[Rumor] windows 9 could allow metro to be disabled at will

[Vitalius]

It works perfectly fine on PC. People complain about the size everything takes up, why haven't you all complained about having to move your mouse to the top right corner of a window to close it? Ignorance. Ignorance abounds.

Oh my... Are you joking?

Alt + F4 or Ctrl + W with 1 tab (or repeatedly until the windows closes). Both close the window. Neither require a mouse. 

Windows Key + 1 opens Chrome for me (Taskbar shortcut). Ctrl + E moves selection to the Address Bar. Ctrl + T opens new tabs. I only ever touch the mouse to actually browse a website because Tab/Shift + Tab is tedious and actually slower. 

I can't do that with Start Screen. I've tried finding a similar shortcut path. AFAIK there's not one.

[Askew]

You know what's stupid? That comment.

You are basically saying "I like it this way so therefore EVERYONE should be FORCED to have it that way". Giving people choice is always good. That's what Microsoft should have done to begin with. Prompt users if they want to use a "Classic" GUI or a "Modern" GUI on the first boot, and then have an easy to reach option to change it. If you pick Classic then Metro is completely disabled and you get a Windows 7-ish start menu. If you pick Modern you get Metro.

My guess is that they didn't do this because they wanted to force as many people to use Metro as possible. Why? Because Windows Phone and RT doesn't have any marketshare and people therefore don't feel like developing for it. By forcing all laptop and desktop customers to be able to run Metro apps Microsoft increased the userbase for WP/RT apps by several order of magnitude. They are trying to use their desktop and laptop monopoly to break into the smartphone space.

It reminds me of what Google did with YouTube and Google+. Instead of just making Google+ better in order to compete, they instead forced everyone on YouTube to use it. Microsoft is doing the same with Metro. Just replace Google+ with Windows Phone/Windows RT, and YouTube with Windows.

A rule I would like all companies to follow is this: If people don't like/use your product, don't force it on them by injecting it into one of your more popular products.

Amen.

[LAwLz]

It's not awful, people are just too ignorant to allow any amount of good change in to something they like too much. Just because you like something doesn't mean it's the best implementation. Neither is Metro but it's a hell of a lot better.

Please explain how Metro is better than the start menu.

Here are a few reasons why I think it is worse:

1) It's full screen. I pretty much always have one or more programs open, and having a small start menu in the bottom left allows me to focus on that program even while I open a new program. I can read something in my browser and while I am reading it, I can open up notepad and write down important things. With metro I am forced to lose focus on the web page whenever I want to start a new program. This is also the case when I am watching a movie, or playing a game or something like that. It is really distracting and jarring to have the entire screen to blank, then a bunch of icons come flying towards you when all I want to do is open a program.

2) Settings are more spread out. Seriously, why are there now two different control panels, and they contain different settings? It just makes things more confusing.

3) It wastes a ton of space. Even IF I agreed that the huge tiles were good on a desktop (I don't but let's assume I did) I would still think Metro didn't use the screen real estate.

Just look at it. They could easily have made room for 5 rows of apps but for some reason they thought it was a good idea to leave a huge amount of space completely empty.

That's without taking the oversized tiles into consideration mind you. Why you'd need such huge icons on a desktop with a mouse I don't know...

4) All programs are full screen. It would work nice on a tablet, but Microsoft seems to have forgotten that most users are in fact on desktops, where they want to be able to run multiple programs at once. To make things even worse, the God awful Metro apps are the default for everything.

 

 

I am not saying the Windows 7 start menu is perfect, but I think Metro simply does not work as well as the start menu does on desktops and laptops.

 

 

 

Above comment. Also, when change comes it should be accepted if you're not blinded by ignorance to see how good it is. Going backwards is never a good thing. That's what people want.

Argumentum ad novitatem.

Not all changes are for the best, and going backwards (or at least let people go backwards if they want) is sometimes the right thing to do.

 

 

It works perfectly fine on PC. People complain about the size everything takes up, why haven't you all complained about having to move your mouse to the top right corner of a window to close it? Ignorance. Ignorance abounds.

Well first of all, you don't have to do that. There are plenty of other ways to close programs including Alt+F4, using something special to the program (like in a game there is probably a quit button), closing it from the task bar etc.

Even if the X button in the top right corner was the only way to close programs, it would still not really be relevant to this discussion because of a little law called Fits' Law. What Fits' Law says (among other things) is that buttons located in the corners are infinite in size. The red button is located in the top right corner because all you have to do in order to press it is flick your mouse cursor towards the top right corner. Since the button is infinitely big upwards and to the right, it doesn't matter how much you move the mouse. That's why it can be so small yet so easy to push. Microsoft could make it 2x2 pixels and people still wouldn't have any issues pressing it.

The tiles in Metro are not affected by this rule since they are not in the corner, and it's therefore not relevant to the conversation. Also, it is one of the issues I got with the Windows 7 start menu. There is a border on the left side of it, which makes it a lot harder to press the icons.

[Albatross]

Good. I'm among those who hated metro. It was god awful. They should have just made options for it in the first place, not trying to force us into using Metro or  a classic Windows start menu.

 

TBH kinda excited for WIN9 because I've basically skipped 8

 

Me too. I hope Win9 looks promising, because I'm going to need to upgrade Win7 soon.  :lol:

 

No, not really. Metro is amazing because you can do a lot with it and it's easy to navigate.

 

It's not awful, people are just too ignorant to allow any amount of good change in to something they like too much. Just because you like something doesn't mean it's the best implementation. Neither is Metro but it's a hell of a lot better.

 

Above comment. Also, when change comes it should be accepted if you're not blinded by ignorance to see how good it is. Going backwards is never a good thing. That's what people want.

 

"Just because you like something doesn't mean it's the best implementation."

[The_Strict_Nein]

I'd pay extra to not have to deal with Metro UI

[Misanthrope]

I'd pay extra to not have to deal with Metro UI

 

Where do you draw the line then? Next thing you know you'd be paying extra for "Microsoft Windows Gaming and Entertainment Add on" to be able to use DirectX 12 or 13 and then it will be "Microsoft Windows Networking add on" to be able to even use home networking and streaming, and then you'd be paying a "Microsoft Windows Gold Subscription" just to have Netflix and Hulu working on your Windows copy.

 

The line must be drawn somewhere and it should be drawn here: Nobody should upgrade from Windows 7.

[Albatross]

Where do you draw the line then? Next thing you know you'd be paying extra for "Microsoft Windows Gaming and Entertainment Add on" to be able to use DirectX 12 or 13 and then it will be "Microsoft Windows Networking add on" to be able to even use home networking and streaming, and then you'd be paying a "Microsoft Windows Gold Subscription" just to have Netflix and Hulu working on your Windows copy.

 

The line must be drawn somewhere and it should be drawn here: Nobody should upgrade from Windows 7.

 

If Win9 isn't better, I'm not going to upgrade.

[mr moose]

Well, to weigh in on such a hot topic,  the uptake rate on 8.1 has grown from nothing to 6% this year, while the year on year advance for 7 is only 5%.  Also to note that I work with a lot of non tech enthusiasts and the hate for 8 is minimal.  In fact at the end of the day I think most people actually prefer 8 because it's actually intuitive for non tech minded people to navigate.  The biggest problem for most tech enthusiasts comes from changing the way they do stuff or removing their options, the fact that you couldn't enable a start menu in 8 was the problem and from this stemmed a hatred for metro and I don't think it had a chance in the tech world as a result.

 

Also it should be noted that with 8.1 you can boot straight to desktop anyway so you can essentially not use metro if you don't like it. 

[totjup5]

This is a good move for ms. For any sort of power user metro is just slow and awful. I personally refuse to switch from Windows 7 until Microsoft releases an os that doesn't require 3rd party software to be a good experience

[FratStar]

Tap the key then click. So my hands must be on the keyboard + mouse? 

You could just use the start menu and type what you want. i.e. Press the Windows Key, type "St" then press enter since it's already on Steam. No mouse required. 

 

^ you know you can do the same with the "Modern UI"? There is literally nothing the modern ui doesn't do that the start menu doesn't on 8.1 also the search system is much faster than the slow start menu on Windows 7 in my experience, but to be fair I didn't have a SSD so I'm am more than likely wrong about how slow it is. Don't get me wrong the start menu is nice and all but there is honestly barely any difference in functionality. except the "Modern UI" is full screen but let's be honest what much does that change when all your focus is in the start menu anyway? Not much I would think.

 

 

"Just because you like something doesn't mean it's the best implementation."

He said hell of a lot better aka his personal opinion. He didn't say it was the "best implementation." I understand what you are trying to point out but if we're talking literally he didn't say anything of the sort.

[Andrew48]

I actually preface the new start menu. I have everything in there and my desktop is super clean.

[Damikiller37]

If they do it something like this, then the metro type interface can actually be useful. Like having a thing set up to show a Twitter feed or something in the start menu. 

 

Absolutely agree. I think Microsoft has put way to much trust in the Modern apps with their ability to take over standard software found on the desktop interface. If they were to do what the have shown in their BUILD conference with the new start menu then, even though I don't use Modern apps at all for now I would most likely start to. It would be very handy for notification applications such as Skype, Email, Calendar and things like that so that you could quickly have a look when going to the start menu. In that scenario the modern apps would be a lot more useful and people like me that don't really use them could find some use for them at last and not to forget it actually looks really good and isn't in any way obstructive or overdone. Well lets hope Microsoft follows the idea of having everything in 'ONE' without having a significant separation between the Desktop interface and the Modern interface.

[Oshino Shinobu]

Absolutely agree. I think Microsoft has put way to much trust in the Modern apps with their ability to take over standard software found on the desktop interface. If they were to do what the have shown in their BUILD conference with the new start menu then, even though I don't use Modern apps at all for now I would most likely start to. It would be very handy for notification applications such as Skype, Email, Calendar and things like that so that you could quickly have a look when going to the start menu. In that scenario the modern apps would be a lot more useful and people like me that don't really use them could find some use for them at last and not to forget it actually looks really good and isn't in any way obstructive or overdone. Well lets hope Microsoft follows the idea of having everything in 'ONE' without having a significant separation between the Desktop interface and the Modern interface.

Yep. I'm hoping that they'll make it more friendly for those of us who actually prefer being able to access and change files manually. I don't even mind if they include an advanced mode or something that allows you to have something similar to Windows 7, but with some of the Metro elements (eg. in the start menu, maybe desktop)

[flibberdipper]

I rather like Windows 8 and all of it's Modern UI-ness.