Windows Blue wish list: 15 must-see improvements - hopkinswiturpred
For all the grief it gets, Windows 8 brought a wealth of welcome improvements to Microsoft's seminal OS. As a matter of fact, once you stop worrying and determine to love (or at least ignore) the Live Tiles, the Windows 8 screen background is nothing short of the best Windows desktop ever—fast, utilizable, and all-close to awesome.
But the the Tempter is in the details, and Windows 8's steel-new modern interface gets a lot of those inside information dishonorable.
Usually, we'd wealthy person to postponemen for an infrequent service pack to fix the little mistakes, but Microsoft's refreshing focus on unceasing improvement gives the company an opportunity to slap bandages in hurting areas much more quickly than information technology ever did before. In fact, a major update dubbed Windows Blue (or Windows 8.1, if you're being pedantic) is barreling down the pipeline, delivery a bevy of changes to make Windows 8 much to a greater extent palatable.
An early leak of Windows Blue revealed respective much-needed enhancements, including beefed-up syncing options, deeper Start screen personalization, and some simple yet effective user interface tweaks.
Still, that's vindicatory scratching the tip of the iceberg. Above and beyond the tweaks already found in the leak, here's our wish well leaning of 15 potential Windows Blue improvements that could facilitate work Windows 8 twice equally nice as IT is now.
1. Boot to screen background
Ace design decision that particularly rankles desktop diehards is Microsoft's insistence that users must bring up to the modern Start screen. You can boot directly to the desktop, but only by downloading a piece of 3rd-party software or fiddling around in the Windows Project Scheduler, a office tool few everyday users have eventide detected of. Fortunately, recent rumors suggest Microsoft may actually implement a boot-to-desktop option in Windows Blue.
2. The Start button
We tumble, Microsoft. You want us to spend a good deal of time in the modern UI. But erasing the Start push from the desktop was retributory plain mean, non to mention antiproductive. Information technology may not be gone permanently, though, as the whispers mentioned above also enunciat that Microsoft is in reality considering bringing the First clit posterior to the desktop. Be however, my restless heart—IT's still good a rumor.
3. Dynamic user interface switch
Totally these desktop and Start screen woes could be fixed with one tweak: dynamic interface switching. If Windows 8 boots and finds a keyboard and mouse running, thrill to the desktop. If it detects a touchscreen as the primary input, boot to the Get screen. Boom! Initial headache solved.
4. Better UI hints
Port experts lambast the modern UI for its secretive nature. Descending users into a whole new environment and hiding scholarly controls in "hot corners" for sure isn't nonrational. A permanent along-screen indicator, perhaps some screen of glow or even icons in each corner (similar to what appears when you shiner finished warm corners at present), would do wonders for the Windows 8 UI. And while I'm on the subject, information technology's excessively easy to bury about the nuclear features buried in the charm bar. Can we get an option to permanently tholepin the charm bar to the pull of the shield?
5. Improved default option apps
Microsoft dumped its tried-and-true desktop defaults in Windows 8, swapping them forbidden for modern-style apps so much as Post, Calendar, Masses, and Maps. And, sure, the new apps are pretty, but they'rhenium missing crucial features that badly inhibit their usefulness. (Heck, the Calendar app-themed Outlook.com calendar packs deeper options than the Calendar app itself.)
A recent quite a little of updates addedsome additional functionality to Windows 8's baked-in apps, simply they unmoving have a long direction to go before they're waiting for routine contention. Bring information technology, Blue.
6. The power to run modern apps in desktop Windows
Stardock's absolutely heavenly body ModernMix plan gives you the ability to run modern apps in desktop Windows, so the technology guts is definitely there. If Microsoft truly wants to encourage desktop diehards to dip their toes in the modern waters, letting us run apps arsenic part of our common workflow is a lot less obnoxious than forcing us additionally to the Start test day in and day out.
7. App syncing
Windows 8 already offers a tremendous number of syncing options, allowing you to keep your wallpaper, settings and other elements constant as you bounce from device to device. And belowground deep in the Blue leak were fifty-fifty more hot sync features. The one I'm pining for most is missing, however: The ability to automatically sync whole apps across devices, so that you can transfer all of the apps installed on your primary machine to new pieces of hardware headache-free. Basically, what Android does.
And spell I'm on the topic, some better-grained wallpaper syncing options would be nice, to preclude the crappy stock paper found on every laptop I sign in to from jumping over to my primary machines.
8. More Snap customization options
Windows 8's Snap—which lets you lock u an app to one-quarter of the block out while running another app in the remaining dowry—is nothing short of a killer feature, but that 75/25 limitation hurts. The Windows Blue news leak already includes 50/50 screen door sharing for two apps, but why stoppag at that place? Give us the power to resize Snap proportions as we see fit.
As my colleague Alex Wawro same when I asked him for wish list suggestions, "Customizable Cinch view ratios is a likely small fry improvement for Windows Blue that would radically change how I palpate about Windows 8."
9. Better DVD support
Windows 8 won't period of play DVDs unsuccessful of the boxwood, even if you're using Windows Media Player (which is included with the OS, merely is belowground behind the Music and Video apps, which are set as defaults). Sure, you can download a third-party program corresponding the superb VLC to unlock DVD viewing capabilities, but Average Joe doesn't get it on that.
Even off if Microsoft decides against this for social science reasons—it has to pay licensing fees to enable Videodisc support, after every last—it could allow users of the standard version of Windows 8 to download the $10 Media Center plurality, which enables DVD playback. Currently, only Windows 8 Pro users put up partake in optical disk fun.
10. A late register explorer
Even if you fully stock to Windows 8's vision of a touchy-feely approaching and pickax up a twist with multidigit support, the lack of a modern-flair file explorer means you'll have to dive into the unquestionably un-digit-friendly screen background modality to sift through your files. That's a major design flaw. Hey Microsoft: If you've coaxed someone into the Start up screen, don't give 'em an pardon to leave!
Fortunately, up to now another recent Windows Blue leak suggests some sort of file explorer interface is so coming to the modern UI.
11. Beefier PC Settings
Continued that thought: The original Windows Dingy leak controlled a bulked-up PC Settings menu packed with goodies like new SkyDrive and show resolution options—only that's not enough. Everything you can knock off the desktop controller panel, you should follow able to practise in the modern UI Personal computer Settings. A very much like information technology sucks to be dropped into the Start screen while you're mouse surfing, it's far worse to sustain to navigate the desktop using a touch display alone.
12. Run Internet Explorer and Chrome simultaneously
If you set a third-party Web browser such as Firefox or Chrome as your default on background web browser, Windows 8 won't rent you use the modern version of Internet Explorer. That's stupid.
13. A time roofing tile
Piece we're speaking annoyances, why does the Start CRT screen lack whatever assort of time indicator unless you open the tempt bar? That's dense too, especially since the charm bar is one of those frustratingly hidden interfaces. On that point's a reason a clock app has graced both PCWorld's "Best Windows 8 tablet apps" and "10 superfine Windows 8 apps to download first" roundups—it just plain makes feel.
14. Bettor system integration for charms
When PCWorld subscriber Ian Paul lately spent time navigating Windows 8 using the modern UI alone, he saved the system integration of the oh-thus-crucial charms severely lacking. The Search charm went wonky when he tried sifting through a massive downloads folder, and He wasn't able to Share a file he found using Search, either. When searching for files (rather than apps), the Search captivate frequently says "No results found."
The tools are there, they just are non working right, and an unreliable joyride is no tool at all.
15. More Live Tile customization options
The Windows Blue leak is already on this case, packing new size options that allow you to make Live Tiles itty bitty Oregon ginormous. But again: Wherefore stop there? Give U.S. the ability to select tile colours, Microsoft. Give us the option to choose an image for a tile, or add a little of text!
It would be nice if Windows 8 tried to intelligently position new Live Tiles among connatural apps—automatically dumping Twitter into a Social chromatography column, for representativ—preferably than plopping new programs at the far goal of the Start screen.
But most importantly, give us an option to disable the creation of Start screen tiles for desktop apps. Every clock time you install a desktop app in Windows 8 information technology looks like a geometric bomb went off connected your Start screen, every bit every unvarying possible shortcut related to with the program gets a tile of its own. Briny program? Tile! Uninstall options? Tile! Help files? Tile! Program settings? Tile!
The rage has to end.
What else?
Whew! That's a lot, but it's all I've got. Everyone has theories happening what could fix Microsoft's litigious new OS, though. What do you want to see in Windows Sorry? Strike up below.
Source: https://www.pcworld.com/article/451390/windows-blue-wish-list-15-must-see-improvements.html
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