Windows 10's taskbar is getting a weather and news widget very soon

[envirovore]

I know, DX-12 was the "gamer's bribe", for installing 10.

Over the years, good Windows editions seem to follow the pattern of alcoholism, whereas it's claimed, "it skips a generation"..
XP , Vista , Windows 7 , Windows 8 , Windows 8.1(maybe), Windows 10, now available as a suppository.

Yeah, that was a pretty well played pull on MS's end, and they knew it'd work.

I wish this site had a "funny" button, lol'd at the suppository analogy.
Have a like instead.

Win10 is the only version of their OS I've legitimately paid for even. I did use a free upgrade on one of my machines (now sitting in storage, lacking a GPU) but put up the cash for my primary driver.
All others had been pirated, because I was young and dumb.

 

[CommonSenseTech]

Macs have had widgets for many years; good to see Microsoft catching up.

 

[Puiu]

Yes, but it looks well.

That's about it.
Even after using it for years I still find my self losing track of what's open, where the pined programs are, what program instance I should click if I have multiple windows open... and I freaking hate how it moves between screens when I have multiple monitors.

It's a nightmare to use as a programmer that opens tens of programs/files. I think I have 10-20 sublime windows open and I always have to go through them 1 by 1 to find something (not a problem for me on win10 since it has a nice grouping and proper previews)

 

[Gomos]

There might many things wrong about Windows 10, but the Taskbar is not one of them. Especially when made small and black and as invisible as possible. As for the weather, I couldn't care less, as I live so resolutely apart from physical contingencies that my senses no longer trouble to inform me of them.

The Mac taskbar is the easiest way to make fun of Mac users. I see like 90% of them with these huge icons taking 10% to 20% of the Desktop space.

 

[CommonSenseTech]

The Mac taskbar is cool and hideable; it also allows one to rapidly start and use his favorite apps rather than having to crawl through The Nest Of Menus From Hell. And it doesn’t have the clutter of widgets, settings icons, and general “put everything you possibly can into the taskbar because we don’t understand UI” dynamic that Windows still suffers from.

It’s a shame that Metro didn’t take off, because it was far more usable.

 

[Puiu]

The Mac taskbar is cool and hideable; it also allows one to rapidly start and use his favorite apps rather than having to crawl through The Nest Of Menus From Hell. And it doesn’t have the clutter of widgets, settings icons, and general “put everything you possibly can into the taskbar because we don’t understand UI” dynamic that Windows still suffers from.

It’s a shame that Metro didn’t take off, because it was far more usable.

Too bad nobody actually thinks it is like that and it's actually a mess. You kinda lost all credibility the moment you used the word "cool" to describe it

And what do you mean by "hideable"? Are you talking about the option to hide the taskbar that windows has had since forever?

And talking about UI/UX, do you like having buttons top right, top left, bottom right, bottom left and everywhere in between?

 

[ZedRM]

Great, one more thing to remove from the Windows install...

 

[CommonSenseTech]

Too bad nobody actually thinks it is like that and it's actually a mess. You kinda lost all credibility the moment you used the word "cool" to describe it

And what do you mean by "hideable"? Are you talking about the option to hide the taskbar that windows has had since forever?

And talking about UI/UX, do you like having buttons top right, top left, bottom right, bottom left and everywhere in between?

It is very cool. And yeah, the Mac OS interface is fantastic. Easy to use, simple but powerful, and best of all, no need for a clean reinstall every six months as the registry corrupts and security updates brick peripheral drivers.

 

[Puiu]

It is very cool. And yeah, the Mac OS interface is fantastic. Easy to use, simple but powerful, and best of all, no need for a clean reinstall every six months as the registry corrupts and security updates brick peripheral drivers.

I haven't done a clean install in years. On a different laptop I used windows 10 since the early beta builds for multiple years with no problems during updates etc. It's all about not being stupid or breaking things by mistake.

I also don't know why you bring up drivers and updates when talking about the interface.

Do you want to know just how often the macs at work break or crap themselves? Weekly.

 

[CommonSenseTech]

It's all about not being stupid or breaking things by mistake.

Ahhh, the old “blame the user when it breaks” model.

That whole model is why Apple can charge a premium and vacuum up high margins. Nobody in Windows World seems to have figured out how to build a stable, friendly and reliable persistent experience, and Apple is the only significant non-Windows player left in the game.

 

[cliffordcooley]

Ahh yeah, people do stupid things and then blame the vendor. So lets tell people what they can and can not do with their machines. So they can't blame the vendor. Sounds like a democratic loss of freedom way of life to me. Instead we should put the blame where it is due, ON THE USER.

 

[ZedRM]

Ahh yeah, people do stupid things and then blame the vendor. So lets tell people what they can and can not do with their machines. So they can't blame the vendor. Sounds like a democratic loss of freedom way of life to me. Instead we should put the blame where it is due, ON THE USER.

Interesting perspective. I prefer to blame the vendor for failing to respect user rights and the industry as a whole for failing to educate and promote the education of user as to how technology works.

 

[cliffordcooley]

Interesting perspective. I prefer to blame the vendor for failing to respect user rights and the industry as a whole for failing to educate and promote the education of user as to how technology works.

While that is true. You really can't blame the vendor when people don't care to learn.

 

[ZedRM]

While that is true. You really can't blame the vendor when people don't care to learn.

Also true. So instead of shaming the vendors, shame the users ignorance. Put the blame exactly where it belongs and make it a social point to highlight the needs of the public to get in the know.

 

[Puiu]

Ahhh, the old “blame the user when it breaks” model.

That whole model is why Apple can charge a premium and vacuum up high margins. Nobody in Windows World seems to have figured out how to build a stable, friendly and reliable persistent experience, and Apple is the only significant non-Windows player left in the game.

yes, I blame the user because for 2 decades I've been repairing things and only 1 in maaaany had real windows problems. the rest were just doing stupid things or it wasn't the OS the problem.

Personal experience trumps quoting memes.

"Nobody in Windows World..." - you don't even understand just how many more have Windows compared to macOS and just how much more flexible it is. What you want is homogeny with zero choice, you have MacOS for that, and even so it still breaks more often than windows at work.

 

[CommonSenseTech]

you don't even understand just how many more have Windows compared to macOS and just how much more flexible it is. What you want is homogeny with zero choice, you have MacOS for that, and even so it still breaks more often than windows at work.

Well sure; there are more Yugos or Ladas out there than Maseratis as well; sales share means little.

As a refugee from Windows, I'm aware of its "flexibility" argument. I guess I just don't view the lion's share of viruses, endless crashes, antique hardware constraints (hot-running CISC at 11 nm in 2021!), registry issues (you didn't need that hardware to run consistently after an OS update anyway), and need for a clean reinstall due to "Windows bitrot" every six to twelve months as a good thing.

My primary concern about choice is having the choice to get my work done quickly, with a minimum of fuss; in this sense, Mac OS is an elegant thing while Windows is... ummmm... not so much. I easily get 5x as much work done in an average work hour with Mac OS than Windows because the Mac is faster, has better battery life, and I can focus on creating rather than debugging/reinstalling/recovering from crashes.

I also can do so confident that the system was designed to be usable and that the various software makers won't attempt to blame the user for any problems; "Blame The User" should be the tagline for Windows in 2021.

 

[Puiu]

Well sure; there are more Yugos or Ladas out there than Maseratis as well; sales share means little.

As a refugee from Windows, I'm aware of its "flexibility" argument. I guess I just don't view the lion's share of viruses, endless crashes, antique hardware constraints (hot-running CISC at 11 nm in 2021!), registry issues (you didn't need that hardware to run consistently after an OS update anyway), and need for a clean reinstall due to "Windows bitrot" every six to twelve months as a good thing.

My primary concern about choice is having the choice to get my work done quickly, with a minimum of fuss; in this sense, Mac OS is an elegant thing while Windows is... ummmm... not so much. I easily get 5x as much work done in an average work hour with Mac OS than Windows because the Mac is faster, has better battery life, and I can focus on creating rather than debugging/reinstalling/recovering from crashes.

I also can do so confident that the system was designed to be usable and that the various software makers won't attempt to blame the user for any problems; "Blame The User" should be the tagline for Windows in 2021.

If "debugging/reinstalling/recovering from crashes" is what you do at work when using windows 10 then you have other problems and it's not the OS. And please stop exaggerating the whole 5x more work, you sound like an Apple PR guy that actually just does charity work for Apple.

You are talking to someone who is surrounded by iMacs and Macbook Pros at work (I do my programming at work on a macbook pro). Arguments like yours have no basis in the real life.

 

[CommonSenseTech]

The stats don’t lie. That’s why high income professionals prefer Macs — they help us work faster and more effectively to justify our higher rates.

Windows is a productivity killer — just ask the Colonial Pipeline, another victim of Windows “security.”

 

[Puiu]

The stats don’t lie. That’s why high income professionals prefer Macs — they help us work faster and more effectively to justify our higher rates.

Windows is a productivity killer — just ask the Colonial Pipeline, another victim of Windows “security.”

I'm sorry, what? The stats show that high income "professionals" prefer macs? That's a load of BS. Even if that stat my be true, you are forgetting something: over 80% of the world uses Windows and that includes the majority of the poorer population since windows systems are much cheaper.

FYI I had to deal with ransomware personally a month ago. Care to guess what type of systems the branding company I work at uses?

And I'm literally asked daily by the designers and other people to fix their macs because of constant crashes (both first and third party applications) and issues with the updates. My own work gets interrupted so much.

Do you want to know the worst part of it? Once an update happens (like lets say an update for Keynote which screwed up the fonts royally on Big Sur), it is impossible to find an older version to install until a fix is rolled out by Apple. Apple screws people with this crap so much.

You can prolly tell by how much I wrote just how many issues I have with macs at work.

 

[CommonSenseTech]

FYI I had to deal with ransomware personally a month ago. Care to guess what type of systems the branding company I work at uses?

And I'm literally asked daily by the designers and other people to fix their macs because of constant crashes (both first and third party applications) and issues with the updates. My own work gets interrupted so much.

Do you want to know the worst part of it? Once an update happens (like lets say an update for Keynote which screwed up the fonts royally on Big Sur), it is impossible to find an older version to install until a fix is rolled out by Apple. Apple screws people with this crap so much

Let me guess — everybody clapped after you rescued them from the imaginary ransomware, crashes and “Big Sur font screwups.”

Windows is cheap because you get what you pay for. If it was a quality platform, they’d be able to charge a premium for it. It is a low quality platform that people use because they have to, hence the pricing.

Apple has been ahead of Windows from the start in UI, reliability and hardware quality. And now M1 is reducing the price of the machines while accelerating its performance advantage well ahead of Wintel stuff with roots in the late 70s.

The present and future of Windows is as a Walmart platform — pay $299 for an el-cheapo POS. Others are stuck using it at work because they’re at companies who don’t update their platforms to leverage the latest tech and are stuck with ancient legacy X86 code bases.

Everyone who has a choice in platforms, unconstrained by legacy requirements, goes with Apple.

Even Microsoft recognizes that Windows sucks. It’s why they’re moving to the cloud, took the “Windows” out of “Windows Azure,” and killed off most R&D in making Windows not suck (Windows Phone) when it failed to sell in volume. Microsoft knows that Windows has no role in the future and will continue to support it with minimal effort a la DEC and the VAX back in the day.

They know the big money is in the cloud — and the best platforms for cloud computing are Mac OS, iOS and iPad OS.

 

[Puiu]

Let me guess — everybody clapped after you rescued them from the imaginary ransomware, crashes and “Big Sur font screwups.”

Windows is cheap because you get what you pay for. If it was a quality platform, they’d be able to charge a premium for it. It is a low quality platform that people use because they have to, hence the pricing.

Apple has been ahead of Windows from the start in UI, reliability and hardware quality. And now M1 is reducing the price of the machines while accelerating its performance advantage well ahead of Wintel stuff with roots in the late 70s.

The present and future of Windows is as a Walmart platform — pay $299 for an el-cheapo POS. Others are stuck using it at work because they’re at companies who don’t update their platforms to leverage the latest tech and are stuck with ancient legacy X86 code bases.

Everyone who has a choice in platforms, unconstrained by legacy requirements, goes with Apple.

Even Microsoft recognizes that Windows sucks. It’s why they’re moving to the cloud, took the “Windows” out of “Windows Azure,” and killed off most R&D in making Windows not suck (Windows Phone) when it failed to sell in volume. Microsoft knows that Windows has no role in the future and will continue to support it with minimal effort a la DEC and the VAX back in the day.

They know the big money is in the cloud — and the best platforms for cloud computing are Mac OS, iOS and iPad OS.

The imaginary "ransomeware" cost us just 0.01 bitcoins since it was just an automated thing that encrypted files and the company isn't big enough for "special attention" from hackers. But hey, keep acting like you know better when I'm talking about actual events at an actual workplace unlike the things you imagine or read on some forum.

And yes, people did thank me for the help since it's way outside of my normal work as a programmer.

You can try changing the topic, but it just proves that you have no real intention of having a real discussion and just avoid reality. Talkign to someone who keeps moving the goalpost is not something that I want to continue doing. Thank for letting me vent a bit and you can continue being an Apple fanboy. o7

 

[captaincranky]

Considering there is news on the start page of many browsers, I'm slightly confused as to why the "news widget", is in any way remotely necessary. Since you have to go online to get the most recent news. Unless of course, M$ has connsidered it , "a good idea" to expand its omnipresent telemetry to a two way function.

"Not only must we know what we want to know, but Windows users must know what we want them to know as well". (S.N.)

 

[shrek2021]

Initially I was unable to save the news articles to the Save list. I wasted lot of time on this error. I though only the MSN feed articles would be saved. But later I found that Microsoft account has to be added to both the personalize list and News and interests widget. This way both communicate together. That solved my problem. Hope it helps others.