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I have a quick test that the person that thought of, designed or approved the Windows 8 charms should take.
Test: make them sit down in a computer, open terminal server and get into a Windows Server 2012 machine. Now ask them to try to show the charms bar instantly with the mouse 10 out of 10 times. It is not possible or you would have to be a ninja to do it consistently. If they fail, fire them! (Did Ballmer take the test?)
Most people are not ninjas therefore it is not a nice user experience. Start button was way better. People need immediate reaction for an action, not guessing which one is the exact pixel to stand on top of. Make it simple, have a reaction for an action.
Still want to get rid of the start button? Make a little triangle in the corner to fire it up. (You can also fix the screen with the apps but that is a separate topic)
Make this the action that as a reaction
Nonsense…
You can see with pictures here: http://www.xaviermorera.com/2013/10/please-fire-the-person-in-microsoft-that-thought-the-charms-thing-is-ok/[^]
My new toy: www.cloudclipx.com
-- If I have 8 hours to chop down a tree, I spend 6 sharpening my ax!
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I agree. Their UI designs have been ranging from weird to downright unintuitive since about a while now.
Ribbons (controversial, but I despise it), removal of start button (WTF), SCREAMING MENU ITEMS in VS, the colour scheme of VS (makes my eyes bleed), and things like what you pointed out.
Someone at MS really hasn't taken into account that it's the small things that matter.
"Real men drive manual transmission" - Rajesh.
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I agree to you word by word. What the hell has happened to UI design. Especially VS.
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It's not only VS... MS Office has also begun shouting at me...
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Windows 8 UI is targeting to consumer market; and MS is fascinating to port games on it. The UI does not make sense for most business apps.
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Completely agree. Charms does not work very good on desktops without a touchscreen. Most Microsoft consumers used desktops, so why alienate those people. I have to say it, Charms is not charming.
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Also Outlook 2013, when you have the reading pane enabled. Instead of showing you the content of the email message (what Outlook is presumably all about), shows you a huge header about the sender and their status.
Going back to Rajesh's post, I've long held that software which can't get the little things right likely does not get the big things right. I think Win 8 qualifies. Take an OS which worked perfrectly fine for the majority of non-touchscreen users, and force them to pretend their device is a touchscreen. Grrrr!
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Windows 8 made me think about using Linux again. I think that says it all.
Cogito ergo sum
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Try them on a touch screen.
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Try finding a budget holder who'll put a touch screen on a server. Most of them are too cheap.
Although I can accept that using a computer with a touch screen over remote desktop might work. Who here has a touch screen on the computer they use to remote admin their server?
I keep wishing you could use Kinect for PC the same as a touch screen and with the same gestures. Could be fun. I could sit in front of a 40" screen and wave my arms about. 
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I can agree on that sentiment, but the attack was launched at the general UI design.
Servers should stay servers. No way around that.
However, seriously, try Windows 8.1 on a tablet/touchscreen. I find myself reaching for my desktop pc's screen more often than not these days, then disappointingly realizing that it doesn't support touch.
Don't diss MS on this. Trust them, respond to them, give them time. They do listen, at least, unlike Apple etc. They brought back Start. They released RTM early.
They will get there.
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I was hoping Leap Motion would fill the gap here, but unfortunately it doesn't. It doesn't map 1:1 dimensionally, so it's tough just to figure where to wave and actually hit the right side of the screen.
Personally, I think they should shoot whoever thought the "Modern UI" had and reason to be placed on a server. By "shoot" I mean with a paintball gun, not real bullets. What a stupid decision.
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Should I replace my two-24" (dual screen) monitors (3840x1200)?
I like touch screens for my "toys" (smart phone and tablets) - handier than taking a mouse with. But they'll NEVER replace my desktop system and that's the part M$ doesn't "get".
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Thank you, that will make it a lot better. 
"Real men drive manual transmission" - Rajesh.
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I assume whatever server version corresponds to win 8.1 will also get the start button back. While RDP would make them much worse; they suck big time trying to hit them with the cursor using a mouse or trackpad when natively installed. I'm at worst meh on the other 99% of W8's changes but whoever hid the power/reboot/sleep/etc options in the charms on w8 should have his fingers broken.
Did you ever see history portrayed as an old man with a wise brow and pulseless heart, waging all things in the balance of reason?
Is not rather the genius of history like an eternal, imploring maiden, full of fire, with a burning heart and flaming soul, humanly warm and humanly beautiful?
--Zachris Topelius
Training a telescope on one’s own belly button will only reveal lint. You like that? You go right on staring at it. I prefer looking at galaxies.
-- Sarah Hoyt
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You realize the start "button" coming back in 8.1 just brings you to the full screen start menu right? I think you can make it semi-transparent but I have 8.1 RC and I can't figure out how to do it.
The whole Windows 8 team from concept to marketing needs to be taken out back and shot. ITS A COMPUTER NOT A PHONE PEOPLE, it NEEDS two different UI's, one cannot be comfortably shoe-horned into the other.
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I hear people say Win 8 isn't bad, it's good once you get used to it... bla bla bla.  Well, I'm still unconvinced and still happy with Win 7
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It could be better if the freaking menu was easier to get at. It's not much other than a full screen customizable start menu. It's good enough until you have a mass number of applications you deal with on a regular basis, even then there's a full listing you can get to quickly enough.
Just getting to the damn thing is about my only gripe about windows 8 other than the standard having to learn it all over again. It's extra fun on the remote server what with the lag.
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If you are on 7 then don't bother upgrading.
However the 8 experience isn't bad at all, you even get used to the charms, just wish I had the option to remove metro and all apps. My 8 machine is my dev machine, and I have yet needed a reason for Modern UI or any apps.
However we have people in the office that get an windows 8 machine and immediately downgrade, this I think is a mistake. Rather get used to the new, you will need to at some point, and you will soon realize that its not bad at all.
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I tried to like Win8. Came on a new notebook. Gave up when some programs wouldn't run in Win8. Put Win7 on.
Good luck trying to find the Win7 drivers for a machine "designed specially for Windows 8"! Yes, it uses components that are Win7 compatible, but there's no explicit support for Win7, as if they couldn't have predicted the backlash. Sure, you can still find new notebooks with Win7, but the specs aren't the best.
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Right on the money. The problem with the full screen start menu is that it is horrible. It shows hundreds of things you don't need and can't really group in a nice way. Oh well, I covered it here:
http://www.xaviermorera.com/2013/07/windows-8-folders/[^]
The problem with Microsoft is that the "me too" strategy worked so well in the past, that they are trying it now again but taking really really bad decisions.
Present anytime, anywhere: www.ccview.me
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-- If I have 8 hours to chop down a tree, I spend 6 sharpening my ax! And I mostly do in CodeProject and Pluralsight!
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Not sure what you mean you can't group in a nice way. It's very easy to group programs, I use task based grouping such as Programming, Publishing, CADD, Utilities, etc. Have to admit 8.1 does this better since you don't have to delete all the programs from the Start Screen, you have to add what you want while everything is added to the "Apps" screen (not the Start Screen)
It's much faster for me to hit the Windows button and select a program from the start screen than to hit Start>Programs>Company X> Application.
Of course for my most used programs everything is on the Task Bar for even quicker access.
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It's difficult (to get used to W8) at first, but with some searches you will be there, perform any tasks you want in a new way. I used W8 from the beginning and going to love it until the end (if any).
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I am. Xavier commented on the button not the menu, so that's what I limited my remark to. Other than being gratuitous eye candy on anything other than a fondleslab I don't care about the start screen itself since normally type the name of anything not pined to the task bar anyway.
Did you ever see history portrayed as an old man with a wise brow and pulseless heart, waging all things in the balance of reason?
Is not rather the genius of history like an eternal, imploring maiden, full of fire, with a burning heart and flaming soul, humanly warm and humanly beautiful?
--Zachris Topelius
Training a telescope on one’s own belly button will only reveal lint. You like that? You go right on staring at it. I prefer looking at galaxies.
-- Sarah Hoyt
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