The Windows 10 Tablet Experience

[BajiRav]

No it doesn't. For a start, Continuum doesn't work on most tablets, you have to switch to and from Tablet Mode manually. Secondly, Tablet Mode doesn't do anything to make working with touch easier. It is a waste of time. Windows 8 does a much better job of adapting and offers a far more consistent experience.

Continuum needs driver support from manufacturers, it's not a limitation of Windows 10 as such. What's waste of time about tablet mode? works pretty good on my Stream 7.

[Mockingbird]

You can only snap four windows on the Desktop, which is a completely different thing to split-screen. It wont' stop a full-frame program from opening over the top of all of them, nor will resizing one window resize the others.

 

I didn't think that screen being split into 4 verticals strips in Windows 8.1 is all that useful.

 

If I have to guess, Microsoft is likely redoing the split screen so that it splits into something like the quarter snap on the desktop.

[Motor_Mouth]

And well, I guess if you think spacing menus and buttons out and simplifying the layout is "nothing", then sure.

The only thing it spaces out are items in the System Tray, which eats into Taskbar space, making the Taskbar less useful. Items in Start and everywhere else remain exactly the same size and spacing in Tablet Mode. And "simplifying the layout" just means that you have to press more tiny buttons in Tablet Mode to get to things. To me that is harder, not easier. It was probably easier for them to implement but it is definitely harder for users.

 

Look, I don't hate Windows 8, but it's a bit schizophrenic and jarring switching between the two separate modes. 10 seems to give more choices (tiles or no tiles, tablet or desktop mode, etc) than its predecessor while still being smooth and fully integrated. Upgrade or don't, it doesn't matter to me what you do, obviously. I'm not trying to argue or convince anyone they're wrong--to each his own. Just saying, I think they've done a spectacular job combining the best bits of 7 and 8/8.1, adding heaps of great new stuff, and that it will only get better after the official release and further tweaks are made.

I've highlighted the key word in your post, "seems". Because that is precisely what it is - an illusion. It is "smooth and fully integrated" in the same way that XP, Vista or Windows 7 are, in that it only works properly on the desktop and is a royal PITA with touch.

[Motor_Mouth]

Continuum needs driver support from manufacturers, it's not a limitation of Windows 10 as such. What's waste of time about tablet mode? works pretty good on my Stream 7.

I have a Bluetooth keyboard and mouse, both made by Microsoft, so why would it up to Lenovo to make Continuum work? It has to be plug-and-play in 2015, which means it needs to be 100% in the OS and, therefore, up to Microsoft. It all works fine in Windows 8 without a driver - as soon as it detects a mouse, you get scrollbars - why should it need a driver in W10. If it does, it's just another example of how bad it is.

 

I didn't think that screen being split into 4 verticals strips in Windows 8.1 is all that useful.

Look at the image I posted a couple of days ago - a small strip down each side and a huge desktop space in the middle. It doesn't need to be four equal splits. In any event, with vertical scrolling back in vogue, long and narrow seems far appropriate than shorter and wider for most things, e.g. copying files between instances of Explorer, doesn't it?

[SionicIon]

Who cares? I have little or no interest in tablet apps. I have all the software I need and I have spent between 10 and 20 years (and well over $10,000 in licenses) getting as good as I can possibly be with it. I am not about to throw that all away just so I can work on a tablet. That's the genius of Windows 8 - I can have it all on one device, I don't need to learn a bunch of tablet apps so I can use my tablet, I can leverage that 20 years of experience on whatever device I happen to have with me. No, I am not going to be able to model and rig a character or do a 30 second 3D commercial for the cinema on the tablet I have today but I can absolutely go in and adjust a model or a rig if I have to, or make a few changes to a 30 second ad at a client meeting. And in one or two generations' time, who knows? Maybe I will be able to do those things on a tablet and, a generation or two after that, even a phone. Windows 8 seemed ready for that, Windows 10 doesn't

 

I've always seen iPads and Android tablets as interim devices, much like a hybrid car. They are placeholders for a time when the technology is good enough that they will do what we want of them without the limitations they have today. OTOH, a Windows tablet is more like the Tesla Roadster - a great idea, and definitely the future, but the hardware is still not quite there yet to make it as good as it could be. Hopefully the next generation of tablets will be more like the Model S - ready for primetime with fewer compromises and limitations.

 

Anyway, I haven't said I can't get anything done without the desktop, just that I need it for some tasks. Apple and Google want you to think that a tablet is this and a workstation is that because that suits their businesses. Windows 8 blurred those lines, allowing you to use desktop software on a tablet and also to use tablet-like gestures on a big screen. It didn't say "this is a tablet, you must use it only for this and that and only in this way" and "this is a PC, you must use it only for this and that and only in this way". Instead, it said "if your laptop or all-in-one has a touchscreen, you might find it handy to use some of these tablet features on your PC" and "just because you only brought your tablet with you doesn't mean you can't use your desktop software to get real work done". Windows 8 empowers users to choose whichever tool they think will work best, in any situation. Windows 10 takes a big step back from that, forcing you to choose one way of working or the other. Worse than that, if you choose Tablet Mode you don't get anything that actually facilitates working with touch.

 

Seriously, how does forcing every window full-screen make it easier to work on a tablet? How does hiding things away inside multiple levels of menus in Tablet Mode make it easier to work on a tablet? How does keeping the same scaling for the precision of a mouse and the vagaries of big, fat fingers make it easier to work on a tablet? Isn't that what everyone hated about Windows 8 - that everything was too big for desktop use, just so it would be touch-friendly? So how can anyone expect to fix that just by making everything small and unfriendly for touch?

 

It's not my opinion, these are verifiable facts. In Windows 8, I can have a mix of full-screen apps and a desktop with Windows applications in a split screen. Think of it as allowing any app to be "always on top". In Windows 10 I cannot do that, I must choose between one and the other. It limits everyone's choices compared to W8. Yes, I can snap apps on the desktop but that doesn't stop them from being covered by other windows. It is a big difference and it is there for everyone to see and verify for themselves. The only opinion involved is how much that matters to you. It matters enough to me that I won't be installing Windows 10 on my laptop, which is my main PC.

 

In W8 I know when something will close with a swipe and when I have to use the "X" button, because if I have to use the "X" button it is there where I can see it. If I don't have to use it, it is not there. It is a very obvious visual cue, along with the visibility of the taskbar and other obvious differences between modes, like chrome around the edges, etc. But in W10, the "X" button is always there, as is the unmaximise button even though it doesn't do anything (which makes W10 feel broken). The Taskbar is always there and the only visual cue I have is the back arrow in the Taskbar, which is only there in Tablet Mode. It requires a lot more effort and concentration to do something I do on W8 without having to think at all. As I said, two months of Windows 10 use and I still do it wrong on a daily basis, whereas I don't think I've done it wrong even once in nearly four years of Windows 8 use.

 

I'll also point out, for the fifth or sixth time, that there are two different environments in Windows 10. What else would you call Tablet Mode? So you cannot say that W8 has two separate environments and W10 doesn't. The difference is that the touch environment in W8 works, in W10 it doesn't.

 

I'm sorry but this is the most ridiculous argument you have yet made. All you are saying is that you don't need a desktop PDF reader in Windows 8, which I worked out more than three years ago. Here is a screenshot of a workflow I use when setting things up to go to the printer. By putting Reader into a split screen, I can move easily between applications, making adjustments and re-exporting to see how it will look for the printer when he gets hold of it. If I want one image bigger, all I have to do is slide the split one way or the other. The desktop application resizes it's GUI to fill it's split, like it would when adjusting it's window size, but Reader does it much better. Then, when I took a screenshot and opened Photoshop to export it, instead of Photoshop opening over the top of everything, it stayed on it's desktop side of the split, which was plenty for me to do what I needed to.

 

 

It's a workflow enabled by the Modern UI in Windows 8 that has advantages over working on the desktop. This particular workflow will still work in W10 but others that rely on a triple split will not. Again, this is a fact. You can have an opinion on how useful this is, that's fine, although you should give it a try before you decide. The workflow shown below, one I use all the time on my 21:9 monitor, is not possible in W10:

 

 

This is a fact, not an opinion.

 

I had a Surface Pro 2 for about a year, as a laptop replacement, and it never even occurred to me to scale the display. Native HD on a 12" screen is perfectly usable with a mouse and keyboard and Metro apps are perfectly usable with touch at that size, too. It is not ideal for desktop use, my SPro 2 was always attached to a monitor at home, but it was definitely usable when I was away from my desk. The same is true of my 8" tablet - it works much better when it is attached to a monitor but that doesn't mean I can't get work done when it's not. OTOH, my software just doesn't work if I scale the display. I end up with menus taking up all the space, leaving too little room for the document/image I am working on. These are all facts. Again, you can have an opinion on how useful it is to run a small screen without scaling but that doesn't alter the fact that it is measurably easier with W8 than with W10.

 

Whatever, your configuration is so minor it does not affect the overall Windows 10 tablet experience, which is much better in comparison to the Windows 8.1 tablet experience. Your screenshots are showing an 8 inch tablet running desktop applications you could never use with touch, you even make point you have several styluses because of this. What you do with your tablet is much more complex than what any Average Joe would use their tablet for. You've even said you haven't even thought of turning on scaling but the thing is it's funny you say that, it's already turned on by default. You might not think to turn scaling on but you think to turn it off because any high-resolution tablet ships with scaling on already.

 

Another thing is, you look at universal apps like dumbed down apps, you don't see potential in them because of your experience working with Win32 applications. Your case scenarios with apps in general are they assist you, but everything else is done using a desktop application. For example, reading PDFs, browsing the Internet, checking mail, listening to music. You don't want these activities full screen either. The thing is, universal apps have a lot of potential, and if iOS or Android apps start getting ported, then those universal apps will really show their functionality. This is what everybody generally wants.

 

Your case scenarios are mobilizing your desktop workload to a tablet without being limited by anything of Modern Windows. We understand you don't care about the new Windows and anything that it brings, and we get you like using a tablet but don't like anything that tablets are generally used for. But I'm pretty sure Microsoft wants the tablet experience right for the majority of users, not a super minority.

[Mockingbird]

Look at the image I posted a couple of days ago - a small strip down each side and a huge desktop space in the middle. It doesn't need to be four equal splits. In any event, with vertical scrolling back in vogue, long and narrow seems far appropriate than shorter and wider for most things, e.g. copying files between instances of Explorer, doesn't it?

 

Good:

 

 

Bad:

[link6155]

 

Bad

 

 

Agreed, it was a nifty idea, but wasn't very practical. I honestly found 3 apps to be way too crowded on my Surface Pro 3 screen. I wish there was 4 way snapping in tablet mode, but other than that snapping has improved quite a bit.

[Charisma Veteran]

The only thing it spaces out are items in the System Tray, which eats into Taskbar space, making the Taskbar less useful. Items in Start and everywhere else remain exactly the same size and spacing in Tablet Mode. And "simplifying the layout" just means that you have to press more tiny buttons in Tablet Mode to get to things. To me that is harder, not easier. It was probably easier for them to implement but it is definitely harder for users.

 

I've highlighted the key word in your post, "seems". Because that is precisely what it is - an illusion. It is "smooth and fully integrated" in the same way that XP, Vista or Windows 7 are, in that it only works properly on the desktop and is a royal PITA with touch.

OK, now you're just being needlessly argumentative. I was using softer language to further my point that it doesn't matter, do what you want, I will do things my way and you do things yours. It doesn't affect me or anybody else whether you upgrade or not--use whatever system suits you best.

 

But I'll be straight--it *does* give you more choices. With 8 you were forced into the new "two-sided" layout. With 10 you can turn off live tiles, turn off all touch functionality, and have the full desktop-only setup that a lot of older/power users prefer. Or you can have lots of tiles, use it in tablet mode with apps, and have a touch-only operation. OR, where it really shines, you can have a hybrid that lets you customise exactly how many features of each type you want and adapts in the case of a 2-in-1 device. I've been using the preview builds *and* I just got back from a conference where we used this extensively on all kinds of devices, from a small phone to a 2-in-1 to a 17-inch powerhouse gaming laptop. You can tell me that what you've seen doesn't suit your needs and that you won't be upgrading--that's fine. Please, by all means stick with 8. I'm glad somebody likes it. But you can't tell me that the features I saw and used don't exist or don't work the way I'm saying, because I know for a fact they do.

[Motor_Mouth]

But I'll be straight--it *does* give you more choices. With 8 you were forced into the new "two-sided" layout.

How were you? You could easily have chosen to stay on the desktop 100% of the time if that's what you wanted, or you could spend 100% of the time on the Metro side. Where Windows 8 gives you more choice though, is that you can pick and choose from each side of the fence to build solid, efficient workflows. That is simply not posible with Windows 10 because of the need to be in one mode or another. I've shown one example already, a three-way split with a big, fat desktop flanked by two apps. Another woudl be the fact that I do about 99% of my browsing on the Metro version of IE 11, mostly sitting at my desk with my laptop. The big UI elements and touch-friendly layout actually also make it easier and better to use with a mouse and keyboard, especially once you get a couple of dozen tabs open. Why? Because the "tabs" are actually thumbnails, so you can see every page you have open, making it simple to find what you are looking for. Once you get used to it, every other browser feels broken and useless.

 

With 10 you can turn off live tiles, turn off all touch functionality, and have the full desktop-only setup that a lot of older/power users prefer.

No, you can't. If you want to pin anything to Start, which any power user worth his or her salt will absolutely want to do, your only option is to pin it as a Tile. In fact, everything you see in W10's Start is a Metro style tile, not a W7 style shortcut icon. It's every bit as Metro as anything in Windows 8.

 

Or you can have lots of tiles, use it in tablet mode with apps, and have a touch-only operation.

Why would I use Tablet Mode with touch? All it does it make my tablet harder to use by hiding away things I might need. As I said before, it does absolutely nothing to make the touch experience even slightly better. It's infuriating because they acknowledge that touch users need bigger buttons (by spreading out the System Tray icons) but then they don't follow through and provide what they clearly know tablet users need. Tablet mode is a complete waste of time and I can't see a single reason to use it - my tablet is more usable without it. And I can't use Rainmeter in Tablet Mode because you can't get to the desktop.

 

OR, where it really shines, you can have a hybrid that lets you customise exactly how many features of each type you want and adapts in the case of a 2-in-1 device.

Where are these magical settings? The only Tablet Mode options I am aware of don't do anything at all to make W10 tablet usable.

 

I've been using the preview builds *and* I just got back from a conference where we used this extensively on all kinds of devices, from a small phone to a 2-in-1 to a 17-inch powerhouse gaming laptop.

Really? Are you sure? Because Continuum will only work on phones with new processors that are not currently available in any Windows handset. In fact, I don't think it's even in the software at this point. Maybe you live in some kind of future world where Windows 10 is good but I live right here in July 2015, and Windows 10 is a big step backwards from Windows 8.

 

It is not a matter of whether it suits me or not - because it took me a long time to build the workflows I use in Windows 8 now - it is worse in absolute, measurable ways. I've looked and I've tried a lot of things and the workflows I'd be able to build in Windows 10 are, in absolute terms, less efficient than the workflows I use now in Windows 8.

[Motor_Mouth]

Agreed, it was a nifty idea, but wasn't very practical. I honestly found 3 apps to be way too crowded on my Surface Pro 3 screen. I wish there was 4 way snapping in tablet mode, but other than that snapping has improved quite a bit.

Of course it is practical - these are workflows I use on my 29" super widescreen monitor, not on my tablet. Why does everyone assume that every new feature that came with Windows 8 is only good for touch? I use Metro features at least as often when working at my desk with a mouse and keyboard as I do on my tablet with just my fingers. In fact, about the only difference is the on-screen keyboard.

 

Good:

 

Bad:

So you can show us useless, inappropriate ways to use Windows, what does that prove? That said, both images seem equally "bad" to me. Your folder tree is cut off in Explorer in the top image, for example, it wouldn't be in the other layout. You also have a lot of wasted space in the bottom image that you could easily put to better use with just a single click-drag. OTOH, if you wanted to slightly re-organise the windows in the top image, it would require a lot of fiddling around. SO what, exactly, is the point you are trying to make? That you don't know what you're doing?

[BajiRav]

I have a Bluetooth keyboard and mouse, both made by Microsoft, so why would it up to Lenovo to make Continuum work? It has to be plug-and-play in 2015, which means it needs to be 100% in the OS and, therefore, up to Microsoft. It all works fine in Windows 8 without a driver - as soon as it detects a mouse, you get scrollbars - why should it need a driver in W10. If it does, it's just another example of how bad it is.

Was continuum ever supposed to work with BT keyboards? I am guessing it will kick in either when you undock a device or when a keyboard is physically detached.

[Dashel]

Simply having a BT k/m isn't Continuum.  You need a dock-able device.

 

Face it, you started a tablet experience thread to rationalize the bad Desktop workflows you adopted.

[jakem1]

I'm guessing that's about the best setting for that size of screen and that res, if it was a smaller, say 10" screen they'd have a higher default I'm sure.

My 10" Surface 2 also defaults to 150% DPI

[adrynalyne]

Simply having a BT k/m isn't Continuum.  You need a dock-able device.

 

Face it, you started a tablet experience thread to rationalize the bad Desktop workflows you adopted.

That's what it boils down to.

That and him feeling entitled to the point that MS needs to cater specifically to him.

[Motor_Mouth]

Was continuum ever supposed to work with BT keyboards? I am guessing it will kick in either when you undock a device or when a keyboard is physically detached.

Windows 8 works perfectly well with Bluetooth peripherals so I don't think it is any kind of stretch to expect that W10 would, too.

 

Simply having a BT k/m isn't Continuum.  You need a dock-able device.

Face it, you started a tablet experience thread to rationalize the bad Desktop workflows you adopted.

Are you listening to yourself? How can you possibly think that using a Bluetooth keyboard and mouse would not require the same settings as using physically attached ones? And you are forgetting, as pretty much everyone arguing in favour of Windows 10 is, that it all works perfectly with Windows 8. As I pointed out earlier, as soon as my Windows 8 machines detect a mouse, any kind of mouse, they start to draw scrollbars that are absent otherwise. They had it right, they just ballsed it up for no discernable reason.

 

I'd also point out that I didn't start this topic, I just weighed in on the patent stupidity of the video in the original post. What surprises me no end is tha tanyone would find any reason to argue, it is all so completely obvious to me.

[BajiRav]

Windows 8 works perfectly well with Bluetooth peripherals so I don't think it is any kind of stretch to expect that W10 would, too.

Windows 8 had continuum? I was referring to continuum. Windows 10 works with BT - what trouble did you have with it now?

[PGHammer]

That's not an active digitizer, which means no palm rejection nor hover features. It doesn't matter what size the pen is, something small is just going to be hard to press.

If you want an active digitizer, there are several available from Wacom - ever heard of their Bamboo series?  Cintiq Companion 2?

An active digitizer is HARDWARE - not software.

 

Small landing points isn't just an issue for digitizers - including passive ones; I pointed out far earlier (back with Windows 8, in fact), the problem it poses not just for digitizers, but for mouse users, and especially notebook and laptop users with their standard trackpads and touchpads - and I saw my concerns laughed at - especially by desktop users with mice.  Worse, it turns out that most of those SAME mouse users have high-DPI (either via hardware or software) pointing devices which can run nearly as much as a digitizer - in several cases, they are more expensive than a Wacom Cintiq Companion 2. (Ugh.)

[Mockingbird]

I can't wait for the new Windows 10 Universal apps to start arriving in the Windows Store.

 

I also can't help but wonder why Microsoft doesn't start accepting Windows 10 Universal apps into the Windows Store ahead of Windows 10 launch on July 29.

 

What will likely happen as a result is that developers who have been developing Windows 10 Universal apps will summit their apps and there will be a backlog leading to a trickle of Windows 10 Universal apps into the Windows Store.

[PGHammer]

I can't wait for the new Windows 10 Universal apps to start arriving in the Windows Store.

 

I also can't help but wonder why Microsoft doesn't start accepting Windows 10 Universal apps into the Windows Store ahead of Windows 10 launch on July 29.

 

What will likely happen as a result is that developers who have been developing Windows 10 Universal apps will summit their apps and there will be a backlog leading to a trickle of Windows 10 Universal apps into the Windows Store.

 

I can't wait for the new Windows 10 Universal apps to start arriving in the Windows Store.

 

I also can't help but wonder why Microsoft doesn't start accepting Windows 10 Universal apps into the Windows Store ahead of Windows 10 launch on July 29.

 

What will likely happen as a result is that developers who have been developing Windows 10 Universal apps will summit their apps and there will be a backlog leading to a trickle of Windows 10 Universal apps into the Windows Store.

The Windows 10 final SDK - which is a requirement to start developing Universal apps - is not released yet.

That won't released until Windows 10 itself is - July 29th. (This is why there will be a rather large backlog, since VS 2015 is out now.)

[Motor_Mouth]

Windows 8 had continuum? I was referring to continuum. Windows 10 works with BT - what trouble did you have with it now?

What is Continuum, other than a name for a set of features that were previously just the way things worked in Windows 8? Are people really that easily sucked in by simple marketing ploys like this? The image below shows the difference. The bottom part shows Windows 8's Start Screen without a mouse attached, the top part shows what it looks like after I switch my Bluetooth mouse on.

 

 

Cool, huh? As soon as it detects the mouse, I get scrollbars I can grab and move with the cursor and a button to enhance a swipe gesture. I don't need to change modes or invoke a feature that requires third party drivers, it just works when it detects a mouse. Best of all, I haven't had to choose working with a mouse over using touch because all the gestures are still there, allowing me to pick and choose how I want to work, especially on my laptop, which has a touchscreen. And to be clear, these are facts, not opinions. Am I really being so unreasonable to expect Windows 10 be as seamless, simple and effective as the version of Windows it is meant to replace?

 

Small landing points isn't just an issue for digitizers - including passive ones; I pointed out far earlier (back with Windows 8, in fact), the problem it poses not just for digitizers, but for mouse users, and especially notebook and laptop users with their standard trackpads and touchpads - and I saw my concerns laughed at - especially by desktop users with mice.  Worse, it turns out that most of those SAME mouse users have high-DPI (either via hardware or software) pointing devices which can run nearly as much as a digitizer - in several cases, they are more expensive than a Wacom Cintiq Companion 2. (Ugh.)

I'm not quite clear on the point you are trying to make but to illustrate the ease of working without scaling on a tiny tablet, I'll explain how I made the image above. I started my Thinkpad 8 (TP8) and took a screen grab of the Start screen. Then I pressed the Photoshop tile with my finger and while it was starting I took my Bluetooth mouse out and switched it on (by bending it!). With the mouse, I created a new Photoshop document, pasted the screen grab in and flattened it. Then I went back to Start, took another screen grab (mouse now attached), then pasted that over the top of the first image and did the editing to make it look the way you see it (move, crop, drop shadow). Then I saved it using "Save For Web", which required me to twice open the virtual keyboard, first to resize the image to 50% and then to name it. I saved the image to OneDrive so I could open it back on my laptop and post it on Imgur. Because my laptop was already open on my tiny desk (which is actually the nav table on my boat), I did all this while holding the tablet in my left hand and mousing with the right, with scaling set to 100% on my 8" 1920x1200 screen. If my tired, 56 year old eyes can manage it under such circumstances, anyone can.

 

Would it have been easier with scaling? Maybe, except by making all the toolbars and menus bigger, it leaves less room for the image I am working on, so it feels like I'm robbing Peter to pay Paul.

 

I can't wait for the new Windows 10 Universal apps to start arriving in the Windows Store.

Why? What advantages will they afford you over the Metro apps from Windows 8, most of which seem, finally, to be working on W10? If I was a dev who had already made a Metro app and a WinPhone app, I don't know that I'd bother. It seems like a lot of work for no benefit. I'd likely leave it until I had an app update to push anyway. And if I was planning an update, I'd likely leave it until Windows 10 Mobile is released, because that's when it will make sense to developers to put the effort in, not before.

[BajiRav]

What is Continuum, other than a name for a set of features that were previously just the way things worked in Windows 8? Are people really that easily sucked in by simple marketing ploys like this? The image below shows the difference. The bottom part shows Windows 8's Start Screen without a mouse attached, the top part shows what it looks like after I switch my Bluetooth mouse on.

 

 

Cool, huh? As soon as it detects the mouse, I get scrollbars I can grab and move with the cursor and a button to enhance a swipe gesture. I don't need to change modes or invoke a feature that requires third party drivers, it just works when it detects a mouse. Best of all, I haven't had to choose working with a mouse over using touch because all the gestures are still there, allowing me to pick and choose how I want to work, especially on my laptop, which has a touchscreen. And to be clear, these are facts, not opinions. Am I really being so unreasonable to expect Windows 10 be as seamless, simple and effective as the version of Windows it is meant to replace?

Marketing ploy? may be. It's a convenience of your PC automatically turning on tablet mode. It never existed in Windows prior to 10. I am not sure why you are in denial about 10's improvements over 8.

[Motor_Mouth]

Of course it existed, I've shown you a picture of it in Windows 8, which you have needlessly reposted. So if anyone is in denial here, it is the guy who refuses to accept the evidence of his own eyes. Seriously, it is right there in front of your face, in full colour, what is it you don't get about what you are seeing? Or have we simply reached a stage now where you are just going to be contrary for the sake of it?

[Mockingbird]

What is Continuum, other than a name for a set of features that were previously just the way things worked in Windows 8? Are people really that easily sucked in by simple marketing ploys like this? The image below shows the difference. The bottom part shows Windows 8's Start Screen without a mouse attached, the top part shows what it looks like after I switch my Bluetooth mouse on.

 

 

Cool, huh? As soon as it detects the mouse, I get scrollbars I can grab and move with the cursor and a button to enhance a swipe gesture. I don't need to change modes or invoke a feature that requires third party drivers, it just works when it detects a mouse. Best of all, I haven't had to choose working with a mouse over using touch because all the gestures are still there, allowing me to pick and choose how I want to work, especially on my laptop, which has a touchscreen. And to be clear, these are facts, not opinions. Am I really being so unreasonable to expect Windows 10 be as seamless, simple and effective as the version of Windows it is meant to replace?

 

Windows 10 may have issues, but so does Windows 8.1.

 

Last year, my brother and I bought a Surface Pro 3 as a gift for out little cousin. She go to a lot of events, so she often use the Surface Pro 3 as a tablet (with Pen). 

 

Her biggest complain by far is that the pop-up keyboard doesn't work on desktop apps.

 

I ended up having to put this hack on her tablet. She then has to turn it on when using as a tablet, and off when using as a laptop.

[adrynalyne]

Of course it existed, I've shown you a picture of it in Windows 8, which you have needlessly reposted. So if anyone is in denial here, it is the guy who refuses to accept the evidence of his own eyes. Seriously, it is right there in front of your face, in full colour, what is it you don't get about what you are seeing?

All you've really done is show your lack of understanding continuum.

[Mockingbird]

I am not saying that Windows 10 is always better, but what I see is a lot of people become accustomed to Windows 8.1's quirks.

 

As a result, when those quirks were fixed, people complain that they can't have the old way.