Windows 8 and Internet Explorer 10

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p92QfWOw88I

The new interface looks extremely slick and fast. It looks like it's making it a lot easier for touch screen tablets/computers to access their files and programs. It looks like you can have many programs easily fit onto the screen at once. I know there are people that are bummed by the new interface but fortunately, you can revert back to the original interface.

I'm wondering if they are planning on upgrading the original "old" interface that Windows 7 has? Nothing much has been revealed about the old interface but I'm guessing they'll just keep it the same and focus on the new advanced display.

Internet Explorer 10 is also coming out with it. The tabs look extremely easy to manage and the touch keyboard is a pretty cool extra. The keyboard has multiple options on how you want it to look like. It looks like it'll keep track of your "pins" (favorites?) and frequently searched websites right there on the keyboard screen.

Windows 8 and IE10 are still in development. Windows 8 looks cool but I'm not exactly pulled over by the new interface. IE10 isn't exactly my type of browser and I'm wondering if Firefox 5(Or newer version of FF4) will outdo it.

It seems Windows 8 is more Internet based. I'd say this is the start of wear OS's will start going away from file based UI like explorer's or DOS's to UI style we mostly see on the web. Just an object that links to more objects, having everything interconnected.

Microsoft has already tried this before. Remember Windows 98?



Microsoft's wonderful Internet-based misfeatures included:

- "Internet channel guide" (pictured)
- MSN Explorer
- The ability to set your desktop wallpaper to a webpage.

Nobody used any of these things, because they were pointless and stupid and they weren't why people wanted to use Windows in the first place. They used Windows because of network effects and software availability (that, and they just needed a computer for common everyday tasks). Heck, the only time I've ever seen anyone activate Active Desktop was by accident, which Windows seems to want to do when you feed it certain image formats for the wallpaper.

When it comes to today's common tasks, the typical user will:

- Search the web using Google, and read email using Gmail.
- Listen to music using iTunes or Pandora Radio.
- Communicate with friends on Facebook.
- Do homework using Microsoft Office.

Only one of these applications/services is actually by Microsoft. Granted, Microsoft has recently purchased Skype, but the reactions I've seen from users ranged lukewarm to negative to "sky is falling", with the most commonly cited reason being poor service quality for Microsoft's online services.

Nobody will use bolted-on, Microsoft-run cloud services. Users don't want to be overwhelmed with tons of options. All they want to do is open a web browser, navigate to google.com, then facebook.com. That's it. Microsoft has already played fad chaser, and I'm willing to bet that they will fail this time, too.

I wouldn't be too bothered to use Windows 8's interface but if Microsoft controls the living shit out of everyone with Windows 8, I'm going back to 7 and chilling out there.

Interface revamps like this are usually ploys to force more DRM on people.

So it's basically Windows 7 with a big touch screen and an Xbox 360 Dashboard-like menu? I think I'll stick with my normal OS that actually has a desktop for a reason. (Windows 7)

Fawk anything higher than Windows Vista. Long live Windows XP. :3

I don't even use Windows anymore! :D

For the record, Windows 8 will use the standard interface, the one depicted above is for the touch screen/tablet version.

And yeah, Microsoft's cloud services are pretty poor, my college switched to Live@Edu, meanwhile I'm getting a much better service from my 4 Google Apps accounts.

Agent Hack said:

Fawk anything higher than Windows Vista. Long live Windows XP. :3

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XP is coming up to be with the likes of 2000 and ME - that is to say completely unsupported - 2014 is the last year for XP updates and such IIRC (if it does actually still get them) at which point it will be completely ignored by all developers because it's just not worth their time.

Bbop800 said:

So it's basically Windows 7 with a big touch screen and an Xbox 360 Dashboard-like menu? I think I'll stick with my normal OS that actually has a desktop for a reason. (Windows 7)

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It's ironic, because the 360 is getting an update to look just like Windows Media Center.

I think Microsoft will lose some rating when this comes out; Too Internet based, and not everybody(including me) has the fastest Internet around here. Kinda reminds me about the Cloud vs. Local computing thread.

Originally Posted by Agent Hac
Fawk anything higher than Windows Vista. Long live Windows XP. :3

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Thumbs up! I consider XP the best of all OS's, even with its expiration date.

Cue said:

XP is coming up to be with the likes of 2000 and ME - that is to say completely unsupported - 2014 is the last year for XP updates and such IIRC (if it does actually still get them) at which point it will be completely ignored by all developers because it's just not worth their time.

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While it will be forced obsolete by Microsoft (because Microsoft's goal is to force everyone to upgrade), I honestly suspect that developers for other programs have enough to gain by not dropping support. The market just has no motivation to upgrade beyond XP, and as long as a significant percentage of people are still running it, people interested in making money from that percentage will keep support for it in their programs.

Hell, even Microsoft is having huge issues with this, having been forced to delay the end of life date for XP a huge number of times.

People will buy new PCs and not get XP, this is a fact, they'll stick with what they have. Developers aren't going to support an obsolete OS any more than they've supported ME after a while, it WILL die, it will just take time.

It's hard letting go of something you used for many years... You're so used to it.

ABraker95 said:

It's hard letting go of something you used for many years... You're so used to it.

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New PCs already don't come with XP, and you can only get license on eBay, which 60% or so of users won't know what to do with.

I'm pretty sure several people (including computer repair stores) have a WinXP installation disk laying around somewhere. So it is still available... At the expense of downgrading. But hey, if someone REALLY prefers XP over Vista, 7, or 8, they are welcome to downgrade.