Microsoft will probably drop Windows 8 "Metro" screen

I detest Metro. Here's what it looks like at bootup. Where's the start button? How do I get to my programs? It sucks...



Microsoft first introduced the look with Windows Phone 8. It brought it to PCs last fall.

Foley says the gossip is that Windows Blue will feature a more traditional look.

Foley:

Quote :

Reports from a couple of different forums from this past weekend raised the possibility that Microsoft might be moving toward allowing users to skip booting into the Metro-Style Start menu and instead start their PCs in desktop mode. (Winbeta.org noted the thread about this on April 14.)

One of my sources confirmed this is now looking like the plan and added that Microsoft is also considering bringing back the Start button as an option with Windows Blue.

My daughters computer runs Windows 8. On her Metro screen there is an icon that says Desktop. When she clicks that it takes her to a desktop that look very similar to Windows 7 or Vista.

Ghost_Rider1949 wrote:

My daughters computer runs Windows 8. On her Metro screen there is an icon that says Desktop. When she clicks that it takes her to a desktop that look very similar to Windows 7 or Vista.

We have two computers running Windows 8, so we're familiar with that GR. But there is still no Start button and you have to boot into Metro first.

I can handle a moderate amount of improvements in each Windows upgrade, but to scramble everything in an effort to make the computer screens look like their Windows phones and vice versa... just sucks.

One of the big "improvements" they have is that, from Metro, you can just start typing the name of the program you want to run and matches to the typing come up.

Well, that's fine for people with a good memory, but I cannot remember crap. I want to see a list of the programs and cutesy icons that I recognize and I want it in a format that I am halfway familiar with...

There is a program named 'Classic Shell' that provides a full pre-Windows 8 user interface to PCs running Windows 8. I installed it on a new Dell laptop that came with Windows 8.

My laptop now boots to a UI that is almost identical to XP Pro. If I want to, I can still toggle back to the original Windows 8 UI.

If I hadn't found 'Classic Shell', I think I would have given up on Windows 8.

http://www.classicshell.net/

Nosyarg wrote:

There is a program named 'Classic Shell' that provides a full pre-Windows 8 user interface to PCs running Windows 8. I installed it on a new Dell laptop that came with Windows 8.

My laptop now boots to a UI that is almost identical to XP Pro. If I want to, I can still toggle back to the original Windows 8 UI.

If I hadn't found 'Classic Shell', I think I would have given up on Windows 8.

http://www.classicshell.net/

Now THAT is what I call good news! I LOVE XP Professional... I'mma make a note of this so that someday when I have to "upgrade" to W8 I can upgrade (without the quotes) using the Classic Shell program.

It looks like this runs on Windows 7 too... DAMN, I wish I'd have known about this sooner! LOVE THIS. Thank you so much for sharing this Nosyarg. I've already sent it to Az and she's super excited about it too.

I installed Classic Shell today. It is much better.

Eric wrote:

I installed Classic Shell today. It is much better.

On a Win7 or 8 machine?

It was a windows8 box we use for playing music, video editing/viewing... multimedia stuff, mostly. It is connected to the receiver and the TV in the living room.

I'm familiar with Windows7 and used Classic Shell to simulate Windows7.

It has been a long time since I have used XP.

I almost f*ed my current laptop by tweaking one too many things to make it look, act, perform like XP-Professional... ended up having to reinstall W7 and start over, without doing that one last thing that nearly pushed it over the edge. I'm sure it would be way better if I put everything back to factory settings (W7) then ran Classic Shell to emulate XP-Pro.

But it's a crappy laptop to begin with, and it tells me that I watch too many movies on it... when I bought it I was in Kansas and had cable tv, so I wasn't concerned with getting something that got so much usage out of the video and sound cards, and things like that. I just needed it for regular ole stuff. Internet, Excel,... uhh, that's about it! lol.

I have had no experience with Metro. Based on the looks of it, I had our computer guy remove it and install Microsoft 7 on our new computer. We wouldn't have bought the computer otherwise.

I think Metro will go down in history as Microsoft's biggest failure.

PBulldog2 wrote:

I have had no experience with Metro. Based on the looks of it, I had our computer guy remove it and install Microsoft 7 on our new computer. We wouldn't have bought the computer otherwise.

I think Metro will go down in history as Microsoft's biggest failure.

I didn't like Vista either, lol.

Eric wrote:

PBulldog2 wrote:

I have had no experience with Metro. Based on the looks of it, I had our computer guy remove it and install Microsoft 7 on our new computer. We wouldn't have bought the computer otherwise.

I think Metro will go down in history as Microsoft's biggest failure.

I didn't like Vista either, lol.

Oh geez, no, Vista was a pain. It took forever to boot, and sometimes it didn't boot at all and I'd have to go through the restore process. Never again!

I read where Microsoft is also working on an operating system you access off the internet, like they have been pushing their Office applications the last few years. Code named "Mohoro", I don't think this downloadable operating system is going to fly either. Well, it might fly as a turkey.

My machine takes forever to boot as it is... I don't need to sit for a half hour while my PC downloads Mohoro each time I boot.

I like having my software on my machine... not on the internet, where bandwidth determines how fast it is going to run.

I installed Classic Shell earlier today and customized it via the advanced settings... *LOVE IT*! Of course, I'd already tweaked my machine to look, feel and act as much like XP as possible, but this certainly helps.