Windows 12 se blíží. Necháme se (zase) opít rohlíkem?

Uspět v sektoru tabletů – s tím kdysi Microsoft zplodil dlaždicová Windows 8. Ubrat z jejich ztřeštěnosti – proto navázal střízlivějšími Windows 10. A dlaždice naopak pohřbít a s nimi i tuny stále schopných počítačů – to je zjevně hlavní smysl existence zatím posledních Windows 11. Ta mají ve jménu minimalismu naprosto zprzněný hlavní panel (a žel nejen ten) a neopodstatněné systémové nároky, což mnohé odpuzuje. Nyní se začíná hovořit o Windows 12, kde má hrát prim umělá inteligence.

Horor v podání Nadelly si netřeba představovat – už ho máme

Microsoft Windows 9 Design Concept

Even more than 15 months, one major and dozens of partial updates later, Windows 8 still pretty suck. Originally, I tried to keep a hope that the most criticized features of latest Microsoft operating system will be tuned in a few months by cleverly aimed polishes, but as time passed by, my presumption turned out naive. Although we got improvements like encyclopedic search results or hands-free mode, the most acute downs of the OS - confusing duality of desktop and modern environment, lack of consistency (continuation) in visual navigation and poor app quality - remained unchanged. There still exists a chance to shift things forward, but Microsoft obviously has no clear strategy in mind at the moment. As such, various people share their own ideas on how to put the shattered glass together. I was patiently looking for and reporting bugs and bringing suggestions. After I got to know thorough project Fixing Windows 8 by Jay Machalani, I found myself not being active enough, so rather than focusing on particular details, I got inspired and designed a complex solution.

Supplemental demo videos include highlights of the concept

[Link to the entire post]

Jay made tremendous job. His tweaks would definitely make Windows 8 more logical and easier to use. I especially identify myself with Windows Lite (Modern UI only OS) and Windows Pro (adding classic app compatibility) concept. I got to like notifications implementation next to charms bar too.

  ▌  1) Essential Requirement: Make Modern UI Grow Up
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  ▌  2) User Interface Structure Changes
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  ▌  3) Introducing Modern Taskbar
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  ▌  4) The Power of Choice
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  ▌  5) Conclusion & (Anticipated)FAQ


Nonetheless, my own design addresses defects mentioned above more radically. I’m not claiming this is the ultimate solution. Percept it just as an alternative to other concepts out there. Unlike Jay, who tried to solve the coexistence of modern and classic apps by separating the two worlds resolutely, I went the other way - by bringing them together.

Caution 1: In order to understand my presentation, there's a need to have an idea how current version of Windows 8 work (I used version 8.1 build 9600 - latest officially available stable build  - as reference). At the same time, there is a need to free yourself from deep-rooted habits from previous versions.

Caution 2: Unlike Phyek or Eiskis, I didn't intend to amaze audience with reworked and refined graphics (aside a fact I would be unable to beat such a higly skilled guys :-)). I tried to use current assets and reorganize them in my way. My primary focus was usability. I respected some things Windows 8 came with and haven't changed them at all.

A brief static showcase of my design concept

Caution 3: In order to make things work perfectly and consistently, I would need functional prototype and put it through extensive collective testing to get the most varied feedback. I can't afford that. What follows is a maximum I was able to reach with my limited resources. Tests could find out that some suggestions aren't usable in any way.

Essential Requirement: Make Modern UI Grow Up

If I did not clarify certain subject beforehand, most desktop users (and probably not just them) would immediately refuse my ideas. It wouldn't surprise me. What am I talking about? Despite incredibly robust design guidelines which counts with touch and non-touch devices of all sizes (Microsoft didn't mess around last years in the end!), quality of actual state of modern environment, which will be sole subject in this chapter, is incredibly low today (or did they?). It simply fails everytime.

When a finger is used to control tiny 7" tablet with ancient 1366x768 resolution, aside from details like difficulty to recognize interactive elements, things may seem fine at first sight. The screen is effectively used for content and interactive elements. Items in tables are arranged as they should. The problem is that Moden UI is far from being stand-alone and self-sufficient. For example, you can't set up speakers there at all (except volume), so you remain dependent on mouse-first Desktop a lot. When a finger is moved to 30" Full HD (not to mention already available 4k) display, serious issues start to pop up. The screen gets half empty, sometimes because the app is exceptionally primitive in functions, sometimes because it is not optimized for higher than HD Ready screens. Unfortunately, it doesn't end with esthetics. Various items disarrange too, so proper reading of content is impossible. Depending on settings, entire UI may be blown up, but one get to feel like half-blind old man. High resolution screen you paid extra money for is wasted too. The better the device, the worse the experience?!

This half-empty screen shows up in Store app

Damn, even the most complicated websites are able to adapt itself from 3" mobile phone in hand to 40" TV in a living room! (Zoom Smashing Magazine site in and out, open it on various devices, change the orientation of your device or resize the window of your browser.)

"Built-in scaling means your app and content always look great, whether on a small 7" device or on a big 30" monitor. You just need to use a fluid layout and make sure the graphics in your app look good when scaled."
Windows Modern UI Design Guide

Dare you to use mouse or keyboard! Scrolling performed by wheel rotating does not always work well. Scrolling by pressing wheel and changing cursor position somewhere works (an app), somewhere does not (PC Settings). Back and forward buttons don't work on certain places too. From time to time, apps fight with each other and focus (that rectangle moving across interactive elements when Tab is pressed) is absent.

"When you design app for touch interactions, you get support for pen, mouse, and keyboard interactions for free. Your users can switch from one input method to another and not miss a beat of the app experience. Plug a keyboard into a tablet? No problem. Your app responds consistently and predictably to your users' choices."
Windows Modern UI Design Guide

How on Earth can Microsoft demand strict requirements compliance toward third party developers if even them don't follow their own rules?

That's how Settings should adapt to larger screens

Redmond, implement widely scalable responsive user interface at all costs.

Build in full mouse and keyboard support. Pervasive shortcuts and gestures would be nice too.

Don't remove useful novel features like a coward. I miss the old full screen search.

Provide interactivity between apps. To copy files from Explorer to SkyDrive app (Microsoft haven't renamed it to OneDrive yet in Windows 8) or drag text to modern app is not possible today.

Allow developers to set default size of any app and forbid to resize it. Half-empty screens or absurdly blown up graphics will be prevented.

Give the apps better help system. Implement pop-up help into every individual button, without single exception.

Force Adobe, AutoDesk and other high-profiled software developers to make modern apps. Give us power-user apps like Office. Add features to the existing ones. Mirror build-in tools like Task Manager, Control Panel, File Manager and so on to Modern UI. It will have to be done now or later, so what are you waiting for?

Glimpse of how help system in Modern UI could improve

Make Modern UI undergo memory exercise (I'm not talking about RAM, although apps could load faster). When you make a search, select some search result by mistake and then recall search bar back, you have to input keywords again to repeat the same search. Such a detail, such annoyance! Apps could also remember it's last state regarding position and size. Was the app closed snapped? Open it snapped. And vice versa.

When you go to installed apps list (under Start Screen), tt's difficult to orient. Arrange the apps by an alphabet - every letter should have it's own column or row.

God bless you for allowing to pin modern apps to Taskbar in Update 1.

Allow Start Screen to get snapped. Collectively open apps feature is a must. Close gesture on Start Screen could offer shut down options. There is huge room for improvements.

And for Christ sake - stop saying "Welcome" until the correct password is entered into the log screen. The fact that the same idiocy was present in (over)popular Windows 7 doesn't justify that.

To launch more apps at one time - wouldn't that be great?

My humble and honest advice is: focus the whole future development on Modern UI. It desperately needs to grow up in every possible way. If it already was the case, nobody would have to rely on legacy apps with its DPI issues and problematic touch support. At the same time, nobody would force you to use the modern ones. You should get a choice, which is not the case now. Do you plan to develop two environments/versions of apps forever?

User Interface Structure Changes

Now that we've got perfected, standalone and desktop-ready Modern UI, my key goal you maybe already saw through can finally be unveiled. My intention was to design improved, entirely Modern UI operating system supplemented with classic apps backward compatibility while keeping all preinstalled classic apps and tools like Device Manager and bringing windows transparency back (how can removing this feature from Windows 8 save hardware resources when Taskbar shines through and effects haven't changed?). Plain logic below served as the ultimate guide to me during the creative process:

Modern UI may be easily controlled by mouse, while classic UI can't be easily controlled by a finger.

Not only desktop users won't lose a single feature - they'll even benefit from these changes!

Proposed structure of the UI - enlarge for comparison

Are two app launchers really necessary? We call it Start Screen here and Desktop here, but it works almost the same way: we can add, remove or group the shortcuts; we can place wallpaper there; we can go there in an instant. Let's keep just Start Screen! Regarding it's missing features, renaming and no restrictions about shortcut targets, free icon positioning or basic file management could be taken over from Desktop. Context menu is highly appreciated, although its classic style doesn't fit there.

Why do we need two separated areas for opened apps? The first is called Desktop again and we move windows across it. The second one is called emptiness, blankness or darkness I guess, shows up when we snap an app and redirects us to Start Screen when we touch or click it. Leave just one and name it a workplace! When window would be manipulated, different rules will be applied (place the window to edge and resize it to half of the screen, perform Aero Shake to minimize background apps) in comparison with manipulating a modern app (snap and close gestures). People will get more freedom, because overlay across modern and classic apps will be, thanks to erasing virtual boundaries among them, possible. New "Fill" feature would utilize free screen space to resize a classic app if there is a snapped modern app and subtle change of Maximize function meaning would allow to use entire screen space.

Lets kill some redundant features - click for uncropped picture

What are two taskbars good for? We have the desktop one and the Modern UI one (call it switcher if you wish; paradoxically classic UI context menu appears there now). One contains the other, the other does not. What a chaos! What about combining them to one and manage all opened or pinned classic and modern apps in one place? Yes, this is what I call a solution!

Introducing Modern Taskbar

If a single highlight of the whole project should be picked, I would probably choose Modern Taskbar, which makes most of changes possible without sacrificing user control. In fact, it represents key signs of the concept: bringing simplicity into place, taking the best of Desktop to Modern UI and reducing doubling structural UI elements to one unit while improving experience for both touch and mouse users.

Some may refuse it immediately, but believe me, it is just matter of habit: new Modern Taskbar would sit on the left edge of the screen and couldn't relocate. Due to already mentioned duplicities and various customization combinations, it was easy to find situations Microsoft didn't count with. There are three more reasons for this decision. Upper edge of the screen is reserved for modern app close gesture. Right edge provides access to Charms Bar. Finally, lower edge is dedicated to modern apps context menus. Since our displays are rectangular, there is no other option. :-)

Full-sized Modern Taskbar in action, snap in background

Modern Taskbar would operate in two modes. Partially customizable full-sized (or full-scale) Modern Taskbar visually reminds modern app taskbar/switcher from Windows 8. Similarities? It contains modern app live previews with possibility to show their context (this time in modern style, i.e. touch-ready) menus, may be displayed by mouse ("L" shaped) "Hot Corner" gesture or by a finger (swipe from left edge and back), disappears automatically when other app stands in foreground and has Start button (securely attached!) at the bottom. More importantly, full-sized Modern Taskbar newly picks over responsibility of the old, already non-existent desktop Taskbar like managing classic and pinned apps (modern ones too), ability to change order of icons and spatially efficient time indication (I'm especially proud of! :-)) along with configurable basic notifications (B stands for battery, R for RAM in my concept).

It also contains it's own Modern UI style context menu with configurable shortcuts for your favorite apps or places with function to collectively manage opened apps. Regarding context menus, it's good to point out that there are no classic context menus outside of classic apps and that modern apps context menus sliding from bottom of the screen would be, as already mentioned, preserved.

How to distinguish pinned and running apps? Pinned ones are greyed out and have large app icons. How to distinguish classic and modern apps? The same way as in Start Screen - there is either classic style icon (colored 3D) or modern style icon (white 2D).

Context menu of docked compact Modern Taskbar

In addition, you can resize icons á la Start Screen and give them "Skip" attribute. What does that mean? When "Skip" option is checked, the app will be skipped when you switch apps by keyboard (Alt+Tab) or touch gesture (slide from left edge), which allows to display indication of services with GUI without obstructions on the same place (these were previously placed in notification area in classic Taskbar). This leads me to another novelty - now that Windows Flip 3D is gone (at least something was done for consistency, although it was the best UI innovation of Windows Vista), we don't need dedicated app switcher anymore, because full-sized Taskbar will replace it sufficiently.

You can also set Modern Taskbar to docked compact, but uncustomizable state, which will offset apps adequately to the right. Docked compact Taskbar remains always visible (unless full screen classic app is launched), even when you go to Start Screen. Thanks to its compact size, it does not interfere with workplace dramatically. Especially desktop users - I'm one of them - would like it for sure.

In case you want to dock or undock modern compact Taskbar, you simply enlarge it to full-size and click on |> or <| symbol next to Start button. Regarding conservative users ("It's not my good old Windows anymore!"), it behoves to mention that enlarging or autohiding taskbar is nothing new for Windows, but most people don't use or know these features at all.

Full-sized Modern Taskbar allows to resize icons of apps

When apps are switched via Alt+Tab, full-sized Taskbar will replace the docked one temporarily (if it's not displayed yet). It will hide again right after fingers are put out of the keys (or touch any other area when using a finger to call out the Taskbar). In case you wish to temporarily display the full-sized Taskbar without switching the apps, touch or mouse gestures are still available in this mode. When you move mouse cursor over Taskbar in ordinary way, docked compact Taskbar will remain shrinked.

I considered docking the full-sized taskbar in the past, but rejected it.

The Power of Choice

Since some things can't be identical for both touch and mouse users, they should have right to decide themselves.

When installing Windows 9 on a computer equipped with both touch screen and pointing device (typically all-in-one PCs), there would be discreet, although highly important dialog. It asks whether you put mouse or touch on first place. There are four choices regarding default settings of the operating system.

Installation process should contain detailed help

Do you want to have Modern Taskbar docked or undocked when the OS boots for the first time?

Do you wish to associate various filetypes to desktop or modern preinstalled apps?

Which shortcuts do you prefer on Start Screen and in taskbar context menu: those leading to desktop or modern apps?

Two presets would be offered, "Modern environment" and "Classic-friendly environment". If you're not O.K. with any of them, own selection of sub-options can be made.

Non-mouse devices like tablets would be automatically set to "Modern environment" and non-touch devices would be automatically set to "Classic-friendly environment". In these both cases, this dialog would not show up at all.

Do you prefer modern or classic-friendly environment?

Other improvement of installation procedure would lay in sequence of actions. How many times have you presumably begun prolonged installation process, left computer working without your presence and than came back to find out that there was a need to fill in desired future account name just before the installation begun? That would be over now, because installation steps are strictly arranged in order to collect your inputs first. The lengthy installation itself, consisting of decompressing gigabytes of data, would occur as a final step later without any need of user activity.

Conclusion & (A)FAQ ([Anticipated] Frequently Asked Questions)

More changes would mean to run into extreme details. Even when the rest of Windows 8 leaves untouched (although imperfect), it would serve much better than now in my opinion.

Any suggestions or opinions are highly welcomed! If you like my design concept, spread the word. If you don't like it, please share your opinions. I'm open to any kind of feedback.

Where are the days of GUI consistent Windows XP?

Let's hope that one day, Windows will get it's sign attributes back: simplicity, soberness, continuity and logics. And it doesn't matter whether thanks to mine, yours or anybody else's influence.

You want to make desktop users live in modern environment. Are you kidding me?

No, I'm not kidding you. Although I tried to optimize modern environment for mouse and keyboard in the concept as much as possible, I understand nothing fits all. When you use mouse, nobody at least force you to use modern apps. When working in classic apps, Modern UI won't distract you in any way. Classic and modern environments share similar design principles. Although context menus in modern environment leads to modern setting screens (though this could also be configurable) and key UI elements of the system are designed in modern style, all functions can also be changed by accessing Control Panel or another classic tools. As already mentioned, all classic build-in apps and tools would be preserved.

Full-sized Modern Taskbar in action, snap in background

I'm tired of these Windows 8 haters who saw it from far distance in store. When will you stop whining?

I've spent months using Windows 8 since Windows 8 Developer Preview back in 2011 to Windows 8.1. I'll stop when Microsoft's more than thirty years of experience in making software comes under the Sun again.

Why does Windows 8 mean so much for you?

I appreciate the brave act Microsoft did, but the result highly disappoints . There is no other operating system like that: combining mouse with touch and preserving backward compatibility.

Where can I download those wallpapers used in your concept from?

The landscape used as a wallpaper for workplace may be downloaded from these places. The wooden wall used for lock screen may be downloaded from these.

Lock screen uses similar-style time indication like Modern Taskbar

I want to use modern apps, but I'm tired of travelling with my mouse cursor from one end of the screen to another. What am I suppose to do?

Aside from fact that users of Apple's famous Mac OS X have to travel over entire screen for context menus too, you can perform many Modern UI actions via keyboard. For example, instead of performing mouse gesture "slide from top", you can close modern apps with Alt+F4 key combination. Changing sensitivity of your mouse could solve the issue too.

Aren't you ashamed of ripping Unity off and present it as your idea?

Windows 8 already have a taskbar/app switcher on the left. There are even more reasons of me having Taskbar there. I've seen Linux only from a far distance and never used it.

Allowing to snap the Start Screen breaks the philosophy of Start Screen being a headquarters of the system.

Start Screen becomes another ordinary build-in tool like Search or PC Settings in my concept. It is just a launcher. The centre of my concept is Modern Taskbar. Instead of a temple, you get an altar. :-) This is not a question by the way. :-)

27" Dell S2740L - the display used in video of design concept

Where did you buy that touch Dell display used in showcase videos?

Due to limited resources, I had to fake the touches. :-) The display is a standard 27" Dell S2740L without any touch layer. Only buttons to set-up the display are equipped by touch sensors.

How can you demand responsive design when your blog is optimized for 1024x768?

Nobody force you to open my blog in full screen. :-) I believe the layout of my blog fits its purpose. It's not some kind of complex e-shop, but rather personal diary. And I'm not a professional.

How long did you work on this project?

Longer than expected. :-)

7th July 2016 update: Now that Windows 10 with different UI structure got well established, don't you regret investing time to your Windows 9 concept?

Although I acknowledge that changes made from Windows 8 to Windows 10 were well decided and I consider Windows 10 better than my concept, mainly thanks to Universal Windows Platform initiative, something has to be said. What I tried to do in my concept was to keep lots of great things from Windows 8 alive. I tried to introduce subtle changes to make two years of work by Microsoft worth. With Windows 10, Microsoft decided to throw most of things from Windows 8 away and start from scratch. I believe it was a great decision, but it did not happen without negative consequences. Most problematic area in my opinion is that all Windows 8 apps look strange in Windows 10 and lots of already great apps had to be rewritten, which results in its current poor feature list and quality. Lots of people who invested their time into learning Windows 8 had to undergo re-learning procedure too. At last but not least, Microsoft indirectly admitted that they were completely wrong with Windows 8, which lowered their already bad reputation in eyes of their costumers.

Windows Phone sejmul i Nokii

Nechci si hrát na nějakého přemoudrého komentátora. Zanedbanost mého blogu ostatně svědčí o tom, že si své dojmy nechávám většinou pro sebe. Nicméně to, co se v oblasti IT událo minulý týden, je natolik komické, že mne to po dlouhé době opět přimělo obnažit svojí mozkovou kůru před okolním světem. Pravda, mohl bych jen odcitovat článek ze SmartMania.cz nebo nalinkovat video z MobilMania.cz, které se tomuto tématu věnují. Nakonec jsem se ale rozhodl, že nedávné události vylíčím po svém s důrazem na širší kontext, který celou situaci povyšuje do té míry, že by vás ani biják pod taktovkou Shana Blacka se Sascha Baron Cohenen a Johnny Knoxvillem v hlavních rolích nepobavil víc. Vlastně by se to všechno dalo sesumírovat i do stručného konstatování, že tonoucí Microsoft stáhl už tak notně přidušenou Nokii úplně ke dnu a jejich vrchní fanboy Hulán to ještě oslavuje (přejít na mojí reakci). Jistě se ale mezi námi najdou i fajnšmekři, kteří si rádi celý příběh vychutnají v celém svém rozměru (vynechat), chronologicky a včetně těch nejmenších detailů. Jelikož sám tak trochu spadám mezi podobně škodolibé jedince, pokusím se nám všem dopřát ono potěšení. :-)

Smoked by Windows Phone - Sejmul mě Windows Phone

Disappointing Windows 8 Release Preview

I've been using Windows since version 3.1 and over time, I've used or at least tried every single final release of this product family till today (I mean consumer versions, although I got in contact with those server ones like NT 4.0 and Windows 2000 Server too). At the moment, I'm a die-hard Windows XP fan, no matter how ancient the system is. I've used it for 9 years (almost third of my life!) with high level of satisfaction and effectivity thanks to lots of useful third-party utilities (let me name Softarium ActiveKeys, SillySot Iconoid and Darius Baczynski's Autoplay Repair), tweaks and, of course, the qualities of the OS itself, which reached almost rock-solid stability after Service Pack 3 was released in 2008 (although the system performed great since the original release already). But last year, I decided to exchange my dated nForce4 desktop for a convertible notebook/tablet in order to improve the ergonomics of me using a PC.

Official Windows 8 logo - forget about four-coloured window

[Link to the entire post]

Windows 8 seemed a perfect OS for me to upgrade. I really wanted to love it. I liked the concept. I enjoyed all of the public demonstrations. But my enthusiasm got strangled when I personally tried Windows 8 Release Preview 32bit (W8 RP) on my own rig: untolerable amount of bugs, inconsistencies and backlogs is still present even in such a progressive level of development. The problem is actually so serious that I had returned to my beloved XP prematurely, otherwise I would probably face a threat spending the rest of my life reporting my complaints. Is Microsoft able to fix all of these issues till the end of 2012, which was set as the current W8 release date? I'm skeptical, although I like positive surprises.

  ▌  1) Unsatisfying Media Playback Experience
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  ▌  2) Not That Much to Complain About (Internet) Explorer
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  ▌  3) User Interface, Inconsistencies, Suggestions
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  ▌  4) Miscellaneous
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  ▌  5) Compatibility Issues
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  ▌  6) Wrap Up


At least for a moment, I'll try to put my fears aside, act constructively and share my thoughts and suggestions, as well as pointing out the for-no-reason removed features, imperfections and bugs that W8 RP is (unfortunately) full of. As we all know, Microsoft aims the system to the tablet market, occupied by Apple with iPads at the moment. After the years the tablets became well established, there is no doubt that a device like that suits best for a content consuming. Let's name just few kinds of these user actions: listening to music, watching videos, surfing the web or reading documents. Along with ordinary and mostly just evolutionized desktop features we all already know from past, the article will focus mainly on these "consuming" abilities, which are brand new to the Windows family. Unfortunately, there are no special tools to read (Office, PDF, e-book formats, ...) documents from Microsoft, so there is no place for me to express. To make it clear at the beginning: everytime I use an "app" term, I'm referring to a Metro app.  Everytime an "application" term appears, it refers to a desktop application. So, are you listening, Redmond?

Unsatisfying Media Playback Experience

Listening to music on a PC is a great priority for me, so expect no mercy. I haven't been building my large discotheque for years for nothing. This is what applies to music playback in general:

Unsatisfying music experience demonstrated on video

1) There is no way how to edit ID3 tags in music (even WMA!) files in default W8 applications ("Properties" of a file, Windows Media Player-WMP or Music app from Metro). In recent Windows 7, it works at least in "Properties" of a file. And in more that 10 years old XP, you can even attach an AlbumArt via Windows Media Player 10.

Notes below apply to Windows Media Player 12, which MS chose as a default media player in the desktop environment. Alternative Microsoft Zune is not present in the default installation as someone could assume, but you can install it additionally of course.

2) "Now Playing" mode in fullscreen acts strange when an app is snapped to the edge of the screen.

3) "Now Playing" window lacks window title and is mostly empty in fullscreen.

4) When a tracklist is shown in "Play" bar or the player is switched to "Now Playing" mode and I change my current position in "Library", I can't jump over to associated album or artist in "Library" from here.

5) Although my music files include 500x500 JPEG AlbumArt, no matter where or how I play it, I can't see the picture in original resolution. It is always reduced in size. Today, we live in a world where Full-HD displays are easily available, and WMP should go hand in hand with time. Paradoxically, WMP10 shows an AlbumArt in a native resolution, so you can affect how the player displays it during playback.

6) "Switch to Now Playing"/"Switch to Library" button is once positioned at the top right corner and then at the right bottom corner when I go from "Now Playing" to "Library" and back. I criticized this in WMP11 back in 2009 already.

Windows Media Player 12: the default desktop media player

7) "Now Playing" mode shows unarranged and uncustomizable tracks in the playlist. I need my track numbers back as in WMP10! :-)

8) AlbumArt in library could stand above album name, artist, genre and year so more columns can be seen and AlbumArt can be larger.

9) I can't change column names in my music "Library". For example, "Play count" label is absurdly long and mostly remains the longest value in the column - I would change it just to "Count" as I can in excellent freeware MP3tag for example. I made a quick sketch where the blue arrow shows how WMP could integrate the function and red arrow shows best position for "Rename" button. The function would be useful in Explorer either.

10) When the user turns WMP on, put some tracks (or videos) in the playlist, and turn WMP off and on again, last played tracks are gone from the playlist and he can't follow up the listening where he previously interrupted it in any way.

11) "Preview" feature of the music tracks in "Library" could play an excerpt from the middle of the track, not the beginning as the current state is.

Notes below apply to Music app that is adapted for Metro user interface and is preinstalled to default app menu. What must be said at the moment is that most of the apps are incredibly buggy and half-assed in general and Music probably sucks most of all.

12) Even when I give it enough time to load, only some AlbumArts are loaded in "Now Playing" mode, so the "AlbumArt Wall" remains half-empty.

13) Library sometimes gets messed up, the app do not respond on user inputs (mainly when logging in) and I can't open any of the items (like an album, artist etc.).

Music app from Metro UI requires some more attention

14) I can't share ANYTHING via "Share" button in the charms bar no matter what I do. What about sharing  a song name, track path, an excerpt, an album art or send a link to buy a track or an album to a friend?

15) The app do not start into a state when the scrollbar lays absolutely in the left position like other apps do.

16) WMP interferences with the Music app (two songs can be played simultaneously, media keyboard buttons affect both of players).

17) Music app omits the "Track Artist" field in ID3 tag at all. Only "Album Artist" is shown everywhere. The difference between the two can sometimes be noticeable...

18) AlbumArt of the now-playing tracks is still reduced in size or is missing completely from the screen.

19) Rewind features do not work at all (unlike WMP, where everything works fine).

20) On one screen, I skip the track via >| and on other screen, I skip track via different > symbol. Inconsistent. Confusing. Unintuitive.

21) "My Music" tab does not show my entire music library that I have put into "Music Library" in WMP.

The list below apply to Music app when snapped to the edge of the screen.

22) Rewind features do not work at all again.

23) Scrollbars distracts you everywhere you look, tabs "overview" and "what's next" probably do not work as they should (shouldn't they be hidden completely in this mini-mode?).

24) "Track Number", "Album Name" and "Track Artist" fields of ID3 tags are not shown.

25) When I put a single track into the playlist and hide playback controls via right mouse click on them, I can't recover them by right clicking on the same place again.

26) When I apply right mouse click on items in the playlist, they get selected, but you are not offered the action (what about change an order of the track or remove it from the list?)  + surrounding boxes representing tracks inaesthetically blink.

27) Now-playing track is not highlighted in the playlist so it's hard to find out what track will play when I use skip controls.

28) What sense does it make when I can skip (or "skip back") the track via |< and >| control buttons at the bottom and do the same action via different < and > symbols at the top of the snap on the sides of the AlbumArt? This waste-space situation could result in displaying larger AlbumArt!  :-) It's inconsistent too.

29) When there sits only a single track in the playlist, I can replay it via |<, but sides of the AlbumArt lack  < symbol. If you already do something wrong, do it with care! :-D

30) Track order in the playlist cannot be changed.

31) When I open playlist in "Now Playing" mode and right click any of the track, something very useless happens.

WMP can be used for music playback as well as video playback. If I omit that there are not many codecs supported in the start, there is nothing serious to complain about. Speaking about dedicated Video app from Metro UI, the situation is different. These are my comments:

Stig can chase Video app the same way as a car

32) Video app is not able to play formats that WMP can play from default. It doesn't make any sense to me.

33) I cannot make a playlist of videos.

34) The < arrows > and classic |< track skip >| symbols that serve for skipping a track in Music app now serve only as a rewind button - what an inconsistency!

35) When I move a cursor over now-playing video in fullscreen, the controls could disappear faster so they do not distract you from viewing.

36) When I leave an app without closing it (it remains in the background), the video pauses, but when I do the same in Music app, the playback continues. Have you thought about a situation when one wants to play a music video in Video app, Microsoft? Pausing it would be very inappropriate...

37) I can't quickly share video screenshot, video name or video properties via charms bar.

38) The app do not start into a state when the scrollbar lays absolutely in the left position like other apps do.

39) It's just buggy. :-)

The situation over DVD-Video playback is not as definite as it seemed when every tech-site wrote that "Microsoft dumped DVD". Even if you do not plan to buy third-party standalone software DVD player, there still exists a chance to play a DVD in Windows 8, but it's nothing to go for. Only Windows Media Center can do so, but it is not part of the original installation. The other problems are that...

40) Windows Media Center looks exactly like Metro app, but it isn't, so it makes you confused.

Comparison of playback controls among default players

41)  It brings even more inconsistency into the system.

42) Playing a DVD-Video from hard-disk is not possible no matter how hard you try.

Not That Much to Complain About iExplorer and Explorer

Windows 8 comes with "brand new" Internet Explorer (IE) - unlike WMP12, which was released for W7 already, IE 10 will premiere here. In case you don't require more than just basic features, there is not that much to complain about. Well, I found something after all:

43) IE for desktop miss the window title and icon completely, although any other system or non-system apps do not.

44) Some doubtful gimmicks are included. Sometimes it's hard to say whether you encountered a bug or a feature.

45) When I open more tabs of sites with Adobe Flash objects (videos), these objects do not load when the site's tab waits in the background.

46) In a rare case when Adobe Flash video is loaded in the background, you can't play it when you put the tab of it's site in the foreground.

47) I can drag a plain text, but I can't drop it anywhere. What's the purpose of the feature?

IE can't preload flash videos in the background

In Metro user interface, you can use default browser called just "Internet Explorer". It's pretty simple, but it's probably what it is suppose to be. These are my negative impressions:

48) A link got lost from Start menu mysteriously and I couldn't recover it even when I turned Internet Explorer on and off in Windows features menu. You can't download it in Microsoft Store either. At the end, I had to reinstall the system from ground in order to recover the app.

49) I can't "send a link" ("View on the desktop" option) from desktop IE to Metro. Reversibly, it is possible  (from Metro to desktop). Shouldn't the desktop representation of the application be more rich in function and not the other way around?

50) Scrollbars on the right side of the loaded page are almost invisible in my opinion - more contrasting colors would serve better.

51) Already loaded page sometimes gets blank.

52) Pop-up windows blocking feature could be included in order to keep the surfing experience simple.

The regular Explorer for managing files has just minor, mostly cosmetic problems:

53) Height of window title bar differs in "maximalized" and "restored down" mode. 

54) Available and unavailable options in context menus are not differentiated enough by color in my opinion.

Options and controls could be more contrasting

User Interface, Inconsistencies, Suggestions

This is what I would change in a desktop (the legacy of Aero) area or that seemed strange to me from the user interface point of view:

55) Left-clicking on any clickable object in notification area initiate different visual behavior: Aero and Metro visual elements are mixed up together. I would unify that. I would separate both of the worlds more resolutely.

56) When recently opened apps (left edge of the screen) are displayed, closing button "X" would be useful on every tile. At the current state, two steps are required in order to close the app. "Close all" option would be handy too.

57) When I make a (slightly slower) double click on "Show desktop" button at the right bottom corner, only the first click is accepted.

58) There's no additional device connected to my computer (flash drive, USB HDD, card reader, phone, ...), yet the icon that indicates connection of these devices appears in the notification area (and it's context menu do not offer to remove any device, which proves that I'm not kidding :-)).

59) Forcing Metro apps (picture viewer, video player or music apps) to desktop users will make them eat you alive. :-D

60) In most cases, when I switch from an app (Metro) to desktop (Aero), I want the desktop to cover most of the screen or the whole area of the screen, but it always requires more than one step. I would welcome if desktop would cover most of the screen when I drag it from recently opened apps bar. Snapped desktop seems useless to me.

What sense does a snapped desktop have? Close to zero.

In text below, I will talk about Start menu and Metro user interface.

61) Allow "Start" and search results to be snapped to the edge of the screen (which is impossible now) and adapt it to the smaller size the same way other apps are please: users that complain over classic Start menu absence will be satisfied, because you'll see Start and desktop at the same time + when you make a search and select one of the results (mainly desktop application), the specific search (and its results) is still available to change the selection.

62)  Give a user an option to boot to Start or to Desktop or both (see point 61): desktop could be on the right and snapped Start could be on the left (the same way it used to be in the past) as shown here (just a quick sketch; maybe just category names could be shown).

63) Use free screen space in search results for unwrapped categories and make the category names (Apps, Settings, Files, ...) shown horizontally at the top of the screen clickable (as are the boxes under the search field) so you can filter the results more specifically (i.e. Files: All, Documents, Pictures, ...) after the click (what would happen after clicking "Files" can be seen here - the "Back" arrow at the top left position was added).

64) At one time, I cannot move more than one tile - yes, several tiles can be selected, but when I perform the drag, only one tile moves.

65) Make it easier to copy (create) application links from Start (and taskbar) to desktop please (it is impossible now - user always have to go to C:\Program Files folder and execute the action from here, which sucks).

66) I tried to open menus in "Region" window and search an item by a keyboard twice. In both cases, I typed "germ" on my keyboard in order to find "Germany". Surprisingly, I got two different results. Video's worth million words.

67) Keyboard and mouse inputs in Metro requires some more tuning.

Nobody expect you to change this in such a progressive stage...

Miscellaneous

These comments do not fit in any of the categories above.

68) "Refresh PC" feature do not recognize the correct installation medium in the process of refreshing the PC.

69) Since Movie Maker allows a direct upload of a movie to video streaming servers, shouldn't Paint allow the same thing with photo hosting servers?

70)  In every single default application, Ctrl+Scroll is reserved for zooming. The scroll wheel alone is used mostly for regular scrolling so you can pan the document - except Photo Viewer, which use "scrolling wheel only" for zooming too - wouldn't "skip image" suits better?

71) When I capture a screenshot via pressing Print Screen key on my keyboard, the PC do not react for a few seconds.

72) I can't even save a crop of a map from Maps app! The app is incredibly poor in functions!!!

Compatibility Issues

I didn't expect that I will encounter so many compatibility issues. These are some of them:

73) I was not allowed to install 64bit version of Release Preview, although 64bit driver were prepared on plugged-in USB flash memory. Well, my PC is probably too old, but the message is vague (what does the "media driver" mean?) and confusing.

Leadtek WinFast DTV2000 H Plus is incompatible with W8

74) I was not successful in persuading my TV receiver to work, although W7 drivers were used and Winfast PVR2 officially supports W7. All I get is error message ("Fails to build graph") when I try to launch Winfast PVR2 application. The tuner performs well in W7 Media Center. Different error message appears when I try to manually put the drivers in place.

75) Serious graphics driver crashes occur. It happens mostly when using "Music" or "Video" apps. Even unrecoverable crash occurs with hard reset needed (using W8 default driver), or the PC restarts automatically (with 296.17 NVIDIA drivers). Fortunately, I haven't lost any unsaved documents.

76) I have adjusted Logitech Setpoint's "Keystroke assignments" feature in order to switch applications (Alt+Tab in default on keyboard) via pressing two premium buttons on my mouse.  I can't live without that today. It worked well in XP.  This specific settings are ignored in W8 and I can't perform the "trick" anymore. (Note: There was a finding recently that there was something wrong with my mouse, but I already uninstalled W8, so I can't try it again and confirm this.)

77) Jing does not start at all after absolving regular installation process, only error message "This application is expired." is shown. I tried to manually install NET Framework 3.5 SP1 from here, but the installation didn't start; I guess 4.0 version cumulates those old ones and is sufficient enough to run the program. The application works fine in W7.

78) CamStudio does not start at all after absolving regular installation process. It reportedly works fine on W7.

79) Simply Capture does not start at all after absolving regular installation process.

80) Free Screen to Video sometimes crashes.

Aero Internet Explorer handles HTML5 <video> tag well

Wrap Up

I've been intensively testing W8 RP for more than a week. I could go on, but, frankly, I got tired of finding a problem on almost every step. Simply said, there are lots of things to improve from my perspective. The current development stage would be acceptable if the release date was more distant and W8 Build 8400, that is presented as a Release Preview, was called beta instead. My biggest concern is that most of the Metro apps suck. It feels unfinished and poor in functions. I would expect Microsoft to showcase the new advances of the Metro platform on it, but they rather drives you away from the new UI, which undoubtedly has a special magic in it. Let's hope in a happy-end, because there is a lot to love too: ribbon UI integration across the system ease file management, lots of under-the-hood improvements result in faster response, advanced Task Manager gives you more control over your system, revolutionary picture password feature degrade additional-charge fingerprint readers, fast boot saves time and more.