4 ms·

It might be worth revisiting the Windows 8 interface. It was maligned at the time but it’sa very fluent, intuitive interface now that people are used to iPads.

by nxc18 6y ago

It might be worth revisiting the Windows 8 interface. It was maligned at the time but it’sa very fluent, intuitive interface now that people are used to iPads. The multitasking is exactly the same as iPad now, only difference being you pull down to close apps instead of up. I pulled out my original Surface RT yesterday and was surprised to find it has aged incredibly well - perhaps better in 2020 than it was in 2012, because it was well ahead of its time.

zozbot234 6y ago
The Surface RT was a crappy, closed device. You can put Linux on just about any Baytrail- or Cherrytrail-based device now (used to be a huge pain), and with a decent amount of RAM and GNOME3 on Wayland it's actually a very intuitive and productive tablet experience. Even the windowing UI is just as intuitive as Windows 8 if not more so: you click on an "Activities" overview as opposed to a start button, but the rest is pretty much the same.
- nxc18 6y ago
  I don’t really see how any of that is relevant. Surface RT was running underpowered Tegra with 2GB ram and still does 60fps on the entire desktop/Start experience. Have you used the Windows 8 multitasking interface recently?
  - zozbot234 6y ago
    Tegra has a good focus on graphics, so it's no surprise that it could do 60fps animations on the Windows 8 start screen. Nice eyecandy, I suppose. And 2GB RAM will still run pretty much anything a Surface RT user might care about, except the modern web of course.
aarmenaa 6y ago
It's not like I did any market research, but I recall people liking the Windows 8 interface on phones and tablets. My personal impression from playing with Windows phones in stores was very good. Opinions were (predictably, IMO) less positive for the same interface on desktops and laptops.
- kipchak 6y ago
  I definitely fell in the latter camp. Working helpdesk there were a couple "Help my Windows 8 PC is in this weird setting and I can't get to my programs" tickets. I don't recall it being as easy as it should have been to get out either.
WorldMaker 6y ago
I heard someone complaining the other day that every iOS application has the Share button in a different place and sometimes a different icon altogether, and poured another one out for the poor, misunderstood Charms bar. Windows 8 had so many great ideas and it is an open question if Microsoft had stuck to their guns a little longer and waited for more people to get used to where their cheese moved if Windows 8 might be even more fondly remembered for moving touch UIs forward.

by nxc18 6y ago

zozbot234 6y ago

The Surface RT was a crappy, closed device. You can put Linux on just about any Baytrail- or Cherrytrail-based device now (used to be a huge pain), and with a decent amount of RAM and GNOME3 on Wayland it's actually a very intuitive and productive tablet experience. Even the windowing UI is just as intuitive as Windows 8 if not more so: you click on an "Activities" overview as opposed to a start button, but the rest is pretty much the same.

nxc18 6y ago
I don’t really see how any of that is relevant. Surface RT was running underpowered Tegra with 2GB ram and still does 60fps on the entire desktop/Start experience. Have you used the Windows 8 multitasking interface recently?
- zozbot234 6y ago
  Tegra has a good focus on graphics, so it's no surprise that it could do 60fps animations on the Windows 8 start screen. Nice eyecandy, I suppose. And 2GB RAM will still run pretty much anything a Surface RT user might care about, except the modern web of course.

aarmenaa 6y ago

It's not like I did any market research, but I recall people liking the Windows 8 interface on phones and tablets. My personal impression from playing with Windows phones in stores was very good. Opinions were (predictably, IMO) less positive for the same interface on desktops and laptops.

kipchak 6y ago
I definitely fell in the latter camp. Working helpdesk there were a couple "Help my Windows 8 PC is in this weird setting and I can't get to my programs" tickets. I don't recall it being as easy as it should have been to get out either.

WorldMaker 6y ago

I heard someone complaining the other day that every iOS application has the Share button in a different place and sometimes a different icon altogether, and poured another one out for the poor, misunderstood Charms bar. Windows 8 had so many great ideas and it is an open question if Microsoft had stuck to their guns a little longer and waited for more people to get used to where their cheese moved if Windows 8 might be even more fondly remembered for moving touch UIs forward.