Microsoft to drop "Metro" name for Windows 8

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by BWinmill

Yes, there are some new features in there for corporations but are they going to be enough to outweigh the hinderance of the consumer features?

That was the gist of the ZDNet article.
MS *is* delivering a homerun of a corporate OS upgrade this year but it is Windows Server, not Win8. Which should be fine for most corporations because the infrastructure features of WinServer will save them money.

Corporate resistance to new Windows releases is neither new nor surprising-- especially the ones that are more consumer-focused like Win95, WinXP, and Win8 that seek to replace "tried-and-true" corporate darlings like Win3.11, Win2K, and Win7--but everytime MS does one of these strategic pivots a lot of people act as if it were the end of the world. Which it isn't.

With Win8, lost in the whine and cheese fest is that Win8 runs all existing applications, in-house and commercial, at least as well as Win7. The new APIs and programming tools are for *new* applications. Nobody is taking their Win32 or .Net away. Superceded or not, those APIs will still be usable 10 years from now.

Realistically, nobody outside clueless-punditland expects any well-run corporate IT department to start moving their desktops to Win8 before next summer. Just running a pilot test is going to take 6 months.

One *big* thing Win8 does offer corporate users, road-warrior dept, is much better TabletPC hardware. And the ARM-based Surface Tablets might become as much a part of the Travelling Exec's toolkit as the digital projector and laser pointer.

Just as before, the whining will be replaced by muted approval and gradual corporate acceptance. And when Windows 12 comes out in 2020 with the next big pivot the whining will begin again...

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by Elfwreck

I wouldn't expect to be able to put "all the word processing/doc conversion software" at the top of the screen, and "all the internet/email/communications software" at the bottom, and "all the games" on a line at the right-hand side.

You can do exactly that. You can arrange things exactly as you want them, leave spaces, do anything you want. It's more flexible than the "Start" menu because you can also put your own folders on the start page, and that's something you can't do with the "Start" menu (without using 3rd party utilities).

[DiapDealer]

Originally Posted by HarryT

It's more flexible than the "Start" menu because you can also put your own folders on the start page, and that's something you can't do with the "Start" menu (without using 3rd party utilities).

I must be misunderstanding you, because I've always been able to add my own folders to the Windows Start Menu without 3rd-party utilities.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

I must be misunderstanding you, because I've always been able to add my own folders to the Windows Start Menu without 3rd-party utilities.

OK. Perhaps I'm wrong about that .

[DiapDealer]

Originally Posted by HarryT

OK. Perhaps I'm wrong about that .

OK, cool. Just checking. I find that I increasingly misinterpret what people are saying anymore, so I just naturally assumed I was confused about what you were stating.

[murraypaul]

Originally Posted by fjtorres

Realistically, nobody outside clueless-punditland expects any well-run corporate IT department to start moving their desktops to Win8 before next summer. Just running a pilot test is going to take 6 months.

Next summer?
I'd bet the majority of corporate desktops will still be using Win7 (or earlier) in three years time, and quite possibly still in five years time.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by murraypaul

Next summer?
I'd bet the majority of corporate desktops will still be using Win7 (or earlier) in three years time, and quite possibly still in five years time.

Very likely. It was only at the start of this year that the company I work for made the switch from Windows XP to Windows 7.

[kyteflyer]

Originally Posted by HarryT

The new UI makes it much easier to find things than the "Start" menu, to my mind, and you can still run apps on the old Windows desktop if you wish to.

But you cant dump the UI completely. There is no start menu. You have that godawful UI or nothing much else.

I used it for as long as it took me to understand that I didn't understand it. There's nothing intuitive about it. Gnome on Linux is easier. If I cant work out within a few minutes how to install a program and how to delete a program.. afaiac its rubbish.

If I have to run Windows programs, (and I do, from time to time) its going to be under Windows XP or 7.

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by murraypaul

Next summer?
I'd bet the majority of corporate desktops will still be using Win7 (or earlier) in three years time, and quite possibly still in five years time.

That's the *earliest* that even the most aggressive adopters can do the job right. Three years to move? Very likely. Five? That's pushing it for big companies but small ones that just migrated to Win7 may still be there in 5 years.
None of that will stop Windows 8 from selling 350 million copies or so in the first year.

BTW, here's another ZDNet article. This one is on why MS is dropping the start menu. Hint: it's to foster use of the Windows Key on your keyboard.
http://www.zdnet.com/why-windows-8-m...ey-7000000338/

Turns out Win8 is *very* keyboard friendly:
http://blogs.msdn.com/b/santhoshonli...shortcuts.aspx

So far I see nothing to gripe about. I *like* keyboard shortcuts.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by fjtorres

Turns out Win8 is *very* keyboard friendly:
http://blogs.msdn.com/b/santhoshonli...shortcuts.aspx

It's also very touchscreen friendly, which not even its biggest fans could say of the "Start" menu. And, like them or loath them, touchscreens are where the future lies.

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by HarryT

It's also very touchscreen friendly, which not even its biggest fans could say of the "Start" menu. And, like them or loath them, touchscreens are where the future lies.

For portables? Probably.
(I'm a Tablet PC fan from way back so that is hardly an issue for me.)
But for desktops the keyboard is going to be around a long time. And that is where Win8 is making its move. Keyboard+touch does render the mouse very very optional.

[murraypaul]

Originally Posted by fjtorres

That's the *earliest* that even the most aggressive adopters can do the job right. Three years to move? Very likely. Five? That's pushing it for big companies but small ones that just migrated to Win7 may still be there in 5 years.

I work for a big company, and we haven't switched from XP yet!
Really big companies are the most conservative of all.

[DiapDealer]

I don't really need "intuitive." I'm OK with having to learn a few new things. But unless the concept of point and click/tap changes, I'm having a hard time visualizing any real insurmountable UI hurdles here.

[Kumabjorn]

How do you right-click on a touch screen?
If the answer is a "long tap", then how do you drag-n'drop?

[Elfwreck]

Originally Posted by HarryT

It's also very touchscreen friendly, which not even its biggest fans could say of the "Start" menu. And, like them or loath them, touchscreens are where the future lies.

I have several friends who use screen readers and keyboards because of visual disabilities. I have many more friends who can't use touchscreens because of other disabilities--shaking fingers and similar problems.

I doubt any company that wants to retain its market share is going to entirely shut out users with disabilities--if only because it would mean that government-funded businesses (in the US) wouldn't be able to use those computers. Accessibility is a requirement for schools and gov't offices; they couldn't go to an all-touchscreen environment, no matter how much money they had to put into an overhaul of their offices.