“Metro apps” becomes “Windows apps” and other obfuscations

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Some day Microsoft will get its branding act together. This is not one of those days.Windows Secrets Newsletter.
[See the full post at: “Metro apps” becomes “Windows apps” and other obfuscations]

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Woody: It is not great branding. And it is really, just descriptive naming (branding). So we now have Windows (Universal) Apps for PlatformName (except Xbox uses “on” but I suspect that will change in normal usage to “for”) and Windows Desktop Apps.

The biggest difference between the launches of Windows 8 and Windows 10 is that it was believed (especially by Sinofsky IIRC) that mobile would totally replace desktop. That is dead wrong. There will be an evolution from desktop towards mobile.

My personal experience with mobile has been a great teacher. There are 3 factors (think 3 strikes in baseball) that determine how easy (or not) it is for an individual to use mobile technology.

1. Some people find it to be easy to adapt to (passive capacitance) touch technology, originally made popular in the iPhone and now copied by everyone. Some cannot because ONLY About 90% of the population has SKIN THAT CAN BE SENSED BY TODAY’S CAPACITIVE TOUCH TECHNOLOGY. I AM NOT ONE OF THOSE; I AM PART OF THE OTHER 10%. If I were to always use it, I would have to keep a stylus tied to my body so that the stylus could always be used. I always lost styluses within a week after I buy them, so I stopped buying them.

2. Using today’s mobile devices requires a HIGH DEGREE OF FINE MOTOR SKILLS. I remember learning 25 years ago, in the early GUI days, that there is also a natural range in the degree of fine motor skills that a person has. Roughly half of people have good fine motor skills and half do not. Those who do not will never be fast with today’s technology. I AM NOT ONE OF THOSE.

3. Using today’s mobile devices requires SKINNY FINGERTIPS. I AM NOT ONE OF THOSE. For the purpose of calculating percentage of population can use today’s touch interfaces, I am guessing that it also is half have skinny fingertips and half do not.

I use the baseball analogy because THREE STRIKES AND YOU ARE OUT. I AM OUT.

At the extremes:

a) 0.9 * 0.5 * 0.5 = 22.5% of the population WILL DO WELL with today’s touch devices.

b) 10% will be UNABLE TO USE today’s touch devices.

c) That leaves 67.5% of the population with VARYING DEGREES OF ABILITY TO USE OR NOT USE today’s touch devices.

THIS IS AN UGLY PICTURE FROM MY POINT OF VIEW. It is apparently acceptable for the mass market.

How fast and how far the evolution from desktop to mobile becomes depends heavily on Microsoft Office, and it always has. That is why the touch enabled Office Suite that first appeared on the iPad is so important.

As for me, I put my money where my mouth is yesterday. I went into the Microsoft Store less than five miles from home and bought a LENOVO YOGA THINKPAD. I did not buy the Surface Pro 3 because I always want to have the keyboard attached.

Maybe some day Lenovo will make a “BlackBerry-like” Windows Phone. Until then, I have to hope that BlackBerry continues to have them built (I HAVE A Q10) and that they continue to support Exchange ActiveSync.

Very truly yours,

Jonathan Handler

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I don’t have the eyes or the fine motor skills of my youth, but I finally decided that at $329.00, the Microsoft Signature Edition of the ASUS Transformer Book T100 A (grey metal) was a good enough deal on an adequate tablet for my on the go needs.

So far, Windows 8.1 has not caused me any huge catfits. It’s the device-specific things like the battery not being resistant to excessive strain when peripherals are attached to the keyboard dock’s USB port, quirks to no end about SD Card writing and reading, and a litany of minor annoyances which had me spending overtime setting up and backing up the tablet. With no optical drive, I had to learn how to do things like make recovery media using USB Flash Drives.

Initial battery life was over nine hours, but the second run involved a lot of backup operations with external USB hard drives. For that I should have stayed plugged in at all times. The battery lost about 7 percent of its capacity (according to Battery Bar by Osiris Software) due to the strain caused by those drives. Still, definitely a good travel device.

I haven’t been using the Windows Universal Apps, but the Desktop is working much as in Windows 7, without the Start Menu. If I really miss the Start Menu, I can add it back with third-party utilities.

The Atom Bay Trail processor is definitely pokey, but it can slog through most of my mobile needs pretty well. It is adequate for media streaming.

WiDi (Miracast) plus an Action Tech Screen Beam receiver makes for a wireless connection to a HDTV for extended viewing or streaming media content. I can also use either USB or Bluetooth for a full-sized keyboard. Wireless connections make me wonder how I ever did without them with my Toshiba Satellite laptop. I even got a wireless HDMI receiver and transmitter for that laptop.

So, yes touch on a 10 inch screen is a pain, but a stylus makes that less of a bother. Compared with trying to use Windows 8 without touch, the Transformer Book’s touch screen is a pleasure to use. The keyboard dock also helps with the touch (precision) issue. Reading the screen is another matter — that needs either reading glasses or a magnifying lens when a HDTV with WiDi isn’t available. The keyboard is just large enough for casual typing.

Overall, I think I can live with Windows 8.1 or Windows 10 when it comes out. The true desktop promised for Win 10 will be a necessity for the non-touch Toshiba Satellite. It’s using Windows 7 right now, and upgrading is going to become mandatory not long from next year. Probably my Windows 8.0 Pro OEM-PUL license with Windows Media Center will still be able to get converted for Windows 10 Pro with Media Center. As I discovered in my Linux installation, XBMC/Kodi is a perfectly serviceable open source alternative to Windows Media Center.

If and when un-cabling takes root, there may be a lot of Universal Apps for various streaming media services which will interest me. We’re probably looking at a two-year horizon for those services to become widespread and all the Hollywood content deals to be inked. I will still need to upgrade from DSL Internet Service to get the full advantage of going cordless.

I am looking forward to reading more about Windows 10 here and at Windows Secrets and InfoWorld. Thanks Woody for years of great Windows info, and here’s looking forward to years more.

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@RC –

Cheers!

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@RC –

BTW, Media Center in Win10 is still an unknown…

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That’s OK, Woody. In Linux i’m using XBMC, aka Kodi as my Media Center. It also is available for Windows 8/8.1. No reason to believe Kodi won’t be there for Win 10. I just mention that I have a license for the Windows Media Center, so I’m thinking I won’t have to pay for it again after a Win 10 upgrade. If it’s still there…

But as for what will or will not be in Windows 10, there’s even uncertainty as to whether Internet Explorer will still be around — or whether it will be “deprecated” in favor of Spartan. So one never knows…

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@RC –

Microsoft is slowly making its IE strategy clear. Looks like Spartan will ship as the default browser, but IE 11 will be available deep in the Start menu.

Media Center… that’s a horse of an entirely different – and completely unknown – color.

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Well, I’ve become a dedicated Chrome user anyway, so this will only be an issue (about IE/Spartan) when using the Transformer Book in mobile (not at home) situations. I presume IE 11 can be made the default with some deeply-buried settings, for non-touch desktop and laptop users?

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