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Using Windows 8 (without Touch)

Posted on March 12, 2013 at 09:00 by Julian Kay

Using Windows 8 (without Touch)

When I had my first Windows PC, I spent a large amount of my time in the DOS environment, playing with scripts and trying to optimize memory. When I went into Windows I had access to cool applications like Solitaire… but most of the things I had ran in DOS.

Using Windows 8 (without Touch)

Windows 8 is like that today, most of the applications I need to complete tasks – be that for work or for personal endeavours – are well established on the Desktop UI paradigm. I tend to use laptops mainly, but when I’m working I plug the laptop into a monitor and a keyboard to get stuff done.

Using Windows 8 (without Touch)

I use a lot of utilities in the desktop for various development tasks, including F#, Python, Ruby, Vim, Filezilla, WinMerge, Fl.ux, KatMouse – all of which are portable applications which do not require installation. I keep these inside my Scripts folder and usually access them via PowerShell commands.

Because these applications sit inside my Scripts directory I get a number of benefits:

  1. I can sync the tools between computers (manually or via the cloud)
  2. I don’t need to sit through loads of installs on new machines (and remove the icons from the start screen!)
  3. I can be sure I always have a rich development environment for when I need to build software

On top of my scripts, I also run a number of proper desktop applications that require installing. Chrome, Office, Visual Studio, SQL Server, the Windows SDK and a few more.

Using Windows 8 (without Touch)

Once I have all these applications installed, Windows 8 gives me everything I need to get tasks done. I have Email, Word Processing, Spreadsheets, and an extremely rich development and scripting environment thanks to Visual Studio and PowerShell.

Using Windows 8 (without Touch)

My Desktop doesn’t include a number of things – apps don’t want to see there. No instant messenger, news readers or weather apps. That kind of information is made visible directly through the start screen and its use of Live Tiles. Clicking on the tile takes you to a full screen application that brings your focus to the task at hand.

Using Windows 8 (without Touch)

The full desktop is just one click away. If I want to check if a Visual Studio build has completed I can just flick back to check. This combination of the new and old interfaces seems to work perfectly for me. Taking all the distractions out of the desktop, and moving them into their own space. If I want to play a game of Solitaire – it takes over the full screen, giving me a rich experience. One click in the top left hand corner and I’m back in the desktop with all my windows exactly as they were.

Using Windows 8 (without Touch)

Am I going to continue using the desktop to access applications and consoles? Yup. Windows 8 has more than this though. The new applications we have today are pretty good. The Bing app has turned out to be extremely useful, for example. But where the new apps currently lag is in the more complex tasks like photo manipulation or music creation.

These kinds of experiences would be better in the full screen UI, and I’m very interested in finding out what the likes of Adobe and Propellerhead Software come up with in the future. But at the moment their products like Photoshop and Reason will have to be accessed via the multi-tasking desktop interface.

Many windows features are still only available in the desktop interface. Most notably File Explorer. There’s no way of casually browsing your file system through the new user interface. Sure you can select files to open inside of other applications – but if you fancy just browsing around – you are out of luck.

Through my use, I can say that Windows 8 has surpassed Windows 7 for its ability to get stuff done with a mouse and keyboard. The new start screen is also going to provide a rich user experience for touch input, and the new applications will really shine in these finger friendly scenarios.

While Using Windows 7 now feels like going back in time, I still think there is work to be done with Windows 8. It’ll be interesting to see if Windows Blue brings any changes to the desktop interface.

The Death of Outlook & Exchange for Task Management

Posted on January 3, 2013 at 09:00 by Julian Kay

Windows Mobile

Rewind to around 2005 – 2006, I had recently discovered the works of David Allen’s Getting Things Done, and I had started looking for more resources and found the likes of Merlin Mann and others. These people were telling me that it was possible to do all the things you want to do by keeping track of all the tasks and commitments in a simple, trusted system.

Just like now, I was living mostly in a Microsoft ecosystem – I had a Windows Mobile Smartphone, I used Outlook & Exchange for my email and all my computers ran Windows.

I read a book called ‘Take Back Your Life! Using Outlook to Get Organized & Stay Organized‘ which took many of the principles behind Getting Things Done and implemented them in Microsoft Outlook to help keep track of what’s important.

  • Outlook Tasks – universal capture for all ideas as well as a single place for next actions
  • Outlook Calendar – the ultimate way to track professional and personal commitments
  • Outlook Email – a large amount of incoming tasks would come through email and processed directly from the inbox
  • Outlook Notes – sticky notes that could be used to make lists and capture ideas to be processed later, this was later superseded by OneNote for Windows Mobile – a separate download.

Outlook was ideal for this, because it also synchronised using both Microsoft Exchange and ActiveSync – software that ran on your computer and would sync your Windows Mobile device when attached. As Windows Mobile was my mobile operating system of choice it included Tasks, Calendar, Email and Notes without any extra software. It was Outlook, in my pocket.

Windows Phone

Fast-forward to 20012 – 20013, and the importance of Outlook has diminished significantly. Not by my choice.

The support for Outlook or Exchange Tasks in Windows Phone is very low. In Windows RT the situation is even worse, there is no way of getting access to Exchange tasks without third party software, and no way to flag emails to follow up. If I can’t use it on all my computers, it’s not worth using the feature at all.

These days I use a combination of other apps to follow up on actions – the Mail, Calendar, People, and Messaging applications allow me access to Exchange Mail and Calendar – but I manage notes and tasks through OneNote – which is fantastic for capturing but not so hot for reviewing, processing or planning.

Over the years I have actually moved away from using purely digital capturing and planning tools, favouring paper notebooks in some cases. However, I feel that Microsoft has not done enough to keep the functionality that they used to have for task management, and that they’re missing a trick by letting the functionality fall behind.

By focussing their smartphone and tablet efforts on consumer tasks and social networking, I believe they have lost a lot of the value they had by giving users ‘Outlook in their pocket’ – I hope they bring it back.

Two Weeks with Microsoft Surface

Posted on November 14, 2012 at 09:00 by Julian Kay

Two weeks ago I finally got my Microsoft Surface for Windows RT. On the run up to the launch of the first Surface device, I started to think about if I’d actually be able to use the Surface for Windows Pro as my only computer as I had planned.

The trouble is that the form factor is not a laptop replacement, it’s a tablet which has a ‘ready to work’ mode which can be used easily on a desk. A laptop has a stable base and a screen which can be tilted to any angle – so getting real work done is still doable on your lap. I don’t have a desk at home, just a coffee table, so when I want to write some code or a long blog post – I tend to sit cross-legged on the sofa and type away. This is quite tricky to do with the form-factor that Microsoft has chosen for the first two Surface devices.

As a first time tablet owner there are a huge amount of benefits which are more related to the form-factor rather than the individual device, but for me having the Microsoft Surface has been a really fantastic and new experience.

Being able to surf the web and use application while laying down or standing up are pretty obvious, but there are more subtle benefits like being able to take it to work every day without my bag getting really heavy. Plus it’s always nice to have all your personal stuff available to use at lunch time, including emails and OneNote notebooks.

In the first two weeks have found a few suggestions for improvements to the design of the hardware:

  • The keyboard case should really have a magnetic grasp
  • Power Cable is a little short (though it can be extended)
  • Windows Phone earphones don’t work as expected

These improvements aside, the Surface has already proven to be a fantastic companion device, and due to the nature of the keyboard and kickstand design it has become my go-to device for email and instant messaging. In the last two weeks my MacBook has spent most of its time in a draw while the Surface has been my primary machine for personal use.

As someone who is a Windows developer and lives in a Microsoft ecosystem (Office 365, SkyDrive, Xbox etc.) it’s the ideal tablet for me, and I’m really pleased I got it.

Now if only I could find a Windows 8 laptop to replace my ageing MacBook and I’ll be sorted.

The ‘Metro Inspired’ Interface

Posted on September 25, 2012 at 09:00 by Julian Kay

We recently saw the release of the Office 2013 Preview which has been received by many as one of the best looking and best executed reboots by Microsoft. The preview is very consumer focused (which is where Microsoft is lagging) and includes some very interesting cloud integration features – like saving to SkyDrive by default.

The thing I want to talk about now is a trend that has been coming at Microsoft for a while now – everything is moving over the Metro look and feel, but there is a distinction between an application that is ‘Metro style‘ and ‘Metro inspired’ the first is built for the new Windows 8 user experience, and the second is just an existing Windows application which has been built with the Metro Design philosophy in mind. (Yes I’m going to keep calling it Metro, for now)

Part of the confusion on the Metro name is due to this shift, and we actually have two things:

  • New Windows 8 Applications (Metro style)
  • Any app designed with the Metro philosophy (Metro inspired)

Now ‘Metro style’ applications are going to be known as Windows Store Applications. But we’ve had no word on what the Metro inspired applications are going to be called yet.

Below are a few of these ‘Metro inspired’ apps we have today…

The first of these applications pre-dates Windows 8 itself and was really the birth of the Metro design philosophy on Windows. The Zune desktop software has always had many of the original design features which we now know as Metro design – big on typography and whitespace.

I spend a massive amount of time in OneNote, and the 2013 version is so Metro it’s almost invisible. If you go into the full-screen mode.

Now applications from the Office Division are merging their ‘fluent’ ribbon interface with the Metro design that the Windows team has embraced. The combination is very interesting.

The Developer Division has also taken note, and Visual Studio 2012 has a really amazing (and controversial) look.

Personally, I really love this Metro look. I just wish Microsoft would decide exactly what we should be calling it. Until then – it’s Metro.

Surface for Windows 8 Pro

Posted on September 12, 2012 at 09:00 by Julian Kay

Originally I wanted to get Surface for Windows RT, but I’ve changed my mind about which Surface computer I want to get. Mostly because of two reasons.

1 – I’ve seen no Windows 8 Ultrabooks I like

I have been looking around for a good Ultrabook for a while now, and I had pinned high hopes on Vizio, but lacklustre scores on the touchpad and keyboard have tarred that machine. I have recently had a look at many of the machines shown at IFA – including the Acer Aspire S7) but none have them have really grabbed my attention like Surface.

The Aspire S7 has some fantastic Windows-friendly features, but in terms of traditional laptop design, the MacBook Air still has the edge for me. But I don’t want to have to hack around with a MacBook to get Windows to run well again. True I have enjoyed using Windows on my current MacBook, it’s just such a pain to set up just right.

2 – I really like using Windows 8

Windows 8 became available as an evaluation recently, and I have taken advantage of that to try out this new operating system in day-to-day use. I love how the operating system really does have this no compromises feel to it. It works extremely well on a laptop* and better than Windows 7 when used with a mouse and keyboard.

This has made me think that the best (and cheapest) option is to get one machine rather than two: a tablet that is a PC.

One PC

My experience of Windows 8 has been through the 90 day enterprise evaluation, and I’m still using Windows 7 on my MacBook. Before the Surface was introduced, I set out that I wanted to have only four machines (Xbox, Ultrabook, Phone, Tablet) but now I’m leaning toward having only Xbox, Surface and Phone for personal use.

It’s going to be interesting to see how I tackle the smaller screen size with productivity for personal tasks, but making things as simple as possible is what I always strive for. Though I do get the feeling that there’s room for a device around the 7″ mark to take the number of machines to four at some point in 2013. (NewCo?)

  • Processor: Intel Core i5
  • Weight: 903g
  • Thickness: 13.5mm
  • Display: 10.6″ ClearType Full HD (1080p) capacitive touch screen
  • Battery: 42Wh
  • I/O: microSDXC, USB 3.0, Mini DisplayPort, 2×2 MIMO antennae
  • Software: Windows 8 Professional
  • Case: VaporMg Case & Stand
  • Accessories: Touch Cover, Type Cover, Pen with Palm Block
  • Capacity: 64GB / 128GB

* Unfortunately the touchpad in my HP Laptop doesn’t have very nice support for Windows 8. Hopefully that’ll come soon.

Using Windows 7

Posted on July 11, 2012 at 09:00 by Julian Kay

I have used Windows 7 since the early betas, as is always the case with new Windows releases – I was very interested in what new features were coming. Over the years I’ve come to rely on these features quite heavily, and like millions of other people I’m currently use it as my primary operating system.

My use of Windows 7 has changed quite a lot over the years – from simply changing themes to using totally different applications. But as Windows 7 is coming to the end of its life (for me anyway) I’m interested to see how my computer usage will change and evolve when Windows 8 takes over as my primary operating system.

So I thought I’d take a moment to reflect on how I’m using Windows on my MacBook today…

I like to keep things simple, a trend that will no doubt continue to Windows 8. As part of this I usually keep the number of applications I pin to the taskbar to absolute minimum. On my home computer this is PowerShell, Outlook and OneNote.

In the notification area I tend to have only power, networking, and volume icons, as well as the awesome Process Explorer. This is pretty much all I want to see down there, and everything else gets hidden away. (Remember when we couldn’t hide stuff down there? Ugh!)

Because this is a laptop, I tend to run a lot of my programs either maximised or side-by-side using Aero Snap. This is by far one of my favourite features in Windows 7, and I use it all the time. Just grab the title bar of any window and drag it to the top, left or right of the screen to snap the window into place.

Windows itself is just the shell that works around the applications, and right now the applications I tend to use the most (other than the web browser) are:

  • PowerShell
  • Office
  • Visual Studio
  • Expression Studio
  • WebMatrix
  • Windows Live Essentials
  • Zune
  • WorldWide Telescope

All of these applications are made by the same company as the operating system they are running on, so you’d think that they’d all behave exactly the same. This is not the case – each one tends to have its own UX and personality. Something that’s probably going to change in Windows 8 thanks to the advent of the Metro design language.

There are plenty of other smaller applications that I also use, including (but not limited to):

  • Paint.NET
  • EOS Utility
  • FileZilla
  • Flux
  • KatMouse

Oh and as for the browser? My current choice is actually Google Chrome. Mostly because of the spell checking functionality. I’ve used Internet Explorer 10 pretty extensively on the preview versions of Windows 8 and I quite like it, so the chances are I’ll probably move back to IE when it comes out at the end of the year.

Finally I also spend a large amount of time in PowerShell console windows. I have a lot of applications and scripts that I use in this environment, and I’m really hoping we get some kind of full screen Metro treatment to PowerShell – until then I’m probably going to have to use the Desktop to run these kinds of apps.

Windows 8 will definitely let me work in exactly the same way I do today – you can get access to all of the desktop and features of Windows 7 (with more stuff) so there’s no doubt about that. But will things change?

Eventually Metro-style applications will take over from the desktop applications we are using today. It just might take a while.

Microsoft Surface for Windows RT

Posted on June 20, 2012 at 14:15 by Julian Kay

Yesterday I wrote an article for Branded3 entitled Meet the Microsoft Surface as well as my thoughts on Microsoft as a Hardware Company. Now I wanted to write a little about my thoughts on the Surface itself, and which one of the two that I have chosen to be mine!

A little while ago I detailed my plans for the computers I wanted to have to replace my aging setup. Essentially it is as follows:

  • Xbox
  • Laptop
  • Phone
  • Tablet

So which of these two Microsoft Surface computers fits in with this array of devices? I must admit, the Intel version – Microsoft Surface for Windows 8 Pro is a much better device on paper, and also includes some features that the Windows RT version does not have – more pixels, more storage, Wacom digitizer (as well as touch) and the all important ability to run existing Windows apps.

One of the core selling points of the Windows 8 Pro version is that it would actually be more of a laptop replacement than a simple tablet – which is why it is just off the mark for my use. Seeing as I want as little computers as possible, I’d like to be able to have a full keyboard and touchpad that is integrated into a more traditional laptop design – or more correctly – an Ultrabook design to replace my MacBook.

What I really want from a tablet is a thin, battery friendly device for running Metro apps both at home and on the go. I think the Microsoft Surface for Windows RT would actually be the better option in that case.

What is Windows RT anyway? Windows RT is very similar to Windows 8 – but it is not Windows 8. They both share a lot of heratigate, and both share a lot of new Windows features, but the biggest change is that Windows RT breaks the line from previous versions of Windows by limiting the ability to run traditional desktop applications (except for a select few Microsoft titles, like Office).

For me this is fine, I want to have a Ultrabook computer for writing, desktop computing, using Vim and Visual Studio and Outlook and all that existing Windows software.

By having a tablet and an Ultrabook I know all my Metro style apps are going to sync on both machines through the Cloud. I can read mail, manage my time, surf the web and consume entertainment on both machines in exactly the same way. But when I’m using the Ultrabook I also get full access to all my existing applications. The best of both worlds.

For me this is exactly what I want my tablet device to do, and the main reason I’m going to choose the Windows RT version of Surface over the Windows 8 Pro tablet.

Microsoft the Hardware Company

Posted on June 19, 2012 at 19:41 by Julian Kay

Warning: I sound like a gushing fanboy on this post. Oh well.

I have used Microsoft hardware for a long time – from the original optical mouse and Natural Keyboards to pretty much every version of the Zune.

My friends and I often said “If only Microsoft would make X” where X has been everything from laptops to phones. One of the devices that has had these attention the most was actually the Zune HD. Many people have said to me “just imagine if it was a phone” – and while Windows Phone has exceeded this dream in terms of software, I’m still running a Samsung phone rather than a Microsoft phone*.

Simply because I thought it was the best at the time.

Back when Microsoft were trying to push manufacturers into producing high end Tablet PCs – they were recommending the Toshiba R400 as the best Windows Vista laptop (it had Wacom pen digitizer, sideshow, and much more) but I soon ended up replacing it with an Apple MacBook because their hardware was better.

Running Windows on a Apple machine because that’s the best PC I could get at the time. Yay for Apple, Boo for Microsoft.

So here is why the Microsoft Surface is different – it’s PC hardware. Not an accessory, not a games or entertainment machine, it’s an actual general purpose computer. And it’s designed and built by Microsoft, not some old OEM that can produce 100s of crappy plastic laptop designs and live in mediocrity. They’re only producing the very best equipment they can with the resources they have. And boy what resources.

The Microsoft Surface PCs dare other hardware manufacturers to do better, and as a consumer – I want to invest the best I can. For me that’s going to be Microsoft software on Microsoft hardware.

In this way my view is fairly selfish – I don’t care what it means for HP or Dell, the thing I care most about is the software and hardware tools I use every day. I believe that by taking this step into producing PCs, Microsoft is doing the right thing – giving Windows 8 a platform for it to perform exactly the way it was designed to.

* Actually a Nokia would do just fine!

Computers for 2012 and beyond

Posted on May 9, 2012 at 08:16 by Julian Kay

Because I got all my computers around the same time, they seem to have aged at same time. This year I plan on replacing all of the general purpose computers in one fell swoop that should keep me going until then next generation.

Here’s what I had at the start of the year:

  • Desktop – a 2008 beasty Dell XPS with two graphics cards and lots of fans
  • MacBook – a 2008 MacBook running Windows 7
  • Phone – a Windows Phone
  • Tablet PC – a 2007 Toshiba Tablet PC running Windows 7 that didn’t get much use

Here’s what I have planned for the end of the year:

  • Xbox – a living room entertainment system, mostly for music and video
  • Laptop – a Windows 8 laptop, probably around the 13 inch mark
  • Phone – a Windows Phone
  • Tablet – a Windows RT* tablet

I hadn’t really used my Toshiba Tablet PC a great deal in the last couple of years, mostly due to the fact I started using Windows 7 full time on my MacBook and the Tablet PC was only really used for drawing with the Wacom screen. Thankfully, I’ve already handed this computer on to a friend of mine who will no doubt make much better use of its capabilities.

Replacing what was essentially a laptop with a general purpose tablet will definitely be beneficial. As well as enabling new forms of mobility I haven’t really had before (yes, I’m totally jealous of my fellow astronomers with their iPads), it will also sync with my Windows laptop so that all the Metro-style applications are ready to go on either machine. I’ll probably go for whatever tablet most takes my fancy before the Windows 8 launch, but to be considered they’d have to be capable of having mobile broadband, GPS and sensors including accelerometer and compass enabling some of the more exciting Metro-style apps that are expected.

Picking a Windows 8 laptop might be a little bit harder, as I have been spoilt by the excellent craftsmanship in the MacBook. I know that manufacturers like HP and Dell should be capable of making such a machine, but deciding which one is a lot harder than simply choosing another Apple. But – Apple are not going to be an option, unless they include all the new Windows 8 goodness like touchscreen and sensors mentioned above – and going by Apple’s history of ‘quality’ Windows drivers, I’m not holding my breath.

As for right now – the Xbox has been a good replacement from my old, loud desktop computer. People who know me will know that I don’t watch television, so getting a TV screen and an Xbox in the living room is not probably not going to make me start wasting vast amounts of time by sitting in front of the screen, it’s more about simplifying what I was doing on my desktop computer: Surfing the web, doing emails, listening to music and watching video. Surfing the web and doing email can be done on either a laptop or a tablet just as well as on the desktop, so it made much more sense for the entertainment uses to take primary focus.

The Xbox is more than capable of looking after the music and video in my flat, and I’ll write up some of my thoughts about this shortly.

As with everything, I’m always trying to simplify. This solution is definitely simpler than previous setups, thought we’ll see if the numbers will eventually go down. I wouldn’t be shocked to be rocking a tablet/laptop hybrid with a docking station in a few years, reducing the number of computers even further.

* Windows RT is the name of what was previously known as WOA or Windows on Arm. Not to be confused with the WinRT development platform. Or something.

The ‘Real’ Windows 8 Logo

Posted on February 21, 2012 at 10:00 by Julian Kay

The new Windows 8 logo, as shown above from the Microsoft blog post that announced it, has been designed to compliment the Metro Design Language and also has roots in the Swiss International Style, which is all about typography, solid colours, strong lines and grids.

Over all I like it, but when I first saw it I felt like something was a little off with the ‘beams’ on the window. It looked like the perspective was messed up or something.

Later I came across an article about the new logo by the design agency Pentagram – who were commissioned by Microsoft to create the new logo. After thinking about it for a little while I understand that the beams are like a grid on top of the rectangle shape, and because of this understanding the logo looks better to me.

This is a bit like seeing the arrow in the FedEx logo for the first time.

You can tell this version of the logo looks slightly different to the one posted on the Microsoft blog. As Pentagram explains, the window shape itself has been chosen to be a rectangular shape in perspective, but the actual beams (or grid lines) are separate from the shape.

The perspective drawing is based on classical perspective drawing, not computerized perspective. The cross bar stays the same size no matter the height of the logo, which means it has to be redrawn for each time it increases in size, like classic typography.

You can see these lines are cut out of the coloured shape, and are not in perspective at all. The idea is that each time the logo is drawn the lines are always the same size, as shown below.

Seeing the logo in this view makes me appreciate the design a lot more, but the problem is that the version that is on the Pentagram website is actually quite different to the one on the Microsoft site.

Here is an animation which Kean created for me which show the difference in the beams and text between the two.

So which one is the real Windows 8 logo?

I find it really hard to believe that Microsoft would be able to convince everyone – from OEMs to the press – to render a version of the logo for the exact size they need, every time they need it. So I think they’ve had to compromise on the design given to them by Pentagram.

I’m not sure which is the ‘real’ Windows 8 logo yet, or if Microsoft are going to make any more changes before it gets released to the public. But I’m going to place my bets on the version that Microsoft posted to their blog.

I’m assuming they’ve just picked a width for the beams which fits well for the majority of sizes shown in the new operating system, and decided to stick with that moving forward.

I wasn’t the only person to notice this, Long Zheng has a write up on his excellent blog. He suggests changing the beams to fit in with the perspective of the rest of the logo, and I think his version looks pretty good too.