... imagine the new Win8 desktops that come out, people have to get, there won't be Vista or Win7 to fall back on... ALL Metro apps are going to work on ARM based CPUs. (intel cannot be thrilled on this) This means those apps are going to be smaller than normal Win32 bloatware.
Now out comes the Win8 tablets and phones... in both types.
Win8 = tablet... high end, can run desktop software... faster CPUs $$$
Win8Mobile = Phones and tablets, they won't run legacy software (current game we see on desktops, Office 2010, etc) - but they'll RUN any Metro application and game.
Microsoft ends up creating the eco-system that can go against Apple... this is something RIM or Android cannot DO. They don't own the desktop business.
This is a brilliant move from MS, mark my words.
In the end 2012, I bet iPads will still own at least 70% of the tablet business.
By 2014, MS could flip it having 50~60% of the sales.
The iPad will always be called iPads... and MS-Tablets will always be called, Tablet like Android and Blackberry. They will always be the SODA to Apple's Coke. What matters for the next year or so before Win8 launch is how much more Apple can sell iPads. They'll be launching a new iPad 4 just after Win8 hits the market. If Apple can sell 50+ million units a year - they'll do well against Win8 up to a point.
Hopefully, MS will only have 3 versions PERIOD of Win8, all 64bit.
Win8 starter/ARM
Win8 Home
Win8 Pro (with Ultimate features built in)
If it goes well... then by the time Win10 comes out (7 years from now), the Win32 API an gone as well as any legacy 16bit, 32bit code...
We'll check in then... :)
Gimfred - Tuesday, September 13, 2011 - link
The problem with (not that it shouldn't be looked at) looking at user behaviour is it is studying how users work around the current limitations of a UI rather than the task that is intended to be achieved. Unfortunately Microsoft seems to have this idea that using a computer is the task.For tablets, they should implement and refine OneNote. That is awesome software.
robinthakur - Wednesday, September 14, 2011 - link
No, you're looking at it wrong. MS is currently in a dominant position worldwide with Windows, especially in business, but things are changing. Apple phones are being issued in many companies an many executives, because they use iPad's and Macbook Airs are introducing them into business, and saying "Just make it work" I have seen this innumerable times in the past 3 years. For my last firm, an investment bank, the whole website had to be scrapped and redesigned close to launch because a senior exec noticed that it didn't render properly on her iPad.At the same time, the desktop business is under pressure like never before. Companies are scaling back the amount of power and flexibility that they are giving to individual employees. We use thin clients extensively running MS Terminal Serverfor virtually all employees. Those that want them are issued with company iPads instead and seem very happy with them, running a propriatery app which we designed here and the standard iPad functionality.
All we used to hear were constant complaints about Windows from staff, and just because us, as techies, can divine how to use it doesn't mean that regular people will. They seem to prefer the iPads because they instinctively know how to use it. Training needs have gone from all encompassing to pretty non-existant apart from SharePoint (which I love) so cutting down functionality is actually not a bad idea if it's functionality which people rarely use.
About the only reason to own a powerful desktop these days is if you are a power user/developer, you are a techie and like to play/brag or you play games (the latter being a nearly non-existant demographic these days) with the rest buying laptops/iPads, and I can only see that becoming more pronounced in the future.
piiman - Wednesday, September 14, 2011 - link
The fact that you think the the iPad is taking over business is simply laughable.If some exec is forcing it on a company because they personally use it then it should be grounds for firing them.
mlambert890 - Thursday, September 15, 2011 - link
Whats laughable is that you dont realize he is correct yet feel so confident making absolute statements like this.Your personal bias and/or emotions dont change the fact that what he is saying is absolutely correct.
I dont care one way or the other what the client solution of choice is for my customers, but I can tell you now the shift is *massive* towards iPads in particular, to a lesser extent phones, and even Android tablets.
nitenichiryu1 - Tuesday, September 13, 2011 - link
At 8:18, he says that Windows 8 will be both METRO and TRADITIONAL desktop. Yay =D