Windows 8.1

[strollin]

... Clearly the designers had touch screen (only) in mind. ...

I don't see your point. How does horizontal only scrolling make it clear that only a touch screen was taken into consideration? I seem to be able to scroll left-right just fine with my mouse. I agree that scrolling in Windows has typically been vertical in the past but disagree that the departure from that means only a touch interface was considered.

Are there functions that can only be done using touch, that can't be duplicated using a mouse?

 

[lhamil64]

I don't see your point. How does horizontal only scrolling make it clear that only a touch screen was taken into consideration? I seem to be able to scroll left-right just fine with my mouse. I agree that scrolling in Windows has typically been vertical in the past but disagree that the departure from that means only a touch interface was considered.

Are there functions that can only be done using touch, that can't be duplicated using a mouse?

Technically you can do everything with a mouse/keyboard that you can do with a touchscreen, but depending on how the UI is designed, one probably works better than the other.

The metro UI is clearly designed for a touchscreen because of the larger icons, the horizontal scrolling (it's easier to scroll horizontally by dragging your finger across the screen whereas it's not too intuitive that scrolling the mouse scrolls horizontally). Plus, there are the swipe in gestures that, while you can do it with a mouse, it's tricky to get it in the exact spot.

To me, the metro UI is like plugging a mouse into an Android tablet. You can click on the elements on screen, but that's not how it was designed to be used.

 

[BikerEcho]

agree Ihamil64

One of the reason they designed metro like it is, was because they want to make their computers, phones and tablets experience identical.
they said they wanted to make it easy for users to go from their windows phone or Windows tablet to the desktop computer.

i don't agree in their decision. you don't see Google making a desktop version of Android.
that is because android is designed for small screen devices and not 20+ inches displays.
so i don't understand that Microsoft is doing it.

 

[strollin]

I have run Android on a large screen with a mouse/keyboard and it works perfectly well that way. Just as with Metro, Android works fine using touch on small screens but really needs to be used with mouse/keyboard on large screens.

As far as the Metro interface, I am happy that MS hasn't taken away the ability for me to avoid it for the most part. I find it perfectly usable without a touch screen (and in fact, hated using it in the store with a touch screen) but find that Metro apps are so bad that I don't use them at all, not because of the interface, but due to their utter lack of capability when compared to a typical desktop Windows application.

 

[BikerEcho]

it might work, sure. but it's still an OS designed for small displays.
IF they designed it for bigger displays then it would look different then it does.

I am sure you will agree that an OS like Ubuntu will work FAR better on a desktop computer then android would.

 

[dale]

I don't see your point. How does horizontal only scrolling make it clear that only a touch screen was taken into consideration? I seem to be able to scroll left-right just fine with my mouse. I agree that scrolling in Windows has typically been vertical in the past but disagree that the departure from that means only a touch interface was considered.

Are there functions that can only be done using touch, that can't be duplicated using a mouse?

It's not that the mouse can't do. The mouse is a mimic for a (finger) pointer, so I am sure that it can do what most fingers do, perhaps even a bit more.

It's whether the design was intended for a mouse.

The up-and-down scroll, for example, is just right for a mouse, and can be executed by a simple drag, the rolling of the wheel, or the press-and-drag of the wheel. The sensitivity of the drag and the wheel can both be configured to one's preference.

The left-and-right "scroll," on the other hand, is less responsive and less configurable. It can still be done, but just does not have the same adroitness to it. And I don't think it's because the users are not used to it yet. But rather these problems are non-issues for finger swipes, and MS left it at that.

 

[BK_123]

Anyone heard of any features that have been removed in 8.1, 8 Features Microsoft Removed in Windows 8.1

 

[carlito77]

Is it me still on Win 7 or has everybody already jumped on the Win 8 bandwagon? After almost eight years with xp, I decided to upgrade to win 7. Had to upgrade drivers for most of my software as they weren't compatible with 7. For the last year been with 7, and seems pretty solid, as solid as any MS software can be. Now, Win 8 comes out and MS wants me to upgrade again. Sorry but I'm sticking with 7 for a while.