Microsoft backpedals: Windows 8.1 update hides tile interface by default

  • 31 January 2014
  • 7 replies
  • 26 views

Userlevel 7
Badge +56
More changes to come! From the Verge http://cdn2.sbnation.com/entry_photo_images/9772325/windows81handson1_1020_large_verge_medium_landscape.jpg inShareMicrosoft is once again planning to alter the way its Start Screen works in Windows 8.1 Update 1. While the software giant originally released Windows 8.1 last year with an option to bypass the "Metro" interface at boot, sources familiar with Microsoft’s plans have revealed to The Verge that the upcoming update for Windows 8.1 will enable this by default. Like many other changes in Update 1, we’re told the reason for the reversal is to improve the OS for keyboard and mouse users.
We understand the latest internal builds of Windows 8.1 Update 1 have the boot-to-desktop option enabled by default, a change that Wzor noted earlier today. The update is still in development, and Microsoft could alter this further before it ships, but it's currently being changed to appease desktop users. It may seem like a minor change, but the move reverses parts of Microsoft’s original vision for Windows 8. While some critics argued Microsoft simply forced the Start Screen interface onto desktop PCs with little regard for keyboard and mouse users, the company pitched its "Metro" environment as the future of Windows. With the interface booting by default, developers had an opportunity to place their apps front and center on millions of PCs.
http://cdn3.sbnation.com/assets/3934629/win8leak.jpg
 
Full Article
 
TH

7 replies

Userlevel 7
So... they are going back to the Desktop by default now?  
Userlevel 7
I have seen HUGE numbers of complaints asking for just that... (Personally, I agree.  I prefer the classic desktop.)  I wonder t hough, how many complaints we will now see from those who LIKE the Metro interface?
 
Also, what does this do to the entire advertising campaign?  Every commercial makes a big point of every device having the same experience.  That would no longer be, by default, true.
 
OOOPS.
 
🙂
Userlevel 7
Badge +56
Yes enabled by default as it is now to can choose to or not.
 
Daniel
Userlevel 7
Badge +56
@DavidP1970 wrote:
I have seen HUGE numbers of complaints asking for just that... (Personally, I agree.  I prefer the classic desktop.)  I wonder t hough, how many complaints we will now see from those who LIKE the Metro interface?
 
Also, what does this do to the entire advertising campaign?  Every commercial makes a big point of every device having the same experience.  That would no longer be, by default, true.
 
OOOPS.
Well I hate to say Win 8.1 isn't selling like Win 8 so I guess they are trying anything to sell but I hope Win 9 and the Microsoft higher ups listen to the users.
Userlevel 7
Badge +26
I use the server version of windows 8 and I never use metro apps.
Userlevel 7
Badge +54
Great news but this should have been done at the beginning if they had listened to people.
Personally I have got used to the Metro style now however I have it set to start off in the Classic screen and use the Metro when I choose to.
As I have said on numerous occasions they should give you a choice at either installation or registering to either have the Metro or the Classic then everyone could have what they what they want.
Userlevel 7
Surprisingly, I have to say, I thought that I would not like either the Metro (more correctly now called the Modern) UI or Win 8.1 but have to say that on a touch screen I do enjoy soem aspects of the Start screen, and when I prefer to revert to the good Ol Desktop then it is just a button push away...so I see it that one has the best of both worlds...but only if you have a touch screen. 
 
In reality I think that basically Win 8/8.1 is an improved Win 7 with the option of a new interface that has not been properly sold/marketed/presented to the users...and of course the detractors of Microsoft have found something new to moan about (not saying that MS is a paragon of virtue).
 
I have yet to find something that I do on my Win 7 system that I cannot do or cannot do as well if not better on my Win 8.1 system.
 
Just my thoughts...for what they are worth...but then, they are mine...and I am entitled to them...;)

Reply