I miss the ergonomic design experience of Windows 8

I think I'll keep my SP3 on Win 8. However I'm heavily debating whether I should update my x230t grin Win 7...
me too

 

I also still can't believe we're (at the most) 5 months away from release and there still isn't a tablet file picker, nor is there any way whatsoever to view Onedrive files that aren't synced without going to the website (and since they're not doing placeholders, and now have also announced that there won't be a standalone app, who knows if that'll change either).

 

None of the things you mention as W10 pluses are compelling, most especially WP apps and i already have a phone for Cortana. Not very many WP apps that would make the pain of W10 worth it. I really don't see anything in W10 that'll make it worth the switch so I'll be sticking with Windows 8.

 

Didn't really notice this until I saw efjay quoting it, but Windows Phone apps won't run on the tablet. Newly designed 'Universal apps' / 'Windows apps' (the latter now being the official name for this) will run on both Windows 10 and Windows 10 for phones, but those Windows apps have far more in common with what was previously called Metro apps than they do with Windows Phone apps. The old Silverlight apps will only run on the phone variant of Windows 10.

 

OK guys, I fixed it! How about these proposed changes:


Step 1: provide us with the following UI options:

Show full-screen MUI apps on the taskbar (on/off)
Apps will always appear in the task switcher

Use left-edge swipe to switch between MUI apps (on/off)
Left edge in-out swipe shows the task switcher when on

Show taskbar in full-screen MUI apps (on/off)

Show left-side pane on start screen (on/off)

Start Cortana in listening mode when launched from charms bar (on/off)
____
​

In addition, apps that have been set to full screen should remember that setting. Obviously (?).


Step 2: save the charms bar while saving tablet mode:

In the task switcher view, the left edge should look similar to the old charms bar, but with a hamburger menu icon in the top left. This new button would work identical to the ‘settings cog’ from the old Charms bar (but now on the left) meaning that it would bring up the app options. It would also include an animated Cortana icon doing its cool swishy thingy to look alive and ready.

Why is this brilliant? Because
1. the hamburger menu would be in the top left corner, where you also find it in windowed apps
2. it would bring back our beloved charms bar, which we thought had been lost forever.
3. it would increase the sense that the task switcher is the 'control center' for the PC
4. it would offer yet another way to showcase Cortana. The animated icon would be too distracting on the task bar, but in the charms bar it would be cool.

For this to work, the active app might need to stand out in the task switcher, e.g. by being bigger or by having it highlighted in the same color as the hamburger button, or increasing its size when a charm is used or so. Some kind of cue is needed that the app and the charms work together.


Quick mockup:

 

Suggestions sound good. Would like to be able to try them out. I'd also really like to get rid of the Taskbar when in Tablet mode, so that would mean the addition of the Start icon on to the new Charms. What I'd also like to see is the return of a large clock display, which would pop-up on activation of the new Charms, or be part of the Notification pane.

Since I have the Taskbar on auto-hide, I can't see the time, and would prefer to be able to see it via the Charms/Notification bars rather than bring up the Taskbar.

 

I tweeted Stardock. I think there's little to no hope that Microsoft will fix tablet mode in 10, practically everyone already has either an android tablet or ipad so there's not going to be much pushback from many Windows users.

 

Please explain?
On the other end you also have the new Windows 10 phone, which is described as the system that will run on phones and "small tablets." I am guessing that includes things in the seven inch range (HP Stream) but not 8 inch tabs?

 

I installed it for kicks on my touch-less T901, and I'm still noticing a lot of general disjointedness with the latest build.

It became especially glaring when I gave Project Spartan a test run, which is a Modern/Universal app.

You can't add shortcuts to the desktop with it, which is pretty much the ONE thing I like about IE (as opposed to internalized browser bookmark systems). It has to exist either on your task bar or the Start menu, and if Modern apps cannot exist on the desktop or even interact with it, it's a pretty big rift, all things considered.

Again, the live tiles that comprise the Start menu/screen would be much better off directly on the desktop. It helps unify the experience a bit, as opposed to having to look in this Modern UI area for this thing, look in this classic Windows UI area for another, so on and so forth.

Also, app snapping has been downgraded a bit simply because Modern UI apps aren't even tiled properly anymore. There used to be a border that would neatly resize everything in one stroke, but now, just like classic Windows apps used to be, you have to resize one app, then go back and resize the other. It's a noticeable kludge.

 

That is how I have been understanding it to work. That is horrific.