The Last Days of Windows 7

The problem that Microsoft has is that the Touch Tablet, and like devices, are expected to become a major factor in the market in the next few years. Microsoft has to be in that market, or will suffer, the "One Size, (or Look & Feel), fits all" philosophy may be a good thing for Windows' future, as long as it is managed correctly.

The version available is of course a developer Preview, aimed at applications for the Metro interface so it is only natural that this build will concentrate and emphasise this new technology. I am sure that improvements will be made to the Desktop interface as the development cycle proceeds, and a choice of default interface will be provided

How many screens of "giant tiles" are going to be required to access all of your applications?

The "Start menu" is reasonably compact.
I've categorised mine (so it is small and tidy).
Of course that means that I have to do a few more mouse clicks to access shortcuts.

My most frequently accessed programs are pinned to the "Taskbar".
My frequently accessed programs are pinned in the "Start menu".
The rest are in "All Programs".

xxxdannyxxx said:

Not sure I'll be making the jump to 8 too quickly. I like 7, it works, and for me has run without issue for 2 years.It will take some big improvements now to budge me off 7.

Danny

""It will take some big improvements now to budge me off 7.""

The same here!

Thanks JMH for keep us inform :)

Barman58 said:

The problem that Microsoft has is that the Touch Tablet, and like devices, are expected to become a major factor in the market in the next few years. Microsoft has to be in that market, or will suffer, the "One Size, (or Look & Feel), fits all" philosophy may be a good thing for Windows' future, as long as it is managed correctly.

The version available is of course a developer Preview, aimed at applications for the Metro interface so it is only natural that this build will concentrate and emphasise this new technology. I am sure that improvements will be made to the Desktop interface as the development cycle proceeds, and a choice of default interface will be provided

Exactly, this is an alpha version, specifically released for the Metro/tablet developer to build apps for it.

jimbo45 said:

Hi all
I remember when XP first came out how nearly EVERYBODY absolutely hated it and saud the would stick with W2000 or even the OS that most people probably called tghe biggest dog of all time : Windows Neanderthal or Windows NT - only invented to generate work for IT technicians and cause Maximum frustration to unfortunate users who had to logon to these systems.

Within a relatively short time XP had become mS's most successful OS ever - although W7 is catching up.

I think W8 will also be OK --it's available as a development preview now - link in the news section on this forum - and I'm sure people will move to it once it's stable and shows that it's even better than W7.

Some people will want things like Touch screen computing, far far better Video / Music streaming applications, cloud facilities, legal file sharing etc etc.

Built in Video and Audio telephony and Video conferencing should also be part of a modern OS too -- I remember Netmeeting in XP which was a decent application for its time. There aren't any decent applications on W7 yet for this without having to use some often not very reliabe 3rd party apps.

Currently running any sort of multi-media via the Internet on decent sized monitors is very touch and go both from the software and the Internet capability of supplying an adequate bit rate.

You can compress audio significantly -- although IMO anything compressed to less than 128 kbs doesn't sound very good but Video is a much more difficult proposition.

The Video server will need to supply a FAST bit rate -- the whole Multi Media centre in W7 really needs to be totally re-written. I suspect there will be a whole new part in W8 for this.

Cheers
jimbo

Very good points.
It is already evident that Win8 is much more than a new tablet UI.

Everyone needs to give it a chance, most new OSs are generally meet with steadfast rejection.
Change is good, Choice is better.

Why did MS release this alpha version to the public?
I hope we will see options that will let everyone get the OS they want.

JimJoe said:

WolfSoul said:

"Last days".. is that a joke? It's barely a few years old

Its the planned replacement thing. Like a used car that is still running, go out and buy a new one.

That is called marketing

The Last Days of Windows 7 for me would be:

A) My life cycle ends before Windows 7 life cycle

B) Both of my Windows 7 computers life cycle ends & installation media is lost or un-obtainable

C) Microsoft will actually release an OS that is much better and more intuitive than Windows 7 and I am constantly checking the future desktop gadget/app that is counting down the days until Windows 7 expiry.

Other than marketing I really don't understand this touch screen thing for a PC or a Laptop. My understanding it will be built into Windows 8.
It takes more time and movement of ones body parts than a mouse or keyboard to get any thing done. With a mouse and keyboard you don't have to be within reach of the screen.