The freaking new Metro UI is somewhat optimized for Windows tablet devices but for the dual-screen touch screen notebooks, who the hell needs that? At least you can get the around the problem while using Windows 7 like that anyway when I stumbled upon the Acer dual-screen notebook that is the combination of the notebook and tablet. We had already seen the concept of dual-screen device Microsoft was doing but too bad they cancelled it. It’s sort of like the HD version of Nintendo DS but both screens are touch enabled and they have multiple touch points. The new UI is fast and simple but confusing at times on which ones to tap and which ones not to tap. The button size may be large enough to tap and the text is already sharp enough to see but that doesn’t mean the UI can be simplified a lot into one simple colored stuff. The worse thing is that the standard buttons are looking prototyp-ish as if they have no idea what the new interface will be in the future of technology. If Windows 8 tablets allow USB mouse support, that’s the good thing in addition to allowing USB Windows Keyboard support for any PC and tablet but if not, what’s the freaking point anyway? You call that beautiful? That’s a son of an ass to me as I’m already going for futuristic UI which can be abstract/digital/cyber looking UI which is when taking place inside the device which already looks futuristic from the inside or perhaps the Sci-Fi looking UI which is damn difficult for me to illustrate with as there are randomized patterns of lines that represent the Sci-Fi mechanism. For Abstract UI, the futuristic UI may be simple like that such as simple interface with glows and futuristic fonts as well as the grid background. Now let’s head back to the past of Windows.
Windows 1.0
The computers running Windows 1.0 were looking like some 16-bit computers and like other 16-bit computers, there wasn’t nothing special about the GUI. The bottom part of the screen had the buttons which were later used for Windows 7 superbar. Sure for Windows 8 CP, the Start button is gone but the superbar buttons are not positioned all the way to the left as there’s still spacing whatsoever. Nowadays, the mouse is one of the required components of computing in addition to keyboard.
Windows 3.0
The interface was finally senseful and this was the first Windows OS to run on 32-bit computers onwards. The windows can be moved but compared to today’s Windows OSes, the buttons on the menu bar and the title bar were different. The down arrow is to minimize the window while the up button maximizes it. The up and down button un-maximizes the window to its original size. To close the program, you might have to use the top left button and then select Close. You can also double-click on it but having to close the program with the top left button was no easy feat. In addition, the Program Manager was the main point of Windows like you could use it to restart, shutdown, or log off from the computer or arrange the windows in respective ways. You could also use the Program Manager to see the help or About Windows in addition to using its pre-Start Menu portion to open programs. The File Manager was the pre-Windows Explorer and folder structure started from the disk you were on as the top level compared to Windows Explorer today where the Desktop system folder is at the top level. The toolbar had the drive letter buttons for you to select but that was the past.
Windows 95
The taskbar is the popular thing where you can select the taskbar applications buttons to switch the programs you’re wanting to use. There’s also the Start Button which is popular but on Linux operating systems, the main taskbar button opens up the menu of different menus and commands but the Start menu is somewhat common. There’s also the notification area which is the third popular feature in computer technology. However, the internet surfing in the past was damn sensitive so was the performance of DOS based Windows OSes as well as the freaking PC components of the past. Also, setting up internet devices wasn’t the easy thing as well as the whole internet relied on slow sensitive modems that required the telephones as well. Worst of all, there might be signs of interruption or disconnection when someone picked up the phone but for DSL and ADSL connections, that is not as worse as the modem connection in the past. The modem connection also had networking feature similar to using the damn DSL and ADSL broadband connections which have the WAN, router and switch all embedded inside. Also in the past, the networking was obviously done with LAN or something as the wireless networking standard was still quite slow. For media player, there was a serious file format limitation compared to media player software today. There wasn’t a support for digital cameras or portable MP3 players since neither of them existed in the early 90s. Unlike Windows 3.0 and below, the startup process was improved.
Windows XP
A major evolution of the GUI to catch up with the rival operating systems. This is one of the OSes people are currently using today and many features were apparently evolved. You get many modern computing features but as time went on, there were various updates to allow support for newer features and devices.
Windows Vista
A true catch up with the rival operating systems with the use of Aero interface and this GUI seems to be best for me. However, it took up lots of resources that many people criticized it despite the interface looking damn good. There were also unnecessary, sensitive and failed features that were eventually taken out in Windows 7 for performance improvement.
Windows 7
This is what Windows Vista should have been and we are also using it today. The features from Windows Vista are somewhat identical, if not, even better. It is the first Windows OS to introduce multi-touch support but even then, it is touch un-friendly like that on the tablet devices. To get around the problem, you may as well get the stylus to do the touching.
Windows 8
If the performance improvement in Windows 7 isn’t perfect enough, it seems that they’ve decided to simplify everything while adding other common modern features needed for additional improvements. However, the Metro UI is the serious downside to the people and not all people are going to use this OS or the interface itself. For me, it is starting to look confusing at times.
So here are the trends they noted that influenced the design of modern computer user experience and features:
- Nowadays, we’re connected everyday and it seems that the business companies have been doing this ever since the past perhaps to extend the industry around multiple countries as well as the easy communication in between the buildings. Of course, there may be networking environment everywhere for easy transfer. However, we can’t be personally connected 24/7 and especially for our homes.
- We surely have things to do or the whole life can be boring like that. With the use of online computer technology, news on certain media, posters, etc, we can check out on what’s going on and what’s going to happen in the future and we should embrace them on how are we going to do as the opportunity.
- Today, there will be cloud technology which is the next level of networking and internet combined for next level of network transfer of data. It is easier like that and I’ve been using this technology to transfer my stuffs between my computers and my cloud storages. It is more secure that way like trying to ditch off the USB storage devices for data transfer as having to plug in those devices can simply infect our computers for sure. The core of cloud technology takes place in the companies that servers, network devices and data centers are somewhat required. There should also be computers in the companies perhaps for other technological purposes such as inventing new programs, new updates and other IT managements needed.
So what the goals for Windows in the future?
- Fast speed and touch friendly UI are the next things for Windows 8 tablet devices and they seem to be promising but it can’t be same when there’s a Desktop app sitting on the Start screen which is still not touch friendly even if the interface is simplified. At least the UI animations are nice but the interface is somewhat confusing at times on which ones to tap and like those rectangular things that don’t look like buttons on some pages. They don’t seem to look like tiles like that and that’s one of the mistakes. In fact, the interaction in Windows 8 for tablets is somewhat not easy to learn such as dragging the top of the screen all the way to close the app for instance. Another confusing thing will be tapping the bottom left part of the screen to open the Start screen and that should be taken out.
- Today, the laptop PC batteries don’t seem to last even longer but with tablet devices, their batteries can obviously last even long regardless of the UI. Having to simplify the UI with Metro language like that is unnecessary for this or speeding up the performance.
- Like smartphones, the Metro apps are the additional apps on the computer for us to try out as if we can keep them besides keeping the desktop apps but then, they are actually optimized for tablet devices and that is a must. Unlike desktop apps, Metro apps run in the local sandbox called AppContainer but even then, they are kind of messed with by the desktop apps that allow you to modify the Windows 8 metro features like I already have those tools. The tablets can’t be messed with thanks to using the Metro apps as long as there is no support of running desktop apps like there should be tablet edition of the OS. So even with the sandbox for Metro Apps, your computer can still be messed with with the security vulnerability.
- The live tiles can display on what’s notifying you on what’s going to happen and you can check out the notifications like that by simply tapping on them. The improvement is that once we’re not using the Metro Apps without closing them, they are suspended to gain back the memory so that you can use one of those apps again at any time. Like smartphones, you can pin and unpin certain stuffs to the Start screen.
- The new way to logon to the Windows 8 PC will be the use of the Microsoft account. You can use your Windows Live ID as well or perhaps any email address you currently own. Unfortunately when I’m using Windows 8, not all things are synchronized so the Start screen between my computers are not exactly common. For some reason, the apps are likely to be taking up the disk space but that doesn’t mean the metro apps can’t be commonly installed. The metro apps can be synchronized between devices, not the desktop apps as I already think of.
- For tablet devices running Windows 8, they are likely to be on par with rival tablet devices in terms of required component behaviors such as pressing the power button instantly puts the tablet device on standby and when you press any button, the tablet device goes back to where you left off. But, how the hell are you supposed to shut down the tablet devices running Windows 8? Usually, using the Charm bar to go to Settings and then tapping the Power menu will do but where’s the shortcut for shutting down the device in two steps, damn it? This is done through four freaking steps instead of two freaking steps and that’s another flaw. For expert customization, the Desktop Control Panel, Group Policy Editor and PowerShell are in stores for you.
In the past of tablet PCs, there was a stylus and they were obviously used for business purposes. They are more expensive than laptops although they are actually the shape of the laptop with turnable monitor and touch screen support. The tablet features consisted of on-screen keyboard and on-screen handwriting. You could also draw with the stylus as well but the number of touch points was only one. For Windows 8, the touch screen feature is going to be improved for tablets, making it on par with rival tablet devices. In fact, there are also Windows powered devices with modern touch screen support.
The desktop section is still going to be there in Windows 8 but that should apply to laptop and desktop computers without touch screen support. For devices with touch screen support, only Metro section by the way but for the Acer dual-screen notebook as I already saw, there can be both Desktop and Metro sections for truly combined experience. Hopefully, Acer will get Windows 8 support for that notebook. Furthermore, there will be Hyper-V Client edition which succeeds Windows Virtual PC for Windows 7.
So let’s move forward, the computers that could be seen in the past were mostly desktops and they were like unmovable computer environments and the laptops were like rare or something. Today, we see lots of computing devices like desktops, notebooks, ultra-books, net-books, net-tops, modern tablet devices, smartphones and so on. The tablet devices and smartphones may be the best for you to move to other rooms wherever you go as if you can take notes of what you’re doing in various ways.
