Microsoft to kill off the Windows Desktop -- confirmed?

[JorgeA]

I have become aware of what appears to be a long-range Microsoft plan for the future of computing technology. It would appear from the associated series of (short) videos that Microsoft intends ultimately to get rid of the desktop interface in favor of the type of UI that we've seen evolving since Windows 8 came out. Apparently this has been in progress for several years. The goal seems to be sort of out in the open, although awareness of it among the computing public is evidently limited.

 

The "vision" is fairly interesting, but it brings up a number of questions.

 

I see a lot of poking and pinching and swiping of screensful of data, but very little in the way of how this information is all put together. Did the writers of the electronic newspaper poke their articles into a floor-to-ceiling screen? Or did they speak their reports into some kind of receiver? And if the latter, if they then needed to edit something in the middle of the text, did they have to laboriously tell the computer to go back to between "a" and "disaster," then insert "great" between them? It woiuld seem more practical to, umm, just type.

 

The few people using actual keyboards of any kind in these videos are immersed (verb chosen on purpose) in visual elements and graphical distractions. How did they manage to focus on writing for long enough to put together coherent sentences, let alone compose whole articles or lines of code?

 

Somebody will have to actually write these sophisticated applications; I doubt that a poke-and-talk interface will be adequate for that. But in order to write, you need something to write ON. This something that you write on is known as... a desktop.

 

In all the videos there was one single instance (that I remember) of someone actually using a keyboard for something that looked like more than short commands, although it's not entirely clear that it's a physical keyboard. There was no visible differentiation of open applications or of instances of a single application; if he needed to switch from one application to another, how did he keep track of which is which?

 

The bottom line is that the desktop metaphor is indeed a useful and necessary one for the creation of content. And even those of us who don't create content for a living, sometimes wish to do so for friends and family, or for our own satisfaction or edification.

 

The videos keep bring up the idea of "productivity," but I see precious little production taking place here -- in the main, a seres of momentary and simplistic manipulations of existing data, rather than a prolonged engagement with information leading to something that did not previously exist. (Yes, I did see the video set in the factory.)

 

Last but not least, all of these connected devices, including the ones announcing your whereabouts, evidently communicate with one another via the Internet. I can see the NSA spooks salivating at the prospect of this one. Can anybody imagine a more convenient tool for a future tyrant to exploit? There would be no hiding from him (or her), and thus no prospect of getting rid of him.

 

--JorgeA

 

[jaclaz]

The few people using actual keyboards of any kind in these videos are immersed (verb chosen on purpose) in visual elements and graphical distractions. How did they manage to focus on writing for long enough to put together coherent sentences, let alone compose whole articles or lines of code?

NO comment :

http://www.laurenzvangaalen.nl/software/copywriter.htm

http://www.baara.com/q10/

 

And, just for the record, two years (a little more to be exact) later and two Windows OS releases (almost two to be exact, lets say 1 ³/₄) later, we are EXACTLY where expected:

http://www.msfn.org/board/topic/156866-now-theyre-chopping-up-the-start-buttons-bones/

http://www.msfn.org/board/topic/156866-now-theyre-chopping-up-the-start-buttons-bones/?p=999429

 

You see , I actually told you already ...

 

jaclaz

[dencorso]

Few people ever cooked their own golden-egg-laying hen and remained long enough in the market in any form to tell about it.

MS is trying hard to do that, and has already gotten a place in the Guinness as the longest-own-feet-shooting record-holder.

[NoelC]

Marketing dweebs don't have to make things work, they just have to think shit up.  The forum will probably bleep out the word, but it is the only one that fits.

 

Doesn't matter if the shit they conceive requires something to work in order to be viable.  They're bold and reimagining things.  Let the geeks figure out how to do it while they're away at their toga parties celebrating their success.

 

-Noel

[ricktendo]

Desktop (like the command line) is not going anywhere!!!

[bphlpt]

+1

 

Cheers and Regards

[MagicAndre1981]

they have plans to remove the desktop for NEW WIn10 devices, which have screens smaller than 8".

[JorgeA]

Few people ever cooked their own golden-egg-laying hen and remained long enough in the market in any form to tell about it.

MS is trying hard to do that, and has already gotten a place in the Guinness as the longest-own-feet-shooting record-holder.

 

[source: http://www.fitnessmash.com/2014/02/4-tips-for-selling-personal-training/shoot-yourself-foot-internet-marketing-sabotage-online-marketing-success-training/]

 

--JorgeA

[jaclaz]

Naah, they do it programmatically:

http://www.toodarkpark.org/computers/humor/shoot-self-in-foot.html

and seemingly they do it by using XAML, a bettered XML, only worse .

http://blog.pluralsight.com/future-of-xaml

 

jaclaz

[JorgeA]

 

You see , I actually told you already ...

 

 

You did indeed!

 

BTW, your prophetic powers are superior to those of the geniuses at Microsoft. Apparently Microsoft hoped to implement this vision (the one in the videos) by the year 2019. That's looking unlikely, to say the least.

 

--JorgeA

[JorgeA]

Naah, they do it programmatically:

http://www.toodarkpark.org/computers/humor/shoot-self-in-foot.html

and seemingly they do it by using XAML, a bettered XML, only worse .

http://blog.pluralsight.com/future-of-xaml

 

jaclaz

 

That first one was pretty funny.

 

The author of the article in the second link -- his name looks like he should be working on the MS Office team.

 

--JorgeA

[NoelC]

 

Apparently Microsoft hoped to implement this vision (the one in the videos) by the year 2019. That's looking unlikely, to say the least.

 

I'll bet the very first person to think that up really imagined (re-imagined for short) that Microsoft would have coded something better by 2019.

 

-Noel

[HarryTri]

What about the new multiple desktops feature?

[jaclaz]

What about the new multiple desktops feature?

Like the ones I have in blackbox since - still say - 2005 or 2006?

http://www.msfn.org/board/topic/172826-windows-10-first-impressions/page-3#entry1088850

 

Though I personally find them a very nice feature  , it's hard to sell them as "new"...

 

jaclaz

[JorgeA]

Maybe I'm wrong, but it seems to me that the new multiple desktops feature in Windows 10 is a bit of a misnomer.

 

Played around with it a little. The trouble with it (unless I missed something) is that sure, you can set up different sets of windows in each "desktop," but all of the open windows still show up in the Taskbar. To my mind, a true "multiple desktop" means having a completely different set of both windows and open-application taskbar icons for each desktop. Otherwise, what's the point? You still have all the same programs for your various purposes showing down there, just like before you had "multiple" desktops.

 

--JorgeA