back to article Windows 8.1 update 'screenshots' leak: Metro apps popped into classic desktop taskbar

A set of screenshots leaked to the web purports to show how Microsoft is working to better integrate Metro-style apps with the classic desktop in a forthcoming update to Windows 8.1. The screenshots, which were posted online by Russian serial leaker "WZor," were allegedly taken from a prerelease testing build of Windows 8.1 …

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  1. LarsG

    Reverse

    Reverse gear, reverse gear and be quick about it!

    Oh and slightly off subject, is anyone else being plagued by a slidy outie pop up box 'More from the Register' here on El Reg that appears from the right hand side midway down and covers the 'make a comment' box at the most inconvenient time.

    Or am I being victimised?

    1. sam bo

      Re: Reverse

      "Or am I being victimised?"

      you're being victimised :-) Not showing up here on a win8.1 machine but it is running Firefox with adblock , so that may be why.

      I'm on wireless broadband here with an 8GB quota for the month. I just hope the update isn't another 3.6GB download when it finally arrives.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Reverse

        FF and adblock here too. No sign of it.

        1. Dave 126 Silver badge

          Re: Reverse

          I don't use Adblock on The Reg, because a, I like The Reg and b, their adverts are not normally intrusive - they get the balance correct. A month or so back there was an annoying Microsoft advert here with audio, but I can only assume that this was a rare oversight. Were that kind of advert the norm here, then yes I would enable Adblock.

          A good number of websites have become almost unusable in the last year or so, with constant in-window 'pop-ups' and elements that break the normal conventions (such as changing the behaviour of my mouse scroll to move between photos, for example). The Reg is not one of them.

          1. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            Re: Reverse

            >I don't use Adblock on The Reg...

            I didn't used to, but they went through a phase of flash and/or heavily animated ads that meant I just killed them. I can't have stuff flashing and bouncing around the screen at work.

            1. Richard 22

              Re: Reverse

              noscript is great for only blocking the more annoying ads. I don't allow any Javascript on the Reg and it all functions pretty well. I reckon non-intrusive ads on here ought to be a) semi-relevant to me and b) pay for the site, so I haven't used ABP for a while.

              However the company I work for has recently implemented a corporate ad-blocker due to security concerns, so I no longer see ads on any site from work (I get a red and white "Ad Blocked" image instead, which is actually more annoying than the ads)

              1. Anonymous Coward
                Anonymous Coward

                Re: Reverse

                Unless you only go on a handful of the same websites Noscript ruins web browsing. Far better to run your browser in a sandbox such as Sandboxie or the web browser virtualisation offerings of Avast, Bitdefender, Comodo or Kaspersky.

          2. ThomH

            Re: Reverse

            > I don't use Adblock on The Reg

            I didn't until they started sliding things all over the screen. Hopefully I've managed to target just that one thing.

          3. This post has been deleted by its author

      2. aqk
        Thumb Down

        Re: Reverse - Mobility ISP comment

        What? Only 8 Gb?

        And I was complaining about my 10Gb monthly! Last month I accidentally went up to ~13.5 Gb, and my wireless Internet bill was $130 !!

        And still running Win 8.0 on a hard-to-transport big desktop - Obviously I do not feel like DLing that 3.5 Gb Win 8.1 upgrade.

        ISP is Bell Mobility Canada - for anyone who cares to know who this shoddy service is supplied by.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Reverse

      On an iPad it is a pain in the a@@@@@@@@@

    3. diodesign (Written by Reg staff) Silver badge

      Re: Reverse

      "Or am I being victimised?"

      Yes, you're in the 10% of readers that's seeing the sliding 'more from the register' design in an A-B test (see the forums). Drew says it's the least popular so far.

      I'm not seeing it, for instance.

      C.

    4. Michael Habel

      Re: Reverse

      PROTIP: Use ABP (FireFox, Chrome & Safari), and NoScript (FireFox only?), and never be plagued by Adds ever again.

      1. Oninoshiko

        Re: Reverse

        never be plagued by Adds ever again.

        Damn maths, plagues me it do!

        (hint, it's "ads" short for "advertisements," not "adds" which would be short for "additions." Furthermore, neither word is a proper noun.)

    5. Greg D

      Re: Reverse

      No, but also off-topic, I am getting more than a little annoyed at the slow-to-load page elements that cause the text formatting on the main article completely move around. I lose my place, but its just annoying as hell on EVERY article.

      Bloody adverts. Reg, fix your code please!

    6. Asok Asus

      Re: Reverse

      Seems like half the web sites are making their pages unusable with that right slide coverup the web page up so you cant' read it box. Firefox with Adblock Plus solves the problem.

  2. dssf

    Serial...

    Why did i think "killer" when I was Serial? Sigh...

    Anyway, Threshold probably will get changed when/if enough people associate "threshold" as "limit of pain tolerance", or as "Thrash-hold", which is an undesirable thing to envision being done to oneself, especially by a company unto its bread-and-butter users.

    Why cannot these companies operate in the mode/mood of "Let's bake bread together"? It is as if instead it is the user face down or bent over, to the grunting of "Let us BREAK BED together".... Except there's no "together" about it when it's one-sided... the user can feel "thrashed" and "holed"...

    1. Tommy Pock

      Re: Serial...

      Anyone...?

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Boffin

      Re: Serial...

      @dssf - "Why cannot these companies operate in the mode/mood of "Let's bake bread together"? It is as if instead it is the user face down or bent over, to the grunting of "Let us BREAK BED together".... Except there's no "together" about it when it's one-sided... the user can feel "thrashed" and "holed"..."

      ---------------------------------------------

      That's pretty funny right there.

      But let's get real - it's a DE - sorry, I have a hard time feeling "raped" or "assaulted" by a DE. If you really hate it that much, there's about a thousand other DE's out there you can use. Besides, with Classic Shell, I don't even notice Metro ~98% of the time. And in touchscreen mode, Metro actually works pretty good.

      1. Philip Lewis

        Re: Serial...

        "And in touchscreen mode, Metro actually works pretty good."

        Maybe so, but the problem is most people don't have a touchscreen anywhere near their desks, so a counter intuitive quirky interface requiring secret touch gestures is not likely to be high on the love list for most.

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Holmes

          Re: Serial...

          And, once you get your hands on a touchscreen ultrabook like I have where the monitor snaps off into just a tablet, you might not want to go back.

          So there's that.

          1. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            Re: Serial...

            Your experience/demands may well differ from a lot of us here.

            When you can run 6 * 4GB VM's with 200GB of Databases and storage on your shiny-shiny touchscreen then I for one will be interested. My 17in Laptop with 32Gb Ram and 2TB of HDD can do that and drive TWO 1920x1200 screens at the same time.

            Until then a Surface device will be regarded by myself as a toy/plaything. If I want to surf the intenet while sitting on the loo (not the sochi type I might add) then my Android Tablet will do nicely.

            See, I don't do Windows touch screens. Believe me, I tried (my boss even let me use his Surface/Pro when he went on holiday) but who ever designed that UI needs to be taken out and shot.

            The rub is that he never started using it again when he returned. It is sitting idle. One of these day, I'll put Linux on it hence the Anon.

            1. Anonymous Coward
              Anonymous Coward

              Re: Serial...

              I am currently in the same position, the Boss bought himself one of the latest and greatests foldable laptops running 8.1. I am counting down the days until it gets relegated to the side drawer, the fun value will run out real soon, it then becomes mine......

            2. Phil_Evans

              Re: Serial...

              That's really not as daft as it sounds. For me, if you're getting bored of Windows as an OS (and the event horizon it seems to be headed towards), then Linux really can be the answer. Whilst I prefer a traditional desktop, I can see the appeal of Ubuntu and Unity for the incumbent 'mobile' interface world. Whether Microsoft like it or not, the iOS and 'droid way of doing things is just the way it is for anyone not using a Windows 'device'.

              All this disclosure shows is that Microsoft are finally retro-fitting Windows 8 to the PC desktop where it belongs. The traction in Mobile OS for Microsoft suggests that the whole common UX thing is a loss-leader. My money would be going towards killer apps on droid and iOS - a totally alien business model, but I WOULD use Office, Skype and OWA (or something much better) on a mobile device.

              'God help them, if it were raining soup, they'd be out with forks'

            3. Anonymous Coward
              Anonymous Coward

              Re: Serial...

              > who ever designed that UI needs to be taken out and shot.

              He was. Unfortunately the UI didn't go with him.

            4. Michael Habel

              Re: Serial...

              The rub is that he never started using it again when he returned. It is sitting idle. One of these day, I'll put Linux on it hence the Anon.

              Can that even be done? I'm sure that increase its value significantly.

            5. Robert Grant

              Re: Serial...

              If you run all that on your own PC, you're probably crazy.

        2. Terry 6 Silver badge

          Re: Serial...

          Well put Mr. Lewis

          says it all really.............

          ".........the problem is most people don't have a touchscreen anywhere near their desks, so a counter intuitive quirky interface requiring secret touch gestures is not likely to be high on the love list for most."

          Say that and you've said all that needs saying,

      2. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Serial...

        > Besides, with Classic Shell, I don't even notice Metro ~98% of the time.

        I went to the dentist, and got a filling that hurt so much I couldn't sleep or eat. But it only hurt like that for half an hour each day - so that's ok!

    3. Splodger

      Re: Serial...

      The upcoming Win8 update/Win9:

      Will it still have MS Skydrive cloudy bollocks baked in to the OS?

      Will it still have utterly shit wifi network management?

      Will it still call programs "apps"? (I'm not a teenager FFS!)

      Will it still attempt to force me to have MS accounts & sign up for the ridiculous "app store"?

      Will it in fact still have the ridiculous "app store"?

      Will it still only have a help function if connected to the internet?

      Will it still force people to hunt down settings options? (Clue: put them ALL in "Settings"!)

      Will it still have swipes and fecking wanky "charms"?

      Will it still refuse to work with peripherals that worked perfectly with Win7?

      Will it still be intrusive, annoying and goddamn infuriating?

      Etc.

      Fix all that and the rest, otherwise no. Thanks, but no.

      1. Gav

        Re: Serial...

        Settings. Yeah.

        Had to add an account to a Win8 laptop the other day. All the options for editing and configuring the user accounts are on the Control Panel. Much like Win7, and every other Windows since forever. But the option for creating a user account? In an entirely different place that took me half an hour to hunt down. Of course.

  3. dssf
    Joke

    Optional Thrash

    "Thrash", per:

    http://www.thefreedictionary.com/thresh

    Probably IS appropos, too, as in "Thrashold", hahaha

    TOSFKATT: The Operating System Formerly Known As Thresh-holed/Thrashold"

  4. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    In a surprise move, Microsoft is also going to add the traditional Windows desktop, including Program Manager to Windows Phone 8.2 (codename 'Warp Redux') and Nokia will be supplying a wired mouse with every phone.

    Sources close to the matter stated: "doing this is the only way we haven't already screwed up" and vowed to "short MSFT long AAPL as soon as I can get my sorry ass to my broker"...

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Coffee/keyboard

      You forgot to mention that due to a huge breakthrough in technology, "the mouse has been enabled in MS-DOS mode". That's going to be a key selling point for this shiny new OS.

    2. Captain Save-a-ho
      Coat

      So...

      Are they scraping WordPad to bring back EDLIN?

    3. Ron Christian

      desktop on every phone

      > Sources close to the matter stated: "doing this is the only way we haven't already screwed up"

      They sort-of have already screwed up in this fashion. Windows Mobile 6 and earlier had this tiny "Start" button in the lower left of the Home screen that invoked a walking menu that had to be touched very precisely.

      But the point I think you're trying to make still stands -- putting a desktop paradigm on a mobile device is ill-advised. However, putting a mobile paradigm on a desktop device is *not*, repeat *not* the solution.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: desktop on every phone

        I remember Windows Mobile phones from a decade ago, at least they had a stylus for touching the mini-CE start menu.

        Difficult to get that point of accuracy with a big chubby finger. (oo-er!)

        1. Terry 6 Silver badge

          Re: desktop on every phone

          I had Windows PDAs. They did the job for taking notes while I was out and about, doing my job, keeping a diary etc..Then uploading it to the PC later.

          Plenty to moan about, but they worked. I used mine happily and efficiently. A stylus, a limited number of icons and a purpose.

          Intuitive. Efficient.

          1. Peter Gathercole Silver badge

            Re: desktop on every phone

            Ditto Palm devices.

  5. tsf

    So they're moving toward allowing 'Apps', or for the non trendy traditionalist's, 'Programs' to run on the desktop.

    What will they think of next?

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Trollface

      Your serial ports and parallel ports are going to work twice as fast due to some advanced technical wizardry. And your dialup speed will be an amazing 112 kbits/s - the webernet will practically spring to life for you.

    2. Vociferous

      > What will they think of next?

      I hear they're toying with the idea to let the user have more than two windows open at the same time. Maybe even overlapping windows!

      1. solo

        Since you stole my words, I'll pretend to be serious: so, here goes the hard-work of the last (and next) 3-4 years of the most used OS advancement. Now, the MS cannot use that iMarketing phrase "The most advanced Windows yet".

    3. Ron Christian

      What will they think of next?

      Multiple CMD windows open at the same time?

  6. Herby

    Build conference, which will run from April 2–4 in San Francisco

    Ought to be interesting. My big wonder is if they wil let in people wearing Google Glass, or have the Homeland Security people usher them out.

    Of course, they could have a version of Windows that works on Google Glass, you never know. Now THAT would be interesting (and pigs can fly)!

  7. Jordan Davenport

    "It's not clear how the Windows Store app icon got there in the screenshot, however, because the checkbox isn't checked."

    The Apply button is active, not greyed out, so if genuine, it's entirely possible that the person had checked that box to make the Windows Store icon appear and then unchecked it before making the screenshot.

    That said, other screenshots show the icon as pinned to the taskbar and not open.

  8. Vociferous

    My god it's full of ugly!

    I didn't think Windows 8 could get any worse, but seriously, that's one butt-ugly OS.

  9. joed
    Thumb Down

    State of denial?

    So just when all computer literate Windows 8 users figured out their way to get rid of Metro from obscuring their view, MS is trying to sneak in this new "feature" (I bet this update will be marked "critical").

    Some say that the first step is to admit to having a problem. Can someone direct Ballmer's team to nearest chapter of AA?

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: State of denial?

      > So just when all computer literate Windows 8 users figured out their way to get rid of Metro from obscuring their view, MS is trying to sneak in this new "feature"

      Maybe they are allowing Metro apps onto the desktop so that anyone who has bought apps with actual money will be able to carry on running them when they kill Metro.

      Maybe that's a flying pig.

  10. RobHib
    Thumb Down

    Not interested.

    Still using XP with a sprinkling of W7. For us, that's the end of the Microsoft line.

    Linux for new, XP where necessary/compatibility until the cows come home.

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