Oct 18, 2011

Microsoft reacts to complaints from Windows 8

Microsoft reacts to complaints from Windows 8

Responding to complaints of screen-based Metro 8 Start Windows, Microsoft is still trying to maintain the new UI but has promised to make some tweaks to appease users are not happy.

In the company's latest blog Building Windows 8, Windows Live president Steven Sinofsky acknowledged that Microsoft has received some harsh criticism from people who just do not like the new Start Metro-screen UI.

"We have seen some small amount of visceral feedback focuses on the 'choice' or 'disabled' - a natural reaction to change, but probably not the best way to have a dialogue leading to new products," says Sinofsky.

But Microsoft seems to listen to feedback. In the blog, Marina Dukhon, a senior program manager lead at the Core Experience team addressed specific comments from key people from the new UI.


One commenter called content new Start-screen "mess icon" and said that it "just does not work, nor does it have superior advantages over the Start Menu." Another person wrote that "metro-date list of all applications are not suitable, because it lists all the alphabet and I do not know the names of all these additional programs."

In response, pointing Dukhon inefficiencies of the traditional Windows Start menu by scrolling sequence of folders and shortcuts as proof that change is needed.

But in a concession to the feedback, it was revealed that Microsoft is working on a new Apps screen that will mimic the All Programs menu design today. Apps screen will let users manage their applications into groups, so they can more easily find specific programs by category or product name.

"In this way, if you are looking for something that you know coming in Visual Studio suite you, but can not remember the exact name of the application, it will be much easier for you to find," said Dukhon. "And the alphabetical list you should no longer be cluttered with tiles that have the name obvious applications because developers are relying on the folder name to convey the actual name of the executable.

Apps screen will also be more compact and allows for more content, thus reducing the need to scroll back and forth to see the entire list.
 

 Other people commented on the limitations of the Metro on the PC screen Start by saying that "while I can see that the style of the Metro replacement Start works well for the touch screen on the small form-factor computers will dramatically reduce my productivity at the desktop with a large widescreen monitor."
In response, Dukhon throw a lot of facts and figures to try to analyze "the arrangement of space on the Start screen," is probably not the most user friendly way to solve this problem. But he says that people will be able to customize the Start screen, an area that will see some improvements in the beta version of Windows 8.
"The personalization Start screen is one feature that we want to make great, and we are still iterating on it and to make it better," said Dukhon. "In the Developer Preview of Windows, you can try a flexible group sizes, unpinning tile, and tile size and width for the square tiles in the Beta, you will also be able to use other improvements based on this dialogue., In addition to creating, naming, and rearranging groups. "
Yet others claimed that the new Start screen just feels less efficient than the traditional Start menu. Once again, Dukhon try our best to solve this problem using data and calculations to defend the new Start screen. But in the long run, this is another area that Microsoft knew the increase demand.
"Based on your feedback, one of the things we do to make it faster to get to All Programs is to take you directly to the Apps screen when you click Search on the desktop," he said. "This potentially eliminates another step of this task, making it even more efficient on Windows 8 to launch an application from the desktop relative to Windows 7. Another thing we do is increase the number of rows of tiles that you can see on a large monitor so you can fit even more of your favorite applications more closely with your mouse and make it faster to launch than previous applications. "



source : cnet.com

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