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Windows 8 - Deeper Impressions


JorgeA

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I wanted to add this complaint about Task Manager, where now it doesn't show you the file name for processes. Instead, it reads information out of the EXE itself. This is helpful, but not when software companies take shortcuts!

taskmgr.jpg

The first one is a Battery Optimization software, the second is Wireless switch software. Both of these programs are the new Windows 8 version for the notebook I am working on. Both are 32bit apps that are running on a 64bit OS.

If there's really no way to change this then using Process Explorer as Task Manager replacement is now not an option but a must.

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If there's really no way to change this then using Process Explorer as Task Manager replacement is now not an option but a must.

Exactly. ProcExp is a must. And by the way, it is not just necessary to see the process ("image") name, but also the full path! Case in point is SvcHost.exe on Windows 7. Seeing 10 instances of this in Task Manager does not help anyone to spot an infection. But seeing the full path and then spotting one running from C:\Windows where it should not be will tell you something very important. The author of ProcExp, Mark Russinovich, has given us so many "Select Columns" choices in Process Explorer ( which is now officially a Microsoft program ), that I have to wonder just who were those folks demanding improvements in Windows task manager in the first place and why exactly? Listing that as some kind of selling point for Windows 8 makes someone a complete n00b.

It is similar to the alleged speedier bootup times. Once you account for hybrid hibernate and reduced services why wouldn't it boot a little faster! Besides, this really exposes the person as a serial-tasker, ( think of the command: START /w ) one who sits and waits for something to finish before moving on to the next. They apparently press the computer power button and wait impatiently for the bootup to complete so they can then click something, rather than multitasking by pressing the power button 20 seconds before you need to use it and getting a cup of coffee while it boots. :yes:

There is so much irony and hypocrisy in Windows 8 lovers on the one hand saying: "it has much faster boot times!". and then on the other hand telling us: "There is no need to shutdown the PC!" or "Apps don't need to be closed!" when rationalizing the hidden "close app" and "shutdown".

Clearly these two "improvements", bootup time and task manager were, pardon the pun, Windows Dressing to help convince n00bs that there are improvements to help justify this abomination.

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In yet a further devolution of discoverability, Microsoft lowers the bar into new territory as seen in Anandtech's Microsoft Surface Review. In describing the keyboard he specifically writes ...

Surface’s Touch Cover features six rows of keys and doesn’t have any specific call outs for old school function keys, although there are dedicated keys for volume, home/end/page up/page down, etc… The function keys are still there however, just not labeled. To access them just hit alt + fn and then count the keys to the right of the escape key. For example, F4 is the fourth function key over, which on Touch Cover is the play/pause key.

There are some other quirks that take some getting used to. For example, there’s a capslock key but no capslock indicator.

ZzYLAHo.jpg

( image from Anandtech )

I haven't seen a Surface yet in person so these reviews are all I have at the moment. Am I reading this right? It is not just a FN+F-key but it is ALT+FN+F-Key? So to press F4 it means ALT+FN+F4 or more precisely on this Surface: ALT+FN+Unlabeled key with a little play/pause icon? Is this correct? So if that is F4 what would be ALT-F4? This got through the development stage without someone saying something?

Penny Wise and Pound Foolish. Boy does this bring back bad memories from 1983 to 1984 when IBM thought it was a good idea to invent the PCjr toy keyboard with it's FN+F-Key arrangement ( which now appears to be easier than the ALT+FN+F Surface idea ). They took a real beating on this and it is what helped to classify that computer as a toy. I thought that disaster was behind us until it started popping up again on laptops and smaller devices over the past decade or so. ( don't even get me started on the wandering DEL and PAGE keys and various shapes and sizes for ENTER and SHIFT ). I wonder if anyone has tried over the phone to have the customer press a certain F-KEY combination when their keyboard has the FN modifier. How about walking them through F8 at bootup to catch the startup screen. I guess using a triple combination CTL+SHIFT+F-Key is pretty much out the window. :lol:

MGXpNcR.jpg

( image from Mike's PCjr page )

EDIT: updated image URLs, and again

Edited by CharlotteTheHarlot
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What's coming next, a yet easier to use keyboard with a clever combination of just two buttons? :w00t:

Naah, that two keys keyboard is the OLD idea :w00t: , the future is a J38 ;):

J38TelegraphKey.jpg

you will appreciate how it needs very little space.

More seriously, I guess that in order to simplify the OSK is not there anymore or it has anyway a simplified look (and it would be anyway unavailable before complete boot), which also makes any and all bootmanagers (that normally use F-keys in a pre-boot environment) become unusable.

(the good news being that grub4dos uses normally not F-keys, but I presume that next ones to be removed will be cursor keys)

jaclaz

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Apropos of the Function Key fiasco mentioned above, Microsoft has managed to complicate things further by having different key labels on the "upgrade" version of the surface keyboard they call the "Type Cover". The one mentioned previously above is called the "Touch Cover" and is the colorful one seen in the commercials. They apparently work identically, possibly requiring the ALT+FN+F-Key combination ( according to Anandtech ), but they sensibly decided to place labels on the better keyboard ...

ZzYLAHo.jpgdahFsBP.jpg

"Touch Cover" ( left ) and "Type Cover" ( right )

( images from Anandtech )

If you look close you can see the Function Key labels on the top row of keys, labels that for some reason are missing on the other keyboard. As I said I haven't yet seen one of these things so I have been checking out all the hands-on reviews. Amazingly, only Anandtech and PC Magazine have even mentioned the Function Keys. Anandtech describes ALT+FN+F-Key as the procedure while PC Magazine has a different description ...

The row of function keys on the top of the keyboard are mapped to functions like Volume, Play/Pause, and the Home/Page Up/Page Down/Delete keys. Four function keys bring up the Charms bar, and functions including Search, Settings, and Share. The function keys are clearly marked with icons for each of the actions. The F1-F12 keys show up on the Type Cover, but not on the Touch Cover. For the Touch Cover, you'll need to hold down the Fn key to access the actual F1-F12 functions on some programs.

... which sounds like the "Touch Cover" actually uses the typical laptop ( and PCjr ) method while implying that the "Type Cover" does not. So now I'm not sure how it works. ~sigh~

Anyway, if you are interested in the reviews, here are a few I've read so far ...

Innovative tablet stranded in an app desert ( CNet 2012-10-23 )

Microsoft Surface with Windows RT ( PC Magazine 2012-10-23 )

Surface tablet's touch cover is ZX81 REBORN ( UK Register 2012-10-26 )

Microsoft Surface review ( The Verge 2012-10-23 )

Review: Surface RT, Microsoft's bid for a 'thing' of its own ( PC World 2012-10-23 )

EDIT: updated image URLs, and again

Edited by CharlotteTheHarlot
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I see...., then its possible for me to create programs to mock that 'surface' keyboard usages...

To stat using this Apps, please Press & Hold the F12 key, and while keep holding it, press the Page Down Key.
Edited by Joseph_sw
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I haven't seen a Surface yet in person so these reviews are all I have at the moment. Am I reading this right? It is not just a FN+F-key but it is ALT+FN+F-Key? So to press F4 it means ALT+FN+F4 or more precisely on this Surface: ALT+FN+Unlabeled key with a little play/pause icon? Is this correct? So if that is F4 what would be ALT-F4?

Assuming that the reviewer's description is correct --

I use ALT+F2+K(Q,R,B,N) to create figurine pieces (using a specialized font) for my chess notebooks. So, I could not use the Surface this way for this purpose even if I wanted to.

This got through the development stage without someone saying something?

But you don't understand -- using ALT+F-key would require much too high a level of sophistication from the target audience, so it probably didn't even enter into their thinking. "Windows reimagined" is really "Windows lobotomized." (Or, less charitably, "Windows cretinized.") Who cares about these nerdy key sequences when you can watch Katy Perry videos on a full screen* and buy her complete song catalog at the touch of a button...

(*) Not that you haven't been able to do that since IE4 (at least) by just pressing F11, but that's one of those nerdy keys the intended audience isn't expected to know anything about. The irony, of course, is that ALT+FN+F-key is an even more obscure combination.

--JorgeA

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I see...., then its possible for me to create programs to mock that 'surface' keyboard usages...

To stat using this Apps, please Press & Hold the F12 key, and while keep holding it, press the Page Down Key.

:lol::thumbup

--JorgeA

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The good thing about history is that if you study it, you can re-use some of the inventions of the past ;), something similar to this may become an everyday accessory, though the issue is re-engineering it to make it foldable/portable :unsure: :

ctrlaltdel-tool.jpg

You may not believe me, but I actually had a young guy, that once in the good ol' days when I told him to press alt + ctrl + del pressed with his left index the Alt, with his right index the right Ctrl and - short of fingers but not of ideas :thumbup - pressed the Del with a pencil held in his mouth.

Just for fun :whistle: :

Ctrl+Alt+Del.+They+solved+all+my+problems_f488e9_4009511.jpg

jaclaz

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Metro has gotten its new name, officially ...

Microsoft Design Language is the new "Metro" ( NeoWin 2012-10-29 )

I WONDER WHY THEY DIDN'T JUST USE THE MORE OBVIOUS NAME: MICROSOFT SHOUT, OR MICROSOFT YELL, OR MICROSOFT CAPSLOCK, OR MICROSOFT CAPITALS OR MICROSOFT WHATEVER. err sorry about that. I mean why didn't they just use the more obvious name: Microsoft SHOUT, or Microsoft YELL, or Microsoft CAPSLOCK, or Microsoft CAPITALS or Microsoft whatever. ~sigh~

tu2HbW9.gif

( image from Brand New, can't find any at Microsoft, did they scrub them? )

Anyway, I'm still calling it Metro, or Vistro. :lol:

P.S. Just an FYI, if anyone is reading the articles at NeoWin over the past week you should note that they have been too busy to fill out the <TITLE> tags on their pages. The default placeholder is: Where unprofessional journalism looks better, For real! I am not making this up. Consequently, if you choose to save any of these webpages using the same title tags, you can save exactly one before getting filename collisions ( are you sure you want to overwrite? ). I know they are very busy pumping out the endless Windows 8 fluff pieces, but that is above and beyond the call of amateurism. Someone wake up Steven.

EDIT: updated image URL, and again.

Edited by CharlotteTheHarlot
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windows_8_metro.gif

( image from Brand New, can't find any at Microsoft, did they scrub them? )

As you're probably aware, the name Metro has been ditched since a little while now because of some legal threats from a german retail giant of the same name it would seem.

However I find that pic rather interesting as it's a good summary of the whole Windows 8 marketing campain, which seems to consists into piling up as many empty catchphrases and slogans as possible, which are in addition often completely meaningless, what the heck are in motion or authentic supposed to mean here.

Pathetic really, as have been Balmer, Sinofsky and other MS reps performance on stage lately.

Edited by loblo
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Like lemmings leaping off the cliff ...

Ballmer claims Win 8 sales strong, WinPhone to follow ( UK Register 2012-10-30 )

Microsoft Sells 4 Million Copies of Windows 8 ( Tom's Hardware 2012-10-30 )

Microsoft: four million Windows 8 upgrades sold in four days ( TechSpot 2012-10-30 )

Microsoft: Four million Windows 8 upgrades so far ( NeoWin 2012-10-30 )

Microsoft sold 4 million Windows 8 upgrades in three days ( Ars Technica 2012-10-30 )

Yay, a third of one percent of the 1.3 billion Windows users rushed to turn their computer into a Crapple-like toy. Team B&S must be so proud. I guess it is pretty much to expected at that much lower ( and more realistic ) price point anyway.

But not everyone is fawning over it ...

Windows 8 Is a Desktop Disaster ( Matthew Murray PC Magazine 2012-10-27 )

Dvorak pretty much mirrors what many of us have said here, that the RT version of Windows 8 uses extremely deceptive naming to the average computer purchaser ...

Playing With Microsoft's Surface ( John C. Dvorak PC Magazine 2012-10-29 )

EDIT: added links

Edited by CharlotteTheHarlot
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