You Can't Bypass the UI Formerly Known As Metro On Windows 8 444
colinneagle writes with this excerpt from Network World: "The final build of Windows 8 has already leaked to torrent sites, which is giving the propellerheads a chance to dig through the code. One revelation will probably not sit well with enterprise customers: you can't bypass the don't-call-it-Metro UI. Normally, you have to boot Windows 8 and when the tiled desktop UI (formerly known as Metro) came up, you had to click on one of the boxes to launch Explorer. Prior builds of Windows 8 allowed the user to create a shortcut so you bypass Metro and go straight to the Explorer desktop. Rafael Rivera, co-author of the forthcoming Windows 8 Secrets, confirmed to Mary Jo Foley at ZDNet that Microsoft does indeed block the boot bypass routine from prior builds. He also believes that Microsoft has blocked the ability for administrators to use Group Policy to allow users to bypass the tiled startup screen. There had been hope that Microsoft would at least relent and let corporate users have a bypass, if only for compatibility's sake."
IFKAM as bad as the Ribbon? (Score:3, Interesting)
I hope it won't be that bad. If the Interface Formerly Known As Metro is as bad as the Ribbon, I'll struggle for a while to adapt, and then probably go back to the previous version or install Classic Shell. I don't mind experimentation with something new. Maybe it really is better. But I don't understand why Microsoft doesn't provide a "classic" mode for people who are willing to try, but eventually decide they like the previous arrangement better. How many of you stuck with the default theme for Windows XP? Anyone? Can you imagine if there was no way to change it?
And to not allow it or make it easy for enterprise users. That's just cruel. Is Microsoft *trying* to increase training costs for companies?
Re:microsoft fanbois will still buy it (Score:4, Interesting)
Or they can just ... not install Windows 8, and stick with Windows 7, which'll be even faster on the new, more powerful hardware.
There's always another way, you know.
There will be hacks (Score:2, Interesting)
I use windows 7 and there are a lot of things you can't do on windows 7 that you could do in windows XP or Vista. For example, you could manually organize folders in windows in those operating systems. I mean, literally pick up folders and move them from one side of a window to the other. This is something I've gotten used to doing since windows 3.1. So I was deeply annoyed when window 7 disallowed it. Finally I found some registry hacks that would re-enable the feature.
Beyond that, there are full shell replacements for windows. I expect that using shell replacements might become more and more the thing to do on windows systems. On top of everything else, some of the shell replacements are much more configurable then windows shell meaning that if you want to hide features from users you can literally remove them from the GUI entirely.
A combination of those two factor should make more then a few companies look at shell replacements.
Re:Corporate bypass is easy (Score:5, Interesting)
Corporations also have IT departments, who will demand Microsoft support provide them a bypass, OR it will be a condition that has to be met, before they will purchase Windows 8.
Mark my words.... Microsoft will provide Enterprises a bypass of some kind, if not at release, then via a patch, special tool, registry hack, or script that can be deployed for domain-joined computers via group policy.
Not quite true - Classic Shell allows it (Score:5, Interesting)
Well, almost. I've got Classic Shell [sourceforge.net] installed on the leaked version of Win8 Enterprise N. What happens is that it'll load Metro for a fraction of a second and then CS takes me back to the old "desktop" environment complete with start menu.
So it's not a complete bypass but it's close enough for my purposes.
If, like me, you prefer the Win7 start menu's look to the default Win98/2000 look Classic Shell provides, there's a skin [askvg.com] to make that possible.
Re:the thing that confuses me (Score:4, Interesting)
Kinda suspicious since they are also banning open source applications from their moble app store.
Re:What a marketing tool (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:That's fine because I plan to bypass... (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:no way UEFI lock down will come soon (Score:5, Interesting)
as Windows XP still holds half of the market.
I think you confuse "market" with "install base". The two are not the same - it's not like everyone with an XP machine will get a new XP machine when they upgrade, for example.
And even if looking at install base, it's likely not true. This chart [statcounter.com] shows W7 surging ahead of XP in October last year, and while granted, not all computers browse the net, or in a way that triggers statcounter, there's little doubt that W7 has overtaken XP. If nothing else because companies can't buy machines with XP anymore, so as they switch out their old machines in a typical 3-5 year cycle, the new ones will be W7.
But I doubt they will be W8, which seems to be a productivity killer, not meant for busy workers who multitask.
Where I work, the migration to W7 is almost complete - most of the remaining XP installations that can't easily be upgraded have been virtualized, like other legacy x86 operating systems.
Windows 8, I doubt will happen at all, except perhaps for marketing.
I don't (Score:0, Interesting)
hate (cr)apple... I don't like the poor quality of their vastly overpriced hardware. I don't like that they try to lock customers into their walled garden where the only place to get software or upgrade hardware (without actually replacing a device) is from them. I don't like that they can't compete with Samsung, HTC, etc...except by trying to litigate their competiters out of the market using vague and frankly invalid patents. Patents that should never have been granted in the first place.
Any one of the things mentioned above would make me not want to buy their products, and recomment to anyone else not to buy them either. But I don't hate them. They are not worth that level of emotion, and I try very hard not to let emotion influence my buying decisions.
Re:That's fine because I plan to bypass... (Score:4, Interesting)
The above improvements over Win7 are admirable and appear to be highly useful, but that blindingly stupid Metro (or WHATever they're calling it this week) kinda negates the improvements over Win7. ALL MS would have to do to fix this fiasco is allow you to install with "Classic Win7" or "Metro".. your choice.. Obviously if you're putting it on a laptop thats a convertable tablet, you'd opt for Metro, but for a desktop, I gotta know WHAT the hell they're smoking in Redmond...
Re:That's fine because I plan to bypass... (Score:4, Interesting)
But if you're starting from Windows XP/Office 2003, which is being retired on April 8, 2014, then Windows 8/Office 2012/Windows Server 2012 might be the platform you are targeting as replacement instead of Win7/Office 2010. Why? Because if you're the guy who stuck on XP for a decade, then you're probably going to want to go as far forward as you can.
Um, no. Most businesses are going to be conservative and go with Win 7. Drivers, software, etc. should all work with Win 7. While there are some under the hood improvements, most IT deparments aren't going to be crazy enough to install a consumer OS on these users. They have enough support calls as it is. They don't need a million more of users trying to find their start button. Or where is their Control Panel, etc.
Comment removed (Score:5, Interesting)
Comment removed (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:no way UEFI lock down will come soon (Score:4, Interesting)
Can someone honestly remind me why so many people hated Win2k? To this day, I still remember it as one of the best versions of Windows, ever. I could upgrade or install MAJOR drivers & system-level components, then go days or weeks without having to reboot.
Maybe it's because NT4 already weeded out most of my software and hardware that Win2k would have objected to, so it ended up being a net improvement in every meaningful way, but it honestly wasn't until I got my first dual-CPU motherboard that I really felt any need to 'upgrade' to XP... then had a MAJOR love-hate relationship with it. Hugely-improved SMP support? Major plus. Endless reboots? Yuck. I reinstalled without SP1, and vehemently resisted SP1 for more than a year until Microsoft slipped another patch past me that basically bundled everything about SP1 I was trying to avoid, and instantly took away my ability to do reboot-free updates once and for all. RIP. Sigh.
Sadly, even Linux now seems to try and force reboots by default now for some updates. Oh, you can usually open a shell and force it to do a hot update, or ignore the warnings and it'll work anyway, but more and more, it feels like even Linux has abandoned the ideal of "never force a reboot". and instead embraced Microsoft's philosophy of, "If something's wrong, reboot and it'll probably fix it."