Microsoft Demos Metro UI For Enterprise Apps 116
An anonymous reader writes "Microsoft has demoed a working prototype of Microsoft Dynamics GP (an ERP package) running on Windows 8, with a full Metro UI. This is the first example of an enterprise app for the Windows 8 metro 'wall.' The one hour keynote is available online behind a short registration form ... (demos start around 40 minutes in). Screenshots available at source."
Looks a bit like Powerpoint. (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Looks a bit like Powerpoint. (Score:4, Interesting)
The entire MetroUI looks like Powerpoint in my opinion. At first I thought it would grow on me. Seems like it's growing like a tumor though and it's completely useless. RDP in Metro isn't my idea of how I want to manage multiple servers. This is a huge step back and like a commenter below said, very much like DOSSHELL.
Who decided "full screen apps" was the way of the future again?? Could we please hop in the Delorean and take care of them??
Re:Looks a bit like Powerpoint. (Score:5, Insightful)
Who decided "full screen apps" was the way of the future again??
That would be all the people who rushed like mad to buy iPads.
Re:Looks a bit like Powerpoint. (Score:4, Insightful)
It makes sense for a tablet. I even like the way that Lion does it because it's just like an expanded maximize that's useful in certain situations - gesture controls on the trackpad are integral for the way OS X does it, though, and I don't know if that feature will ever appear on non-Apple computers.
But I think that Microsoft's Windows 8 strategy is a big mistake. For all the reasons the marketing people can come up with to make the tablet and desktop OS the same OS, there's a technical reason why the synergy people are wrong. The differences between the ARM and Intel versions are one example.
Hopefully, for my sake, Apple doesn't go overboard in their blending of iOS and OS X. Fortunately, I like what they did with Lion. I don't really use Mission Control, but I like the way they've done full screen apps (allowing you to jump in and out of full screen mode). It'd make me sad if the next big cat went the way of Metro (which it doesn't look like so far). I find it strange that Microsoft didn't see what happened with Unity and heed the warning.
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M$ Marketing: What about bringing windows phone 7 to the PC?
M$ Technical: Well I guess we could, But wh...
M$ Marketing: Excellent we launch in 6 months, better start coding.
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You do realize that Win8 actually is Win7 put on an ARM tablet - even with the original desktop UI still there?
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Of course it looks like Powerpoint.
These are examples of applications designed by management - for management.
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No, most of win 7 is stripped out of windows 8 for ARM. They only get the simplified metro shell, and can't use the standard UI, or really anything that uses the traditional win32 API.
You're wrong. Win8/ARM does include [msdn.com] the classic desktop, complete with the standard suite of apps (Explorer, Notepad and the likes), and also full desktop Office. The catch is that you can't run your own binaries there, and there's no SDK provided for desktop ARM apps - so third parties can only run code in Metro.
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The only way to fight the plague of failed web developers ruining otherwise-functional interfaces is to shun them [slashdot.org].
Otherwise, it's back to the derp [youtube.com]. Computers are used to analyze data and produce content, and need flexible and customizable UIs with lots of knobs to tweak, and lots of data to give us feedback on what's going on. Tablets and mobile phones are used to consume content
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This is a huge step back and like a commenter below said, very much like DOSSHELL.
This is a change for Quarterdeck to resurrect DESQview, cool way to stack and tile your new W8 apps. Think of the possibilities!
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I loved the 1980's......
Seriously, DESQview [wikipedia.org] rocked. Supposedly Symantec owns it (but apparently doesn't know that, for Symantec, I'd expect no less).
I'll go back to my shuffleboard now.
don't forget your Extended Memory board (Score:2)
Think of all extra kilobytes!
Comment removed (Score:5, Interesting)
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Hell I wish I could find the video again from the little Yahoo shill girl, they give her any crap product and she is always "You should buy it! Buy it now! No seriously you should go out and buy it now!" and when they gave her Windows 8 her video was "Uhhhh...maybe you should wait until you get something with touch before you buy Windows 8? Yeah that's what you should do, buy a tablet and THEN buy Windows 8!" which for her is "My eyes! The goggles they do nothing!". I mean that's fricking sad when the girl that got giddy over a universal remote can't even muster enough perky to shill for your product and has this kind of...lost and confused look on her face through the entire video, damn it was funny!
TRULY ROFL!!! Thanx, Hairyfeet!
As a dyed-in-the-wool Apple enthusiast, I can only say: Go, Metro, Go!!!
If they keep pushing this butt-ugly, real-estate-wasting, six-year-old's version of a UI (might be ok for a tablet; cannot believe they are pushing it for the desktop!), Microsoft will, over time, become seriously marginalized in "Business". OS X is already making serious inroads in that regard, and as soon as someone (anyone?!?) comes up with a reasonable Exchange/Outlook killer, they're toast!
Assu
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Sorry friend but Apple doesn't have a prayer, and here is why: Jobs made it VERY clear years ago he had no desire to sell to the "poor unwashed' and that has carried over to this very day. I just recently sold yet another monster Windows PC, you know how much it cost INCLUDING my profit margin, which wasn't light? $520. That's it, for SIX cores, EIGHT gigs of RAM, 500Gb HDD, DVD Burner and Win 7 HP X64. Now you can't even get a machine half that powerful for $1000 in Apple land and that is how they LIKE it. Now frankly it doesn't matter if YOU think its cheap, the average person in America is making around $37k, don't take my word for it BTW, ask those you are in line with at the grocery store or the bank what they make a year, most will be happy to tell you. When you make $37k or less you simply aren't gonna spend a grand on an underpowered machine and NO the iPad can't replace the desktop for a good 85% of the population and NO the iPhone don't cut it either, as there is always ONE application they consider a "must have" that don't run on Apple, be it Quicken/QB, the app that came with their printer, hell I even have one customer I had to keep a NOS 2GHz PC running for as he slowly converted from Xres to Corel Draw.
Look I'm not saying Apple is bad for this, in fact I'd argue its a damned smart move. look at what happened when Porsche tried to sell a Camaro priced Boxster, it damned near killed the company as it killed the "cool" factor of owning a Porsche. If you could buy an Apple desktop for the same price i can whip off a monster, or even for roughly the same price you can get one at HP or Dell THEN you might have a point. But that will never ever happen friend and you know this.
In the end da Feet can tell you the future, just let me dig out my crystal ball.....OEMs demand Win 7 downgrade rights, MSFT caves to keep them from bolting to Android or buying their own Linux distros, Win 8 fizzles on tablets but nobody cares because Windows 7 is supported until 2020 and moreover "just works" with all their stuff so to Joe consumer nothing has changed. In fact all Win 8 has done is made guys like me more money as consumers get spooked and have me build a monster so they can ride out the Win 8 crapfest without needing a new PC. In fact I've done well enough that after I get done setting up my dad's new router tomorrow I'm buying a new 6 core for the oldest to go with the quad i just built for the youngest. I figured with one on Hexacore and the other on quad I and myself on hexacore we can just ride out Win 8 while still gaming and having a great old time. Don't worry about us MSFT, you keep pushing that cell phone UI, and i'll keep making money off those that don't want it, deal?
Sorry friend but Apple doesn't have a prayer, and here is why: Jobs made it VERY clear years ago he had no desire to sell to the "poor unwashed' and that has carried over to this very day. I just recently sold yet another monster Windows PC, you know how much it cost INCLUDING my profit margin, which wasn't light? $520. That's it, for SIX cores, EIGHT gigs of RAM, 500Gb HDD, DVD Burner and Win 7 HP X64. Now you can't even get a machine half that powerful for $1000 in Apple land and that is how they LIKE it. Now frankly it doesn't matter if YOU think its cheap, the average person in America is making around $37k, don't take my word for it BTW, ask those you are in line with at the grocery store or the bank what they make a year, most will be happy to tell you. When you make $37k or less you simply aren't gonna spend a grand on an underpowered machine and NO the iPad can't replace the desktop for a good 85% of the population and NO the iPhone don't cut it either, as there is always ONE application they consider a "must have" that don't run on Apple, be it Quicken/QB, the app that came with their printer, hell I even have one customer I had to keep a NOS 2GHz PC running for as he slowly converted from Xres to Corel Draw.
Look I'm not saying Apple is bad for this, in fact I'd argue its a damned smart move. look at what happened when Porsche tried to sell a Camaro priced Boxster, it damned near killed the company as it killed the "cool" factor of owning a Porsche. If you could buy an Apple desktop for the same price i can whip off a monster, or even for roughly the same price you can get one at HP or Dell THEN you might have a point. But that will never ever happen friend and you know this.
Man, why with the strawman arguments?
First, I never mentioned an iPad nor iPhone for a business desktop replacement. Even Apple would argue that was silly.
Second, I was talking about BUSINESS, not HOME. So, your $37k (which is way high for an average pay, BTW) is irrelevant. And that also means we aren't talking about playing Crysis (or whatever this year's GPU-Killer game is). We're talking about what 99% of desktops and laptops are used for in 99% of businesses; which you and I both know leaves ANY mo
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So what would it take then? What server software and mac software "interfaces" are needed to do this that don't exist in some way now?
Is it really just Exchange/Outlook?
For the most part, MS is down to Office and Exchange/Outlook, for their stranglehold on business (oh and don't forget the collusive IT handmaidens).
Even if you maintained a couple of intense Server Boxes running Windows VMs that ran Terminal Services for the business apps (like MS Dynamics GP, NAV, and AX), I still submit that the "employee-facing" machines would be MUCH better served (no pun) as Macs.
Or, you could look into something cross-platform, like the Open Source xTuple (which runs on OS X, Linu
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I played with the Consumer Preview the other day. Me and my boss couldn't figure out how to shut it down and ended up just pressing the power button.
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When you're using a smartphone or other small-screen device, full-screen is the only way for an app to be. There isn't enough room to have multiple windows.
Because of this, and because the UI "experts" have all collectively decided that it's "too confusing" to have different different UIs for different devices, they've all decreed that we must all be happy with having all applications run full-screen all the time, no matter how large or small your display is.
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Who decided "full screen apps" was the way of the future again??
Most people where I work already run their "apps" in full screen mode. With relatively small monitors, it makes sense to have as much screen space as possible for Excel or Outlook and just flick between them.
I know everyone on slashdot has a three 24" monitor set up with dozens of programs running in various sized windows, but most people don't use computers like that, especially at work. So I don't see that this new Windows 8 interface will appear that odd to most enterprise users.
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> Who decided "full screen apps" was the way of the future again??
> Could we please hop in the Delorean and take care of them??
back to the time of Windows 2, right?
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Or embrace this as an good time to invest that consultant money in switching to another platform.
Re:Embrace Metro (Score:5, Insightful)
If enough companies ignore it and continue putting out normal applications instead, Microsoft will have to deal with that. Metro isn't the sun, it's not inevitable if the market outright rejects it.
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My smart money says is will reside in the land of Microsoft Bob and Clippy...
Re:Embrace Metro (Score:4, Funny)
My smart money says is will reside in the land of Microsoft Bob and Clippy...
What did Bob and Clippy do to deserve Metro?
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Not really. Apple didn't have to deal with PowerPC applications. They told the market to deal with it. Could Microsoft do this? Yes. Should they? Yes. Not saying I like Metro, I don't. But at some point, the get-off-my-lawn folks need to get over themselves, it's not 1995 anymore and a weak Microsoft stuck supporting multiple UIs isn't good for business.
Re:Embrace Metro (Score:4, Insightful)
Not really. Apple didn't have to deal with PowerPC applications. They told the market to deal with it. Could Microsoft do this? Yes. Should they? Yes.
Why would anyone choose to run Windows if it didn't run their Windows apps?
Windows lives and dies on backward compatibility. Metrosexual is the best thing they've done in years... for people selling other operating systems.
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Apple didn't have the entrenched user base that MS, nor did it have the requirement to maintain backwards compatibility across several versions or the OS wouldn't sell.
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Who is selling other OSs? Apple will only sell you an OS with a 2k hardware dongle. Linux is free.
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Who is selling other OSs? Apple will only sell you an OS with a 2k hardware dongle. Linux is free.
...Only if your time is...
Sorry, old habits die hard. As I replied to Hairyfeet, it's high time for a truce...
Re:Embrace Metro (Score:4)
Who is selling other OSs? Apple will only sell you an OS with a 2k hardware dongle. Linux is free.
Um, Macs start at $600.
And anyone who thinks a Mac mini with a dual-core 2.3GHz i5 isn't powerful enough for the secretary, sales, accounting, doctor's office, boss' office, production manager's office, factory-floor, web-designer, code developer (not everyone compiles OSes or gigantic games), et frickin' cetera, and even some light "server" applications is simply delusional.
Period.
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That's the advantage Microsoft have, it's not just Office. So the day they break backwards compatibility, they're finished.
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So how much accounting, sales order processing, customer relations management, HR, payroll,stock control and other business related software is available on a Mac? Or Linux?
Glad you asked!
My personal favorite in the ERP world is xTuple [xtuple.com] (formerly Open Mfg). They even have a free QuickBooks-Like [xtuple.com] version. Speaking as an ERP software dev. myself, this package is strong enough that I have seriously considered becoming a VAR for it.
Then, there are the longstanding AccountEdge/MYOB [accountedge.com], and AppGen/Custom Suite [appgen.com] (AppGen Custom Suite is pretty cool, IMHO). I also see FlexWare Accounting [macaccounting.com], which has a Manufacturing add-on [macaccounting.com]. Don't know much about FlexWare; but it looks pretty complete.
The
Re:Embrace Metro (Score:4, Insightful)
Not really. Apple didn't have to deal with PowerPC applications. They told the market to deal with it. Could Microsoft do this? Yes. Should they? Yes. Not saying I like Metro, I don't. But at some point, the get-off-my-lawn folks need to get over themselves, it's not 1995 anymore and a weak Microsoft stuck supporting multiple UIs isn't good for business.
Actually, Apple provided several tools to ease that transition (hell, it HAD to!)
Fantastic JIT Compiling built into the OS, that worked SO well that Apple themselves left parts of the Finder and other OS pieces-parts as 68k code for several OS revisions.
"Fat Binaries", which like the later "Universal Binaries", allowed developers to package both 68k and PPC code in the same application bundle, with the OS seamlessly choosing the correct version to use.
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Microsoft tried this with Vista, and it flopped. The reasons were totally different of course (personally, I had no problem with the UI style on Vista, and think it was better than 7), but WindowsMe and Vista prove that MS doesn't always get its way. If the users don't like it, they simply don't upgrade. Customers don't care about what's "good for business", they want products that work well for them. They're already ignoring MS on phones and switching to Apple and Google en masse, so they might just be
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it's not inevitable if the market outright rejects it.
Does that make Metro outevitable?
if they stop virus updates to XP / HIPPA (Score:2)
then companies will switch. it simply won't matter. companies with HIPPA requirements will have to have updated anti-virus stuff. when that stops on XP, the companies will be forced to upgrade by law.
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I'm sorry, but unless you're contracted into a forced upgrade, I don't see why anyone should embrace Metro. If people don't break down and accept dealing with Metro, then it's going to have to go away. Maybe not in this version, but in the next. They can blindly persist, but ultimately they're going to need to concede if people just simply refuse to adopt it.
Re: Metro Going Away (Score:5, Funny)
It might. PlaysForSure went away, Zune went away, various of those Live services went away. I even have the marketing slogan!
"Ride the Metro to see the Vistas out the Windows with Me!"
They can fix all their branding in one sentence!
Uh oh, I think I just found a new sig for a week.
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A little over 12 years ago, just before Windows 2000 became available, Microsoft had a few OSes out: Win CE (gotta put that space in because it wasn't "WinCE" as in "the grimace you get just using it"), Win ME, and Windows NT.
I saw a professionally made poster combing those names: CE, ME, NT... it read something like "Microsoft introduces Windows CEMENT... hard as a rock, dumb as a brick". It was hilarious and well done.
Anyway, seeing your combo slogan reminded of that older bit of humor.
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The first step though, before it goes away, is to try renaming it.
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Metrosexual apps in the Enterprise - who would of thought just a few years ago...
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See this little weak, asthmatic, deformed, useless and defenseless animal nobody likes ? Well too bad it really sucks, 'cause it isn't going away, so his kind will rule us for another 10 generations at least. What are we gonna do about it ? *sigh*
Seriously, survival of the fittest, it works. Bring it back.
I don't care about monopolies, just use what you like and let those things that improve nothing for anybody die already.
It's not that hard.
Posted from Sabayon Linux with i3, windows manager's master race.
I like this (Score:2)
Re:I like this (Score:5, Insightful)
Too much wasted real estate. Why all the pictures of people?
This is one of those things the MBAs will love to waste everyone's time with, and other than look shiny offer nothing.
Re:I like this (Score:5, Insightful)
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Even though I have multiple monitors, I can't have 2 Metro apps open fully, one on each monitor, so I can't see this report and write an email, or browse the web with a metro browser or metro email client or use a metro skype client in more than 1/6th of the screen at the same time. It's stupid.
But... but... but... you can switch between the applications with only six mouse clicks and two minutes of fancy 3D animations.
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That is the big thing that will kill W8 on the desktop.Metro is really a nice idea on a small screen and with touch controls. But I have a 24 inch screen and screens are getting bigger and bigger..
1. A lot of people at work are stuck with 17" monitors.
2. A lot of people use laptops with screens of 15" or less.
3. A lot of people don't like big computer screens in their living room.
4. The people with one or more 24" or more monitors are the minority.
hp Dashboard (Score:1)
First thing I thought of was "huh, they re-implemented hp Dashboad for Unix from the 90's".
Metro UIr (beta)! (Score:5, Insightful)
So it turns your zillion dollar ERP system into a Web 2.0-style interactive infographic that makes USA Today look information-dense?
Re:Metro UIr (beta)! (Score:5, Insightful)
Yep. Demos sure look clean if you remove A) all the necessary controls that allow you to do useful work, and B) the context that helps the human eye figure out how data point relates to the overall picture.
This is much more a "dashboard demo" than an "application demo". But dashboards are hot right now; everyone wants one. Certainly no harm in offering appealing dashboards except that they obscure how much work is required in order to make a dashboard show something useful in a relevant context.
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That and the fact that about 90% of the time the only thing the dashboard does is mean that those few metrics that are easy to put in the dashboard are improved at the cost of those that do not show up very well in a dashboard. Its easy to measure stuff, it is hard to measure the right stuff.
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So it turns your zillion dollar ERP system into a Web 2.0-style interactive infographic that makes USA Today look information-dense?
perfect for the CEO, useless for anyone below a VP.
Thanks but no thanks... (Score:1)
Just what we need (Score:1)
More charts & graphs for the MBAs to dick around with all day so they can micro-manage everyone who's actually useful.
Frozen Cosmopolitan (Score:3)
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Can't imagine what will happen when one freezes at a sales meeting, though.
Derisive laughter. Couldn't happen to a better bunch of people.
Sound of Jaws Music... (Score:4, Interesting)
I certainly hope that MS doesn't roll this shite out to the rest of the "Dynamics" family. They have already hamstrung layout and created ridiculous UI faux-pas-es enough with their "Role Tailored Client" (tell me WHO else makes the default for deleting records be "YES"?!?!?).
This is just hideous. And I fear it is a-comin', like the shark in Jaws....
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But how do get monkeyboy to open wide?
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So our solution is a SCUBA tank and a Highpowered rifle? But how do get monkeyboy to open wide?
LOL! I'll hold him down...
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So our solution is a SCUBA tank and a Highpowered rifle? But how do get monkeyboy to open wide?
Balmer isn't a shark, he's the world's biggest Apple fanboi.
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You're developing in Navision? You have my sympathies.
I actually enjoy writing C/AL code. It's bog simple, and pretty fast.
I have developed some pretty out-of-the-box stuff in NAV. I just wish that MS would quit deprecating feature after feature, and doing their usual dance of "technology du jour" madness. But that's "our" Microsoft!
We won't discuss the hell-hole that is their new, Visual Studio-Based Report Writer, though...
My God, it's full of bars! (Score:3)
As someone who dabbles in UI design, I've seen us go from orthogonal by necessity, to round by revolt, and now we're back to orthogonal again. How much of this is a passing fad. Never mind that the damn tiles UI is more about wasting space than putting display space to good use. I predict the DPIs will go higher the panels bigger, just to accommodate this lousy aesthetic.
Microsoft shouldn't be in the position to push aesthetics anymore. At one point they needed to push usability, but this goes far beyond that, resulting in something less usable. I rather like the special effects for movies, which I find are logical and innovative. At most Mocrosoft should support some skinning interface the way Qt apps do so that the USER or VENDOR gets to force their design on something. Given that MS still has lousy fixed-geometry windows all over in Windows 7, I vote no confidence in MS to deliver anything really usable.
Windows Phone will fail (sorry Nokia) and Win 8 will fail. It's not your call anymore Microsoft. And what you are pushing is too different. Remember the XP backlash of GREEN start button and RED [X]? That at least could be argued as usability enhancements. Now Metro goes the other way and decreases usability.
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FTFY.
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I think a key thing they're focusing on that you might not be is optimizing the UI for touch, rather than keyboard/mouse user inputs. On traditional desktop/laptop form factors, I would agree that Win8 would not be compelling, and Win7 is probably preferable. On a touch-capable device, though, the pendulum swings the other direction.
I think Win8/WP8 (or their successors, at least, possibly Win8.5/WP8.5) stand a real chance of succeeding. The Metro UI is stark and the aesthetic isn't immediately appealing to
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I think a key thing they're focusing on that you might not be is optimizing the UI for touch, rather than keyboard/mouse user inputs. On traditional desktop/laptop form factors, I would agree that Win8 would not be compelling, and Win7 is probably preferable. On a touch-capable device, though, the pendulum swings the other direction.
Yes, because we all know that using a touch interface for an accounting/data entry application makes so much sense. Bookkeepers, payroll, receivable and payables clerks do regular data entry. Is Microsoft really saying that moving hands from a keyboard to the screen and back again is the most efficient way to do that? This is an accounting application for mid to large businesses. Tablet and touch interfaces are fine for consumers of data, but by it's very nature, this is a producer of data.
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Yes, because we all know that using a touch interface for an accounting/data entry application makes so much sense. Bookkeepers, payroll, receivable and payables clerks do regular data entry. Is Microsoft really saying that moving hands from a keyboard to the screen and back again is the most efficient way to do that? This is an accounting application for mid to large businesses. Tablet and touch interfaces are fine for consumers of data, but by it's very nature, this is a producer of data.
No, but the desktop UI is still present (except on WOA tablet/mobile devices); the only major change when you're using desktop productivity software (e.g. x86/64 Office instead of WOA "Metro" Office) is that the start menu is full-screen when you hit the Windows key, instead of filling only a portion of it. The desktop UI is still keyboard/mouse focused (though touch-enabled just as Win7); Metro UI is touch-centric.
I imagine touchscreen laptops will become a bit more commonplace once Win8 hits the market th
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Where is the "do not want" tag? (Score:2)
Will Metro be Microsoft's Waterloo? (Score:2)
Or maybe it will just be their Gnome 3.
All report screens? (Score:2)
I find it telling that the only screen shots they include in the article are ones of report screens. I don't see any data entry, you know the 99% of work people do in an ERP system. My guess is the interface for that is pretty much the same forms app look Dynamics has always had and or its awful to work with and they hope they can just distract procurement people with shiny until the check is signed.
Enterprise apps? (Score:2)
Flushing 25 years of UI research down the toilet (Score:3)
I thought I'd give Metro a try, and while this UI makes sense for a tablet, it's complete CRAP for a keyboard and mouse (let alone trackball). Gestures have never worked for the desktop, and a UI that offers ZERO visual cues tot he user is beyond useless.
I'm baffled that Microsoft has essentially tossed decades of research into the trash in favor of a Tablet-centric UI. There is a reason why we have desktops and tablets... they are considerably different in form and function. Unifying the interface is an incredibly stupid move.
Mark my words, Windows 8 will be shunned worse than Vista on the desktop.
Sadly, Microsoft will probably consider it a success when it sells millions in the tablet and phone market.
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Why would I want this on a tablet?
Remember there will be two types of Win 8 Metro tablets: ARM and Intel
The ARM tablet will have metro apps, a web browser and Office. No compatibility with almost 30 years of DOS/Windows software and from the looks of it, will not be able to join a domain. That is the low end tablet market. Where it will have to compete with $200 Kindle Fires and Color Nooks. It does not offer any real advantages there once you figure out it SUCKS trying to use Office on touchpad
The INTEL t
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They're betting the farm on the fact that the only device 70% of users might need in 1 year is their phone. Seriously, think about that.
They want a compute continuum. You can just use your phone and plug a keyboard, mouse, monitor into it and it's a pretty fast Atom chip with SSD storage, 2 gigs of ram, and whatever monitor you want. Then you unplug it and it's a phone, same computer though. Maybe they sell a "laptop" with nothing but a keyboard and monitor and you slide the phone into it - instant port
How do you do Order Entry (Score:1)
Only way is up (Score:2)
This is Dynamics GP we're talking about. The UI is so horrendous that pretty much anything would be an improvement. Even giving it the Hot Dog Stand theme.
(I hope they fired the idiot that decided to change the MDI application to SDI without making a single change to the interface, so you have to constantly deal with your data entry windows falling behind the main window.)
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Funny, they thankfully switched from SDI to MDI for Dynamics AX only two years ago.
I like it; you all need to relax. (Score:1)
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Metro is not a better metaphor for someone using a mouse and keyboard with multiple 23 inch monitors.
Saying give them a break because it may be a little rough on their first try is like saying give the doctor a break the first time he tries curing cancer by shooting the patient. There is no use in trying to improve the wrong approach. It will still remain a FAIL.
To launch by October, they will have to RTM (Release to Manufacturing) sometime in July. That gives them 4 months to fix it. Please note we are cu
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are you glad they will ban people writing software (Score:2)
for their system? because that is what they are moving towards - a system where you can only install software purchased from the Windows Store or wahtever they will call it. thats what Metro is moving to.
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It's not flaky in the least with legacy apps. Legacy apps run on a non-Aero looking "desktop". You can pin stuff to the desktop taskbar. There's a "desktop" to drop icons and folders on. It looks just like the Windows 7 desktop minus the Start button (and with hot corners for the "new Start Menu" and the whole right-side of the screen bring up some Metro-esque context stuff). The icons that would go on the Start Menu end up on the Metro Desktop.
The biggest problem I see is with applications that create
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...Microsoft comes closer to death on the desktop.
Long live Linux, but not that craptacular piece of shit called "OS X"!
Gotta ask (since the customer-satisfacton numbers year-after-year would belie your "craptacular" label):
WTF, over?
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Gotta ask (since the customer-satisfacton numbers year-after-year would belie your "craptacular" label): WTF, over?
I am not into companies which continually mislead their customers into thinking that they are 100% immune to trojans and viruses. It's shady at best and simply downright despicable at worst. Top that off with their outsourcing of nearly everything when it comes to manufacturing, and you have a terrible company hoarding all of its cash because of taxes (remember, Obama wants companies like Apple to pay WAY more than they currently do) while claiming to be different at the same time.
I don't care how many
apple did not invent drag/copy/paste (Score:2)
they did not invent the ipod, they did not invent buying music online, they did not invent video phones, they did not invent the mouse, they did not invent the internet, nor the web, they did not invent ethernet, they did not invent LCD, they did not invent smartphones, they did not invent Siri, they did not invent liquid polymer batteries, they did not invent outsourcing to dictatorships
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Uhh, huh? Of course it supports domains. I don't even understand why you'd ask, and yes on ARM too.
I think Microsoft is on the right track - one OS to rule them all. Same experience on your phone, your tablet, and your desktop. I'm old school so I'll use the Aero style interface, but for most it will be very natural.