Windows Blue seems to have brought some serious improvements to the UI side of Windows 8.
The improvements touch some of the following areas:
- Smaller Live Tiles and the company is changing the way you arrange them on the Start Screen
- The ability to pick from a number of shades in the sidebar of the Start Screen
- New Snap Views allow you to snap apps side-by-side using 50 percent each
- On high resolutions you can also snap up to four applications alongside each other
- Networking lets you switch connections on quickly
- There’s also now a quick way to add VPN settings
What’s most interesting is that Microsoft seem to be going full hog forward with the metro interface. There are no indications that Microsoft will be rethinking this controversial user interface any time soon.
The Verge have put together a video that describes some of these changes, you can see it below..
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Um someone has their wires crossed. Just how the heck can this be an interm OS/update before windows 8 as Onuora claims when windows 8 Pro is already out? I have repeatedly tried to tell people that according to Marcus (my source in the Redmond Washington/Main Campus of Microsoft) Windows Blue is a Service pack for the released windows 8, nothing more!
So we now have the way MS is going. Everything is going to be based on a Windows 8 phone. More users lost! Do they not realise that it will be many years before desktop pc with keyboard and mouse finally fade out! There are Billions of them out there. MS are now concentrating only on touch based items, nothing for the keyboard and mouse user(it’s bread and butter users). Unless MS wake up and see that all they are doing is providing a dumbed down media OS with little business use or capabilities(try using Excel or Powerpoint via touch), they will lose most of their market and eventually become a bit player and cease to exist other than to supply mobile phones and kiddie tablets. Such a shame after being the front runner for so long.
@David Lincoln,
“try using Excel or Powerpoint via touch”
No one is forced to use a touch screen, even on a tablet (bluetooth). On a desktop system the only thing that changes is the screen you boot into. You still have your mouse, keyboard, and desktop to use.
i use Microsoft Office daily on my Dell PC running Windows 8. When I click on the tile for Excel (or any other “Desktop” application I am taken to the desktop where it behaves exactly the same as if I was using any previous version of Windows. I have all of my “Desktop” applications organized together on my start screen and also as icons on the desktop. . I can run multiple programs in their own window just like in previous versions of Windows. The start screen is just a more powerful start menu, vastly more configurable and gives you access to thousands of “apps” that you can’t run on other versions of Windows. While not perfect Windows 8 is a huge step forward for Microsoft. Be open enough to learn a few simple new concepts. You will find you can do everything you always did and so much more. Don’t let the different look of the start screen kick your butt.
I have used all the versions of Windows since version 3.0 and windows 8 is a return to that era with 2 different systems in one, otherwise why would you have 2 internet explorer’s. Neither of which is compatible to the other(Favourites etc.). The start screen is not a more powerful start menu, that has been removed. As said in various articles MS is tying the system down to predominately touch screen use in the future, thus reducing the keyboard/mouse aspects. Other reviewers and industry insiders have said, and are saying,’this is a downward slope for MS as the new OS is not business orientated’ As for myself who has done work for MS in the past on windows and Office packages, I am sad at this direction. My company will most definitely not be moving to Windows 8 until we are able to put a workable and user friendly keyboard/mouse system in place. At this time Windows 8 is not.
You’re exactly right. I’ve been saying this since the very first public beta of Windows 8, and I’m still saying it. Nothing says you have to have a touch screen to effectively use Windows 8. In fact, you have better, more precise control (in my opinion) with a mouse.