Firefox Demos Prototype Metro Interface 197
In order to provide an alternative to IE on Windows 8, Firefox needs a Metro UI. Luckily, development of a Metro interface for Firefox is well underway. The current build reuses the Android interface XUL (by virtue of being based on Fennec). The latest test release features lots of platform integration support: "We have Metro snap working, you can snap another Metro app to the right or left of Firefox and continue browsing.
We also have HTML file input controls tied up to the Metro file picker. ... implemented the Windows 8 search contract, you can use the Search Charm from any screen on Windows 8. If you enter a URL, it will be loaded. If you enter anything else, it will be searched in your default search engine. We also implemented the Windows 8 share contract, you can use the Share Charm from any Firefox page to share that page to another application. Once you select the Share Charm it will list the applications you can share to, for example: Mail, Twitter, or Facebook." If you're interested in following development, the team has made a Mercurial repository available.
Further background is provided by the first and second posts in the series.
Sharing data between Metro and desktop versions (Score:4, Interesting)
Will Metro Firefox share information with desktop Firefox? Currently, Windows 8 has a Metro IE and a desktop IE that don't share cookies or bookmarks. It's pretty hilariously bad.
Re:Sharing data between Metro and desktop versions (Score:4, Informative)
Yeah.. it's terrible.. it's like it's still in development or something.
Re:Sharing data between Metro and desktop versions (Score:4, Insightful)
Microsoft fans keep using this defense to justify everything wrong with the customer preview. They're not going to unify IE, the control panel, and all the other redundant thingsin time for October. Microsoft is full steam ahead on this trainwreck.
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You do know there are thousands of developers working on the Windows platform. I'm pretty sure they can fix redundancies.
Re:Sharing data between Metro and desktop versions (Score:4, Funny)
You do know there are thousands of developers working on the Windows platform. I'm pretty sure they can fix redundancies.
That's brilliant, you have a wicked sense of irony!
It reminds me of the Vista Shutdown Menu story http://moishelettvin.blogspot.com/2006/11/windows-shutdown-crapfest.html [blogspot.com]
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http://moishelettvin.blogspot.com/2006/11/windows-shutdown-crapfest.html [blogspot.com]
Mr AGILE actually works at Microsoft?
</bad+humor>
Re:Sharing data between Metro and desktop versions (Score:5, Insightful)
So... This thread has four AC posts: Two complaining and two defending Microsoft. The post that points out Windows 8 is still in development (in response to a post about the current feature set) is modded Troll. Ah Slashdot, I remember when you were a semi-technical forum. At this point I'm thinking about getting a Facebook account. The worms will expose me to more technology than these threads.
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Rant aside, I would say the comments depict quite aptly the general opinion about win8. There is some consideration that
a "Public Preview" should be feature complete and not just an aesthetics demo. Sure Microsoft has time to fix all their
inconsistencies (maybe even adopt an open source kernel) but will it actually happen? No one can say.
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Maybe "troll" wasn't the most fitting mod, but the guy who says "it's still in development!!!!!11" is wrong. I mean, I guess he's technically right and, technically, it's still in development, but he's wrong if he thinks that everything will get magically fixed between now and when the final version is out. (Which is the point he was trying to make.)
This isn't an early beta we're talking about here. This is the consumer preview. The OS is 99.5% done and what you see now is pretty much what you'll get. The o
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Microsoft is full steam ahead on this trainwreck.
Wouldn't that be a shipwreck?
Re:Sharing data between Metro and desktop versions (Score:5, Interesting)
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Does anyone really believe MS will bring the two together at this point in development? I really, really doubt it.
does anyone really believe the desktop isn't now considered a legacy component there solely for running backward-compatible apps?
The desktop in Metro is like XPMode in Vista/Win7.
Re:Sharing data between Metro and desktop versions (Score:4, Funny)
It's pretty hilariously bad.
Well, at least MS is being honest with their branding. Check out the new W8 flag - http://windowsteamblog.com/windows/b/bloggingwindows/archive/2012/02/17/redesigning-the-windows-logo.aspx [windowsteamblog.com].
Compare it to this one - http://move.shetland.org/images/shetland-flag-thumb.jpg [shetland.org].
That's right, they've chosen the Shetland Islands flag for their Shetland pony OS...
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That's right, they've chosen the Shetland Islands flag for their Shetland pony OS...
Have you ever seen the ratio of dong to pony on those things? Perhaps they're trying to tell us something.
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The ratio's about 143,000,000 Dong to horse [movevietnam.com]. How much is a pony worth?
Re:Sharing data between Metro and desktop versions (Score:5, Funny)
Have you ever seen the ratio of dong to pony on those things? Perhaps they're trying to tell us something.
Massive cock-up?
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That's right, they've chosen the Shetland Islands flag for their Shetland pony OS...
When you swap the colors, it becomes the flag of Finland, home of Linus Torvalds...
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They have the ability to implement it, because it's a single process, and they are not restricted by app container sandbox even in Metro.
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The problem with this type of UI decision is that users have to actually remember the keywords
that hit the bookmark they are looking for. Many modern browsers do populate url suggestions
from history + bookmarks (Opera, FF, chrome all do it either natively or through settings) but it
just isn't intelligent enough for human use.
Slashdot Screenshot (Score:3, Funny)
(You'll have to read TFA to see it though)
I'm pretty sure I don't need this (Score:4, Interesting)
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Charms in Win8: (from an ArsTechnical article [arstechnica.com])
The charms bar is an always-accessible set of five icons that appear down the right hand edge of the screen. From top to bottom, these icons are Search, Share, Start, Devices, and Settings. Start is the easiest to handle as it simply takes you to the Start screen. Search is used to initiate searches, both of built-in things (files, programs, settings) and applications that register themselves as being searchable. Share allows the content of the current applicati
slashdotted... (Score:2)
need ? (Score:2)
In order to provide an alternative to IE on Windows 8, Firefox needs a Metro UI.
Says who? Based on what evidence?
I'm getting more and more unhappy with the FF development process. These guys need to get off the "innovation for innovation's sake" boat and check in with their userbase again. How about you put your time into solving that stuttering youtube-videos issue that's been plaguing the browser since around 2009?
But, of course, a new UI is more "visible". The FF dev team has encountered the bikeshed problem and is completely unprepared to handle it. They're doing stuff like an HTML
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I'm getting more and more unhappy with the FF development process.
Give it up, the UX team took things over a long time ago, with their insistent copying of the Chrome interface. Criticize them and they tell you to piss off. Now all that matters is looking new and shiny, to people who don't really care about using a browser on a day-to-day basis.
Re:And the march continues (Score:5, Informative)
Well they won't on the ARM edition...
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Well they won't on the ARM edition...
Exactly. And Microsoft is throwing Firefox and Chrome a bone by making special exceptions for browsers on ARM tablets.
Ask Mozilla how that iPad port is turning out....
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Windows 8 won't allow any browser to become the default unless it's accessible through the Metro UI. It's still the same firefox and can be accessed from the non-Metro interface too.
Re:And the march continues (Score:5, Informative)
You're wrong. Windows 8 does allow any browser to become the default, same as before. The catch is that it has only one global (per-user) setting for "default browser" without separation into desktop and Metro. So, if you make some browser default, and that browser does not support Metro, then all URLs in Metro apps will open the desktop app, which is not very convenient - so if someone is heavily using Metro, they will likely only make browser default if it supports Metro.
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the real problem being that there are two entirely separate use contexts in use at once whose only link is via what used to be the start menu. this asinine design is the root problem.
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amen.
and considering that the majority of apps will be desktop-only for quite some time (IMHO), then the metro UI is pretty much just a full-screen start menu.
And not a very good one at that.
I imagine MS will be deprecating the desktop interface as soon as they can. (sorry, that should read: I think they've deprecated it already, they just haven't told us yet. They'll be removing it as soon as they can).
As soon as they can. (Score:2)
I imagine MS will be deprecating the desktop interface as soon as they can. (sorry, that should read: I think they've deprecated it already, they just haven't told us yet. They'll be removing it as soon as they can).
As soon as they can =
As soon as all the major Microsoft Products got ported to it, before any concurrent even had the idea of porting but counted instead on the mixed metro-desktop.
(But they'll need probably to help a few of the 3rd party ddevelopper to port things which are "big on windows" but for which microsoft doesn't have a real good in-house alternative).
It really sounds like they try to pull again a "OS2 vs. WinNT". Except that this kind of trick only work once, and a few of the 3rd parties (special
Re:And the march continues (Score:5, Insightful)
Nice trolling.
Normal programs will run just fine in Desktop mode on Win8. However, if you want your program to be on the new default dashboard interface (Metro) then it has to be a Metro app. And since both IE and Chrome can appear there, it makes absolute sense that FF should have the feature included as well.
If you want to be a full replacement to IE, you need to be a full replacement to IE, and that means showing up in the system wherever IE can show up. If you actually RTFA, you'll see they're talking about hooking into Win8's built-in browser search and sharing hooks, as well as showing how easy it is to add a Metro interface to FF because of the already existing theming layer within FF.
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I'm not sure the OP was trolling... it sounds more like sarcasm to me, but I like your response apart from that.
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Oh I'm certain the GP was using sarcasm... which is why I interpreted it as trolling (looks like some mods agree with me). The GP was implying that FF did not need to implement a Metro interface because that continues in the tradition of "Let's make Firefox worse!!"
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Don't they also need to be 'approved' by Microsoft? ( or is this no longer the case?) I was actually half expecting them to do what Apple does and block other browsers. The precedent seems to have been set.
Re:And the march continues (Score:5, Insightful)
Regular Metro apps can only be distributed via Windows Store, and, yes, that includes Apple-style app approval model (though it doesn't have some of the more nasty Apple rules, such as "no competing apps" - so other Metro-only browsers are fine).
That said, browsers are special-cased. More specifically, if a desktop application is installed and registers itself as a handler for http: URI schema, and the user selects that application as the default browser, then that app is given the opportunity to also provide a Metro version. Basically, it can provide a tile that appears in Metro home screen, can pin secondary tiles there (for bookmarks, web apps etc), and when launched, can detect if it's being launched from the tile or from an URL in another Metro app, and can decide whether to launch in desktop or Metro mode (e.g. IE10 has that as an option - always desktop / always Metro / same as invoker). This is called a "Metro style enabled Desktop Browser" - this document [microsoft.com] (.docx) covers the details.
Now, because this is still a desktop app, it is installed by usual means - an MSI or other kind of installer, or even just copy it over (so long as it can register itself to handle http:/// [http] URLs on launch or something). So, it's not subject to Windows Store app approval policy. It's also much less limited with respect to what it can do, compared to a Metro-only app - the sandbox mainly restricts it from doing stuff that only makes sense on the desktop when it's in Metro mode, but otherwise it has same permissions as a desktop app. This means that they can JIT-compile code - kinda important for JS - and share bookmarks and history with desktop.
Re:And the march continues (Score:5, Insightful)
Regular Metro apps can only be distributed via Windows Store
That is horrifying.
Re:And the march continues (Score:4, Insightful)
This has been known for close to a year now.
Anyway, after Apple is swimming in cash in their walled garden, what did you expect? Everyone wants a piece of that pie now that they've shown you can make it.
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This has been known for close to a year now.
Okay.
after Apple is swimming in cash in their walled garden, what did you expect?
I expect bad behavior from Apple. I had hoped that, like other platforms, Microsoft would allow alternative app stores. They've been so well behaved lately, after all.
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Except nothing is preventing you from installing software from anywhere on the net on your Mac that's running OS X (we're not talking iOS here, we're talking OS X vs Windows since this affects desktop computers as well).
What's funny is that I've barely heard a word about this Win8 app store lock-in, especially not from the foaming-at-the-mouth MS fanboys who love to scream about how OS X is a walled garden (because they can't be bothered to understand that iOS and OS X aren't the exact same operating system
Re:And the march continues (Score:5, Informative)
Don't they also need to be 'approved' by Microsoft? ( or is this no longer the case?) I was actually half expecting them to do what Apple does and block other browsers. The precedent seems to have been set.
Microsoft has actually been behaving themselves recently. They offered assistance to the Mozilla folks to make sure Firefox would be supported on Windows Vista, they moved Windows Update into the control panel so you no longer need to browse to a web site in IE to update your OS, and Windows 7 gives you the option to remove Internet Explorer (although the rendering engine is still there, since lots of apps rely on it). Each version of IE since IE7 has been less awful, and when they wanted to add an RSS reader (which Firefox already had), they actually flew down to Mozilla headquarters to discuss using Firefox's RSS icon in IE because they figured it would cause less confusion for users if they cooperated. Microsoft refused to participate in WHATWG while HTML5 was being developed, but once W3C officially adopted HTML5, Microsoft got on board.
Does IE still suck? Hell yes, but it sucks a lot less than it used to, and Microsoft is playing by the rules now.
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Microsoft has actually been behaving themselves recently.
I would suggest not being quick to accept that. Microsoft has always been quick with the "embrace" in "embrace, extend, extinguish". Lest we forget.
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How does Apple block other browsers? Yes, for iOS they do but on OS X (Win8 is, after all, also their new desktop OS) they sure as hell don't.
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And since both IE and Chrome can appear there
Does Chrome have a Metro version already? Where can I get that?
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It's in the works.
http://www.slashgear.com/google-confirms-metro-style-chrome-for-windows-8-13218100/ [slashgear.com]
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Interesting. I wonder if they keep Flash support (hybrid Metro/desktop apps are not sandboxed, so it can likely be done with existing Flash code). If yes, they would have a killer feature right there.
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"What a bunch of morons. Every decision now seems to be driven by a philosophy of "Let's make Firefox worse!!"
They are making it for what they want. They give not a partial fuck about what you or I want.
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Sure does seem like that, doesn't it. There was a reason I switched to Chrome as my surfing browser.
But that's the problem. I've used Chrome and it's just not as good as Firefox. As much as Firefox pisses me off with all the incredibly bad design decisions they've made, Chrome has too many things that don't work as well as Firefox, or don't exist at all.
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You know you can't publish anything for Metro without Microsoft's express consent, right? I
Hybrid desktop/Metro browsers are an exception to that rule - they can be installed from regular installers outside the store, and don't require approval. I've described that in more detail in my post above [slashdot.org].
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Hybrid desktop/Metro browsers
If an app goes both ways does that make it Metrosexual?
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You know you can't publish anything for Metro without Microsoft's express consent, right?
Great, I'm totally comfortable with that because I do not intend to ask Microsoft for anything, ever.
Re:And the march continues (Score:5, Insightful)
You seem to think that the Desktop paradigm will survive the RTM.
It won't.
Have fun with Metro, Windows guys.
--
BMO
It will. Microsoft will not make existing apps incompatible with Windows 8.
Stop spewing lame FUD.
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Furthermore, I have a question.
I doubt you will answer it seeing as you are a "paided" poster.
Why does Metro make you guys so defensive? Isn't it supposed to be superior to the Desktop? Isn't it the latest and greatest from Microsoft? Wouldn't you /rather/ have such a superior interface take over as the premier interface of all operating systems ever?
As a Windows booster, you must think that Metro is the cat's balls.
Well....
Isn't it?
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BMO
WTF is a "paided" poster? At least get your grammar right.
Metro is good for things like browsers and casual consumer apps and is perfect for something like a portable tablet., but is unsuitable for many productivity apps like Photoshop, AutoCad, Office or Visual Studio, thus the Desktop lives on.
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WTF is a "paided" poster? At least get your grammar right.
I put it in quotes because it is internet slang for shill.
Metro is good for things like browsers and casual consumer apps and is perfect for something like a portable tablet., but is unsuitable for many productivity apps like Photoshop, AutoCad, Office or Visual Studio, thus the Desktop lives on.
Then why did Microsoft remove the ability to turn off Metro? You know, for people who sit at a desk and do work.
Explain. Give examples.
--
BMO
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I am sorry, I'm neither a shill nor paid. There seem to be a lot of zealots on this site though....
>Then why did Microsoft remove the ability to turn off Metro? You know, for people who sit at a desk and do work.
You make it sound as if they removed the desktop apps. You can still use all the deskop apps and use the start screen instead of the start menu.
Anyway here's the long answer from Paul Thurrott:
. Microsoft could simply have made a Windows 8 that was to Windows 7 as Windows 7 was to Windows Vista; that is, an evolution. And Microsoft could have adapted Windows Phone to work on tablets, following the strategies of both Apple and Google. Certainly, many within Microsoft wanted the company to do just that.
In such a scenario, I personally see Windows on a slow, gradual decline. And I see the very real possibility--almost a certainty, really--that this Windows Phone tablet system follows in the footsteps of Zune and makes absolutely no dent at all. It is like Windows Phone: Technically excellent, highly usable, and utterly ignored. And when you combine that failure with the slow decline of Windows, you get a steep, steep decline for Windows in the overall market for general purpose computing. In other words, a disaster. A disaster that would make people pine for the comparatively stable days of Windows Vista.
Of course, Microsoft is not doing that. They are not going towards certain failure but are instead making a big bet--A. Big. Bet.--on something that is unknown and unproven and not necessarily destined for success. But in making this big bet, Microsoft is, I think, doing the right thing. Not in the details, necessarily, but in the broad strokes.
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...frankly, misrepresenting what your employer has created.
I was trying to have a civil conversation with you and I am actually in agreement with some of your post (the very reason I pasted Paul's comment here).. but I find your accusations sickening. The only time I was in Seattle was to interview for Amazon for a Linux position and even attended a live Stallman talk, but dumbass anti-MS zealots like you can't even see past your fucking nose and instead hurl accusations of shilling. Fuck you and to hell with you and your types. Go back to Groklaw and Techrights.
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>I have yet to see anyone who does not have a vested interest in Metro like it.
That implies there is no one without a vested interest in Metro who like it right? And this is for a OS that has a billion users.
>Having both GUIs on the same machine violates everything both Microsoft and Apple have said about consistency of UI.
Any references to them saying so? Even if so, why do they have to follow what they (allegedly) said?
>The only solution is to get rid of one or the other.
>That means th
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Last things first
The site has lost readership thanks to haters like you who attack anyone who dares to express an alternate viewpoint.
No, this site has lost its readership because it is stuff that doesn't matter that happened last week. This can be tied directly to the "vote for a story" model that was implemented. Things appear everywhere else and then show up on Slashdot last.
Talk about leap of logic. This is a company that bends over for backwards compatibility.
Where were you the last time the driver
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>Microsoft, has, and does, break compatibility when they feel the need to. Paul's article puts an emphasis on this with Metro. The thing is that you have to actually read Paul Thurrott's article and understand just exactly what he's trying to say. He's saying that Metro is a "bet the company" move and there's no going back.
So your argument is that Microsoft will break compatibility to such an extent that their own Visual Studio won't run on the next version of Windows? What are you smoking? And Paul in n
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WTF are you blathering about? You made the claim in the GGGGGGGGGGGGP post that MS will dump the desktop paradigm in Win 8 RTM for only Metro.
Since Visual Studio is not a Metro app, it "won't run" on WIndows 8(along with Office, Photoshop, iTunes and all the millions of Win32 apps out there) if what you said is true..
Please read your own posts and be consistent or I'll have to assume you're mentally ill and move on.
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The people who are actually interested in improving Metro do not need to be forced into using it.
The average schmuck, as you put it (I agree with the characterization) that wants to use 8 to show off as a "power user" really isn't anyone Microsoft should be concerned with anyway, and is going to find a way to turn off Metro, regardless. There is already a hack out there that does this (apparently it's a file ripped from Windows 7 or something).
--
BMO
I also note with amusement that all the "troll" mods I'm g
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Then be resigned to stupid UI decisions that make your less computer-savvy friends always ask you the same dumb questions to which you'll have to always ask "is this in metro or is this on the desktop" and they'll say "huh?" Microsoft has always made big claims about consistency of UI, and if they leave the desktop paradigm in with Metro, they'll be making their own biggest cardinal sin.
The desktop paradigm is dead. Microsoft smote the ground and declared it thus with Metro.
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BMO
Okay whatever, you are entitled to your opinion, however lame or dumb it may be, but don't go spreading canards that the Desktop is going away for RTM.
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Microsoft are only supporting WinRT (the new API to write Metro applications) applications, not Win32 applications (aside from Microsoft Office, IE and Windows Explorer) on Windows ARM. Those are the only times you get to see the desktop on ARM devices and it is only there because they cannot port Office in time.
Any Metro applications that are published (going through the Microsoft store, which is the only way to distribute Metro applications) have to use WinRT (including the WinRT subset of the Win32 API)
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Two GUIs enter!
One GUI leaves!
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Just how much ZaRex do you have to drink (it wasn't Kool Aid they drank in Jonestown) to believe that dueling GUIs on the same computer is not a colossally stupid idea?
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BMO
You mean like Win 95 which ran on top of DOS and how you could land in DOS fullscreen to run DOS apps? That was two dueling UIs right there.
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I said
>dueling GUIs
You misquote me as "Dueling UIs"
Your reading comprehension sucks.
Furthermore:
>You mean like Win 95 which ran on top of DOS
No, no it didn't. And you're an idiot for thinking so. That distinction belongs to Windows 3.1 and previous versions.
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BMO
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So dueling GUIs is worse than a dueling GUI and commandline UI? It's funny to see you twist into wild contortions.
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The command line and GUI have never surprised anyone. Because the command line has been more-or-less consistent over the decades.
But as far as Metro goes, it's a radical departure from "normal" GUIs which have remained more-or-less similar with a desktop metaphor for the last .... fuck, when was the Xerox Star?
And Microsoft is going to foist this upon an unsuspecting public with the RTM.
>me twisting into contortions
No, calling you out on strawmanning and deliberate misreading is not me twisting. It's y
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>But as far as Metro goes, it's a radical departure from "normal" GUIs which have remained more-or-less similar with a desktop metaphor for the last .... fuck, when was the Xerox Star?
So the iPad and Android tablets have a desktop metaphor or don't? If you think they do, Metro isn't that different.
>And Microsoft is going to foist this upon an unsuspecting public with the RTM.
I thought your original argument was that MS was going Metro-only with the RTM and won't have dueling GUIs.
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But on the linux world, you don't have a "press the activities button on Gnome Shell to take you to the KDE desktop, or press the KDE menu to take you to the Unity shell" like you do in Windows 8, with your KDE asnd GNOME applications managed by different task managers.
KDE/Qt applications and GNOME/Gtk+ applications running side-by-side is equivalent to Metro applications running windowed on the Desktop shell, and Desktop applications running full screen Metroized on the Metro shell.
Re:I wish they wouldn't (Score:5, Insightful)
Because a normal desktop UI doesnt work so hot on a tablet, which in the future are bound to replace a big portion of the desktop market. Hybrids (like the Transformer Prime), with a 2 mode tablet/desktop interface, like Windows 8, could seriously replace lap-tops for everyone except serious developers and graphic designers/3d artists/CAD/etc that need a lot of horse power.
Sticking to desktop-only UI would be suicide for Microsoft. Metro works quite fine if you look at it from a tablet point of view.
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which would be fine if it was a selectable option in the control panel or install time. tablet interfaces suck with a keyboard/mouse, whether it's a powerful cadstation or a student's school computer.
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You can disable the Metro interface through a registry setting. Upon release it might be even easier. It will certainly be a GPO that can be set.
Or you could just try it out. You might actually like it.
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This is NOT true in the consumer preview. You could disable Metro in the developer preview via a registry setting, but it is NOT possible to disable metro in the consumer preview via a registry setting. The only way to disable it in Consumer preview is with a 3rd party application hack.
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Because a normal desktop UI doesnt work so hot on a tablet, which in the future are bound to replace a big portion of the desktop market.
Replacing the desktop is like end times prophecy. We've been hearing drumbeats of marketeers with their death to * predictions since the dawn of civilization yet >1bn PCs are still here.
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Sticking to desktop-only UI would be suicide for Microsoft. Metro works quite fine if you only look at it from a tablet point of view.
there, FTFY.
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I find Metro to be counter productive, distracting, and unfriendly. Why are they doing anything with Metro?
I guess because they neglected to consult with you beforehand?
Re:I wish they wouldn't (Score:5, Informative)
Desktop version of Firefox is not going away.
As for your question, it's answered right there in TFA:
If a browser is awesome on Metro, the only way to use this awesome browser in Metro is for it to become the default. If a browser is default on Metro, it will also be default on the Desktop.
If a browser does not support Metro, it is seriously at risk of losing the default browser status, and therefore significant market share. A browser without support for Metro, if default, would be taking away a Metro browser completely from the user's computer.
Even if a user spends most of their time in the Desktop interface, having a really good Metro browser may be enough for the user to change their default browser. A browser with great Metro support can gain significant browser market share for this reason.
It is extremely important that we deliver an awesome Firefox experience on Metro, one that is tightly integrated with the platform, fast, and feature rich. Windows is by far the platform with the most users and which has the biggest effect on market share.
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What is going to be the alternative for people like me who like the WIMP model in a desktop OS?
Work really hard so you can retire before Windows 7 goes EOL.
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Fortunately I'm old enough so this is a realistic goal.
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By the time Win7 reaches EOL, perhaps ReactOS will have had a 1.0 release!
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and still have less then 1/3 the hardware compatibility of linux or bsd.
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If your going to have a hissy fit why don't you develop an interface that does the the things you are bitching about?
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tha'ts just it, he's not just talking about gui design, but its larger implications. one person cannot possibly make inroads on a society-wide problem covering whole cross sections of different contexts..
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You need to separate the tool from the task. Let's see.. Car analogy... Car analogy... OK. It's great that you know when you press on the accelerator it pulls a wire where the other end is connected to a carburetor which changes the fuel/air mixture (fuel that's from the gas tank that is typically located apart from the engine for safety because fuel is flammable) on it's way into the intake manifold and then the cylinder which blah blah blah... However, some folks just want to mash the thing on the floor a
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Will OEM's ship Windows with desktop as default or Metro as default?
It's not an option you can switch. When you boot into Win8, you end up in the Metro home screen, period.
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Metro = Revenge of Bob.
You heard it first on Slashdot.
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Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
because desktop computers != tablets.
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Ummm... You were wrong the first time, too.
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A dead OS with 85% desktop market share??? Tablets and other mobile computing devices may make it far less dominant, maybe even eventually make it irrelevant, but we're a long way from irrelevance, and it's definitely not dead yet.
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Maybe not a "Dead OS". An OS with a gun pointed at its temple, a finger on the trigger, and a bullet in one of the 6 chambers.
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Windows the family has 85% marketshare. "Windows 8" has 0%.
And remember the pattern:
Windows 98 SE
Windows Me
Windows XP
Windows Vista
Windows 7
Windows 8
Metro is a Windows 8 exclusive.
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