Bold move from Microsoft

[KnightWRX]

RTM builds of Windows 8 reveal Microsoft blocked any bypassing of the Metro desktop

Will it end up hurting Windows 8 adoption ? One of the arguments often used was that Windows was familiar to users. With Windows 8 breaking the familiarity, all that's left is their application legacy. Is that enough in the age of the Web Browser as the allmighty application to keep their users from trying alternatives ?

A few points of reflexion.

 

[G51989]

Hmmmm, I've seen videos all about " desktop mode " and " explorer " in windows 8.

Why even bother updating it if you can't use it?

I mean its fine, I like metro, but still. Silly.

* Waits for Microsoft hate. *

* Realizes, if it was Apple doing this, there would be cheers of ' moving the world forward ' *

 

[chrono1081]

I think its a bad move.

I've worked in IT many different places for many years in many different positions and if its one thing all those places had in common it was that most of the users didn't know how to do anything on a computer.

Even the XP to Vista/7 (and Office 2010) transition had many users scratching their heads. At one place I was at, Tier 1, 2, and 3 were so flooded with tickets right after a release (which involved training and such) that our group had to help field the calls.

I dread when Windows 8 shows up with an entirely different interface. Its a shame there is no option to disable Metro.

 

[KnightWRX]

Hmmmm, I've seen videos all about " desktop mode " and " explorer " in windows 8.

Why even bother updating it if you can't use it?

Read the article, it's not that you can't use it. It's that the user will have to launch Explorer manually in the release version. No more registry/win.ini/whatever hack to launch automatically. Can't even do it by GPO, so even in corporate settings, users will be dumped in Metro and will need to click the Explorer button to launch it.

So it's still there, it's just not possible to automatically switch to it anymore.

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I dread when Windows 8 shows up with an entirely different interface.

I've got nothing to worry about not having been in involved in desktop support for close to 8 years now, and not an active desktop support guy for close to 12

That said, even if I were, we're only now transitioning from Windows XP to Windows 7. And I say "transitionining", I mean the planning stages, with a deployment target set in 2013. And we're looking at BYOD at the same time, so I might just screw it all and grab a 2nd Macbook for work or just use my own like I already do instead of the HP Elitebook they give me.

 

[Abazigal]

RTM builds of Windows 8 reveal Microsoft blocked any bypassing of the Metro desktop

Will it end up hurting Windows 8 adoption ? One of the arguments often used was that Windows was familiar to users. With Windows 8 breaking the familiarity, all that's left is their application legacy. Is that enough in the age of the Web Browser as the allmighty application to keep their users from trying alternatives ?

A few points of reflexion.

I think it is the lesser of 2 evils. If you made it optional, people are just going to ignore the metro interface in favour of the more familiar and safer windows interface. What's the point in investing so much in it then?

It will probably hurt in the short run, but I believe that people will eventually come to warm up to the metro interface, and microsoft has the resources to tough out any short-term boycott of their windows 8 platform.

 

[G51989]

Read the article, it's not that you can't use it. It's that the user will have to launch Explorer manually in the release version. No more registry/win.ini/whatever hack to launch automatically. Can't even do it by GPO, so even in corporate settings, users will be dumped in Metro and will need to click the Explorer button to launch it.

So it's still there, it's just not possible to automatically switch to it anymore..

Sorry for not reading, I just kinda thought it was another one of those ' lolz metro articals. '

I don't see it as so much of a bad thing, you have the option to use metro, and with one click, your back in your classic windows explorer. I see it as having a choice.

 

[Rodimus Prime]

I think its a bad move.

I've worked in IT many different places for many years in many different positions and if its one thing all those places had in common it was that most of the users didn't know how to do anything on a computer.

Even the XP to Vista/7 (and Office 2010) transition had many users scratching their heads. At one place I was at, Tier 1, 2, and 3 were so flooded with tickets right after a release (which involved training and such) that our group had to help field the calls.

I dread when Windows 8 shows up with an entirely different interface. Its a shame there is no option to disable Metro.

You are not the only one. I work as a software developer and windows 8 I fear is going to cause my companies tech support calls to sky rocket which means us developers will be slammed by the over flow.this is bad for both the developers and the customers because 1 it takes us developers away from working on the software and 2 we are not as good at tech support as the tech guys. We are not trained for it and honestly we do not know the software as good as the tech guys.

 

[chrono1081]

You are not the only one. I work as a software developer and windows 8 I fear is going to cause my companies tech support calls to sky rocket which means us developers will be slammed by the over flow.this is bad for both the developers and the customers because 1 it takes us developers away from working on the software and 2 we are not as good at tech support as the tech guys. We are not trained for it and honestly we do not know the software as good as the tech guys.

Thats how it is at my place, when the tech guys get slammed, we get the overflow too and we have 3 tiers of tech support guys 0_0

I feel real bad for software devs. People don't understand how much work goes into writing software. Our software guys don't have to worry too much since they actually don't really do programming. I've talked to them about programming before and was shocked when one guy didn't know what an object was and said he knows C, C+, and C++ 0_0. (They are still mucking with software written for Windows 95 that has to be run through virtual machines.)

Hopefully we'll get lucky and skip 8, and wait for 9. Sadly though higher ups like to play with every new piece of technology and software and always waste money by pushing the latest and "greatest".

 

[KnightWRX]

I don't see it as so much of a bad thing, you have the option to use metro, and with one click, your back in your classic windows explorer. I see it as having a choice.

It's less of a choice than it was, that's the whole point. Before, you could load directly to metro and click the explorer button to go back to classic. You could also set it so that classic showed up by default.

They removed the 2nd choice, the 2nd option. You can set it up so that classic shows up by default anymore.

How is that having a choice ? They removed an option!

Anyway, the move is bold I'll give them that, to break with the familiarity that was one of their continued strangle hold on the computing desktop. We'll see if it hurts adoption and helps competitors or if in the end, it just helps adoption of Metro and its locked down ecosystem.

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Hopefully we'll get lucky and skip 8, and wait for 9. Sadly though higher ups like to play with every new piece of technology and software and always waste money by pushing the latest and "greatest".

Leave the SMBs behind and go enterprise. If anything, I bet you can still find a few shops with Windows 2000 desktops.

 

[roadbloc]

Since I'll be using the Metro interface as much as possible, I'm not fussed. From a consumer point of view, I think Metro is a breath of fresh air and it would be great if programs were made Metro compatible as soon as possible.

Sucks for you developers, but hey, you don't have to make your program for Metro. The classic desktop is still available and works perfectly. And this is exactly why I like Windows 8. It is a great new and diverse interface that is flexible enough to cater for older non-metro programs, instead of just dropping compatibility, which sounds like something Apple would do.

People need to chill out over Windows 8. It looks beautiful and the change was long awaited and needed. You don't have to make your programs Metro yet.

 

[KnightWRX]

Since I'll be using the Metro interface as much as possible, I'm not fussed. From a consumer point of view, I think Metro is a breath of fresh air and it would be great if programs were made Metro compatible as soon as possible.

Sucks for you developers, but hey, you don't have to make your program for Metro. The classic desktop is still available and works perfectly. And this is exactly why I like Windows 8. It is a great new and diverse interface that is flexible enough to cater for older non-metro programs, instead of just dropping compatibility, which sounds like something Apple would do.

People need to chill out over Windows 8. It looks beautiful and the change was long awaited and needed. You don't have to make your programs Metro yet.

I don't think this is about developers as much as it is about removing the choice from the user of running in classic or Metro mode automatically. Especially in corporate settings where a completely new UI can mean added costs in retraining, a GPO to set the proper interface would have been a boon and eased transitions for big corporations.

Just transitioning to Windows 7 for us is going to be a multi-year affair. Imagine if we have to make sure users knew the new UI and were up and productive on day 1 too, that's quite a few added months of training.

 

[smoledman]

So 20 power users will be butthurt and switch to Linux. Go cry me a river.

 

[G51989]

So 20 power users will be butthurt and switch to Linux. Go cry me a river.

No, they'll hit a explorer tile, or assign a hotkey to it, and drop into explorer.

 

[Rodimus Prime]

So 20 power users will be butthurt and switch to Linux. Go cry me a river.

Linux would not solve the problem I will be dealing with. Go read what I posted. The tech support calls are going to jump big time and means I will be dealing with a lot of over flow and compared to our phone support guys us developers suck for phone support. We do not speak the same language (we speak technobabble) and we do not know how to use the support software as well and really we do not know the software as well either.

It is not good.

 

[Huntn]

Imho, you should be allowed to pick a default desktop that appears automatically after your choice is made. Consequently I don't like being forced to look at an ugly page if only briefly.

 

[roadbloc]

I think its a bad move.

I've worked in IT many different places for many years in many different positions and if its one thing all those places had in common it was that most of the users didn't know how to do anything on a computer.

Even the XP to Vista/7 (and Office 2010) transition had many users scratching their heads. At one place I was at, Tier 1, 2, and 3 were so flooded with tickets right after a release (which involved training and such) that our group had to help field the calls.

I dread when Windows 8 shows up with an entirely different interface. Its a shame there is no option to disable Metro.

I'm sorry that Windows 8 makes things so bad for you. It must have been like the time when Windows XP succeeded Windows 98SE and when Windows 95 succeeded Windows 3.1 and when Windows 2 succeeded DOS 5.0 and when computers took over the typewriter.

Things move on. How the hell are Microsoft expected to survive if they're not given the right to innovate and develop newer, fresher interfaces friendly to newer devices? If we listened to people like you, we would still be using Windows 95.

 

[chrono1081]

I'm sorry that Windows 8 makes things so bad for you. It must have been like the time when Windows XP succeeded Windows 98SE and when Windows 95 succeeded Windows 3.1 and when Windows 2 succeeded DOS 5.0 and when computers took over the typewriter.

Things move on. How the hell are Microsoft expected to survive if they're not given the right to innovate and develop newer, fresher interfaces friendly to newer devices? If we listened to people like you, we would still be using Windows 95.

You get so up in arms over every little thing. I never said they couldn't innovate, I just said I think its the wrong move not allow Metro to be disabled. The fact they changed a roughly 20 year old interface is going to make things confusing for their enormous user base who is used to being familiar with how Windows works.

 

[G51989]

You get so up in arms over every little thing. I never said they couldn't innovate, I just said I think its the wrong move not allow Metro to be disabled. The fact they changed a roughly 20 year old interface is going to make things confusing for their enormous user base who is used to being familiar with how Windows works.

Lets be honest, pressing the explorer tile isn't THAT hard.

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It's less of a choice than it was, that's the whole point. Before, you could load directly to metro and click the explorer button to go back to classic. You could also set it so that classic showed up by default.

They removed the 2nd choice, the 2nd option. You can set it up so that classic shows up by default anymore.

How is that having a choice ? They removed an option!

Anyway, the move is bold I'll give them that, to break with the familiarity that was one of their continued strangle hold on the computing desktop. We'll see if it hurts adoption and helps competitors or if in the end, it just helps adoption of Metro and its locked down ecosystem.

Yeah I know. But I'm saying the choice is still there. For me, and I know its the same way for you. An Interface is nothing but a tool, I happen to like Metro very much, but I doubt I'll use it very much on a KB+M setup, I perfer explorer. I like the fact that I can just click a tile, and go back to the Windows I know and love.

Windows explorer is the only UI Ive ever encountered that I've preferred over other UIs, not sure why.

I honestly don't think a competitor to Windows really exists.

 

[smoledman]

Lets be honest, pressing the explorer tile isn't THAT hard.

Let's be honest, it really is THAT hard for the average dumb user who has grown up with the Windows 95 paradigm.

 

[G51989]

You get so up in arms over every little thing. I never said they couldn't innovate, I just said I think its the wrong move not allow Metro to be disabled. The fact they changed a roughly 20 year old interface is going to make things confusing for their enormous user base who is used to being familiar with how Windows works.

You can't disable it sure, but its not hard to get explorer open.

ANd yeah your right, MS can innovate. Windows 95, from a UI perspective, was lightyears ahead of anything else at the time imo.

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Let's be honest, it really is THAT hard for the average dumb user who has grown up with the Windows 95 paradigm.

Even for the, it shouldn't be hard.

I've been toying Windows 8.

Maybe its because Im a Zune/Xbox user. But I love Metro, it takes getting used to. But once you do. It makes total sense.

 

[smoledman]

Maybe its because Im a Zune/Xbox user. But I love Metro, it takes getting used to. But once you do. It makes total sense.

Experienced graphics people tell me that Metro is crap because it's just 2D pastel squares with text.

 

[gnasher729]

So 20 power users will be butthurt and switch to Linux. Go cry me a river.

A few years ago when Vista was released, my daughter bought a new laptop (with Vista) and asked me if I could put Windows on it. To many people, Metro isn't Windows. So if the customer is forced to switch from Windows to something that they don't recognize as Windows, they might as well switch to MacOS X. BTW. the same daughter picked up my MacBook and used it without hesitation. In Safari, she uses double-finger scroll without ever being shown. On Windows, she uses the scrollbars which is a pain.

Metro will lose Microsoft lots of customers to Apple.

 

[fox10078]

You can pry windows 7 out of my cold dead hands compared to windows 8.

 

[roadbloc]

You get so up in arms over every little thing. I never said they couldn't innovate, I just said I think its the wrong move not allow Metro to be disabled. The fact they changed a roughly 20 year old interface is going to make things confusing for their enormous user base who is used to being familiar with how Windows works.

And just to confirm, you work in tech support right?

 

[maflynn]

Will it end up hurting Windows 8 adoption ?

I think if a company, any company is embracing a new way of doing something they cannot give the users a back door to the old way.

To bring it to MS, if they allowed users revert back to the traditional windows UI then everyone would.

With that said, I think businesses are going to have issues with this. Many companies will not want to embrace the metro UI as it present a support nightmare.