Improving features, the Microsoft way
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If you use Windows 10, you've probably noticed a "Note" button on the action center (aka "the side bar"). This one:
Clicking it opens the built in "OneNote" app with a new blank note.
This is not a bad concept of course, taking notes is a pretty common thing to do. The problem is that it can only open the OneNote app. Even though:
- Lots of people use other note-taking apps (Evernote, etc.)
- Windows itself already includes a different note taking application (Sticky Notes)
- Microsoft itself offers a different OneNote client too
- Windows already has a mechanism to allow people to pick what app they want to use for specific actions, that would work perfectly here.
So for all the people who use different note programs (i.e. most people), that tile is just a misleading annoyance.
So how does the Windows Team fix that problem?
Of course
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@anonymous234 said in Improving features, the Microsoft way:
If you use Windows 10, you've probably noticed a "Note" button on the action center (aka "the side bar"). This one:
Clicking it opens the built in "OneNote" app with a new blank note.
This is not a bad concept of course, taking notes is a pretty common thing to do. The problem is that it can only open the OneNote app. Even though:
- Lots of people use other note-taking apps (Evernote, etc.)
- Windows itself already includes a different note taking application (Sticky Notes)
- Microsoft itself offers a different OneNote client too
- Windows already has a mechanism to allow people to pick what app they want to use for specific actions, that would work perfectly here.
So for all the people who use different note programs (i.e. most people), that tile is just a misleading annoyance.
So how does the Windows Team fix that problem?
Of course
Really? I mean, it appears that you can customize it... there's a registry key...
https://blogs.technet.microsoft.com/kimberj/2015/12/07/modifying-the-action-center-note-button/
I dunno if the fact that it's specified as a protocol URL means that you couldn't put in, say,
file:///C:/Program Files (x86)/MyNoteAss/Ass.exe
as the target, or if it'll only work for applications that've registered a protocol handler (though, I guess you could probably create one of those too?).
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So it basically works the same as the top button on my Surface's pen?
It always did annoy me that the inbuilt OneNote and the Office OneNote apps were separate. Stupid apps.
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@anotherusername said in Improving features, the Microsoft way:
it appears that you can customize it... there's a registry key
And once again, Windows is much better because there is a GUI to change settings
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@anotherusername said in Improving features, the Microsoft way:
I mean, it appears that you can customize it... there's a registry key...
Registry key hacking doesn't exactly count.
Although it seems like if a program registered the
onenote-cmd:
protocol it might work.
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@timebandit said in Improving features, the Microsoft way:
@anotherusername said in Improving features, the Microsoft way:
it appears that you can customize it... there's a registry key
And once again, Windows is much better because there is a GUI to change settings
No, I mean instead of nuking the feature, they could've built a GUI to change the existing registry key setting...
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@anotherusername Or change the
onenote-cmd:
command to something a bit more neutral, likenote:
. Then document that name somewhere, and then the existing GUI for picking which apps you want to handle a certain protocol would do the rest.
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@anonymous234 said in Improving features, the Microsoft way:
If you use Windows 10, you've probably noticed a "Note" button on the action center (aka "the side bar").
Can't say I have, no. I probably disabled or along with all the buttons that only make sense in a tablet or phone
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Windows is getting more and more pointless features. Stuff like Paint 3D, XXXXXX Center, etc.
Since Satya Nadella took over, the slogan it's quantity over quality.In the meantime, I have to take out my machete to get to the network adapters configuration if I have to set a static IP and DPI scaling is broken every update, just in different ways.
If they can get rid of some shit I'm all for it. The action center contains 16 buttons and I use 3 of them.
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@zmaster said in Improving features, the Microsoft way:
is broken every update, just in different ways
Forced upgrades are a wonderful idea
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@timebandit said in Improving features, the Microsoft way:
@zmaster said in Improving features, the Microsoft way:
is broken every update, just in different ways
Forced upgrades are a wonderful idea
i dunno if i'm doing it wrong or what but i just kinda stopped trying to fight the updates and the issues with the updates just kind of went away......
maybe..... maybe try that and see what happens?
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@accalia said in Improving features, the Microsoft way:
maybe try that and see what happens?
E_USING_LINUX
I've seen lots of reports about Win10 upgrades that screw things.
YMMV
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@zmaster said in Improving features, the Microsoft way:
Since Satya Nadella took over, the slogan it's quantity over quality.
Joining the insider program, I noticed that any time they try to make a change anywhere in Windows, it seems to break... pretty much everything.
I mean, it's a beta program and all, but you'd think they'd be able to make UI changes without breaking the boot process or the network drivers somehow. It's like they just have a big code mess, and it only holds together by the sheer amount of users reporting all the parts that keep breaking off and the thousands of programmers continuously gluing them back on.
And in the case of the Windows Store, even that can't manage to make it work reliably.
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@anonymous234 said in Improving features, the Microsoft way:
It's like they just have a big code mess, and it only holds together by
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@timebandit You troll, but it's got some truth to it. After all, half the size of Windows is compatibility shims so accounting software from 1993 still functions correctly.
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@timebandit said in Improving features, the Microsoft way:
I've seen lots of reports about Win10 upgrades that screw things.
YMMVI have too, but I've only personally seen it happen on one machine, and that machine was a fast ring Insider build machine. (bad idea, I know...)
Every other Windows 10 machine I've used is perfectly fine with updates...
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@raceprouk said in Improving features, the Microsoft way:
half the size of Windows is compatibility shims so accounting software from 1993 still functions correctly.
Just kill that shit already.
After 25 years, if you can't update your accounting software, just buy an accounting ledger and a calculator
OTOH, I've seen some programs from the 9x days that won't run in Win7 or later.
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@timebandit said in Improving features, the Microsoft way:
Just kill that shit already.
If it was up to me, I would. But MS has decided to be beholden to anyone willing to pay them to maintain outdated shite, so we're kinda stuck with it.
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@sloosecannon said in Improving features, the Microsoft way:
Every other Windows 10 machine I've used is perfectly fine with updates...
And still on some Lenovo's laptop, Creators Update kills the WiFi adapter (according to a certain rat)
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@timebandit said in Improving features, the Microsoft way:
@sloosecannon said in Improving features, the Microsoft way:
Every other Windows 10 machine I've used is perfectly fine with updates...
And still on some Lenovo's laptop, Creators Update kills the WiFi adapter (according to a certain rat)
That's probably the driver's fault though.
Actually, IIRC they updated the network settings screen in CU. I bet the idiot driver manufacturer was making an assumption about that screen or something.
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@sloosecannon said in Improving features, the Microsoft way:
I bet the idiot driver manufacturer was making an assumption about that screen or something.
Probably. A lot of the shims in Windows are there because older software has made assumptions about the OS that were never set in stone. Just think of how many developers hardcoded
C:\Program Files
into their software, meaning WoW64 has to do all sorts of funky redirection shite to support 32-bit apps.
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@sloosecannon said in Improving features, the Microsoft way:
That's probably the driver's fault though.
Of course, since Windows got a stable ABI.
Wait a sec...
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@sloosecannon said in Improving features, the Microsoft way:
Actually, IIRC they updated the network settings screen in CU. I bet the idiot driver manufacturer was making an assumption about that screen or something.
That's horrifyingly possible.
But a change to the exact requirements for code signing of drivers (disallowing some particularly broken key usage) is far more likely. And driver authors tend to be little more than moonlighting hardware hackers, so the level of in their code will be high. I work with hardware people, and their code is… full of very strange things indeed. Putting it diplomatically…
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@timebandit said in Improving features, the Microsoft way:
@sloosecannon said in Improving features, the Microsoft way:
That's probably the driver's fault though.
Of course, since Windows got a stable ABI.
Wait a sec...
Like I said in the other thread, I very much doubt the ABI broke. Someone probably made a stupid assumption they should never have made...
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@zmaster said in Improving features, the Microsoft way:
XXXXXX Center
Is that the one where you can watch two porns at the same time?
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@ben_lubar said in Improving features, the Microsoft way:
Is that the one where you can watch two porns at the same time?
Oh, that's what + and + are for.
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@anonymous234 said in Improving features, the Microsoft way:
Clicking it opens the built in "OneNote" app with a new blank note.
Holy shit!
Oh, so that's where I stuck my SAT scores!
OMG that was a decade ago!
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@zmaster said in Improving features, the Microsoft way:
The action center contains 16 buttons and I use 3 of them.
I've never used any of them until today...
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@anonymous234 said in Improving features, the Microsoft way:
It's like they just have a big code mess, and it only holds together by the sheer amount of users reporting all the parts that keep breaking off and the thousands of programmers continuously gluing them back on.
Have you seen their GIT repo?
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@dkf said in Improving features, the Microsoft way:
I work with hardware people, and their code is… full of very strange things indeed. Putting it diplomatically…
Lemme show you this 2800-line behemoth of a class that drives the user's Hand representation in our product.
THE HAND.
And that's not animation or anything like that, that's interactions such as "Grab the overlapping item", "Detect if a 2d-Widget is in range of being pointed at" and all sorts of things...
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@zmaster said in Improving features, the Microsoft way:
Windows is getting more and more pointless features. Stuff like Paint 3D, XXXXXX Center, etc.
Since Satya Nadella took over, the slogan it's quantity over quality.Windows has always been about quantity over quality. It's tradition!
If they can get rid of some shit I'm all for it. The action center contains 16 buttons and I use 3 of them.
I don't use the action center at all, and try to avoid using most MS products (looking at you, Office).
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@timebandit said in Improving features, the Microsoft way:
Just kill that shit already.
After 25 years, if you can't update your accounting software, just buy an accounting ledger and a calculatorThe problem is that it's not just the 25 year old software. Because the tricks still work, people still use them so you're not just killing ancient software when you take it out, you're intentionally removing support for all software from {COMPETING_BRAND}
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@tsaukpaetra said in Improving features, the Microsoft way:
@anonymous234 said in Improving features, the Microsoft way:
Clicking it opens the built in "OneNote" app with a new blank note.
Holy shit!
Oh, so that's where I stuck my SAT scores!
OMG that was a decade ago!
Is this a good score?
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@kt_ said in Improving features, the Microsoft way:
Is this a good score?
It's not over 9000 so I'd say it's middling
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@kt_ Each is on a 200-800 scale, with a 540 median. Based on the College Board's percentile rank charts, looks like he managed to just squeak into the top 10%.
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@tsaukpaetra said in Improving features, the Microsoft way:
OMG that was a decade ago!
See, and it was still there. The cloud works!
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@zmaster said in Improving features, the Microsoft way:
The action center contains 16 buttons and I use 3 of them.
It's customizable. You can remove the others.
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@marczellm said in Improving features, the Microsoft way:
@zmaster said in Improving features, the Microsoft way:
The action center contains 16 buttons and I use 3 of them.
It's customizable. You can remove the others.
And collapsible to 4.
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@zmaster said in Improving features, the Microsoft way:
If they can get rid of some shit I'm all for it. The action center contains 16 buttons and I use 3 of them.
I don't remember ever clicking any of those buttons
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@marczellm said in Improving features, the Microsoft way:
@zmaster said in Improving features, the Microsoft way:
The action center contains 16 buttons and I use 3 of them.
It's customizable. You can remove the others.
You can? Sweet!
immediately removes all except 'All Settings'
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@raceprouk said in Improving features, the Microsoft way:
immediately removes all except 'All Settings'
That one is unnecessary too because it's there in Start.
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@marczellm Oh and it's even easier if you + I
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@ben_lubar said in Improving features, the Microsoft way:
@zmaster said in Improving features, the Microsoft way:
XXXXXX Center
Is that the one where you can watch two porns at the same time?
One word: Stereoscopic.
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@anotherusername said in Improving features, the Microsoft way:
@ben_lubar said in Improving features, the Microsoft way:
@zmaster said in Improving features, the Microsoft way:
XXXXXX Center
Is that the one where you can watch two porns at the same time?
One word: Stereoscopic.
How do you sync hitting the play buttons? Otherwise you'll get desync.
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@e4tmyl33t I've never seen a stereoscopic video that had 2 separate files for the separate video tracks. If you had such a video, you could probably fix it with ffmpeg, though...
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@e4tmyl33t said in Improving features, the Microsoft way:
@anotherusername said in Improving features, the Microsoft way:
@ben_lubar said in Improving features, the Microsoft way:
@zmaster said in Improving features, the Microsoft way:
XXXXXX Center
Is that the one where you can watch two porns at the same time?
One word: Stereoscopic.
How do you sync hitting the play buttons? Otherwise you'll get desync.
Start one, wait a second, then pause. Start the other. After a second, un-pause the first.
It's not that hard to do, see me doing it live here:
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@marczellm said in Improving features, the Microsoft way:
@raceprouk said in Improving features, the Microsoft way:
immediately removes all except 'All Settings'
That one is unnecessary too because it's there in Start.
You can customize that too!
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@nerd4sale said in Improving features, the Microsoft way:
Windows has always been about quantity over quality.
Right; that's why that high-quality OS known as Linux has such a large marketshare.
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@blakeyrat Linux goes for quantity of linuxes over quality of any individual one
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@blakeyrat said in Improving features, the Microsoft way:
@nerd4sale said in Improving features, the Microsoft way:
Windows has always been about quantity over quality.
Right; that's why that high-quality OS known as Linux has such a large marketshare.
And Windows Phone has such a large market share because it's such a high-quality OS.
And Windows dominate the webserver space because it's such a high-quality OS.
And Windows dominate the embedded space because it's such a high-quality OS.
And Windows dominate Supercomputers because, you can guess it
And Git's market share is a prime example of your argument