File copy interrupts, which in past versions of Windows have stopped the copy operation until the user clicks through them, will now queue and display after Windows has copied everything it can.
Nice! It's always when you start a large transfer and focus on something else(naturally, who's going to sit and watch) that you end up with a duplicate file immediately after you look away.
Other old GUI elements that bug the crap out of me: Non-resizeable dialog boxes. They may have worked back when we all had 1024x768 screens, but when everyone has a 1920x1080 or higher, there's no reason for boxes that can't be scaled up past index card size. Dialog boxes that don't show up on the task bar. Close all open dialog boxes before exiting? Sure! Now where are they?!
I totally agree with the dialog boxes not showing up on taskbar. Also, sometimes dialog boxes get hidden behind their parent application, and when you click on the parent application it doesn't being child (locking) dialog boxes to the foreground, requiring you to do some trickery with alt-tab or to end the program entirely.
I agree we should be able to resize many dialog boxes, but since most of the ones that are fixed are small and only have a short message in them, this wouldn't be a top priority for me as it would just make a large box with the same short message in it. For ridiculous dialogs that are pages long but squeezed into a tiny postage stamp of space on my screen, definitely something that needs improved.
I had noticed in my time with the Windows 8 Developer Preview that locking file operations are all bunched together at the end of the transfer, but I was curious as to why the transfer couldn't just continue when it reached those files that need additional input whilst giving you the option immediately - for long file transfers this would mean you could make your decision at any point in the transfer after a file collision occurs, without having to wait until the end of the transfer (where it will pause and wait for you to make a decision). Seems the more logical thing, although I'm sure there's some downside I haven't envisioned.
Agreed! Especially on non-resizeable windows with lot's of content, list of elements with long text labels etc. It's so annoying not be able to read this stuff properly and to fiddle with tiny scrolling bars, when 90+% of the screen is still available.
You forgot to mention one new thing... Explorers support for EXIF data on images, so it now automatically displays images in the correct rotation (Thumbnails or enlarged).
"Explorer now respects EXIF orientation information for JPEG images. If your camera sets this value accurately, you will rarely need to correct orientation."
All these small changes to Win 8 will overall improve things greatly for me. And i love how even the early Developer Preview runs better than Win 7 on my ancient laptop i use for testing (7+ years and only has 512MB lol!). It actually runs as fast and snappy as XP does and uses considerably less RAM than Win 7. Thats very impressive.
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Mr Perfect - Tuesday, January 31, 2012 - link
File copy interrupts, which in past versions of Windows have stopped the copy operation until the user clicks through them, will now queue and display after Windows has copied everything it can.Nice! It's always when you start a large transfer and focus on something else(naturally, who's going to sit and watch) that you end up with a duplicate file immediately after you look away.
Other old GUI elements that bug the crap out of me:
Non-resizeable dialog boxes. They may have worked back when we all had 1024x768 screens, but when everyone has a 1920x1080 or higher, there's no reason for boxes that can't be scaled up past index card size.
Dialog boxes that don't show up on the task bar. Close all open dialog boxes before exiting? Sure! Now where are they?!
Omoronovo - Tuesday, January 31, 2012 - link
I totally agree with the dialog boxes not showing up on taskbar. Also, sometimes dialog boxes get hidden behind their parent application, and when you click on the parent application it doesn't being child (locking) dialog boxes to the foreground, requiring you to do some trickery with alt-tab or to end the program entirely.I agree we should be able to resize many dialog boxes, but since most of the ones that are fixed are small and only have a short message in them, this wouldn't be a top priority for me as it would just make a large box with the same short message in it. For ridiculous dialogs that are pages long but squeezed into a tiny postage stamp of space on my screen, definitely something that needs improved.
I had noticed in my time with the Windows 8 Developer Preview that locking file operations are all bunched together at the end of the transfer, but I was curious as to why the transfer couldn't just continue when it reached those files that need additional input whilst giving you the option immediately - for long file transfers this would mean you could make your decision at any point in the transfer after a file collision occurs, without having to wait until the end of the transfer (where it will pause and wait for you to make a decision). Seems the more logical thing, although I'm sure there's some downside I haven't envisioned.
MrSpadge - Wednesday, February 1, 2012 - link
Agreed! Especially on non-resizeable windows with lot's of content, list of elements with long text labels etc. It's so annoying not be able to read this stuff properly and to fiddle with tiny scrolling bars, when 90+% of the screen is still available.name99 - Tuesday, January 31, 2012 - link
" and the ability to add folders and executables to the new Metro-style Start menu."Wow --- they are really going the extra mile to fit in with the Metro vision, aren't they?
B3an - Wednesday, February 1, 2012 - link
You forgot to mention one new thing... Explorers support for EXIF data on images, so it now automatically displays images in the correct rotation (Thumbnails or enlarged)."Explorer now respects EXIF orientation information for JPEG images. If your camera sets this value accurately, you will rarely need to correct orientation."
All these small changes to Win 8 will overall improve things greatly for me. And i love how even the early Developer Preview runs better than Win 7 on my ancient laptop i use for testing (7+ years and only has 512MB lol!). It actually runs as fast and snappy as XP does and uses considerably less RAM than Win 7. Thats very impressive.
B3an - Wednesday, February 1, 2012 - link
Ah sorry i see you did infact mention the EXIF data support, just didn't see it :)Andrew.a.cunningham - Wednesday, February 1, 2012 - link
Yeah, it's tucked in there with a bunch of the other small tweaks. Excited to see what the beta looks like!