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Mary Jo Foley
Nokia Announces the Lumia 610
Microsoft Unveils Tango (without ever using the codename)
Microsoft Releases the Windows 8 Consumer Preview
Mary Jo Foley
Nokia Announces the Lumia 610
Microsoft Unveils Tango (without ever using the codename)
Microsoft Releases the Windows 8 Consumer Preview
Ryan & Travis, Seriously Great podcast. Loved hearing your insightful and objective thoughts on Windows8. Mary Jo Foley is a great guest. Her comment that Microsoft kept the desktop environment in windows8 because Office15 couldn’t be ported into the Metro environment in time raises an interesting issue:
Does Microsoft envision a single user interface that both touch based users, and keyboard/mouse users would use all the time? Or, is it better to keep two things separate since keyboard and mouse users, particularly those using Office, need more information density and flexibility in moving and re-sizing windows on the screen.
One of the strengths of the Desktop environment is the ease with which one can view four, or more windows.
I’d love to hear your thoughts on this. If you were designing Windows9, would you have a single environment for touch and keyboard/mouse, or would you keep them separate?
I envision something like this: The metro environment as we’ve seen it, Microsoft Office would be used in this environment with touch friendly simplified menu bars. But when the user wants to, he or she can flip a switch that:
1. Allows him or her to move the windows around independently, like in the desktop environment.
2. Changes the menu bars of Office products so they look like they do under Windows7.
3. Brings up the task bar, for easy mouse and keyboard centric task switching.
Just my 2cents. If my comments are too long and boring to read on the podcast feel free to ignore them, or take any part of them. I would like to hear how your thoughts on what you’d do if you were designing the next windows.
GDub_
I just came across this article by Paul Thurrott, Why Metro and the Desktop Don’t Mix. It is a direct response to Paul, and others, who have also thought of combining the Metro UI with the Desktop UI.
I like the screenshot Paul’s made imagining the Metro and Desktop UI combined, that looks great to me.
http://www.winsupersite.com/article/windows8/windows-8-consumer-preview-metro-desktop-dont-mix-142375
Great podcast as always! I can relate to your issues on the Dell tablet with multi-touch. I’m running Win8 on an HP tx2 that has the N-Trig touch display and multi-touch also does not work. There is a thread on one of the Microsoft boards describing the issue with the tx2, the Dell XT2, and a Lenovo tablet; the common denominator being the N-Trig touchscreens. The default Windows touch drivers work, but provide only single-touch capability. Hopefully N-Trig will address the problem, but given their track record, I’m not optimistic.
Maybe is just me but for some reason I got bored midway this episode and couldn’t finish it (I’ll give it another try later). Mary Jo was OK but I believe that her interaction with Paul Thurrott is getting to her and she is starting to sounds more like a glass half empty person.
I understand the desire to break into the market of people who don’t feel they can afford a smartphone. However, I can’t see how lower cost hardware is going to make any difference. It is not the cost of the hardware that gets people as much as the overall cost of the phone plan & data plan from the wireless provider.
Example: $199 HTC Titan (arguably the best WP out) + ($60 a month * 24 months) = $1,639
$50 low cost ‘Tango’ phone + ($60 a month * 24 months) = $1,490
Spread out over 2 years, the difference is not much. To really open a new market, the monthly costs have to come down. $50 bucks for the phone is nothing–you’ll be paying $60 each and every month to use it. Also, consider that if you wait a little while after a phone is released, you can get it free. A Samsung Focus has been free for a long time (with contract) and can run ‘full Mango’ (as opposed to ‘Tango’). Which would you rather have? It won’t be long until the Titan is free… The phones change so fast that the ‘low cost hardware option’ should just be the phones that are ~6 months old.
Am I missing something here because I don’t get it.