windows 9 recent leaks, all the details so far

[CedrikL]

I for one don't have the windows 8/8.1 start menu but I do hate the metro UI apps with all I have. Those are just terrible. Most of them lack features/options their desktop counterparts do.

[AlexGoesHigh]

There is a video right now. Change your stuff and put the video in.

Never mind. You already did.

errm, he isn't the OP, i am...

[rumbleArena]

The window for Metro apps is like the most needed thing for desktop users! Even in 8.1 the impletation wasn't good enough.

 

Though everything is looking good and all, i don't think i'd jump on Windows 9 immediately. There's always gonna be problems with new things nowadays. Haha. Or maybe it has always been, only I didn't notice them.

[JefferyD90]

I completely agree with what you're saying. I love how Valve is integrating Debian with SteamOS and I love how AMD is creating support for Debian through mantle and openGL

 

I can't wait until SteamOS is ready to use. Most of my games go through steam anyways.

This guy gets it.  Valve doesn't listen to their customers at all.  Customers are too near sighted to understand the 5 year and 10 year plans.  Valve sees a day when you have only 1 computer, but 10 displays that are connected via WiFi.  All your processing is done on that ONE computer in your closet.  (I personally see a Smart phone being the "computer" first then you have a desktop style monitor and a tablet style monitor that wirelessly connect to the phone, at least in the early iterations)  But back to my point, even when computers first came out, if companies would have listened to customers, we wouldn't be on this thread right now.  Windows 8 was AMAZING to begin with, and they should have kept on heading in the direction they was going in, not back peddled. 

[adhisakti]

I'm not just talking about the aesthetic of color and shape, I'm talking about the cramming those stupid menu elements (the large news, store, mail etc) into a start menu first of all, cause I always go to my computer specs, access my control panel and administrative controls from the side they've replaced and I like them there cause they've been there for years.. (the right screen fly-out was the stupidest thing ever). the icons (specifically the windows folder) have changed and it fits the style they're changing to.. so that seems like it might be a near sure design and it looks terrible . the addition of a notifications button too... bothers me cause I already hate that they put a bunch of stuff in the bottom right (although, in windows 8 they added the ability to hide most of these so that's a HUGE plus.. hopefully this will be another optional thing and not forced). The what looks to be search and window.. transition?? buttons in the bottom left better be optional.. if it has anything to do with the 16th image ( http://pics.computerbase.de/6/0/0/7/8/20_m.png ) I don't like that feature at all, it looks identical to Apple's virtual desktops.. and I preffer just having multiple screens that i can turn my eyes to see, not push buttons to flip back and forth (again, probably optional, but completely not innovative on Microsoft's part.. ) 

 

Most of these things don't seem very temporary.. It's very much in the works, granted they may flesh out a few things, give them a bit of paint and a buff.. but I'm just old fashioned in liking things how they were, xp was great, windows 7 didn't throw you too far off a cliff with a learning curve or much change and now they're shoving it all down your throat.. Windows most iconic feature IS it's start button.. and now they've tried to completely change it, that upsets me if I can have the benefits of more efficient programming in windows 8.1 .. with my windows 7 start button (I don't care if they change the style a little bit but don't take it's functionality and DON'T replace it with large ugly square colored buttons .. )

 

 

That's all

 

Agreed. I'd love to see control panel menu again, as a power user I use it a lot, not just a shortcut on the right-click start button on win8. I think I won't use modern apps at all on my desktop/workstation PC, so hopefully we can get rid of that tiles and separate/hide the modern apps and native programs from the start menu.

[ciccio_cozza]

I hope they don't screw this up again... I want something new and functional to replace 7, without all the metro UI nonsense that clearly belongs to the tablet world. You tried to merge pc and tablet? You failed, so go back to what was working and everybody loved! But hey, if this is another fiasco I'll just go back to 7 that for me to this day is already the sweet spot and I have nothing to complain about.

[Sharp_3yE]

errm, he isn't the OP, i am...

LOL yep. I was on my phone and it doesn't work the best on LTT. I thought I was on you. OH WELL!

[MattGameDev]

It's the same as win8 but everything in a window. Wow.

I was thinking the same thing. It's like they merged win7 & win8/8.1 together and came up with win9..

Why even leave that shitty tile menu there? Why not just have that option for tablets and windows phones only? However, i do like the new 'Pin to Start Menu' idea. Frees the task bar and you can open programs you use more often quickly.

[Sintezza]

Let them just Burn Metro down!!

[Klefth]

Can't wait to get the start menu back, it's a shame that that doesn't happen with Windows 8.1 unless you use un-official addons. 

It's always been there. They just made it full screen and customizable, which makes it way more usable than the tiny arbitrarily organized old menu ever was.

 

Why even leave that shitty tile menu there? Why not just have that option for tablets and windows phones only?

Why? They're still just clickable icons that you can just, you know, click with your mouse pointer.

 

However, i do like the new 'Pin to Start Menu' idea. Frees the task bar and you can open programs you use more often quickly.

Which is exactly why the metro start menu is fine. It effectively replaces desktop and taskbar shortcut clutter and lets you put it all in a place where you can organize it however you want. The start screen is probably the one part of metro that does not suck imo.

[SuperSoggyChips]

Pretty cuel, but they really need to change some icons to make it flatter.

[Klefth]

Also,

 

 

The full screen start menu is still an option! Yay! Now I think I have 0 issues with Win9 at all.

[LAwLz]

Also,

 

<video>

 

The full screen start menu is still an option! Yay! Now I think I have 0 issues with Win9 at all.

Thank God Microsoft finally listened!

That is exactly what a bunch of people, including me, have been asking for. Let users choose between the start menu and start screen. Don't force everyone do use Windows exactly the way some designer wanted it to be.

It's nice that you can add/remove metro apps in the start screen as well. I'll probably pin 4 metro programs to the start menu at most.

 

There is a video of multi-desktops in action as well.

[EritoKaio]

I have Windows 8 for a year now and the only complain i have about it is the start menu, which i learnt to never use it, now I only use shortcuts to reach anything on the OS. Way faster, and I like the design better.

 

I will upgrade to 9 but just because I like to keep myself on the latest stuff. If it has bad changes, I'll learn other ways of using the OS without touching these changes.

[MattGameDev]

Why? They're still just clickable icons that you can just, you know, click with your mouse pointer.

Yes, but why have a duplicate of that? i.e;  I installed a program and i know where it is and whether i want an icon for that specific program.

[dersy9]

I feel like this is what Windows 8 should have been. Looks good and it gets rid of that stupid home screen thing. I don't have a touch screen and it just makes things a little awkward.

[Klefth]

Yes, but why have a duplicate of that? i.e;  I installed a program and i know where it is and whether i want an icon for that specific program.

Aaand that's why you're given the option to pin or unpin stuff? I don't know how that's an issue with tiles. I mean you say it's shitty and it shouldn't exist in the first place, then literally state why the tiles are nice to have on the other half of your post. You're kinda contradicting yourself. O_o

 

Thank God Microsoft finally listened!

That is exactly what a bunch of people, including me, have been asking for. Let users choose between the start menu and start screen. Don't force everyone do use Windows exactly the way some designer wanted it to be.

It's nice that you can add/remove metro apps in the start screen as well. I'll probably pin 4 metro programs to the start menu at most.

I literally have no metro apps on mine except for the weather live tile and, well... a cooking one because the live tile recommends some interesting recipes every now and then, haha. Other than that, there's just all the desktop stuff that would otherwise be cluttering my desktop and taskbar.

 

There is a video of multi-desktops in action as well.

And this looks pretty interesting... I hope it's easy to split them between multiple screens; that'd be sweet.

[GoodBytes]

Here is another video of the Start Menu. Just shows how it would look like if you unpin everything.

It looks like a merge of Windows classic menu with Win7/Vista start menu.

[MattGameDev]

Aaand that's why you're given the option to pin or unpin stuff? I don't know how that's an issue with tiles. I mean you say it's shitty and it shouldn't exist in the first place, then literally state why the tiles are nice to have on the other half of your post. You're kinda contradicting yourself. O_o

I think we have confused each other or i haven't explained myself very well. Let me try it this way.

The "start menu" in windows 8/8.1 (tiles) were nice visually (not the desktop view). That's why i stated that having them in the start menu in the "windows 9" demo shown is a great idea, therefore freeing up space on the task bar (which should't normally be cluttered anyways) and ultimately looking very nice visually. The problem i have is not with the tiles, but rather the "start menu" they use in windows 8 (tile view), which is being used AGAIN in "windows 9" which is redundant just like it was in windows 8/8.1. There should only be one desktop view (i.e Windows 7) and that is it; Hiding another UI behind it is pointless. So maybe when i mentioned tiles, i may have mistaken myself and actually meant the "start menu" in windows 8 that was ALSO being used again in "windows 9". Hope this clears things up

P.s- i just hate a redundant UI which does not need to be there. The tiles (or windows 8 start menu to clarify better) should only be used on windows tablets and phones hence the look and touch screen features. I'm also not a fan of touch screen laptops as i fine them useless for anything other than surfing the web.

[GoodBytes]

Neowin has spotted something in the leaked videos

Storage Sense

Source: http://www.neowin.net/news/windows-9-storage-sense-is-coming-too

It is a feature that was introduced with Windows Phone 8.1 to manage your internal and external (microSD) storage, and gives you a better idea what consumes what.

It looks like it's coming to Windows 9.

 

This feature, which was first made available in Windows Phone 8.1, allows you to easily manage your internal and external (microSD) storage. The feature makes it simple to understand what is filling up your space such as apps, games, videos etc. Simply put, it's a total storage management solution in one app and it looks like it is coming to Windows 9 too.

The feature was spotted in the leaked screenshots from a partner build that was handed out to some folks in Germany. As you can see in the screenshot above, Storage Sense is in the list of options. Windows 8.1 already has Disk Space but we expect Storage Sense to replace this feature and offer up a more robust solution.

Considering that Windows is much more flexible with storage (multiple hard drives, USB drives, SD cards, OneDrive and more), this feature very well may be the best Windows solution yet for managing storage across multiple devices.

Now I think this will be more interesting in tablets than laptops or desktops, as I doubt it will be able to differential Steam games (let's say) and other data. My guess, is that it will show how much space by category Windows 9 Apps takes, and everything at the desktop level (beside pictures/videos/music/etc folders, as that is easy to measure), as "Other", or "Desktop apps", or if it's fancier, separate system files size from "desktop apps"/"Other".

It could also mean that perhaps, Windows 9 will allow you to install Windows 9 Apps on microSD card or SD card that your tablet might support instead of the system drive.

[AlexGoesHigh]

again goes into OP, thanks for finding all of this

[LAwLz]

Neowin has spotted something in the leaked videos

<image>

Storage Sense

Source: http://www.neowin.net/news/windows-9-storage-sense-is-coming-too

It is a feature that was introduced with Windows Phone 8.1 to manage your internal and external (microSD) storage, and gives you a better idea what consumes what.

It looks like it's coming to Windows 9.

 

Now I think this will be more interesting in tablets than laptops or desktops, as I doubt it will be able to differential Steam games (let's say) and other data. My guess, is that it will show how much space by category Windows 9 Apps takes, and everything at the desktop level (beside pictures/videos/music/etc folders, as that is easy to measure), as "Other", or "Desktop apps", or if it's fancier, separate system files size from "desktop apps"/"Other".

It could also mean that perhaps, Windows 9 will allow you to install Windows 9 Apps on microSD card or SD card that your tablet might support instead of the system drive.

If it's like on Windows phone then I don't care (useful for tablets and phones but not desktops):

 

If it's like WinDirStat on the desktop then that's awesome.

The cubes represents files on your HDD. Each type of file is color coded. When you hover over a cube it shows you the full path name in the lower left. For example in this picture I hovered over one of the ISO files (all ISO files has a white outline because I pressed on ISO file in the top right corner).

 

I doubt that it will be like this on the desktop, but I hope it is. That way you can see exactly which Steam game is taking up so much space. I am kind of worried that Microsoft will just make a Metro style app and then just go "well, that's that feature checked off the list" without really caring that much about desktop users who might want more functionality.

[Valentyn]

Thank God Microsoft finally listened!

That is exactly what a bunch of people, including me, have been asking for. Let users choose between the start menu and start screen. Don't force everyone do use Windows exactly the way some designer wanted it to be.

It's nice that you can add/remove metro apps in the start screen as well. I'll probably pin 4 metro programs to the start menu at most.

 

There is a video of multi-desktops in action as well.

 

 

This is one of the main things that has kept me on OS X for productivity. Being able to just spread out all your windows and desktops like Éxpose in OS X is going to be a godsend for me.

[TheProfosist]

If it's like on Windows phone then I don't care (useful for tablets and phones but not desktops):

 

If it's like WinDirStat on the desktop then that's awesome.

The cubes represents files on your HDD. Each type of file is color coded. When you hover over a cube it shows you the full path name in the lower left. For example in this picture I hovered over one of the ISO files (all ISO files has a white outline because I pressed on ISO file in the top right corner).

WinDirStat.jpg

 

I doubt that it will be like this on the desktop, but I hope it is. That way you can see exactly which Steam game is taking up so much space. I am kind of worried that Microsoft will just make a Metro style app and then just go "well, that's that feature checked off the list" without really caring that much about desktop users who might want more functionality.

A built in WinDirStat would be amazing I have used it for most of the past 10 years.

[TheProfosist]

Also so this is jus windows 8.2 renamed to 9... Microsoft is you screw up marking again your goign to get Windows X and your going to be sued.