Windows 8.1 Update Released, With Improvements For Non-Touch Hardware

DroidJason1 (3589319) writes "Microsoft has released the highly anticipated Windows 8.1 Update, adding numerous improvements for non-touch consumers based on feedback. It is also a required update for Windows 8.1, otherwise consumers will no get any future security updates after May 2014. Most of the changes in the update are designed to appease non-touch users, with options to show apps on the desktop taskbar, the ability to see show the taskbar above apps, and a new title bar at the top of apps with options to minimize, close, or snap apps."

Re:It's a start

[BLToday]

"There used to be this thing called Windows Gadgets. But I guess that wasn't cool and trendy enough."

Or useful enough. Remember there was Konfabulator (Yahoo bought them), Google Desktop (widgets, discontinued). Only one left and barely alive is Apple's Dashboard.

Re:It's a start

[YrWrstNtmr]

They killed those off because they were major security holes. Little bits of random HTML.
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/gadgets

huh

[jimmyfrank]

So you didn't slide your mouse around to close windows in Win7? Ever use Alt-F4? Win8 has better keyboard shortcuts than the previous OS's but you'd have to spend 2 mins learning something I guess.

Re:It's a start

[Anonymous Coward]

Hm. I wonder how that compares with live tiles.

Stupid ideas never die, they just get renamed. Push technology, PointCast, Active Desktop (IE4.0 HTML as wallpaper on Win95), Windows Sidebar (Vista), Gadgets (Win7), and now Live Tiles.

It's all just a bunch of lame attempts to get demographic data on the userbase / turn the computer into a TV so that it can be monetized.

Re:A patch closer to usability, few more to go

[MightyYar]

I like the start menu for what it is: a comprehensive tree of everything I have installed

But that's not quite what it is - it's a tree of everything that decided to put stuff there. If you manually dragged an exe to Program Files, no show. If some uninstaller didn't remember the shortcut, you have a dead link. Worse, it's an idea decidedly rooted in a single-user machine, so exterminating an entry means looking in a few different places that they added to accommodate multiple users.

I really do like Windows 7 as well. Still not sold on the Start Menu :) At least in 7 it rarely bothers me. Frequent programs I have pinned to the task bar so that I can use the "pinned" feature in the right-click menu. Less-frequently accessed stuff can be accessed with a quick tap of the Windows button and a few letters from the name. I was quite shocked when I moved to Windows 8. I gave it a year and still hated it. When the hard drive died and I found out how horrid Windows 8 backup is, I moved back to 7.

Re:It's a start

[TheRealMindChild]

Windows gadgets were essentially borderless IE windows that ran in the local zone. This means they could CreateObject(...) ActiveX libraries via scripting that could do, well, anything to your system. The sandbox didn't matter at that point.

Re:It's a start

[flyingfsck]

...and the granddaddy of them all: Terminate and Stay Resident (TSR) programs on DOS. I'm getting old, sorry...

Re:It's a start

[vux984]

For my tablet and phone, I like touch. For a desktop? I can't even understand why you would.

I posted in another thread several examples; most of them revolving around a kitchen or living room 'family computer' especially the common scenario where the keyboard and mouse stored in a drawer.

Then for various quick casual interactions, like to check the weather, check twitter/facebook, start a netflix movie, start playing some music... etc you do it all with the screen without even bothering to get out the mouse and keyboard.

When they want to do any real work they pull out the kb and mouse and don't touch the screen.

I know people who have those big desktop all in one touch screens, and that's how they use them.

Is it a critical must have feature? I don't think so, but its convenient, and its not like they paid a lot extra for it vs a non-touchscreen version.