Microsoft gives further peek at Windows 8
Microsoft on Tuesday provided another glimpse at changes coming with the next-generation of Windows software that powers most of the world's computers.
Microsoft on Tuesday provided another glimpse at changes coming with the next-generation of Windows software that powers most of the world's computers.
Microsoft is making major improvements to a key Windows Explorer file management program to enhance how it interacts with the coming Windows 8 operating system, according to Windows division president Steven Sinofsky.
"Windows 8 is about reimagining Windows, so we took on the challenge to improve the most widely used desktop tool (except maybe for Solitaire) in Windows," Sinofsky said atop a blog post detailing Explorer modifications.
"Windows Explorer is a foundation of the user experience of the Windows desktop and has undergone several design changes over the years, but has not seen a substantial change in quite some time," he added.
A control "ribbon" for commands was added to make them more easily accessible to people other than "power users" familiar with Windows Explorer shortcuts.
Engineers set out to "return Explorer to its roots as an efficient file manager and expose some hidden gems" in the form of handy commands many people may not know, according to Alex Simmons of the program management team.
Microsoft in June provided the first sneak peak at the successor to Windows 7, a next-generation operating system designed to work on both personal computers and touchscreen tablets.
Sinofsky demonstrated some of the features of the operating system code-named "Windows 8" at a D9 technology conference hosted by All Things Digital.
"Laptops, slates, desktops -- all can run one operating system," Sinofsky said.
"Windows 8" builds upon many of the features in Microsoft's latest mobile operating system for smartphones, Windows Phone 7, including the use of touch "tiles" instead of icons to launch and navigate between applications.
Microsoft has promised to reveal more features of Windows 8, which uses Internet Explorer 10 as a Web browser, at its developers conference in Anaheim, California, opening on September 13.
(c) 2011 AFP
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Aug 30, 2011
Rank: 3.8 / 5 (5)
Maybe they can just remarket WindowsXP as Windows 8
Aug 30, 2011
Rank: 3.2 / 5 (9)
Sounds like a problem with the user if you ask me. If Windows was so bad they wouldn't hold over 90% of the computer market... Its no easy task writing an operating system that supports literally thousands of different hardware configurations that changes every day. Apple has it easy, they make the software run on hardware they design, so it works perfect most of the time... but Apple computers cost 3 times more than a PC.
Aug 30, 2011
Rank: 5 / 5 (2)
Aug 30, 2011
Rank: 4.8 / 5 (4)
Aug 30, 2011
Rank: 4.8 / 5 (6)
Aug 30, 2011
Rank: 4.2 / 5 (5)
The other explaination is that the competitors suck even more.
Aug 30, 2011
Rank: 1.4 / 5 (5)
Aug 30, 2011
Rank: 5 / 5 (4)
Makes you wonder why people do not pirate more, and the reason for that is most people are technically inept to do this. That is why these people get away with bloatware.
Aug 30, 2011
Rank: 5 / 5 (1)
Aug 30, 2011
Rank: 4 / 5 (4)
You know if you Double-click on the heading of the tab, it will neatly collapse? Hover the mouse over it and it will temporary re-appear? MSFT spent quite some time learning usability. They improved it alot. There is of course a learning curve..
Aug 30, 2011
Rank: 3.7 / 5 (3)
XP is simple and it tends to work reliably, I never have problems with new software. Every year or two the system files may need a manual clean up but that's nothing huge.
Aug 30, 2011
Rank: 5 / 5 (4)
Aug 30, 2011
Rank: 3.8 / 5 (5)
Pity you screwed it up in Win 7.
Now, while you may be able to have several Explorer windows open at once, you CANNOT customize each window view individually. For example, you can't have just a file view in one window and in another window have the navigation pane and file pane. As soon as you make a change in one window, the other window will also be changed when you navigate to a new folder say. Same goes with adjusting widths of the navigation pane. Totally retarded!
Instead of each window having it's own view settings, they made it so that there is only ONE global setting for all windows! And I won't mention the scrolling bug when you double click to open a folder in the navigation pane and the opened folder scrolls down to the bottom so that you can't see its sub-folders without scrolling.
Thanks MS for the great new user experience!
Aug 30, 2011
Rank: 3.8 / 5 (4)
Aug 31, 2011
Rank: not rated yet
Aug 31, 2011
Rank: 2 / 5 (2)
Aug 31, 2011
Rank: 5 / 5 (2)
At which point we all tie our screens to our legs and throw ourselves off a bridge. ISP's love to *sell* broadband but they will do anything to avoid actually providing it. If you think gaming, VoIP and file sharing is being throttled and traffic shaped now, just wait until everything is net based.
Aug 31, 2011
Rank: 5 / 5 (1)
Aug 31, 2011
Rank: 5 / 5 (2)
What would benefit the computer world and give MS some real competition would be if Apple got off thier butt and actually started targeting the business market. They wont do that, because once someone else is making software for your system, thats when all the problems occur. Sadly, MS gets a bad rap for problems that are not thier fault, such as a hardware vendor that makes crappy drivers for thier OS.
Aug 31, 2011
Rank: not rated yet
So yes, you are either paying Microsoft for a license, or a device vendor for a device that runs open source software. Its the same exact game, just a different face put on it to make it look "open"....if what you suggest were the norm, that open source software would convert....
You already pay for the license with the PC/laptop/tablet anyways, so it isn't like it costs extra for the consumer really (after all, the hardware manufacturer pays microsoft for the OS CAL, not the consumer), and for companies with licensing agreements, these licenses can be next to nothing.
Sep 03, 2011
Rank: not rated yet
they couldn't even make a mouse work without help from apple.. what does that tell the world?