What can MS do to make Windows 8 more Acceptable to ALL Users

[anuseems]

Microsoft's Current Position is certainly not an ideal one to go forward from.

Windows 8 is not selling well, and Microsoft have just replaced the Management Team (Steve Sinofsky has left)

Their current Modern UI apps are few in number (certainly compared those on Apple) and there does not appear to be a “Must” have killer Application.

From a Developer’s perspective with the Current Applications being Free or Available for a Nominal cost there is little or no incentive to generate new Applications unless they provide a return in other ways e.g. promote a service or other Business Venture.

And Desktop users are far from happy (for well documented reasons)

Start Menu

If MS reintroduce a Start Menu, do they setup a function to automatically boot to the Desktop?

If they do they will send a signal saying that they do not believe in the Modern UI Interface and Applications (they really must get a new name for these. ”Touch or Fingertip” Apps/Environment), which may mean that there will never be the Applications Windows 8 needs for it to be a Success.

Hence any changes must improve the links between the two environments.

I suggest that

1. the first Tiles on the ModernUI are

a) The existing Desktop Tile

B) Tiles which run the Applications pinned to the Taskbar eg Start Menu being one of them

2. links to the Modern UI Applications installed on the PC are included in the Start Menu.

Once setup this works very well, as immediately after reboot, the User can choose Start Menu, Windows Explorer, Browser or any other Taskbar Pinned entries, from the Modern UI, i.e one Mouse click to display the StartMenu which is the same number as required by Start Menus (with direct boot into the Desktop) to display any of these items.

They could also include an Option which disables Charms etc when the Desktop is displayed.

The Start Menu should then become the Principal Keyboard/Mouse Access Point to the Applications, WebPages and Files installed on the PC, especially if it was enhanced to Display Menus of Web Favorites and History and permit the Users to define their own Menus so all the Command, WebPages, Files, Folders required by the User to perform individual tasks are displayed on a Menus Dedicated to the Individual Tasks.

Hybrid Applications

MS should also permit Developer’s to Develop and Market Hybrid Applications which add a Modern UI interface to an Existing or New Data processing Application. i.e the user can load up the data in the Office and use it on a tablet when travelling around.

The need for this change is reinforced because the financial case for migrating Mainstream Database Applications to the Windows RT environment is very weak.

1. The majority of Users have purchased their current software and would need a very strong business reason to buy a new version

2. The Windows RT environment is very restrictive (no registry access and limited file assess), and ALL programs will have to be rewritten from scratch as the APIs are different, which would be both time consuming and expensive.

3. Finally MS insist all Modern UI Applications start in 5 seconds rules out most of this type of application

Internet Browser

Running Internet Browsers in a Sandbox (or even a virtual system) which reduces the interfaces to the remainder of the PC has a great attraction BUT the Current Modern UI Version of Internet Explorer is too restrictive.

Currently Modern UI Application versions of companies Web Pages often provide a very restrictive subset of the functionality of their Web Pages. This would not necessarily matter if they were easier to use for the majority of User Transactions but they very rarely do so a full “Touch” based Internet Browser working on largely standard Internet web pages would be useful.

Conclusions

I believe MS will have to return the Start Menu (as above) in a Service Pack (how long will that take April 2013? after they have gone through all the stages)

The net result will be the Best Windows yet, which satisfies

a) Desktop users (minimal use of ModernUI) BUT if there is a ModernUI Application which they want to use they can easily do so. Windows 8 has many minor enhancements compared with Windows 7 and these will start to be appreciated by Desktop users.

B) The Modern UI can continue to be developed and all Windows 8 Users will continue to be potential users, so the incentive to develop applications for this environment will be safeguarded.

[dcs18]

ATM, the one deficiency in Windows 8 that needs to be included - it's full Aero!!!

and

the one addition that needs to be rid of completely - that's Metro (Modern UI.)

Both these suggestions that are most urgent are not mentioned at all. :huh:

[anuseems]

I don't use any of the tiled apps on the Start Screen. I have shortcuts on the desktop for most of the programs/apps that I use. The point is that I don't do anything on the Start Screen, and don't really have any use or need for it.

If I intended to use Windows 8, I would create shortcuts for everything I use or need on the Desktop, and never see the Start Screen. I use sleep/hibernate rather than shutting down, so I hardly see the Start Screen as it is.

Windows 8, for me, is little improvement over Windows 7 . I am on my desktop in about 15 seconds with Hybrid Sleep (or is it hibernation), whatever. The Fast Start does indeed work nicely. Why customize Windows 8 to look and feel like Windows 7, when I already have Windows 7 setup like I want it? For me, there are no stability or speed gains at all when o/s is running. In fact the Windows 7 logon screen is much quicker than the Windows 8 logon screen. I'm not referring to the lock screen, that's just one key stroke or mouse click. The Windows 8 logon screen can't read my password as fast as I can type it, but the Windows 7 logon screen can.