Windows 8 build 8158 images leak, show off improved Charms Bar

By Tom Warren, on 3rd Dec 11 4:06 pm with 124 Comments

Images of Windows 8 build 8158 leaked to the Internet this week.

The images show off Microsoft’s latest improvements to the Windows 8 Charms Bar. Microsoft’s Charms Bar is the company’s Start Menu replacement throughout Windows 8 and acts as a quick way in touch or keyboard mode to access several important parts of the operating system. Microsoft has built in the following five charms in Windows 8:

  • Search – allows users to search across the OS or throughout applications
  • Share – apps that use the search contract can share data through this handy charm
  • Start – will return users to the Start Screen
  • Devices – displays connected hardware devices
  • Settings – displays application settings and brightness, volume and shutdown options

The Charms Bar in Windows 8 build 8158 appears relatively unchanged with the exception of an easy way to make the bar translucent. Images were also made available from Chinese site PCbeta to show off a new feature of Internet Explorer 10. Microsoft has enabled support for automatic updates to Internet Explorer 10. Windows 8 users can enable the feature from the about dialog box in Microsoft’s latest browser. Microsoft is currently preparing a beta copy of Windows 8, to be made available in January. Little is known about the feature set of Microsoft’s Windows 8 beta. Recently leaked screenshots indicate that Microsoft will allow users to change the Start Screen color and the Start Screen background image in beta copies of Windows 8. Microsoft has previously detailed some other minor improvements to the Windows 8 beta. Users will be able to create, name and rearrange Start Screen groups as well as navigate with the Windows 8 Apps screen in a better way. Microsoft is planning to group applications to make it easier for users to identify them in Windows 8 beta. Windows Media Center will also return to Windows 8 beta alongside the typical Windows games, DVD creator and .NET 3.5.

Windows 8 build 8158 charms

For more information on Windows 8 check out our dedicated section or the latest news below.

  • http://sm4llzie.com/ Zac

    A little late, Neowin, WinBeta and a bunch of other sites already covered this :D

    • Jaka Erc

      Well I don’t read the other sites so I’m happy that he wrote about it.

    • john

      Why would anyone read Neowin? 

    • Anonymous

      If you want mac and apple news then neowin is a great place :P

    • http://sm4llzie.com/ Zac

      Totally, neowin is an awesome tech blog!

    • Anonymous

      @zac
      was being sarcastic.. Neowin used to be a windows site, hence the name. Now it’s pretty much a late to the game Apple fanboy site, as if there aren’t already millions if those

    • Guest

      Zac is from winbeta, a site that constantly rips off winrumors and others and a total shit site. Ignore him. Why would you visit Neowin or Winbeta, they’re both utter shit.

    • Guest

      Even a blond dog occasionally finds a bone.

  • dapcoder

    Windows 8 with Charms Bar is awesome…..:-)

    • Anonymous

      I still believe that they should integrate the “Charms” into the Taskbar. This would eliminate confusion, you would already know the keyboard shortcut for the Charms (Win key) and you could easily switch all apps, Metro and Aero apps.

      Why another menu?

    • Guest

      Consistency. No task bar in metro view.

    • Anonymous

      But a Charms menu in desktop view is ok? What do you think you will get when you activate the settings Charms in Office 2010? Yes, you don’t get the settings of Office!

    • Guest

      From their perspective yes, since the desktop is now an app in a larger OS. On how charms will act, you keep making assumptions based on the DP. Why would you assume MS can’t see what you can? Do you really think they’re either a) stupid or b) not listening to all the people giving them feedback?

      I like the taskbar too and will spend most of my time in desktop mode unless or until there are some amazing MRT apps. I’d therefore prefer that the Metro start bar, if it’s there at all, flew in from the side when I hit the start orb. But I assume that MS studied it in far greater depth than I have and made these choices carefully, including the decision to omit the task bar in Metro view. While I may not agree with all of them, I’ll at least wait for the beta before making a final judgment.

    • Robin Ashe

      They really need to have a taskbar analogue at least in metro view for efficient multitasking.

  • Vasudev

    To get this Charms Bar on present ver of Windows 8 DP even on Non-Touch enabled Devices, press Winkey+Shift+c.
    http://t.co/l6Gu4M9P

  • http://twitter.com/Georgesab George Sabourin

    You forgot to mention that the activation of charms has changed on the desktop. Instead of mousing to the bottom left and getting the charm start menu. You know mouse to the bottom right and get the version you’d see by swiping from the left on tablets. Canouna confirmed this.

    • GP007

      That sounds better and fits better with how you’d do it with touch so that they match both ways now. 

    • Anonymous

      It is still strange that we can’t search right from the Start menu to see all apps. We always have to activate the Charms. In my opinion this is a very stupid decision. There is so much screen real estate an the Start screen where a Search and Shut Down button would perfectly fit.

      They try to over-simplify things and make simple tasks so complicated.

    • ramon

      What about the complaint that users have had for years “You have to go to start when you want to END your session!”

    • Anonymous

      Is this a real complaint? I always though this is more of a little fun. You never can’t take every comment literally. You could say you “start a task to shut down the PC” ;)
      At the end the Start menu is much better as clicking on a fruit (Mac OS). And in Windows 8 it isn’t better: you have to open the “Settings Charm” to shut down.

    • Guest

      @tN0:disqus 

      What you meant to say was that currently, in the DP, the default is to select setting and then shut down. Alternatively, again in the DP, you can create your own shutdown tile and pin it to the start screen. How things will work in the beta or even final product is unknown.

    • Fredrik

      When you are on the home screen, you can just start typing, and search will be activated automatically. No need to press the charm.

    • Anonymous

      I know. But if you want to see all programs installed on your system you have to do a “search” without typing anything in. On Windows Phone it is so easy to see all apps with just one single swipe on the Start screen. On Windows 8 it isn’t obvious where you find the “all programs” functionality.

    • Guest

      Read this very slowly: Windows 8 *DEVELOPER PREVIEW*

    • Anonymous

      I’m not stupid. And I followed the conversations on the Building 8 blog. They made very clear what changes will come to the beta. These will only be very minor tweaks. The overall conception is done.

    • Robin Ashe

      That’s good, I wonder if that means a more classic start menu then?

  • Anonymous

    I hope they implement the idea of the hubs architecture to windows 8. I like what they are bringing with contracts and charms, but it hunk they can go further. I really want to see how XBox and Media Center are integrated and how it is going to work with Windows Phone and XBox.

    • http://gowindowsgo.com Sam Sabri

      That would be great if there was a way to integrate your phone and Win8 together nicely. Would love to not have to pull out my phone when I’m at a coffee shop or the library and I’m doing work on my laptop/tablet. Notifications, texts, etc can all pop up on Win8 instead! F-f-f-f-utre!

  • http://techin5.com Jubbin Grewal @Techin5.com

    This looks much better, and shows how Microsoft are not just sitting back on things, but rather working towards improving visuals and internals in Windows 8. I like it.

    • Robin Ashe

      Same. I think the purple works really well too, and going to a more Windows Phone like UI is also nice (for consistency).

  • Seth_p

    Good move with the auto update on IE! I’d still like to see the default search as “All” – then it’ll organize w/ categories: Control Panel, Video, Audio, Documents, Programs. That way it’ll emulate exactly the same search experience in Win Vista/7. Otherwise I’d have to click/tap Files or Settings manually (seems unnecessary)

    • Anonymous

      I’m also happy that IE will be updated automatically. I found that many users don’t update their computer (OS and applications).

  • Lord Jem

    oooo looking better…. am sure its gona b sexy when its final 

  • Anonymous

     Thanks Tom for posting it. Just found that you can get the sidebar charms in publicly released Developer Preview build using a simple registry hack:

    http://www.askvg.com/how-to-activate-hidden-side-panel-charm-using-keyboard-shortcut-in-windows-8-developer-preview/

  • Impartial

    Tom might be an idea to add an image slider pop up to flick through the images? 

    • Impartial

      strange now it works?! sorry to jump so quickly!

  • Bob

    Will switch the auto-update IE option off if we have Win 8 at work. It takes months to check a new IE version with all out crappy in house applications and itranet.

    • Anonymous

      as with all recent versions you can control it via GPO and wsus services… So not a big deal :)

    • Kieran Kelly

      You won’t be able to turn it off, I’m from Glasgow and all computers that are set up with the Glasgow city council are left on overnight so they get updated automatically and I doubt a business would be any different

    • Guest

      Of course you’ll be able to turn it off. Many companies do not allow auto-update for obvious reasons. And if Glasgow leaves their computers on all night just to get an update, somebody should fire their head of IT.

  • Anonymous

    I always thought the opaque charms bar was a bad choice. MS told developers at BUILD that using overlapping 2D effects (like dialogue pop-ups) created ugly apps and experiences on Metro but this is exactly what the charms bar would do… if the command bar was open for an app then the charms bar would overlap it. Furthermore the time/network status/etc that popped up with the charms bar in its own seperate box would also overlap the app’s command bar… MS was right. It is very ugly and I hope they remember to stick by the guidelines they give to their own developers

  • Anonymous

    I like the Windows 7 taskbar with all the launching/pinning/recent capabilities. Windows 8 seems crippled by comparison. No buy.

    • Anonymous

      you’re the one that’s crippled, you realize that’s the desktop you’re talking about and that it is unchange in win8 right? this is the tablet ui.

    • Anonymous

      Nonsense if you read Sinofsky’s blog he wants us to use Metro UI on desktop.

    • Anonymous

      Whats wrong with that? I get tired of these scared little boys who are afraid of change. Get a life.

    • Anonymous

      @Relief2:disqus Change isn’t bad. But you have to go to the desktop first to see your pinned apps on the taskbar. This means you always need one more step to do serious work on a desktop PC.

      And while the taskbar is very useful to switch between desktop apps, Metro apps don’t appear on the taskbar! It would make things so much easier if the taskbar would be the Charms menu. Think about it! Why two different menus? I really don’t get it.

    • http://circuitsoft.tumblr.com CircuitSoft

      That means he wants a metro feel you fail of an abortion.

    • Guest

      Why are you trying to reason with a troll and mental midget?

    • Seth_p

      I’m with @ArrowSmith:disqus on this. Steve S and all of Microsoft crew has stressed out Metro UI will be your desktop. Does it seem limited? Well, yeah but that’s because it’s not even in Beta yet. A lot of pieces are missing but we get the general idea of where Microsoft is taking us.

      There could be some changes we don’t know about – so yeah. Maybe they’ll enable boot from Desktop with our traditional Start menu when Windows recognizes no touch input (wouldn’t be hard to do since they do that in a way already). If it recognizes touch, then Metro UI will launch. Microsoft is good with random surprises! ;)

    • Guest

      His comment is noise, like usual. W8 in desktop mode functions very similarly to W7. With a simple hack you can make it look and function identically. I’m running one PC that way and there’s nothing not to like about W8 vs W7 in that mode. The W8 machine boots way faster and performs better.

      Metro, really WRT exposed through a Metro-styled UI, is a long term bet on the future. It’s a big risk, but so was staying on the legacy path.

    • Anonymous

      With a simple hack you can make it look and function identically.

      FAIL.

    • Guest

      @ArrowSmith:disqus 

      What part of that is you’re retarded brain unable to process?

    • Anonymous

      They have said multiple times that the Start menu is dead, that you always see the Start screen first when you boot up and that things like recent tasks and Jump Lists will not be supported on the Start screen. Two of the major features on the Windows 7 Start menu will be gone. Strange decisions again.

      Even on the Quick Start page in the Zune software you have recent links. On Windows 8: nope!

    • Guest

      @tN0:disqus 

      What they say and what they end up doing aren’t always the same thing. Obviously MS would prefer to wean people off the old onto the new. You don’t do that by coming out initially and saying “here’s what we’re thinking but we’re not totally committed to it if you aren’t’. In particular they need to attract WRT developers, and that’s not going to happen if developers think MS isn’t committed to that environment. Nevertheless, MS isn’t stupid. This is their most important product and its success is critical to their future. So if during the beta enough people say change this or bring back that, they probably will, or at least will provide an option for doing so. The DP is a DP. I’ll wait for the beta and then provide feedback once I see that.

    • BigChiefSmokem

      You’re the Jitterbug of commenting.

    • http://circuitsoft.tumblr.com CircuitSoft

      Agreed.

    • Guest

      Pot, meet kettle.

    • Robin Ashe

      Actually, while I agree with them doing away with the start menu, their reasoning for that was based on people using the taskbar and pinning more, so it is rather stupid to throw out what people were doing more along with what they were doing less.

    • http://circuitsoft.tumblr.com CircuitSoft

      I am going to cripple you and your filthy macbooks and stuff like and I am going to peg with mangos and I will get Master Cheif and we will blow your little cult head off with a gravity hammer and run you over with a warthog. Then i will spotlight your a** and break finder’s head off with a knife and then I’ll laugh at the s**t your mom created.

  • http://circuitsoft.tumblr.com CircuitSoft

    The people who say charms is a girly name probably knit fluffy sweaters

    • Anonymous

      It is ridiculous name. 

    • Guest

      Could the two of you get together and make a suicide pact? Thanks.

    • http://circuitsoft.tumblr.com CircuitSoft

      Hey I love microsoft. You probably misunderstood me. I tried to say people who say charms is a bad  name knit fluffy sweaters. I was trying to insult them. But you misunderstood. And then you associated me with that bastard, ArrowSmith, who I hate, and if I find him I blow his house down and beat his dick (if he has one and who knows he is not a she) with a hot police baton until ArrowSmith is sore.

    • http://circuitsoft.tumblr.com CircuitSoft

      ArrowSmith is a ridiculous name.

  • Impartial

    Does anyone else think that it is time to give more different colours to the each tile in Metro UIs?

  • http://www.elmsoftware.com elmsoftware

    @TomWarren:disqus  The images in the comment section do not align correctly in the latest Chrome.

    • Seth_p

      Nor in IE9. fail

    • Guest

      It’s a new enhancement for the site: hot or not? Unless you’re hot, there’s no full image anymore.

    • http://www.elmsoftware.com elmsoftware

      This is different, the image is 3/4 covered and styling of the comments is off.  This isn’t an enhancement, this is a CSS issue.

    • Guest

      That was sarcasm and an attempt at humor. Next time I’ll put a /s on the end of it, but I thought it was sufficiently obvious.

  • SimonT

    <3 Gotta love that subtly-faded away 3-character user name… ;)

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Jairo-Luciano-Alves/100002545369889 Jairo Luciano Alves

    Something is wrong with comments display here (IE9). Anyone?

    • http://twitter.com/tyw7 Thu Win

      Umm using IE9 and everything look’s OK.  Click sort by date?

    • Monkey D Black

      here using IE10, everything is fine for me.

  • Anonymous

    The bottom line is I keep hearing from one satisfied Mac users after another – IT JUST WORKS and it looks beautiful. They are in love with their Macs. It’s almost a religious feeling that no one would ever have about a Windows machine.

    • Anonymous

      Ha, ha! You would have to be in love with your Mac especially since the cheapest iMac desktop costs $1,200 bucks for a system with an Intel i5 4-core processor with a 500GB hard drive.  It is no wonder that Mac users act like they are having a baby every time they upgrade their Macs. 

    • Guest

      What I find interesting isn’t that some prefer Mac build quality or like OS X. To me that’s a legitimate choice even though it’s not my primary one.

      The thing that blows me away is the amount of crap many Mac users will put up with from Apple without complaining. It’s like they so desperately want to believe they didn’t over pay, that they’re prepared to censor themselves. One tweeted the other day thanking Apple for letting him pay $1500 for a new MBA so that he could be a beta tester for Lion. That says it all. If I paid $1500 for laptop and it was anything less that robust, I’d be asking for my money back.

    • http://twitter.com/tyw7 Thu Win

      Apple better pay me $1500 if they want me to TEST a new unstable operating system (not saying that Windows 8 or Lion is unstable).  I won’t pay them $1500!

      P.S. Lion looks pretty good but I’m still prefering Windows because of the simplicity, but I do wish PC manufactures keep their machins UP TO DATE with at least SP1 so I do not have to spend half a day updating (my HP p6792 only came with Windows 7 RTM not Windows 7 SP1 Grrr!!!)!

    • http://twitter.com/tyw7 Thu Win

      My HP P6792 with a 6 core AMD (not ADM ps) processor cost around £550 (with coupons) but it has a 1 TB hard drive and all the bell and whistles of a high end desktop.

    • ArrowSmith Son

      well in my case I just hear my friend complaining about it, reason why she got a HP laptop. and she is happy with it.

      and also I keep hearing people using more and more windows 7 in their macs, why? I don’t know… oh, wait, I do. because it has more software, videogames, even “simple” stuff like xsplit is windows only.

      people use what they want and what they work for them. most people I know of course are gamers so PC for my friends. even if they play on consoles they have their PC to broadcast. because people can live without a mac, but not without windows in most cases.

      oh and I know alot of really prettier PCs than Macs. even on laptops, but its just simple everyone tastes, and they “just works” so like i said, everyone ill use whatever they want, if it Works for them. i would rather get an Origin or Alienware, or digital storm laptop, or a XPS instead of a mac :)

      to each their own, only because you dont know “that world” like i do with gamers, it doesn’t mean only mac owners bal bla.

    • http://twitter.com/tyw7 Thu Win

      I agree!  I do not like the Mac cause of it’s interface.  Its just un-intiative (its Linux like).

      Anyhow, I wish Microsoft would stick the start menu like Apple did with the Mission Control, a seperate app.  Or add an option “view full screen start menu.”

    • Seth_p

      Arrowsmith has a son…? Sh^t!

    • http://twitter.com/laserfloyd Lewis McCrary

      Well obviously! Dropping that much cash would induce a state of “I love this thing!”.  You have to love it to do that.  Yes, I also know a few people that run Win7 within Mac.  My office uses a couple Power Macs or whatever they’re called.  They’re anything but perfect.  One even needs a new video card unless you just like going into siezure. :(

    • http://twitter.com/tyw7 Thu Win

      The problem with Mac is that it is over priced and Mac fanboys are extremely loyal to Apple.  Hell, jack the price to £6000 per laptops and they still may buy it!

    • Robin Ashe

      That’s a good reason to stay away. I don’t want to be around people like that.

  • http://twitter.com/tyw7 Thu Win

    Windows 8 start page seems unintuative and the format looks two UI mashed together instead of mixing up homegenously.

    I hope that the user will have the ability to switch off the start screen and return to the old start menu.

    The start screen seems only suited for tablets and not desktops.

    • Anonymous

      It’s just typical Microsoft crap, just stick with Apple you can’t lose. Everyone is switching to Apple, throwing away their Winblowz PeeCees.

    • http://twitter.com/tyw7 Thu Win

      Mac sucks because first you are on the Microsoft forum and second because its a Mac.

      Seriously. Macs have virus too and I’m more familiar to a Windows than a Mac. Furthermore, Windows have more compatability than a Mac.

    • Anonymous

      This guy is a troll. Don’t feed him he’s always posting crap.

    • Anonymous

      Apple is lose lose out the door.. Overpriced pcs ftl

    • PC`EliTiST

      Well… I guess the “AppleRumors” have its own -seemingly- MS trolls, likewise.

      Maybe it’s the same guy, trolling both brands and their fanbois. In this case, I give him a +. Despite that probably he’s “lifeless” troll.  But if he’s a real Apple Zombie Mascot… Just sad. I can stand easier Microsoft’s fanbois than Apple’s. :S

    • Justfortherecord

      There are a ton of viruses for Mac OSX and every other operating system
      known to man. To say there aren’t viruses or to say that a computer is
      incapable of flaws is just plain ignorant. Computers are created by
      humans and are inherently flawed. Until we become perfect we will not be
      able to make a computer that is perfectly safe from hacks. However, the
      more Mac computers that are sold means the more viruses that are likely
      to show up for them.

      The short answer, there are too many Mac viruses to count.

      There
      is however a large myth in the Mac community that viruses for Macs
      don’t exist, this is 100% false. The best explanation for this is that
      when you get a virus for a Mac there is rarely a solution other than
      returning it for a new one. Hopefully at that point its under warranty
      and you can be sure that the Mac technicians won’t admit it was a virus.Read more: http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_many_mac_viruses_are_there#ixzz1fcpB2yY9
       

    • http://circuitsoft.tumblr.com CircuitSoft

      I believe as a society, for technology to properly advance at any sort of speed new ideas and new methods have to evolve around a core goal. But who defines this core goal, who gets that responsibility? At the moment, we have 2 major factors (in fact the only two factors short of the total expenditure of all the silicone on the planet) that I would say are pivotal in the development of our future technological advancement. Firstly, there is hardware. Hardware is a very fractal industry, because for every great company There are 10 or 20 smaller companies producing shit. I can’t count the times I’ve gone to purchase a small peripheral, maybe a USB card or ‘Data-Fax Modem’ and found that I had brought a funky piece of kit with Japanese instructions and out of date drivers. Possibly, if I’m lucky they will have a website that I might be able to arduously extract the newer drivers from, if there are any, and if I’m lucky. But I digress. The hardware industry only requires that people know how to build PCBs and produce them. It’s a relatively easy process for a small company to just come along and build a peripheral quickly. They don’t even have to get the parts fitted themselves, they can just send the designs off to a board manufacturer and bob is their immediate uncle. This process gets more complicated further up the technological line. This is where you have outstanding companies, like Asus, Intel, AMD, XFX , Gigabyte, Corsair, nVidia, Kensington, LaCie, ATI, Seagate and Western Dig, this list could go on. Without these companies, we would be nowhere. Granted, some are just good brands. But some have helped shape our present position. Without Intel’s x86, where would we be now? Without nVidia & ATI’s constant competition to better each other, where would we be now? Would we be better off, Or worse? I can only speak for the present though, and I think we are in a very comfortable position, technologically speaking. In part, it is this healthy competition in the hardware industry that keeps us progressing at such an astonishing rate.Now to my second factor, Software. Just like the Hardware industry, the Software industry is very diverse. Many companies produce software, but few companies produce exceptionally good software. The wide variety of software out there is just too vast to comprehend. However, this industry is a bit different, because although there is a lot of software, there is a huge imbalance towards only 3 ‘companies’. These ‘companies’ produce the ‘grass roots’ of the computer…the operating system.Firstly, there is the market holder, Microsoft. This company has done a lot in terms of work done. But this article isn’t about allotting praise to a company I happen to like – it’s purely about the subject at hand. Secondly, in second place, Apple, who unlike Microsoft class themselves as a Hardware and Software company. Which some say sets them apart from the rest.And Finally, Last but by no means least, The Linux camp. I am bunching ‘Linux’ into one bracket. This isn’t because I have a problem with Linux, it’s just that the amount of different versions of linux would be too hard to list and describe. It is fair to say at this point that most software in the world is generally written for Windows. Although software is ported around, if you do a search for software, you will generally find a windows app at the end of your journey.The wonderful thing about all of these systems is that anyone could just swoop in and create a fantastic piece of software. For any of the operating systems. This is where I think we have a bit of backward-ness from the industry. We have this industry Behemoth, Microsoft. Who got to where they are by, let’s face it, being kinda bastard-ish. Screwing the little guy, or in the case of apple, screwing the big guy. Like a prison rapist. This put them in a position to properly shape where we are now. The real question is, did they have that right? Microsoft are a true capitalists dream. But are they entitled to the position they are currently in?Let us for a minute place the shoes on another OS’ feet. Let’s say for instance that the year is 1985 (The year I was born). The Apple board of directors decided not to fire Jobs but to keep him where he was. In this scenario, by 1990, Apple had defeated Microsoft…What would happen then? It has long been Apple’s direction, especially Steve Job’s direction, to not allow other people to produce apple computers. Everything would be designed and manufactured by Apple and their contractors. No OEM stuff. What would this do to the software industry, and in turn the hardware industry? Although Linux would still exist, how successful would it be when apple dominate the market and all their hardware is secret and patented. With Apple at the reigns, would we be anywhere near where we are now? The Hardware industry would basically be Apple’s playground. If apple wanted Intel to produce all their chips, that would be it. No AMD, no IBM. Nothing. The thing about Microsoft is that they are a pure software company. By them controlling the software market, it promotes healthy competition in the hardware market. But surely dominance in one market is just as bad? Or is it? I would have to say that I would find it incredibly frustrating as both an IT person and a Web Designer if I had to learn more than a couple of OS’ to do my job properly. And the amount of different practices and standards would be crazy. Although I think competition is good. There is a point where it works against the end goal. This was the case back in 1985 when NeXT, TRS-80, Commodore 64, Atarti ST, Amiga, Mac and IBM were all trying to get a chunk of the hardware/software pie. Let’s ask another question. In this fictional example, If by some feet of wonder, by the year 2011 apple were where they are now, but the only dominating force on the market, the glass and chrome standard, holding a 90% share in both hardware and software industries, probably doing all their own chip designs. What if apple wanted to start charging infinitely high prices? (More than the extortionate prices they charge in reality). They could, and you’d pay it. No other choice against a monopoly. And would you honestly trust apple to do the right thing for the consumer, or do you think that Steve would think he knows best and gives you what he tells you to want? I don’t.Now, here comes the conclusion. I don’t think that Microsoft necessarily deserve to be where they are. But I sure as hell like what they have done. Personally I find it quite funny that they played a part in crippling apple the first time round. But that’s my opinion. Now whether or not you like Windows is beside the point. If you play the same scenario with any other operating system as the market leader, Nothing is quite as scary and baron as the existence where apple have global dominance. Apple show their true colours all the time. Suing one company after another in a desperate and sad attempt to own all and ‘just work’. The Computing industry survives on ideas, and the one thing Microsoft’s dominance HAS brought us for sure is an open Hardware market where things progress as fast as they can. This is almost like a partial communism. Although the companies involved in our present level of development are technically only working to beat the other guy. They are, by a beautiful swing of fate pushing our society into the future. Hand in hand with software developers who have the ease and harmony of being able to communicate in one voice through one main platform. I personally wouldn’t trust apple with the job of instigating free speech (Apple Gestapo). The same applies to the software of course. Games are a prime example. One game comes out which has some awesome new methodology, the next game tries to better that, through competition comes advancement of our race.I don’t even know if anyone is going to agree with me on this one. It’s a little bit philosophical and really, no one can design an accurate parallel universe. All I can do is ask some questions and hope that people will understand what I am driving at. But ok, I’ll make it simple – APPLE = EVIL, EVIL=BAD, BAD=NO PROGRESSION.

    • Anonymous

      The most strange experience is when you switch from the over-simplified Start screen to the overloaded Windows Explorer with the Ribbon interface. Good luck!

      They really think that a user formats a disk as often as he ejects it. That’s why they put both commands on the same tab. The same for switching views and hiding file extensions.

      I personally switch file extensions off and on 30 times every single day!

      And you were thinking that you finally could re-scale the Folder Options dialog window? After 15 years? Well, nope!

    • Guest

      You’re one user using subjective recollections of your own experience. They’re using telemetry data from millions of real users. Don’t you think maybe their beliefs about how the majority use Windows are just a little bit better than yours?

    • Anonymous

      Have you seen the telemetry data on their blog posts?

      I don’t say their data is wrong or that millions of people use Windows differently than I do, but their interpretation and solutions are strange, IMHO.

      Just two examples: They have found out that the Taskbar is more popular than the Start menu. So what they did was killing the Start menu and replacing it with something completely new and they hide the popular taskbar from the users until they “activate” the desktop. So that people don’t know if they should pin an app to the Start screen or the Taskbar.

      Second example: They found that many users don’t use all features in Windows Explorer. That’s why they put EVERY (!) feature on the same UI level. No matter if it is used very frequently (like switching folder views) or almost never used (like hiding file extensions).

      Sometimes people don’t use feature because they don’t need them. Not because they haven’t found them in the UI.

    • Monkey D Black

      @tN0:disqus  because you don’t have a tablet you really don’t understand or maybe your just too used to “right clicking”, the options on the ribbon in explorer is very welcomed by me at least. its a fast and finger friendly way to get to many of those needed features. I can’t “right click” on a tablet and press and hold is a little bit too slow for my taste. so in 2 presses with my finger I can get the same results same as the 2 clicks with the mouse. your points are moot. what you don’t understand maybe you shouldn’t comment on, or maybe you should ask questions first.

      your first example seems as if you’re pulling at straws, but it is your opinion. I don’t have to use the tablet view when i’m on my desktop computer or laptop, I almost never hit the windows key. so the experience there is consistent. however on my tablet i find myself going back and forth with metro and the desktop because its easier that way to get to my apps.

      its faster when using a mouse with laptop and desktop computer in desktop mode in Win8, however when using touch it’s faster to use metro when on a tablet.

      so IMHO I think they interpreted the data well.

      however, what I would want to see is that when i’m in metro and I launch a regular windows app, I would like to stay in metro while using the app without getting thrown into desktop mode.

    • TheReal

      I believe Sinofsky says there will be a way to get back to the desktop for backward compatibility so there maybe a middle ground with the new UI.

      Also to denote that Windows Phone 7 is built upon the new windows CE version is true but it is also true that IOS is built upon a stripped down version of OSX and that the new Lion is built up from the latest version of IOS 5 so, it stands to reason that people are all trying to score COOL POINTS for software that they use because they see it is a personal attack upon themselves I am beginning to agree with Jusfortherecord. This whole MAC vs PC is just and extension of i am better then you because that is what are disfunctional society thrives upon.

    • Anonymous

      @blackmonkeyd:disqus I’m not used to right-clicking. And I never said they shouldn’t improve Windows Explorer. But the Ribbon isn’t a new idea nor is it the best solution for a file viewer, IMO.

      In Vista the column headers were always visible so you could sort the view without going into a menu or right-click menu. They could bring this back to Windows 8 for example.

      The best part of everything is that in file dialog windows (like Save or Open) there is no Ribbon! So again you need to right-click on your tablet when you want to change the file view in the Save dialog.

      Yes, I don’t have Windows 8 running on a tablet. But I used the Developer Preview quite a lot and gave it a fair chance. Did you?

    • http://twitter.com/tyw7 Thu Win

      Whenever I get a new PC, I always set it to show extension so I can see whether a virus is trying to trick me into installing a program using the age old trick of double extensions like “virus.txt.exe”, where the only “real” extension “.exe” is hidden by Microsoft!

      Renaming mechanism is way better than XP where pressing “rename” only highlights the name. In XP, the extension is also highlighted and I sometimes corrupt a file by deleting the extension (I have to “retype” the extension to make it work. For example, “sensative document.docx” won’t work with just “sensative documents”. I have to retype in “.docx”).

    • Guest

      But W8 has spell check. Which in your case should come in handy.

    • http://twitter.com/tyw7 Thu Win

      Just changed the spelling with IE Spell :D

  • Anonymous

    They need to make a Windows 7.1 that has all the Windows 8 updates but without metro for the users like me who use a Desktop I personally hate the Metro design that same ugly Windows 3.1 updated color scene got old for me. Aero glass is where it’s at.

    • Anonymous

      @4urgg:disqus In the very near future the concept of a tablet user vs desktop user will no longer exist. Your tablet is your PC. It’s just a different form or experience. So instead of focusing on selling more hardware (the apple way) Microsoft is making it possible for you to take 1 device and alter its form factor to match your various computing needs AND they’re making it possible to get the same experience for the most part regardless of what device or form factor you happen to be using. What matters is the data YOUR data specifically and not the chrome around it in other words.

      So if you need to work on a lean forward type of task such as preparing your taxes for example or creating a spreadsheet or writing an app, then you snap your thin display into a base that would augment its capabilities (a la asus transformer). And if you’re in a lean back mode, such as following your favorite tv show on an app like into_now or even doing social computing like on facebook or such, then you could conceivably pop the display out and lounge with it or even take it on the road for leightweight portable computing (things that are too much for your mobile device but not heavy enough enough to require a full fledge computing workstation)

      So to sum it up, I don’t think there is such a thing as a desktop guy or a tablet guy etc. It’s all about the task at hand and whether you believe you need 2 or 3 separate devices and just as many experiences and operating systems to match the variety of things you do on a daily basis OR 1 seemless experience that carries across all any device you choose to hop on regardless of the type of interaction…

    • Guest

      Great vision. Unfortunately MS isn’t there yet and W8 will only take them a step in that direction. The phone will still be separate. And of course the big issue is that MS is now way behind in share for both mobile and tablets (with little momentum), doesn’t control its own hardware destiny in any of these categories, and many (all?) of its PC OEMs have hedged their bets with Android and to a lesser extent Chromium. It’s also way behind in apps designed for this new world, which largely negates its historical advantage:  decades of W32 apps. And of course MS has a major image problem and even worse marketing.

      Whether they can fix all those serious deficiencies in time isn’t clear. By contrast, Apple and Google have a lot easier path to traverse. MS really fkd up with mobile and tablets.

    • Anonymous

      Aero is ugly.. Memory hog

    • http://twitter.com/tyw7 Thu Win

      The metro interface looks uglier than Aero.  The buttons are too fat.  I like the glass like interface of Aero.

    • Guest

      Switch to Mac then. See ya.

    • http://my.opera.com/wikipedian Thu Win

      Another Mac fan?

    • http://twitter.com/tyw7 Thu Win

      You means Windows 7 SP2 or Windows 7 Platform Update (like Microsoft did with Vista).

    • Robin Ashe

      You mean like Windows Server 2012 Standard?

  • http://twitter.com/oolong2 oolong2

    The biggest improvement would be calling it something other than “Charms”

  • Justfortherecord

    Color scheme looks nice.

  • Anonymous

    Hope to have a charming experience with Windows 8 in beta.

  • http://lev-tec.com.au/ Tile Levelling system

    One of the issues was that there was little thought about the floor until late in the project. This happens a lot. Flooring should be the first consideration in every project then design and build from there, not the other way around.

  • http://lev-tec.com.au/ Tile Levelling system

    Most adhesive manufacturers say wait 24 hours but 18 hours in warm weather is usually OK. Starting at the farthest point from the door (assuming there is only one) install your grout using a sponge rubber float and pressing the grout down into the grout joints on a 45 degree angle to the joints.

    • Anonymous

      WTF??

  • Anonymous

    Oh god, what the hell is this now.

    That’s great for tablet users since they’re HUGE FUCKING BUTTONS, but please just fix the START button so I don’t need to deal with this  Metro stupidity on my desktop. Really, that’s all I ask, fix Start and give me my multitasking back.

    • http://twitter.com/tyw7 Thu Win

      I agree. Windows 8 seems more suited for a tablet system but not the tradational laptop / desktop senerio.  I really wish they made seperate editions for tablets (maybe different interface) or have the ability to switch back to the tradational start menu.  Currently the intergration looks awkward with the user being thrown back and forth between the legacy desktop environment and the new metro interface.

    • Anonymous

      You still have a start button, and you still have multitasking. Relax and chill out.

  • Anonymous

    wt

  • TheReal

    @arrowsmith again, shooting off your mouth. I have noticed that he says everything with a simple hack, but did you know your precious MACs are just as easily accessible through hacks too. Your a dimwitted person. This is probably why you chose GWB to be your Avatar. 

  • KKBand

    I can’t like it still… #Waiting for Windows 9

  • Anonymous

    @01ebbe1d0a2da788f9565860a79167cf:disqus …..I Саn`t bеlеivе…Мy friеnd`s sistеr mакеs 78/hr оn thе intеrnеt. Shе hаs bееn unеmрlоуеd fоr 11 mоnths but lаst mоnth hеr incоmе wаs 7985$ јust wоrкing оn thе РС fоr а fеw hоurs. Read on this wеbsitе…….http://alturl.com/eph4o