Windows 8 is a Mullet

 

Windows 8. No, really.

Some time back I was given a copy of Visual Aid: Stuff You've Forgotten, Things You Never Thought You Knew and Lessons You Didn't Quite Get Around to Learning. It is full of diagrams that tell you stuff, and is as much an object lesson in presenting data as it is a collection of quirky and interesting facts.

It had a page on haircuts, with an example of each. Including the Mullet. For those of you who don’t remember the 80’s, a mullet was a kind of crew cut front with an enormous length of hair behind. It was billed as the haircut that was “Business at the front, Party round the back”.

Just like Windows 8. I’ve been using Windows 8 for a few weeks now, and it really is an operating system of two halves. It is as if Microsoft have looked at the tablet experience and gone “There’s no way we can make a single system that does tablet and desktop at the same time”. So they have made a machine with works as well as Windows 7 for the desktop and has a Metro interface for the tablety stuff.

I reckon it works.  There are some irritations. The determination of Microsoft to hide the Start button has annoyed a few people, but I’ve now got used to pressing the Start key on the keyboard and then typing the first few letters of the program name to run it. I can get Visual Studio working in much shorter time than previously.

For me the biggest irritation is the way that some things are hard wired into the Metro full screen mechanic, whether you like it or not. For example, the good news is that Windows 8 has a built in viewer for PDF files. The bad news is that when you open it you get to view the document full screen or nothing. There is no way you can have small window open on your desktop, which is annoying.

I’m using a Samsung Slate as my primary computer now and it works a treat. I can dock it for proper work and then take it out and about with me. It would be nice if it had USB 3, so that I could access external disks a bit more quickly, but I can live with that.

I mentioned my “mullet theory” to a Microsoft Person on the Windows 8 team as the possible basis of a marketing push. She thought it mildly amusing, but I think it is unlikely we’ll get Nik Kershaw to sport his again I’m afraid.

Comments

[Frank]

Re PDF: you can install any traditional PDF viewer (like Foxit), and make it the default PDF viewer - as always.

[Sergei Golubev]

"There is no way you can have small window open on your desktop, which is annoying."

I believe you can snap it to the side next to your desktop.

[John Harrison]

> but I’ve now got used to pressing the Start key on the keyboard and then typing the first few letters of the program name to run it. I can get Visual Studio working in much shorter time than previously.

Windows Vista and 7 did that too - but without launching a full screen application to obscure your programs.

[Carl Pickering]

I am convinced the start button will return by the first service pack or that MS will launch a business edition that includes it to reduce retraining. Not even Microsoft can get away with irritating it's customer base for long.

The mullet is only really popular in Germany now isn't it?

[Mary Branscombe]

drag the PDF Reader window and you can snap it as either 1/3 or 2/3 of the screen beside your desktop

[Rob]

Thanks for the responses folks. I knew about the start key in Windows 7, but never got around to using it. In Windows 8 the fact that I have to use it has been a great motivator, and it turns out to make life a lot easier.

I'll try the PDF thing. It would be nice if it worked for the picture viewer too.

I'm not sure why Microsoft are being quite so dogmatic about the Start button. The only thing I can think of is that people will be looking for the Start button in Metro, where it really should be hardware (and is on tablet devices). If it is removed from the desktop, it means it just isn't there and so folks won't wonder where it went in Metro....

[Jannik Junghänel]

@Carl Pickering No, the mullet isn't popular here :D btw: In Germany we call it "Vokuhila" which is a shortform of "vorne kurz, hinten lang" whiche means in english: front short, back long.

[JimmyFal]

Metro should be nice to have if you want to play with it, it's quite nice. I think people don't really realize how easy it is to stay in the "desktop" while they occasionally wander in to "Metro" for a peak at the future.

Install Win 8 and then immediately go back to business as usual. Locate your most often used programs on the "start screen", and IMMEDIATELY, right click on them and then PIN to task bar. From there it is really simple to just click on the desktop and stay there. Occasionally you will be forced into Metro to search for things, but that is the point, to get you used to what is coming anyway.

And then when you have time, dip into Metro and start playing with games and news apps and all the really cool stuff that is coming.

Not hard to split the two worlds, but some direction is definitely needed.

[Jules]

I really don't like Windows 8 as a Desktop. Pixel hunting in top right corners (main display) just to get to Charms, top left for running Apps, and bottom left to get to Start. No it really doesn't work with a mouse trying to get to pixel corners. Keyboard Shortcuts and typing maybe Ok for Pros, but how do I explain this to ordinary Folk. Microsoft should not be so arrogant, as to not making the desktop more Mouse Friendly on Desktop by User Configuration. Its not Rocket science just UI design arrogance.

Windows 8 on Tablets, looks really nice. Looking forward to a nice cheap Win RT Tablet. But I don't understand point of Surface WinRT Pro. How is that any different to an UltraBook.