Windows 10 Is Finally Adding Tabs To File Explorer (bleepingcomputer.com) 161
Microsoft has released insider preview build 17618 that includes tabs in File Explorer as part of its Sets feature. Bleeping Computer reports: Windows 10 Sets is an upcoming feature where you can group documents and apps into one tabbed window that are related to the particular task at hand. This feature was released for testing to a small controlled group of insiders in Insider Preview Build 17063 and was subsequently removed after the test. With build 17618, Sets are back and with it come tabs in File Explorer. You can now open different folders in the same File Explorer window with each one having their own tabs. This way one File Explorer window can have a tab for the pictures folder, a tab for the documents folder, and a tab for your documents, which you can easily switch between. If you look closely, though, the Sets feature does more than just allow you to have different tabs for different folders, but also allows you to add applications as a tab in File Explorer. According to Microsoft, in addition to File Explorer, Notepad, Command Prompt, and Powershell are also getting tabbed support.
Nomad.NET (Score:4, Informative)
Nomad.NET is a way better file manager.
Also, it doesn't spy on you, steal your bandwidth or serve you ads like Microsoft's garbage does.
http://www.nomad-net.info/ [nomad-net.info]
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Have you tried Total Commander Ultima Prime?
I can't live without it.
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Have you tried Total Commander Ultima Prime? I can't live without it.
Do you have the Incredible Magnificent Platinum Dictator version?
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I found an app on Google Play called Smart Ruler Pro. It was just one of those simple on-screen ruler apps... What was smart about it, and what the pro version had over the normal version was not very clear.
I haven't looked but I bet there is an AI powered ruler app or three by now.
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I found an app on Google Play called Smart Ruler Pro. It was just one of those simple on-screen ruler apps... What was smart about it, and what the pro version had over the normal version was not very clear.
I haven't looked but I bet there is an AI powered ruler app or three by now.
I think that is the Hypnotoad app. All hail Hypnotoad!
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They bundle the demo version in. Getting a license is your problem.
I happen to have a license and the added bells and whistles of Ultima Prime are awesome.
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Question is: do they NEED a license to distribute shareware products? I never thought they would.
As for which file manager is better, to each their own. Some people are perfectly happy with Windows Explorer, for example.
Just a reminder: (Score:1, Troll)
Microsoft doesn't innovate, they copy.
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Who exactly is Microsoft copying here?
Re:Just a reminder: (Score:5, Interesting)
Also, web browsers, which are at least theoretically the same thing.
This is not the same thing at all.
If you look at their video here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]
You can see that they can have completely different applications in the tabs. In one tab you can have a word processor, in another a command prompt and in another a web browser, all in the same window.
Sure, it is obviously inspired by browsers, but this improves upon that by having more than just browsers together.
Neither my mac or my linux box can do that. There is innovation here.
Re: Just a reminder: (Score:2)
Re: Just a reminder: (Score:4, Informative)
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You could group multiple applications in a single, tabbed window in KDE4 [codeyarns.com].
I did not know KDE4 could do that. That is very cool.
That said, if you look at how KDE4 did it:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]
and how Microsoft is doing it in windows 10:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]
It is plain to see the KDE folks are being schooled in terms of usability.
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The WordVision DOS word processor for the IBM PC in 1982 was perhaps the first commercially available product with a tabbed interface. [wikipedia.org]
It's funny how you think a 36 year old interface element being implemented by Microsoft is bad despite the fact that every piece of software you named was also copying it from earlier software.
Re:Just a reminder: (Score:4, Insightful)
ALL innovation is copying.
Most involves making a new combination of previously existing constructions or works.
Even the iPhone copied features from previous phones and PDAs, it just refined them and made them cool.
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Microsoft doesn't innovate, they copy.
Tabbed interfaces are just another version of MDI (Multiple Document Interface) windows. Microsoft's file manager from Window 3.1 days used MDI, so I guess they are just copying themselves.
Re: Just a reminder: (Score:2)
How about fucking FOLDER SIZES microsoft? (Score:5, Interesting)
Every other file manager has it.
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And now we won't have to install one more program just to have it. I don't know what you're thinking, but this is good news for users.
Re:How about fucking FOLDER SIZES microsoft? (Score:5, Insightful)
And now we won't have to install one more program just to have it. I don't know what you're thinking, but this is good news for users.
Remember though, each Windows update also destroys functionality from at least one program as well, so its a wash.
Re:How about fucking FOLDER SIZES microsoft? (Score:5, Insightful)
Every other file manager has it.
Nah, that would just further expose the fact that Windows Explorer is fundamentally broken and isn't even aware enough to handle the various links in NTFS properly.
For example, in Windows Vista and 7, you've got the dreaded WinSxS folder, which stands for "Windows Side by Side". This folder basically stores copies of every version of every library/etc. that's been installed on your system. It grows in size forever. Don't worry, though - MS says it's just REPORTING that large size, but not actually USING it, because while there are many duplicate copies of files in there, they're only hard links.
Of course, since Explorer and the rest of the OS (including dir) are unaware of the hard links, everything reports the hard links as being copies and the effect is your hard drive runs out of usable space even though it's not actually filling up.
Re: How about fucking FOLDER SIZES microsoft? (Score:2)
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Oh, I'm entirely sure that the WinSxS folder DOESN'T work.
MS's solution to that whole mess? Reinstall Windows twice a year and any broken dependencies are your problem.
This is why Windows 8/8.1/10 have big updates with stupid names ("Fall Creators Update") that actually perform a dirty reinstall of Windows, leaving you a Windows.old directory for a week or so in case you need to revert.
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If you enable t
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It really isn't that simple.
It really is. Every other Windows file manager, yes I'm generalizing but not by much, has this feature. It isn't like I'm suggesting something impossible.
Re: How about fucking FOLDER SIZES microsoft? (Score:2)
Why? Is NTFS really that shit?
In a word, yes.
ReFS is supposed to be their new and modern replacement for NTFS, but who knows when that will go mainstream, or whether it will be much better.
Re:How about fucking FOLDER SIZES microsoft? (Score:4, Interesting)
Well the problem with folder sizes is that to take the size of the folder you have to take the sizes of all the files in the folder. The more files there are, the more work this takes, and then you're doing a lot of disk I/O just to list a folder listing for folder sizes which you might not even want. It make sense for them to be hidden in the properties dialog where you have to intentionally open it to see the folder size.
One obvious solution is to cache the sizes and update them whenever a file changes, so they are always ready the go. This is great except it just takes one time for an OS which does not support folder sizes (eg pre-Windows 10, or older versions of Windows 10) accessing the drive directly and your caches are not only wrong, but won't fix themselves since noticing the cache is wrong would require Windows to count all the files, which we don't want it to do. At that point you can't trust the folder sizes anyway so they're useless!
Folder sizes would be great but it seems like something that would need to be introduced as a core part of a new filesystem to ensure any OS that uses it doesn't screw up the folder sizes.
Re:How about fucking FOLDER SIZES microsoft? (Score:4, Insightful)
Windows XP file explorer did it on systems with a 32bit single core processor and spinning disk HDDs, but it's just too much work for Windows 10 on a quad core with an SSD. Sure sure.
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I had folder sizes with MacOs 8 on a 33 MHz (0.033 GHz!) 68040 processor with 8 MB of RAM... on a 350 MB IDE hard drive.
It took 1 or 2 seconds to show the folder size.
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Well the problem with folder sizes is that to take the size of the folder you have to take the sizes of all the files in the folder.
Yes, I know. Every other Windows file manager, yes I'm generalizing but not by much, has this feature. It isn't like I'm suggesting something impossible.
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https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.c... [microsoft.com]
Why doesn't Explorer show recursive directory size as an optional column?
"Why start up another program to see folder sizes, when they should just be right there, in Explorer, all the time?"
The same reason \\ does not autocomplete to all the computers on the network: Because it would destroy corporate networks.
Showing folder sizes "all the time" means that when you open, say, the root of a large server, Explorer would start running around recursively enumerating every single directory on the server in order to compute the folder sizes. One person doing this to a server is bad enough. Imagine if hundreds of people did it simultaneously: The server would be hammered continously.
Even worse: imagine doing this across a limited-bandwidth link like a VPN or an overseas link. The link would be saturated with file enumerations and wouldn't have any bandwidth remaining for "real work". Even the change-notifications that Explorer registers are cause for much hair-pulling on corporate networks. (And these are change-notifications, which are passive.)
Even on a home computer, computing folder sizes automatically is is still not a good idea. How would you like it if opening a folder caused Explorer to start churning your disk computing all the folder sizes recursively? (Then again, maybe you don't mind, in which case, go nuts.)
(Of course, the question sidesteps the question the linked article tries to address, namely, "What do you mean by the size of a directory anyway?")
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The same reason \\ does not autocomplete to all the computers on the network: Because it would destroy corporate networks.
Of course, I'm equating reading the local drive with doing something that requires discovering and reading every computer on the network.
Fuck dude, really?
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Every other file manager has it.
... disabled by default. It would be a horrible idea to do this automatically. You would need to index all files in each folder. This takes an incredible amount of time, not only on Windows, but on Linux, Unix, Mac etc.
There's no sane file manager that shows you folder sizes automatically. And with the file manager I use I try not to hover my mouse on folders for too long, the thrashing of the HDD can't be doing it any good.
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There's no sane file manager that shows you folder sizes automatically.
My copy of xyplorer has been doing this for over a decade. XP had this. Other file managers I've used had this. All with NTFS. If your hard drive is thrashing because of a mouse hover, buy some fucking RAM, buy a larger hard drive, and keep that drive defragmented.
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Yes and they are all disabled by default. XP included. I'm typing this at an XP machine right now. If you want the foldersize you need to hover over the folder and a huge amount of disk thrashing ensues.
If your hard drive is thrashing because of a mouse hover, buy some fucking RAM
You would dedicate the complete index of ever changing files on a disk into RAM? I'm impressed. I thought your desire to know the folder sizes at all times was the dumbest idea. I was wrong. What an unexpected one-up.
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a huge amount of disk thrashing ensues
If you're getting any disk thrashing over a folder size, something is wrong with your PC.
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Why do you want to know the size of the "fucking folder" ?
What is a "fucking folder" in the first place ?
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I'll tell you another bizarre missing feature: telling me the version of a DLL in the details window. Confusingly it gives you the file version but not the actual DLL version! I have to use ILSpy to see the real version.
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That retarded lack of functionality is why I really like the program Spacesniffer [uderzo.it] which graphs folders and files relative to their size within a plane representing the entire disk.
It is incredibly useful to quickly understand what is taking up the most space on a disk along with its folder structure.
don't need tabs, tyvm... (Score:2)
what we need is control of OUR computer back. updates when WE WANT THEM, not when you insist upon slowing down our internet, consuming our precious quotas, and rebooting whenever the fuck you want.
fuck, just today, we had a pc launch the "upgrade assistant' which went and started downloading fcu while windows update was also already downloading it... attempts to remove the "assistant" were met with it magically reappearing over and over, even after reboots, and, yes, downloading the 4 fucking gigabytes itse
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Then run a Free and Open Source Software operating system.
Good luck finding a laptop warranted for compatibility with such an operating system in any major electronics or office supply chain. Good luck even mail-ordering such a laptop in 11.6" size, as the well-known options are 13" (Dell XPS Developer Edition) or 14" (smallest System76 laptop). What am I missing?
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Good luck even mail-ordering such a laptop [with a free operating system] in 11.6" size, as the well-known options are 13" (Dell XPS Developer Edition) or 14" (smallest System76 laptop).
If you want a decent laptop, you usually have to order it online, and from the business laptop section, where you have a pretty decent selection of models that either come preloaded with Linux or are well known to be Linux-friendly.
For one thing, how would I go about trying the screen and keyboard of a laptop I'm ordering online in order to avoid having to pay a substantial restocking fee should I dislike its feel? For another, who sells a laptop with a free operating system in a size smaller than 13 inches, in order to deter thieves by carrying it in a bag that isn't obviously a laptop bag? I currently use a ThinkPad X61, but its battery life isn't the best, and its 4:3 swivel screen is just a bit too tall.
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If you don't like it, then don't run it.
Re:don't need tabs, tyvm... (Score:4, Funny)
what we need is control of OUR computer back. updates when WE WANT THEM, not when you insist upon slowing down our internet, consuming our precious quotas, and rebooting whenever the fuck you want.
fuck, just today, we had a pc launch the "upgrade assistant' which went and started downloading fcu while windows update was also already downloading it... attempts to remove the "assistant" were met with it magically reappearing over and over, even after reboots, and, yes, downloading the 4 fucking gigabytes itself over a metered connection again with windows update's own download of the same damn thing. we had to disconnect the pc from the internet, manually download the installer to a usb drive on a different pc, and run the 'upgrade' from that removable drive instead.
we also want absolute and full transparency (i hate that term, but it applies here) on exactly what data you're gathering on us, and allowing us absolute and full control to turn that spying shit off.
No.
- Satya Nadella
You signed up for this (Score:4, Interesting)
It's not necessary to have such large updates, or to reboot during updates. Microsoft explicitly and deliberately forced that upon the world, and have consequently been responsible for more wasted man-hours than really bear contemplation. This happened some decades ago, however, and it's generally widely known. So if you are choosing to run this software, you are signing up for the upgrade hassle, and various viruses, and (in the modern era) some degree of surveillance. If you are regretting that decision, you might seek alternatives. You're probably not going to get much sympathy for your problems, however.
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downloading the 4 fucking gigabytes itself over a metered connection
First get rid of all the old copies of bind and sendmail out there that are easily exploitable, then update all the web servers, then update all the OS's.
In context, that's not quite comparable. DNS, mail, and web servers tend to have a far higher monthly data transfer quota than PCs attached to a home network whose Internet uplink is satellite or terrestrial wireless (i.e. cellular).
Go linux (Score:1)
Forget MS and just go linux already. I did, my wife did, my parents did, my last 2 employers did. It is easy, it does not spy on you, it will not reboot on you, it will not erase your data or hold you hostage for unwanted updates, it will not try to sell you things, it will not steal your information to sell to others, it is not in league with shady dictatorships, it is free and open and it is the future, embrace it and join the side of freedom join the side of liberty join the side of thinking and produc
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Sorry... but I searched for "linux" and found a forum, a wiki article and a bunch of operating systems related to it. So... which one could I play World of Tanks on?
The above was a bit ironic, but that's exactly how Average Joe would see your parent post.
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Sorry... but I searched for "linux" and found a forum, a wiki article and a bunch of operating systems related to it. So... which one could I play World of Tanks on?
All of them [playonlinux.com]
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Hello,
Actually games on linux which have a counterpart on windows often see performance boosts when run on linux. The key is the operating system, windows has a rather thick overhead and that interferes with game performance, linux by contrast has a very low overhead due to its nature and even when the overhead of wine is factored in produce superior frame rates. I am not really sure what windows is doing in the background but I assume it is its nature of spying and advertising along with poor programming
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Which is more important to you though. You count and people like you count, desktop users, not the average mug punter for whom smart TV, a smart phone and maybe a tablet are enough, no desktop for them any more and if they have children a cheap notebook for school. The desktop is shrinking back to it's original market and M$ in the ultimate dick move is apparently doing everything they can to piss of the remaining likely long term users of desktops.
For you, which is more important, control of your digital
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Uhh, it's not wise to poke the beast - there's likely a platinum super ultimate dick move in store.
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Harsh. Did it have a single-level undo twenty years ago? Progress in action...
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Weird new-post-parenting bug.
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?
Original poster here. I have never nor have I witnessed anyone who has had a driver issue with linux. You appear to be spreading lies in the special interest of a terrible corporation where drivers must be found at the manufacturers website, downloaded, and installed, often with many problems and issues (that was my experience with windows). Linux on the other hand has ever worked flawlessly for me and has never once presented a driver issue, nor has it done so for my wife, my coworkers or anyone else t
ASUS T100TA still an incompatible poster child (Score:2)
I have never nor have I witnessed anyone who has had a driver issue with linux.
Then you are fortunate not to have been handed an ASUS Transformer Book T100TA. As of 2018, many things are still broken [debian.org], including suspend, screen backlight control, Bluetooth, and the internal camera. Audio and networking require proprietary firmware packages that Debian cannot include in the install image, and good luck downloading said packages without networking.
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I had an Eee PC 901 running Ubuntu. It gave up the magic smoke not because of cigarettes (our house is tobacco free) but because of a heat problem. But why did support for GNU/Linux on ASUS kit go so downhill between the 901 and the T100?
Re: Go linux (Score:3)
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Your anger is indicative of the fact that you are a paid shill attempting to discredit a professional operating system in favor of a well known spyware/malware system best suited for playing games.
I see no real reason anyone would get angry about the true statement that there are no driver compatibility problems with linux. Your strawman attack about youth and ignorance is revealing of the fact that you are scared and angry. Why would a technological truth set you off in such a way? These are such dry an
Re: Go linux (Score:2)
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"I have never nor have I witnessed anyone who has had a driver issue with linux."
You're either fucking young, fucking inexperienced, or don't have any fucking friends.
Making statements like that just exposes your inexperience, not expertise.
I have not observed or witnessed anyone with a driver issue on Linux... In the last 10 years. It happened frequently in the olden days though.
When I bought a new sound card (to get better isolation from CPU noise), it worked out of the box on Linux, but needed a manually installed driver on Windows.. And it was using a standard AC/97 sound-chip protocol. Windows is terrible with drivers compared to Linux these days.
On the top?? (Score:3)
Why are the tabs at the TOP of the window in the title bar? That's a HORRIBLE design.
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Why are the tabs at the TOP of the window in the title bar? That's a HORRIBLE design.
Yes, and you'll learn to like it, Citizen. Next you'll be asking us to make it configurable, you ungrateful user!
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Why are the tabs at the TOP of the window in the title bar? That's a HORRIBLE design.
Because it is the most sensible place give that the application runs inside the tab. If you put it underneath it would make users think that the tab is part of the application, and THAT would be horrible design.
Go have a look again at how this works then you'll see it makes perfect sense to put it there. The way it works may not make sense, but at least the location of the tabs do.
BAHAHAHA! Be original will you! (Score:1)
D Opus (Score:2)
"I've been using Directory Opus since the days of the Commodore Amiga."
Yep DOpus has been around since the days of Workbench 1.3
30 years ago
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Same here. I used Directory Opus for about 10 years on the Amiga and now I use it on the PC. It's too expensive, but I got it when they had a sale.
Before that I used Cubic Explorer, which I use at work. That one's free.
Welcome (Score:4)
Welcome to 2005 or thereabouts, we hope you enjoy your stay.
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Welcome to 2005 or thereabouts, we hope you enjoy your stay.
Oh? A mainstream OS nested its apps in tabs in 2005? Sounds interesting.
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Welcome to 2005 or thereabouts, we hope you enjoy your stay.
Oh? A mainstream OS nested its apps in tabs in 2005? Sounds interesting.
KDE
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So no mainstream OS then but rather an optional feature used by a very tiny minority of a minority of GUI users, on an at the time almost non-existent desktop OS. Got it.
Big whoop (Score:3, Informative)
It's going to take more than tabs to make it useful. I don't know if it's the Windows 10 file structure or the file manager but it has become very difficult to find anything on my drive since "upgrading" to Windows 10. Stuff seems to get randomly stashed in any of numerous Documents Folders.
"The new sets experience" (Score:2)
They're changing NOTEPAD?! (Score:2)
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Yep, and that's why we now have Notepad++!
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Harsh. Did it have a single-level undo twenty years ago? Progress in action...
(Post v2!)
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functionality
If by functionality you mean spitting out garbled text, making people swear and forcing them to open wordpad then yes, yes it's functionality has been the same for 20 years :)
-o- (Score:1)
Does it..... maintain state for that task across reboots which occur one second after you've gone afk or does that still require seventeen hours of manual recreation? :|
Re: -o- (Score:2)
when will windows get a mc file manager (Score:3)
when a good double pane file manager with an excellent built in text editor comes to windows post an article on slashdot, because windows explorer is so 1990's
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https://sourceforge.net/projec... [sourceforge.net]
Norton Commander, the original "commander" file manager, was originally a MS-DOS program. So mc is so "1980's". ;-)
(I'm not knocking mc, the dual pane file manager is my preferred setup.)
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Tabs? Bring back XTree (Score:2)
About the last thing we need is tabs in Windows Explorer. How about Microsoft pay ZTree one beeeelion dollars for a non-exclusive license to ZTree (XTree(tm) implemented for Windows) and include that with their OSs
sPh
When we were youngsters (Score:2)
Omg guy (Score:1)
Next Version: Dual Panes (Score:2)
So much for Microsoft's original excuse of getting rid of the two paned one... It's not "object oriented" enough. You should open up (instantiate) a new explorer window for each directory you want to move things from/to. This tabbed explorer doesn't fit the "object" model, either.
How about saving the contents of Notepad (Score:1)
Something I've never, ever wanted. (Score:2)
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IE: If you're in your Inbox, the HOME tab will be all about sending email and shit, but if you go to DELETED ITEMS suddenly you get "Recover Deleted" and a bunch of other shit. It's completely unintuitive and garbage. Menus were great because you could access settings regardless of where you were. Now you have to remember which section to go to in the program (totally dropping whatever the fuck you were working on) and
QTTabBar (Score:1)
I've been using QTTabBar for this, it uses the native Windows Explorer and adds Tabs + a search panel that won't disappear every time you browse to a file location.
Holy shit it's about time (Score:2)
Windows has had this for years (Score:2)
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