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WinUnleaked has some new leaked screenshots from Microsoft’s Windows 8 RTM (Release to Manufacturers) build that show how the new OS will look. From the look of them, Microsoft is making an effort to make Metro work as a unifying design across all of Windows 8.
The big difference is that IE10 now changes its colour to coordinate itself with the colour scheme of Windows 8. It seems reasonable to guess that other apps will eventually get similar treatment, since Microsoft also made the colour scheme the same for window borders and the taskbar.
The only ugly bit is the new boot screen, with that hideous Windows 8 logo on black:
For other details, like a look at some of the new wallpapers, head over to WinUnleaked. [WinUnleaked via Verge]
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Micro$oft really have pulled a bad one with Windows 8 :/
Im also concerned about its usefulness in the enterprise sector with the exception of as a tablet OS but as a desktop OS I find metro to be highly inefficient. I’m not gonna lie however I do not run Windows myself and maybe from an outsiders perspective it seems worse than it is but from what I’ve seen and tried (I do have it installed on spare PC) it just screams inefficience.
Having said that as an Ubuntu user I was smack bang in the middle of the complaints regarding Unity and I myself swore I would never use it and yet here I am using it and finding it better than Gnome classic.
I have to agree. Windows 8 [Release Preview basis for my info] is inefficient, this just won’t work for devs / enterprise.
Nonsense!
I’m a developer and Windows 8 is absolutely fine. I have installed a free 3rd party utility called Start8 to get the Start button back and I can now use Windows 8 on the desktop exactly the same as I did with Windows 7, and I can benefit from all the improvements in Windows 8 such as Storage Spaces, fast boot times, etc.
Plus, on my other Windows 7 computer I am running Windows 8 in a virtual machine, so I can have all my Metro stuff running in a window.
Basically, I have the best of both worlds! Windows 8 isn’t anywhere near the problem that some people make it out to be, even on a desktop. And if you spend all your time in the desktop, then the Start8 utility allows you to boot straight to desktop so you don’t even need to use Metro at all if you don’t want to.
I am also a developer albeit for Android and other *NIX based operating systems and I do have apps on the Apple App Store, but I really can’t see metro being usable on a desktop. Every person I have shown it to doesn’t like it. My father runs a global business and is slowly migrating to Linux based system (OK this might be more due to pressure from me lol).
I’m not trying to be argumentative I’m just putting my point across. At the end of the day competition in the OS field is badly needed and hopefully that time is coming and we will all benefit.
Metro = For checking emails, photos, facebook, etc.
Desktop = For doing real work
Windows = Metro + Desktop
Problem?
*Windows 8
My biggest problem is it looks like it will work so much better on a touch screen which I don’t and won’t have on my desktop. Like I’ve already admitted my usage of Metro is limited but unlike most trolls on the internet who moan about it I have made an attempt to use it.
The way I use it is log on, check emails, facebook, weather etc through Metro then switch over and stay in Desktop for the rest of the day to do work.
I found it pretty jarring using Metro with a mouse and keyboard as well but you get used to it pretty quick
Fair enough, I think I’m gonna stick to Unity though
Ah I haven’t tried the latest release of Start8 (I tried it a while ago when it clearly wasn’t compatible with the Release Preview lol) I will have to give it a try.
I don’t like the fact that I have to install something like that though to get windows working … if you see what I mean …
I know what you mean, but at the end of the day it’s free and it works great, so you have nothing to lose and everything to gain. Who knows, maybe MS will release something similar themselves.
I’m not sure if this makes Windows 8 “Look Even Better” as nothing looks particularly special from the limited screenshots, but it looks like they’ve got rid of the ‘see through glass’ Aero stuff, which is a positive step for me.
Giving things a ‘see through glass’ feel has always seemed like a desperate, unnecessary and outdated attempt to give Windows 7 some style, at the expense of losing the edge definition of the windows and, ultimately, the usability of the OS. I like Microsoft’s recent “block colour” approach to design with Win 8.
However, there’s more to Internet browsers than changing the bloody colour of the skin to match the OS! As a UI/UX designer I avoid all dodgey browsers apart from testing, and exclusively use Firefox for development and Chrome for browsing. IE9 is a lot better than past versions, granted, but I still don’t trust Microsoft when it comes to web browsers. For a start I hate how the tabs in the IE9/10 interface invade the URL address bar’s space, yet it still takes up the same amount of screen space as a full width address bar and tabs in Firefox/Chrome.
Even with these “improvements” it’s still going to look like it was dreamt up at Fisher Price.
These are pretty terrible screenshots. I don’t think they do W8 any favours. The beauty of metro comes when situated in context, the subtle animations, the typography etc. Content becomes the most important aspect, not the UI. Looking at these it’s not hard to understand why some people think it’s ‘ugly’, but I think it’s because they’ve never seen it action only in screenshots.
Metro = $h1t!
A UI designed for a multi touch interface, produced en-mass for a world 99% on standard keyboard/mouse/monitor setups.
That and it looks like a Wickes Catalogue for matt paint.
Litterally anything would make Metro look better
Is it just me who thinks the metro Internet Explorer looks bland? It’s like they thought “How can we improve this from a collection of flat rectangles? I KNOW, make it bright orange!”
I prefer the shiny glass to be quite honest.
I can honestly say I do not like this win8 and it will never have the honour of gracing my machine.