This was part of a discussion I had with a friend lately. I argued that windows 8/RT desktop environment looked fug-ugly compared to WP8/ModernUI and that it needed a MAJOR overhaul. Because TBH windows still looks generally the same now, as it did 10-15 years ago & is only really optimised for displays that are 13-24". But the thing is I see windows going to larger displays (HTPC's and Living Room PC's) and smaller ones (Handsize tablets) and windows on these displays just doesn't function nice.
However, my friend argues that they couldn't change the entire UI/UX of the desktop environment because too much legacy stuff will look out of place and be confusing. I understand this may be the case in a business environment where loads of a wide range of diverse and unique tailored software is used BUT I don't think it's a problem for the average home PC user.
The way I see it is that most people only use a couple of different applications on their home PC/laptop and I'm pretty sure it's only a handful of applications would need updating to the new UI for consumers to not have headaches.
So I was wondering, what do you actually run on a day-to-day basis?
Here's mine.
DAILY:
Chrome
VLC
Office
Adobe Reader
Dropbox* (Doesn't have a UI :laugh: )
That's mine! If MS came up with a much more unified ModernUI inspired desktop, I would only need 5 developers to update their app to the same style and I'd be happy.
All the major web browsers (everything from IE to Opera), not that web browser developers have been respecting their platforms' UI conventions for the last few years anyhow.
Office (mostly Word, OneNote, and Outlook).
Pidgin.
Steam (not that its terribly respectful of UI conventions either).
Windows Explorer (obviously built-in, but the TIFKAM "replacements" are crap unless you have reallllly fat fingers and no mouse).
Various terminal apps (cmd, powershell, bash, etc.).
Visual Studio.
A bunch of others that aren't "every day" but are needed for my job and such, although they rarely get run on my home system.
A bunch of full-screen games, but I suppose those don't count.
On my Acer W510, I've installed:
Chrome - works better than IE with AirDroid for connecting w/my Android phone
iTunes - still use my 7 y/o iPod in my car
Zune - can download 10 drm-free songs monthly on the grandfathered Zune pass subscription
Dropbox
Google Drive
Skydrive - can't upload folders w/the Win store app
Office
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I use dropbox,quake 3,vlc,microsoft office,evernote,pidgin,winamp and WinRAR
Here's what I use normally:
WinSCP
PuTTY
Hyper-V
A few Hyper-V terminals
Pandora One Desktop App
NetBalancer
Mumble
Opera
Firefox
Chrome
Steam
Deluge Manager
Task Manager
Visual Studio 2012 (and various related tools, such as windbg or remote debuggers)
Skype (Desktop Skype, Metro Skype has issues)
X-Chat (Hexchat)
WinRAR
VLC
Xming
Netbeans
Of all of these, the only ones I could see realistically being reproduced in Metro are:
Opera
Firefox
Chrome
Steam
Skype (Well, it is, but I can't get the Metro Skype to stay connected for any length of time)
Mumble
Pandora
X-Chat (Any decent IRC client would do, but there weren't any last I looked)
PuTTY (It could be ported, though I think it would work far better as a window)
VLC
Xming
netham45 said:
Of all of these, the only ones I could see realistically being reproduced in Metro are:
Opera
Firefox
Chrome
Steam
Skype (Well, it is, but I can't get the Metro Skype to stay connected for any length of time)
Mumble
Pandora
X-Chat (Any decent IRC client would do, but there weren't any last I looked)
PuTTY (It could be ported, though I think it would work far better as a window)
VLC
Xming
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Chrome already has (a really poor, is just the desktop browser without any options) Metro browser, Firefox has a beta version that looks and acts like an Android app. Gabe Newell is ****ting his pants over Windows 8 because it cuts him out of game sales completely: the Windows Store is already Steam. I don't know what Mumble is. There is already a third-party Pandora client that is excellent. There are already multiple IRC clients for Windows Metro. A TTY app needs to be Windowed? You really believe that? I run PuTTY on my eMate, let's be real here. VLC is begging for money so that they can decide how and when they want to make a VLC for Metro. I have already moved to MPC-HC and CCCP. I think you will see something like XBMC for Metro before any of the others because it is more portable in terms of being self-contained and not needing to hose down the system with files and registry entries to operate correctly.
dragon_76 said:
Chrome already has (a really poor, is just the desktop browser without any options) Metro browser, Firefox has a beta version that looks and acts like an Android app. Gabe Newell is ****ting his pants over Windows 8 because it cuts him out of game sales completely: the Windows Store is already Steam. I don't know what Mumble is. There is already a third-party Pandora client that is excellent. There are already multiple IRC clients for Windows Metro. A TTY app needs to be Windowed? You really believe that? I run PuTTY on my eMate, let's be real here. VLC is begging for money so that they can decide how and when they want to make a VLC for Metro. I have already moved to MPC-HC and CCCP. I think you will see something like XBMC for Metro before any of the others because it is more portable in terms of being self-contained and not needing to hose down the system with files and registry entries to operate correctly.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Gabe Newell is going crazy because of competition. The Store is not replacing Steam, the games in it are at a different level (mobile casual games) than the desktop games from Steam.
scaryshark said:
The way I see it is that most people only use a couple of different applications on their home PC/laptop and I'm pretty sure it's only a handful of applications would need updating to the new UI for consumers to not have headaches.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
While I'm sure there are a lot of people who don't use their PC's for much beyond e-mail and the web, I think you're vastly underestimating the number of people who DO use more than just a handful of basic applications.
On a typical day, I use:
At least 3 to 4 programs from the Adobe Master Collection, and I need frequent access to all but maybe 3.
Several 3D programs including LightWave 3D and Luxology Modo.
SmartFTP
Virtualbox
Tight VNC client
All the major web browsers
Several small utilities like notepad++, Media Player Classic, etc.
That's my biggest criticism of the new UI - it pretty much assumes no one does anything productive with their computers. If Microsoft truly thought it was the future, why isn't Office fully Metro complaint? Because a touch UI is simply not an efficient way to control applications with ANY degree of complexity.
I appreciate this thread, as I am considering what I really do with my legacy apps that I can't do on rt. I use office, and adobe, but really on a day to day basis that is really it. Office 2013 works with metro ui, so I wonder just how beneficial legacy apps, other than games that are desktop, are going to be in the future. I have the Sammy Ativ smartpc 500t btw. I love it, but really dig the look and design of the surface. RT made me go with the intel run tablet, and I know the surface pro is coming out, but a bit pricey. Anyway, as I say, the two main legacy apps I use are office and adobe.
dragon_76 said:
Chrome already has (a really poor, is just the desktop browser without any options) Metro browser, Firefox has a beta version that looks and acts like an Android app. Gabe Newell is ****ting his pants over Windows 8 because it cuts him out of game sales completely: the Windows Store is already Steam. I don't know what Mumble is. There is already a third-party Pandora client that is excellent. There are already multiple IRC clients for Windows Metro. A TTY app needs to be Windowed? You really believe that? I run PuTTY on my eMate, let's be real here. VLC is begging for money so that they can decide how and when they want to make a VLC for Metro. I have already moved to MPC-HC and CCCP. I think you will see something like XBMC for Metro before any of the others because it is more portable in terms of being self-contained and not needing to hose down the system with files and registry entries to operate correctly.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I posted those on that list regardless if they were ported or not to Metro.
Steam is better than Windows 8's games purely because of the already-established userbase/games
Mumble is a VoIP solution geared towards gaming
The third-party Pandora client, while decent, still has some standby issues on Windows RT. I'm hoping the official client (if/when it comes out) will have these solved.
Yes, I believe an SSH client is better off windowed. It's nice to be able to have a web browser and multiple SSH clients open on one screen. Also, there's no need to be condescending over a matter of preference.
VLC is looking for aid to help pay off the development costs for a totally-free app they produce, I don't think it's unreasonable for them to ask. MPC-HC requires codec packs (such as CCCP), whereas VLC has their codec packs bundled in, making an easier all-in-one install. I do agree that XBMC is a likely candidate for being ported first.
Spectredroid said:
Office 2013 works with metro ui
...
Anyway, as I say, the two main legacy apps I use are office and adobe.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Unless I'm mistaken (which I could be), Office 2013 does not work in metro - it's run from the RT desktop ui, so it's not really a "metro" application.
And when you say you use Adobe, what do you mean by that? It could refer to anything from Adobe Acrobat reader to Photoshop, After Effects and the rest of their graphic applications.
If you just use Acrobat Reader, there probably is, or will shortly be, a fully metro compliant reader, so that wouldn't be a problem. But if you use one of Adobe's graphics programs, there isn't, and I can't see there ever being, Metro and/or RT versions. First, the ARM architecture just doesn't offer the performance needed for the type of work Adobe's applications were designed to do. And second, the Metro/touch ui just doesn't facilitate the on-screen information density needed for the amount and intracasy of the tools.
Adobe may make "Touch" apps for Metro/RT similar to Photoshop Touch on iOS, but that's extremely limited in features and capabilities.
So if you need to use any of Adobe's main graphics programs, there's your decision right there - RT is out. If you just need to view PDFs, aside from the previously mentioned Office, then RT is a viable option.
Was wondering if there is any other way of running Android apps on Windows 8?
I have tried Jar of Beans, and it didn't work at all for me, and I am not willing to install Bluestacks just yet. Bluestack is always on in the background, and eats up resources.
Any other ways then Jar of Beans, Bluestacks, VM and Duel Boot?
Duel Boot is not an option for me, as I want to be able to run both Android and Windows apps side by side.
Ummm... why would you expect there to be other ways of doing this? I'm surprised there are that many! As a general rule, software written for operating system A on architecture X can't be expected to run on OS B / Arch Y...
Even if you stick to pure Dalvik (no native code at all), which makes the architecture thing less of an issue, the Dalvik runtime is not a simple thing, and Windows doesn't ship with anything like it (well, in concept .NET is similar, but in implementation it's completely unrelated).
You could install the Android SDK and Emulator and use that, but it's horribly slow...
Maybe try getting Jar of Beans to work? It works fine for everyone else, so why not try to troubleshoot the problem? Search the thread, or ask for help in the thread?
Dismissing it just because it didn't work out of the box isn't really the way we do things here
Does bluestacks work on windows 8 yet? Try that
Sent from my HTC One X+ using Tapatalk 2
ishan said:
Was wondering if there is any other way of running Android apps on Windows 8?
I have tried Jar of Beans, and it didn't work at all for me, and I am not willing to install Bluestacks just yet. Bluestack is always on in the background, and eats up resources.
Any other ways then Jar of Beans, Bluestacks, VM and Duel Boot?
Duel Boot is not an option for me, as I want to be able to run both Android and Windows apps side by side.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Maybe you might try Android-x86?
AndroHero said:
Does bluestacks work on windows 8 yet? Try that
Sent from my HTC One X+ using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Beta 1 works, Beta 2 didn't work for me.
I tried to develop an android application that will be used to calculate electricity bill in a house using android studio and Genymotion as the emulator. But i encountered some problems as the laptop i used is running out of RAM if i were using both of them at the same time. When i tried using Genymotion to run the application, the emulator will tell me "unfortunately, application has stopped.". I struggled to find the problem because the android studio sometimes are running fine and sometimes dont. It will lag most of the time together with Genymotion.
As i am running out of time for the developing process, I would like to seek some alternatives for developing android application instead of using Android Studio. I have Adobe Flash, Flash Builder and Unity in my laptop as well.
My laptop is 2.5GB of RAM. Is there any other software to develop the android applications without upgrading my RAM?
Thank you.
Try to run the application on a real device
deleted
Have you tried Android studios emulator?
Make sure you are using the right system image for your CPU architecture. Also older versions of Android should be lighter on RAM to run. Try the oldest version your app will support.
If you're still unable to run it you can try removing some system apps from the emulator.
I do all my testing on my phone through wireless adb. It makes life so easy. If you're going to be doing a lot of Android development you need an android device period.
Android Studio Emulator is heavier than Genny Motion, but no limitation.
You may use real device for testing purpose. Use eclipse is also less heavier than Android Studio, but it's nolonger supported.
If you running the Android Studio and emulator, the hardware must be at least 4GB ram.
If you have to make a videogame, I suggest to continue to use Unity.
Hello, im a new user of the Nvidia Shield TV (Well i don't have it with me yet) but not new at all to Android world, flashing, etc.
Everything i want to use it for its been covered and already have read and watched videos about it, except 1 thing i need to do and yet there's little documentation and not much video reviews about it.
I want to be able to run few linux applications from Android TV, no dualboot. I prefer NOT to mess much with my shield, meaning avoid flashing custom kernels and even root if possible.
I need to run gimp, torrent client, java and few java apps (no games),nothing fancy with a light weight GUI like LXDE, needs to be always available 24/7 in the background.
There is LXC Containers for Shield Android TV covered in the link below, but that would require rooting and flashing custom kernel: http://www.videomap.it/forum/viewtopic.php?f=25&t=1604&sid=f53730b7bd38a192f2e08516fecd95c1
There is Linux Deploy app and similars that may require or not root. LD gives the option to use rootfs too.
If any of you have a similar setup already running please post a brief review of your setup, what distro are you running and what method/app did you choose to run linux on android and why. Interested in speeds and performance aswell.
- V