Microsoft Opens Windows 8 Development Blog
by Andrew Cunningham on August 15, 2011 5:00 PM ESTIt seems like not all that long ago we were talking about the launch of Windows 7, but 2012 is right around the corner, and it's bringing Windows 8 with it. To that end, Windows Division President Steven Sinofsky opened the Building Windows 8 blog today. Like the Windows 7 blog before it, "B8" will discuss Windows 8 in-depth as it moves from its current internal development phase to RTM, which is still planned for some point in late 2012.
Sinofsky's opening post gives no new information on the operating system, but it does reiterate a lot of what we already know: it will run on ARM SoCs, it needs to run (and run well) on a wide variety of devices, and our next major look at the software will be at Microsoft's BUILD conference next month. It also appears likely that the road to Windows 8's release will closely mirror Windows 7's, including a public beta period in which "end-users, developers, and information professionals" will get their chance to evaluate the new OS before it is actually released.
Also evident in Sinofsky's blog post is that the company still remembers the lessons learned from Vista. He notes that some have expressed "frustration over how little [Microsoft has] communicated" regarding the new OS (in possible reference to the lack of information about the programming languages Windows 8 will push), but noted that Microsoft has "learned lessons over the years about the perils of talking about features before [they] have a solid understanding of [their] ability to execute," a reference to the many features Longhorn shed over its five-year development cycle. In short: Microsoft is only planning on talking about features that it's pretty confident will be included in the shipping version of the OS.
Sinofsky made no mention of when or how often the blog would update, but said that many members of the Windows team would be writing posts and responding to feedback left on the blog. Windows 8 still has no firm release date, but if it follows Windows 7's precedent, we'll probably see a beta sometime in early 2012, followed by a release candidate in the spring and RTM in the summer before the OS is released to the public in the fall.
Source: Building Windows 8 Blog
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ComputerGuy2006 - Tuesday, August 16, 2011 - link
First of all, I like the index search, but I do not like it being the only option.Ive had times when ive searched for someone yet got 0 results when I knew it was on my indexed drive. Ive had other time ive searched for something, found nothing, then manually found it later (gezz, GJ there microsoft)...
Or when I temporarily add a 2TB hdd that is not index... In win7 I need to search the entire HDD, in win XP I can pick a folder to search, can pick the size, and date... And I can do this in a nice UI that even my grandma can use.
I also hate how I can set it up so when I right click on a item in my taskbar that I get the classic menu. I need to either shift-right click or put my mouse over it, wait a second, then right click on the preview window... As someone who drags folders/firefox/pdf's over to my extended desktop, sometime I need to get em back when my extended desktop (my TV is behind me and angled away from me).
Or win7 grouping... I want this nice and simple... newest window should be opened at the right. I dont even have to tink about it, I know where it is...
Then there is hte stupid things... Like how/why isnt there a list view or a detailed view of the control panel? I want a nice and easy alphebeital view. The cloest I can get is a alphebetical view that tries to put in as many entries on one line before it spills over into the next line...
Or what about the "all programs", I only ever go here when I cant remember what its called (aka I cant search for it), so id much preffer the old style of viewing thing, now I need to scroll as opposed to the Xp style which was click on it and keep reading em till I find the app I want...
Or I hate how there is no option to tell windows not to append " - shourtcut" to all shortcuts. Why do we still need registry key change to fix this? Why cant this be in some sort of control panel configuration?
Or why is the sound recorder so basic? I used to like to do a quick 5s test ot my mic sometimes before skype calls. This new recorder only allows me to record, then save as mp3... no pause, no play, no nothing.
And still no native ISO mount on win7? Ironic considering most of my ISO are from MSDN...
And do you know what really makes me angry sometimes? Auto sorting.... Extremely frustrating when you move a file in its folder and it sorts itself among 100's or thousands of other files and i dont know the filename... Now its like I always need to make sure I know the filename before I move something over. But that doesnt exactly work when im moving over many files (and that doesnt happen everyday, but when it does im fubared)...
BTW this isnt microsoft bashing, its win7/vista bashing. Ive worked for MS as a tech support when I was younger, and I got a lot of respect at how they handle there support. But vista and win7 have a lot of things that frustrate me.
Aarchel - Wednesday, August 17, 2011 - link
Honestly, I don't see what your problem is, almost everything in your list is something I do every day without any of your issues.Search is not only based on what is indexed, however to remain quick search will only initially check indexed files. You just click on "more results" if you don't find what you're looking for, and if necessary "my computer" and you will find the rest, but it will take a much longer time, so it's better to just index you drives if possible. Besides, you really shouldn't rely on search functions, instead just pay attention to where you put things, what will you do if your OS gets corrupted and you can no longer search? Also, if the files are hidden, or are in a hidden directory they will not show up unless you either unhide them, or change your folder options to view hidden files/folders.
You can still choose a specific location to search just by navigating to the folder you want to search and typing your search in the search box, that automatically limits the search to that folder. Once you've done that it's just a matter of sorting by whatever criteria you want, it's very easy.
Wow, that third complaint is really trivial, and there are a number of ways to mitigate it. If you don't wanna deal with the previews then just turn Aero off, and they will be gone. I also seem to remember being able to just turn off previews in System. I don't think you can turn off auto grouping though, but so what having 5 million windows to manage in my Taskbar is just really annoying. If you want faster Preview generation just turn off the paging file if you have more than 4GB of memory.
As far as extended desktops go, just disable the extended desktop from your driver icon in the system tray, nearly all drivers support this, and bam, all the items and windows on the extended display will be snapped to the only remaining display. Cake. There are other ways but this is the easiest, and really you shouldn't be storing stuff on your desktop, it's just a waste of your system resources, just pin commonly used things to the Taskbar, and once they are pinned you'll never need to look elsewhere for them. If the Taskbar is too small just unlock it and resize it, more space instantly.
As far as a list view in the control panel, just try out the views provided till you find it. It is there, and it shows everything in alphabetical order, really you just need to try things out a little, it's not hard.
Unlike, older versions of windows you can pin any program to the Taskbar. If you're really in and out of the start menu often enough to nitpick how "All Programs" is displayed, you're doing something wrong.
Anyway, this is going on too long and it's time to leave work, so I'll leave it to someone else to explain how to use your computer.
ComputerGuy2006 - Thursday, August 18, 2011 - link
do quotes work?test
ComputerGuy2006 - Thursday, August 18, 2011 - link
Thats often peoples mind set "this doesn't bother me, so it shouldn't bother you".... Unfortunately that does not fix my issue.
sometimes searching is faster... But most of the time (when searching for files) is either because its a rare file that ive stored many years ago, or something ive forgotten its position.
THat does not work. That relies in indexed drive. IF the index is corrupt or not index that search will do nothing but search the current folder and no subfolders.
That would take extra work to re-enable and disable it everyday. Right clicking and moving something over and moving it back is faster and I dont need to worry about enabling/disabling my extended desktop constantly.
I dont use pinning. If something is closed, I do not want it in my taskbar. I also put all my common items in my toolbar. Nice and easy. Single click opens them, they are nice small icons, and it keeps my taskbar clean and obvious as to what programs are running. I like to keep things simple.
If closed = I dont want it in taskbar.
if open = I want it to open always in the same spot.
if right click = I want common options like "move" and "restore".
Nice and simple.
Wrong, its not there.
Wow, GJ, you 100% missed my point. I didnt know that was possible.
Im sure they dont let you surf the net at mcdonalds...
cisshweta - Saturday, March 2, 2013 - link
I liked your post, you can also help me by sharing information about how window 8 is going to help developers for <a href="http://www.developmobileapp.com/windows-mobile-app... mobile applications</a>.cygnetinfotech - Wednesday, May 15, 2013 - link
Yes, this search is a great option. Windows 8 is the best operating system and its development is increasing.