Would you buy Windows 8 if it looked like this? /this is just a concept of what they wish Microsoft would have done.

http://www.theverge.com/2012/2/24/28...top-ui-concept

Absolutely not, I'm already extremely annoyed on a daily basis when having to navigate around a dummy-friendly interface in programs such as word, excel, etc, not to mention navigating the control pannel.

I think I'd actually try to learn linux or something similar...or even... mac os...
Although I'd have to use it because it would be standard (common lab computers or wherever)...

Its mostly a functionality thing for me, and not having access to random features I need, or have them hidden beneath many layers of tabs or other garbage, certainly 'I'm not used to it' is a part of it, and I realize there are complicated reasons why UI designers do what they do (minimize access time, most used items most prominant, etc).

The UI itself resembles phone and social network interfaces... :/

Reminds of a Zune my sister had. That's not good.

It looks so... default. Like FF before you put a persona on it... its just missing everything... eww, default.

Originally Posted by RyanC

Absolutely not, I'm already extremely annoyed on a daily basis when having to navigate around a dummy-friendly interface in programs such as word, excel, etc, not to mention navigating the control pannel.

I think I'd actually try to learn linux or something similar...or even... mac os...
Although I'd have to use it because it would be standard (common lab computers or wherever)...

Its mostly a functionality thing for me, and not having access to random features I need, or have them hidden beneath many layers of tabs or other garbage, certainly 'I'm not used to it' is a part of it, and I realize there are complicated reasons why UI designers do what they do (minimize access time, most used items most prominant, etc).

This is the problem i am finding more and more and it is extremely frustrating. when everything is laid out in simple (but not always pretty) menus like the old styles, it was always easy to find stuff. now i spend 20 mins looking for stuff on excel that i used to know where they were right away, just because the most common used ones are 10x bigger

It looks like my xbox menu... yuck. Now I know why i have a mac

They're integrated too much social networking related things which I don't participate in..so no to your question.

Originally Posted by herBs

They're integrated too much social networking related things which I don't participate in..so no to your question.

I don't even have Facebook. Figure that train left the station for my grade a long time ago.

Originally Posted by britb

I don't even have Facebook. Figure that train left the station for my grade a long time ago.

Same here. I never had one, nor Twitter, etc.

Originally Posted by RyanC

Absolutely not, I'm already extremely annoyed on a daily basis when having to navigate around a dummy-friendly interface in programs such as word, excel, etc, not to mention navigating the control pannel.

I think I'd actually try to learn linux or something similar...or even... mac os...
Although I'd have to use it because it would be standard (common lab computers or wherever)...

Its mostly a functionality thing for me, and not having access to random features I need, or have them hidden beneath many layers of tabs or other garbage, certainly 'I'm not used to it' is a part of it, and I realize there are complicated reasons why UI designers do what they do (minimize access time, most used items most prominant, etc).

The UI itself resembles phone and social network interfaces... :/

Dummy-friendly interface? What? All it would be is exactly what you have now, but metro-styled (Metro being the design language Microsoft is using in their products now).

Looks better than just sticking a nearly unchanged desktop (From a visual standpoint) into Windows 8. The Window's 7 desktop, which uses aero, does not mesh well with the new start screen, which uses Metro.

As far as I'm concerned, Microsoft dropped the ball in this regard. Which is too bad because Metro can look really, really nice.

Originally Posted by Misspolitics

It looks like my xbox menu... yuck. Now I know why i have a mac

Soon MS Office will look like it too.

It has too many pictures.

Also, I really don't like that color, but I assume that can be changed.

Originally Posted by RyanC

Absolutely not, I'm already extremely annoyed on a daily basis when having to navigate around a dummy-friendly interface in programs such as word, excel, etc, not to mention navigating the control pannel.

I think I'd actually try to learn linux or something similar...or even... mac os...
Although I'd have to use it because it would be standard (common lab computers or wherever)...

Its mostly a functionality thing for me, and not having access to random features I need, or have them hidden beneath many layers of tabs or other garbage, certainly 'I'm not used to it' is a part of it, and I realize there are complicated reasons why UI designers do what they do (minimize access time, most used items most prominant, etc).

The UI itself resembles phone and social network interfaces... :/

I thought you'd know linux. I switched to Linux completely because I didn't like the way Windows is going now too.

But, there are a LOT of choices in linux for interface. Gnome 3, Gnome 2 ports, KDE, XFCE, LXDE, Enlightenment 17, Fluxbox to name a few.

Then there's the distribution thing, Debian, Fedora, Ubuntu, Linux Mint, Arch Linux, etc. Maybe wait till April for the next Elementary OS.

Frankly, if Mac is the no-choice zone, linux is the extreme opposite, drives you mad sometimes until you come to a firm decision about what you wanna use.

looks like it's trying to be a mac

The information density is too low, sorta like the Gmail redesign on "Comfortable" settings: a lot of wasted white space. The colours are also far too muted for my liking... they basically took the Zune app, added more white space and skinned all of windows like that.

I like this concept a lot more: http://www.theverge.com/2012/2/25/28...op-ui-concepts

Not as strictly metro as the other design, much closer to the current windows paradigm and manages to keep a decent amount of information on-screen while still looking pretty

Originally Posted by RyanC

Absolutely not, I'm already extremely annoyed on a daily basis when having to navigate around a dummy-friendly interface in programs such as word, excel, etc, not to mention navigating the control pannel.

I think I'd actually try to learn linux or something similar...or even... mac os...
Although I'd have to use it because it would be standard (common lab computers or wherever)...

Its mostly a functionality thing for me, and not having access to random features I need, or have them hidden beneath many layers of tabs or other garbage, certainly 'I'm not used to it' is a part of it, and I realize there are complicated reasons why UI designers do what they do (minimize access time, most used items most prominent, etc).

The UI itself resembles phone and social network interfaces... :/

The UI is actually a little bit similar to some linux GUI especially the way some of the beta builds for the next GNOME are going. Looking at this, it looks nice but doesnt hinder functionality at all. Some things have a bit more added transparency an the color scheme is a bit nicer than current windows.
I will agree with the new control panel in win7 and some of the other "dummy" things they've put in. However, its windows 8 you should be worried about. Having used Win8 I can tell you it is absolutely horrible for productivity. The "desktop" which is essentially the pinnacle of multitasking productivity has now become an "app" within the Metro environment and the program list (and search)...ie the start button.. are completely gone and now only inside metro which is very difficult to operate without a touchscreen (and slow even with touch). If was apparently even an afterthought (after several complaints) to add the Task Manager back in after it had been removed. They are going so basic that a lot of people are going to switch to linux or downgrade to 7.
Dont switch to mac if you hate "basic and no control". If however you wish to teach computers to a grandparent or child then a mac environment would be perfect. MacOS is really good from some things but it willl drive you insane if you like a lot of control.

As for linux, I would start with ubuntu LTS (not the new build). The newer builds have driven a lot of people away from ubuntu and to linux Mint which is also quite good.

Originally Posted by qwerty91

The UI is actually a little bit similar to some linux GUI especially the way some of the beta builds for the next GNOME are going. Looking at this, it looks nice but doesnt hinder functionality at all. Some things have a bit more added transparency an the color scheme is a bit nicer than current windows.
I will agree with the new control panel in win7 and some of the other "dummy" things they've put in. However, its windows 8 you should be worried about. Having used Win8 I can tell you it is absolutely horrible for productivity. The "desktop" which is essentially the pinnacle of multitasking productivity has now become an "app" within the Metro environment and the program list (and search)...ie the start button.. are completely gone and now only inside metro which is very difficult to operate without a touchscreen (and slow even with touch). If was apparently even an afterthought (after several complaints) to add the Task Manager back in after it had been removed. They are going so basic that a lot of people are going to switch to linux or downgrade to 7.
Dont switch to mac if you hate "basic and no control". If however you wish to teach computers to a grandparent or child then a mac environment would be perfect. MacOS is really good from some things but it willl drive you insane if you like a lot of control.

As for linux, I would start with ubuntu LTS (not the new build). The newer builds have driven a lot of people away from ubuntu and to linux Mint which is also quite good.

... I beg to differ with half of that.

1. Next Gnome? So Gnome 3.4? There isn't much difference b/w the stable Gnome 3.2 and 3.4 tbh. As a matter of fact, Gnome 3 is nothing like Win 8 or Win 7.

2. Agree on the Win 8 thing, there is a horrible disconnect b/w the metro and the desktop aspects of it, downloading Win 8 CP right now

3. Do you know about the OS X homebrew scene? I hear it allows a lot of customizability but I only know 2 people that actually know about it.

4. LTS -__- You mean 10.04? He won't even have voice/video calling on the Empathy on that build. Go with 11.10 or wait for 12.04 (the new LTS). People that are going away from Ubuntu just because of Unity probably don't know that they can have any of the desktop environments on Ubuntu. After all, Linux Mint is also based on Ubuntu.