Microsoft Experiment with Next Gen Start Screen

[GoodBytes]

Microsoft Research in Asia is at work evolving the Start Screen of Windows 8 to the next generation, making live tiles interactive.

Everything you are seeing now is not official, its just Microsoft playing and trying things, in other words experimentation.

The Start Screen looks similar to now, however notice the down arrow on each tile. And also, notice how the Desktop tile shows notification icon tile and running programs.

Clicking on the down arrow of the a tile will expand it and become interactive.

In the case of the desktop, you'll see a full list of running apps which you can scroll up and down, and if you tap on any of them, you'll jump straight to it.

Another example is the Mail app. Right now, Windows 8, all it shows you a number of new e-mail you have. Here, it does the same, but if you expand it, without running the app, you can view the new e-mails.

Here is another example with the Music app, where you can play music change track, or select potentially a playlist or song from an album directly from the start screen

To see is all in action:

Sources:

http://www.zdnet.com/microsoft-experiments-with-making-windows-live-tiles-interactive-7000028348/

http://www.engadget.com/2014/04/11/microsoft-research-interactive-live-tiles/

What do you think of all this?

Do you think this is a good direction?

I think this is a fantastic idea and sense of direction.

Love it or hate it, the Start Screen is here to stay, and think this is makes the live tiles more useful and informative.

I can see it working great with keyboard and mouse. It would be interesting to see this, mixed with the new Start menu coming in Windows 8, for those who really can't stand things taking full screen.

So what do you think?

[EricX2]

It definitely seems like Microsoft is finally fixing one of the issues I always had with the start screen, it's that it feels disconnected from the desktop mode. They have already done some improvements, but to finally be able to see running desktop applications, that's a pretty big improvement finally. The best you could do before was with the gesture from the left and it just showed 'desktop' as one application and then everything was handled through the standard taskbar. It's a move in the right direction at least in my opinion.

[kuddlesworth9419]

It definitely seems like Microsoft is finally fixing one of the issues I always had with the start screen, it's that it feels disconnected from the desktop mode. They have already done some improvements, but to finally be able to see running desktop applications, that's a pretty big improvement finally. The best you could do before was with the gesture from the left and it just showed 'desktop' as one application and then everything was handled through the standard taskbar. It's a move in the right direction at least in my opinion.

What is wrong with the Start menu on W7 being disconnected from the desktop experience. That is the point isn't it because it makes it more organised. You can see what software you are running by looking at the taskbar and launch said applications from the start bar or from desktop shortcuts.

[deathjester]

Giant blocks over small icons that do the same thing with better multitasking.

 

I choose the latter on a desktop and the former on a tablet. It isn't like MS is the only people that make dumb stuff though for desktops. I have never touched Launchpad in Mac OS either. I would say that Launchpad is the better route though on a desktop. It is there and you never have to use it or see it. It is an option and not the "direction" the OS is going.

 

I can make folders on my desktop, I can make as many icons/shortcuts as I want. I have more real estate. I can see everything else that is going on. I also get a really cool picture I can look at, without giant blocks taking up my screen.

[The_Strict_Nein]

I don't have to 'love it or hate it', I can just continue to use W7

[beebskadoo]

Essentially start screen widgets...

Wait where have I seen that before?

Oh yeah, android.

Yeah that's groovy for tablets but not so much for mouse and keyboard, it's still a jarring experience when switching to apps.

I applaud the effort, it will definitely make the experience better for tablets.

[jezza39]

Essentially start screen widgets...

Wait where have I seen that before?

Oh yeah, android.

Yeah that's groovy for tablets but not so much for mouse and keyboard, it's still a jarring experience when switching to apps.

I applaud the effort, it will definitely make the experience better for tablets.

 

But the little drop down arrows look tiny and useless for touch  

[Curemylife]

Why is it the freaking start screen!? It disconnects the entire experience, it should be an interactive wallpaper.

[nicholaswillems]

Meh I still won't ever use the Metro UI.

[XTankSlayerX]

Am I the only one who things the person who chose the design and colors for the Metro UI Start Screen was a 4 year old?

[Mooshi]

MS still not listening to consumers. Keep your Metro UI on tablets and smartphones as it's own OS and give power users the traditional desktop. Stop being so difficult.

[Nineshadow]

I'm wondering if they use monkeys to design the UI.I mean,wasn't it obvious what people would want?I mean,Windows 8 was released in 2012,right?It's 2014.It took them 2 years to do that.Wow.

[GoodBytes]

Am I the only one who things the person who chose the design and colors for the Metro UI Start Screen was a 4 year old?

Yea well people said the same thing about XP, and once people gave it a chance, they got used to it, and not it's regarded as the best OS, and everything was perfect.

What I would like to see, is the ability to right-click on a tile, and pick a color of my choosing or image.

[GoodBytes]

MS still not listening to consumers. Keep your Metro UI on tablets and smartphones as it's own OS and give power users the traditional desktop. Stop being so difficult.

Touch is the way forward. Touch is making the computer much easier to use.

It's just a mater of time before you have and you buy monitors for desktop computer designed for touch, and not touch slap onto a normal up right monitor. Example the Wacom Cintiq monitor, which can switch from up right to drawing/touch mode where it sits above your keyboard.

In addition, this is just prototyping, and experimentation. NOT final. This may be old. It was leaked video.

You don't design the looks and then how you will design things. You get the base done first, and then focus on the looks.

Windows 8.1 later update will have the Start Menu, so, if, and I said if, the above comes into reality, you can perhaps expects the same implemented on the Start Menu. Making you have a nice Start Menu, with widgets on the side to control music, check news, quick look at emails, stats, etc. from a click, and have it dispensary away from your work space. In addition, unlike desktop widgets, you don't have to minimize all your windows to see them, and interact with them. So I think that would be really cool.

[Mooshi]

Touch is the way forward. Touch is making the computer much easier to use.

It's just a mater of time before you have and you buy monitors for desktop computer designed for touch, and not touch slap onto a normal up right monitor. Example the Wacom Cintiq monitor, which can switch from up right to drawing/touch mode where it sits above your keyboard.

In addition, this is just prototyping, and experimentation. NOT final. This may be old. It was leaked video.

You don't design the looks and then how you will design things. You get the base done first, and then focus on the looks.

Windows 8.1 later update will have the Start Menu, so, if, and I said if, the above comes into reality, you can perhaps expects the same implemented on the Start Menu. Making you have a nice Start Menu, with widgets on the side to control music, check news, quick look at emails, stats, etc. from a click, and have it dispensary away from your work space. In addition, unlike desktop widgets, you don't have to minimize all your windows to see them, and interact with them. So I think that would be really cool.

 

For the here and now, though. Touch is brilliant for mobile devices. In fact, I'd much rather use a phone with a touch screen because it's fluid. The desktop for people who do more than browse the internet will have a harder time to adapt. I don't even have a crazy set up, just a single 24" monitor, but if I held my arm out like I was using a touch screen, it doesn't feel natural at all, it feels awkward. For those with multi monitor set ups, that'd be so uncomfortable trying to navigate all that space -- your arm will get tired quick. Huge travel distance between a small tablet vs a huge mass of monitor.

[GoodBytes]

For those with multi monitor set ups, that'd be so uncomfortable trying to navigate all that space

This is a touch screen monitor:

There is no arm stretching, it goes over your keyboard.

Here is another video better showing this:

[Misanthrope]

It still looks fucking stupid. Honestly anything Metro will forever look fucking stupid to me, I'm just glad Direct X 12 is coming to Windows 7 and that's only so I don't have to have lots of headaches transferring all my Skyrim mods to Linux otherwise I would definitely uninstall it for good. But alas, still addicted to modding Skyrim  <_<

[mr moose]

MS still not listening to consumers. Keep your Metro UI on tablets and smartphones as it's own OS and give power users the traditional desktop. Stop being so difficult.

How do you know they are not listening?   we the enthusiasts are the minority,  their research probably shows a majority of people prefer metro over the start button.   I have yet to meet a non-enthusiast who is unhappy with win8.

[Mooshi]

This is a touch screen monitor:

There is no arm stretching, it goes over your keyboard.

Here is another video better showing this:

 

A Wacom cintiq is a specialized piece of artistic equipment, it has 2048 levels of pen pressure...it's a drawing instrument used by artists and not the same as a consumer touch screen. You can't even get a tablet pc that's nearly on par as something from Wacom. If they weren't 2k a piece for those, I'd have one. Alas, I'm using a large Intuos 4. It's been awhile since I followed what Wacom was up to, kinda neat seeing touch utilized along with pen input. Still is a niche display. But yeah, that is set up for artist and not the general consumer.You understand the purpose of these niche displays as do I, but the average COD kiddy wouldn't. Would also seem like a waste to see this being used for Facebook. Dunno how long it'd be till this kinda tech is considered standard.

[beebskadoo]

How do you know they are not listening? we the enthusiasts are the minority, their research probably shows a majority of people prefer metro over the start button. I have yet to meet a non-enthusiast who is unhappy with win8.

go to a retail store. Everyone hates it.

[mr moose]

go to a retail store. Everyone hates it.

For an OS that everyone hates there ain't too much talk about it around my end of the world, Most of my experience is with the school system where I deal with not just teachers, but admin staff, students, technicians and IT managers.  There is more distaste for the OSX environment than there is for win8.  I personally don't care one way or the other about win 8 as for what we do it works, but on top of my experience (which isn't just my home pc and a pirated copy of win8) I would be very surprised if a company as well resourced as MS decided to go against their own market research and flog a dead horse.

 

I do accept that there is a lot of disgruntled customers who don't want change, and there was certainly a lot of this when it was released without a start button,  but even then I doubt the majority were opposed to metro, more just the lack of start button.   we had the same upheaval both when they introduced xp* and when they introduced vista.  Now with people getting used to the idea and realising just how little the average consumer uses the start button things are changing.

 

*although it was the reverse for many enthusiasts, all of a sudden the OS was mostly stable and could multitask much more efficiently, which was awesome if you were a network tech working remotely.

[Dylan522p]

I want a fully integrated start screen. You should be able to never have to go to the desktops and be as quick as mobile OS's with tons of widgets in that mode. Still offer desktop for real work though,

[StingBull]

So Microsoft is still trying to go with the asinine idea that just because you make the phone and the PC "look" similar you have a unified platform. That's not how that works Microsoft...

[beebskadoo]

For an OS that everyone hates there ain't too much talk about it around my end of the world, Most of my experience is with the school system where I deal with not just teachers, but admin staff, students, technicians and IT managers. There is more distaste for the OSX environment than there is for win8. I personally don't care one way or the other about win 8 as for what we do it works, but on top of my experience (which isn't just my home pc and a pirated copy of win8) I would be very surprised if a company as well resourced as MS decided to go against their own market research and flog a dead horse.

I do accept that there is a lot of disgruntled customers who don't want change, and there was certainly a lot of this when it was released without a start button, but even then I doubt the majority were opposed to metro, more just the lack of start button. we had the same upheaval both when they introduced xp* and when they introduced vista. Now with people getting used to the idea and realising just how little the average consumer uses the start button things are changing.

*although it was the reverse for many enthusiasts, all of a sudden the OS was mostly stable and could multitask much more efficiently, which was awesome if you were a network tech working remotely.

things that people hate most about metro.

Boot to desktop is not default.

IE launches in metro by default even if launched at desktop.

Annoying hot corners.

Intrusive edge swipes that are set at default in trackpad settings on most laptops.

I deal with people on a daily basus, these ore not enthusiasts these are average consumers. So the argument that its only the enthusiast croud that despises metro is invalid.

Basically all of the dislike boils down to the dissonance between traditional desktop and metro. The way some asps are metro whilst some are not.

Look at the calculator app, there are 2 versions of the same fucking app...one metro and one desktop. This makes Zero sense to me, and I'm smart about technology. The average consumer doesn't get it either.

The way people use tablets is different than they use a laptop or desktop. So why cross the two?

Even on tablets, metro falls way behind on UX compared to android and iOS. People know how to use tablets, people know how to use traditional desktop, when you try to blur the lines by making a clusterfuck of user interface that's when you have a problem. And people have voiced opinion about it and despite what you have previously stated, Microsoft has barely listened. Yeah they have made good improvements but not enough at this point.

They have a great mobile interface already WP8, why further segment the ecosystem? Stupidity if you ask me.

[Ashaira]

Microsoft Research in Asia is at work evolving the Start Screen of Windows 8 to the next generation, making live tiles interactive.

Everything you are seeing now is not official, its just Microsoft playing and trying things, in other words experimentation.

The Start Screen looks similar to now, however notice the down arrow on each tile. And also, notice how the Desktop tile shows notification icon tile and running programs.

Clicking on the down arrow of the a tile will expand it and become interactive.

In the case of the desktop, you'll see a full list of running apps which you can scroll up and down, and if you tap on any of them, you'll jump straight to it.

Another example is the Mail app. Right now, Windows 8, all it shows you a number of new e-mail you have. Here, it does the same, but if you expand it, without running the app, you can view the new e-mails.

Here is another example with the Music app, where you can play music change track, or select potentially a playlist or song from an album directly from the start screen

What do you think of all this?

Do you think this is a good direction?

I think this is a fantastic idea and sense of direction.

Love it or hate it, the Start Screen is here to stay, and think this is makes the live tiles more useful and informative.

I can see it working great with keyboard and mouse. It would be interesting to see this, mixed with the new Start menu coming in Windows 8, for those who really can't stand things taking full screen.

So what do you think?

 

Doesn't looks half bad. I am all for it as long as they keep the desktop experience they way it should be. The start screen is good for consuming media, not so much producing media.