The Glade 4.0

Looks like this is what they should have launched with.

http://www.engadget.com/2013/05/30/microsoft-windows-8-1-unveiled/



TL;DR:
• 2 new tile sizes, one larger one smaller
• Search goes through everything, don't need to specify app/settings/files
• Snap can resize to anything, not just 80/20 split
• You can now Snap more than two windows at once, depending on your resolution
• Desktop background carries through to Start screen
• Start Button has made its return, but it brings up the metro tiles, doesn't do a fly-out menu
• Can boot to Desktop
• MS Store will start auto-updating Metro apps
• Settings have been overhauled to be much more comprehensive

Now if we can just get a task bar with quick launch, and a system tray with a clock in it, I'll be happy. :p

Hopefully classic shell will still work.

Looks like a real desktop to me.

When did windows cease being 'windows' ?

Never, the only thing that changes is how close your face is to the glass.

Not that I don't appreciate the changes, because they are definite improvements, but I'll be sticking with Classic Shell for the time being.

This guy goes through a lot of changes you can make to make Windows 8 more suitable for a Desktop PC.

http://winsupersite.com/windows-8/windows-81-tip-optimize-desktop

Also, this cracked me up.

I would absolutely have to have this if I had a machine with Windows 8.

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"Hysterical children shrieking about right-wing anything need to go sit in the corner and be quiet while the adults are talking."

I guess I don't understand the appeal. Seems like it takes away functionality from the new, good Windows 8 explorer, and gives you a less-functional Start button?

If you left click the start button, you get the standard Start screen, my new one pictured above. If you right click it, you get this menu:
Which seems like it has everything else you'd want.

I don't need "functionality". That is a cute way of saying "trying to do things for the user, and in the process letting Microsoft take over the PC."

Pretty sooner we're going to discover that, like our phones, we don't have control of our own computers because Microsoft is telling us what we can and can't access, and hiding it behind "functionality" and silly color palletes.

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"Hysterical children shrieking about right-wing anything need to go sit in the corner and be quiet while the adults are talking."

L-O-L

I don't need my computer to make things easier! That's not what computers are made for, god dammit!

You obviously don't know what you're talking about. The new Windows Explorer gives you more options than ever, it doesn't shoe-horn you into a simplified, weaker interface.

It is hilarious how you think objecting to the computer taking over tasks, deciding how to do it, and not letting you have the option to control when or how it is done is somehow not wanting computers to make life easier. I don't want the computer making my life "easier" in the way they are starting to do anymore than you or I want some government nutritionist taking over my grocery shopping.

Plus, you know, having apps update themselves whenever they feel like it and suck up my limited bandwidth, or having a fleetmate have to reboot in EVE is JUST **** AWESOME because Windows 8 has decided to "make his life easier" by updating right **** now and there's no option to delay it.

Having an enormous clock in the middle of the screen, and the weather report I don't need, and silly pastel colored icons for illiterates with things like a game controller icon in the middle of the screen "make life easier" too. Yeah, that really helps, instead of having them out of the way in a menu where they belong.

Oh, and of course clouds and skydrives and **** are just awesome. I bet you're going to love them in 2 years when we find out who has been poking around in people's skydrives.

Just because you like the new toys is no reason to feel threatened if people don't. Don't feel too proud of your technological terror. It's insignificant next to the power of the Force.

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"Hysterical children shrieking about right-wing anything need to go sit in the corner and be quiet while the adults are talking."

The classicshell start menu is far more functional than the start screen. It can do everything the start screen does, and it does it in an actual user friendly way. And in any event, it doesn't get rid of the start screen. It just adds the classic start menu back on the start bar.

_________________
Well Ali Baba had them forty thieves, Scheherezade had a thousand tales
But master you in luck 'cause up your sleeves you got a brand of magic never fails...
...Mister Aladdin, sir, What will your pleasure be?
Let me take your order, Jot it down -You ain't never had a friend like me
█ ♣ █

You can change anything you want. You don't know what you're talking about.



Windows doesn't require restarts for applications updating through the Microsoft Store. Windows Updates can still be scheduled to happen whenever you want, or you can do them manually. You don't know what you're talking about.



You can change any of those things. Big icons, small icons, custom graphics or colors for icons. You don't know what you're talking about.



Products I use every day by choice. Yes, they are awesome. I think the NSA has taught us that it doesn't matter where you put things, they're still going to look at them.



I'm not intimidated by you not liking what I like. I'm annoyed that you don't understand any of your own objections to something, because you obviously haven't used it yourself.

I don't need super extra large interactive icons on my desktop to make my desktop computer more "functional".

Windows 7 had a fine use interface, and I'd be content with Windows 8 if they just had a Win7 Desktop mode.

I get that they wanted to make it more tablet/touch friendly, but for my desktop computing needs, Metro is just in the way...

Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk 4 Beta

8.1 has the option of booting straight to desktop.

Stop trying to make me like tiles Microsoft. They're awful.

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Holy shitsnacks!

I'm getting contrary reports from other people that have Windows 8.



I was talking about Windows 8 updating itself, and since this has happened to corpmates in the middle of fleets, yes, I do know that you cannot stop an OS update, even if you can stop the app updates. You evidently do not know what I am talking about.



Yes, you can get a third party overlay like what Midgen uses to make them go away. Making the icons bigger, smaller, or different colors is not helpful. You evidently do not know what I am talking about... again. If you could actually GET RID OF THEM, that classic shell thing Midgen has wouldn't be so necessary.



Because clearly, when stored on your hard drive where you can turn off the power when not using it, or on a thumb drive that can be unplugged when not in use, that doesn't reduce the likelyhood or anything. You know, there's also what Microsoft or other corporations might be doing with that data. Yes, this sounds like a great idea, and we should just toss up our hands in despair and accept it because you can then use your computer on your phone or whatever.



I didn't claim to have used it myself. However, I can clearly see that Midgen has discovered an awesome shell to put over it that wouldn't be necessary in order to get rid of pointless "functionality" if you actually could get rid of the obnoxious features. I can also clearly understand it when someone tells me on TeamSpeak "yes, my computer is shutting down right now and no I can't help it." I don't need to have used it myself to object to things as they are described to me. My objections are to things that preclude using it myself in the first place. I do not need to drive a Pinto in order to know it was a shitty automobile, either, nor fly a P-39 to understand its shortcomings as a fighter.

You might wanted to have taken that last line in the obvious tongue-in-cheek manner it was meant. The fact is that you just start trying to talk down to everyone as soon as they state some dislike for your favorite new toy. It's like listening to 4E enthusiasts tell everyone they were wrong and stupid for liking 3.5 better than WoW on paper 4E. I can clearly see that windows 8 is aimed at touchscreens and that right there is a near-total disqualifier in my book. Tocuhscreens get filthy and dirty constantly, and your fingers take up the screen typing, and they provide no tactile feedback. They suck.

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"Hysterical children shrieking about right-wing anything need to go sit in the corner and be quiet while the adults are talking."

Technically, the Windows Update functionality in Windows 8 is identical to Windows 7 and Windows XP. You can choose to update them automatically, or do automatic downloads with prompts to install, or do everything manually. The only difference is the "Delay" option for rebooting in windows 7 gave you 4 hours now instead of 10 minutes in XP. In 8, it doesn't automatically reboot, it simply schedules the portions of the install it can't finish for the next time you reboot.

(That latter part can be really annoying, when a 30 second reboot turns into 20 minutes.)

_________________
Well Ali Baba had them forty thieves, Scheherezade had a thousand tales
But master you in luck 'cause up your sleeves you got a brand of magic never fails...
...Mister Aladdin, sir, What will your pleasure be?
Let me take your order, Jot it down -You ain't never had a friend like me
█ ♣ █

That's great, but this thread is about Windows 8.1, an update that is available as a preview but is not yet launched.



You can still stop automatic OS updates. You have always been able to. Taly clarifies above.



You can get rid of them all if you want, and you can boot straight to the desktop.



I don't know why you take issue with me using Skydrive. You don't need to use it, but I choose to.



Far as I know, Midgen hasn't used the 8.1 update either, so maybe he wont feel like he needs it afterward?

I use Windows 8 on a desktop, laptop, and tablet. I also have a Windows Phone 8 Nokia phone. Windows 8.1 will fix all my major gripes and any minor gripes I have are far outweighed by the new things Windows 8 brings to the table. It lets you do everything Windows 7 can, it just sometimes requires different (and often fewer) clicks to get there.

I don't understand the hate.

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The Dude abides.

My entire distaste for windows 8 is fixed by ClassicShell; when used with a mouse and keyboard, the Start Menu > The Start Screen in every possible way. However, Windows 8 is a better OS than windows 7.

_________________
Well Ali Baba had them forty thieves, Scheherezade had a thousand tales
But master you in luck 'cause up your sleeves you got a brand of magic never fails...
...Mister Aladdin, sir, What will your pleasure be?
Let me take your order, Jot it down -You ain't never had a friend like me
█ ♣ █

8.1 has an icon at the bottom of the Start screen that when clicked brings up a list of your applications and computer settings from the bottom of the screen. Its usage is identical to the start button of old, but it doesn't force your attention to only be at the bottom left corner of your screen, doesn't force you to hover over sub-menus, and can be reorganized on the fly with two clicks. It is superior in every way.

Except that it forces me to leave the desktop.

I never want to leave the desktop. If I had one complaint about ClassicShell, it's that it doesn't eliminate the start screen, it only makes it unnecessary.

Also, nested folders > presenting everything at once. It's a major problem in the last few releases of MS Office as well. It's much easier to navigate logical trees than it is to pick your selection out from a huge list.

As for "forcing your attention"...it still forces you to focus your attention in one place, and the bottom left corner of the screen is as good a place as any. (And you CAN move the start bar. I tend to keep mine on the left side on today's widescreen monitors...it's more efficient because I have much more horizontal space to work with, but vertical space is limited. That means that for me, the start menu appears in the upper left corner of the screen.)

_________________
Well Ali Baba had them forty thieves, Scheherezade had a thousand tales
But master you in luck 'cause up your sleeves you got a brand of magic never fails...
...Mister Aladdin, sir, What will your pleasure be?
Let me take your order, Jot it down -You ain't never had a friend like me
█ ♣ █

Right, and you can still do all of that on the Desktop, which you can boot to. You don't ever have to use the Start screen if you don't want to. For those that do want to use it, it's far more functional with a mouse/kb than ever before.