Is there a way to make keyboard open when i enter a text field?

[mitchellvii]

Metro sucks. Long live the desktop!

I refuse to be seduced by pretty pictures, dead ends and extra steps.

 

[jnjroach]

Metro sucks. Long live the desktop!

I refuse to be seduced by pretty pictures, dead ends and extra steps.

What is this Metro you speak of? Ah you mean the Modern UI which is the future of Microsoft's OS which neither sucks nor is it a dead end. But there will be those who will hold on to archaic paradigms of computing much like those still using DOS programs earlier this century....

 

[mitchellvii]

As much as many of us would like it the fundamental problem is as Jeff stated, it isn't simply a matter of popping the keyboard up. Many desktop apps would need to be rewritten. So this doesn't seem to be trivial issue as many people may think.

Actually just Office and MS Explorer. Those are the only apps where it is really an issue.

Its not that MS can't its that they won't. They are full blown committed to the idiocy that is Metro UI and are intentionally making Desktop uncomfortable to use in order to drive the user to Metro. Even terrible sales figures for Windows 8 and PC's in general won't deter them. Doesn't matter. What MS won't solve and enterprising developer will.

 

[ArnoldC]

Idiocy? My goodness.
Sent from my Windows Phone 8S by HTC using Board Express

 

[mitchellvii]

What is this Metro you speak of? Ah you mean the Modern UI which is the future of Microsoft's OS which neither sucks nor is it a dead end. But there will be those who will hold on to archaic paradigms of computing much like those still using DOS programs earlier this century....

So your argument is that because MS is basing their whole future on Metro it is therefore precluded from being mind numbingly dumb? Metro is a BAD idea. America isn't buying it and they won't. Instead of Metro UI they should call it Metro ES for "Extra Step" because everything you want to do takes an extra step from Windows 7.

I am guessing that the same guy who thought of Metro also designed the power connector for the SP and then thought it would be brilliant to actually store the pen IN the power connector so you cannot charge your tablet with the pen stored. I mean friend, these are unbelievably stupid design choices. What am I supposed to do with my pen while my tablet is charging? Are they hoping to sell a lot of replacement pens because so many will be lost? We won't even talk about how the power cord pulls out if I even move my tablet slightly.

Overall I like the Surface Pro despite the cheap pen with the plastic tip, the idiotic power connector and the fact it idles at 123 degrees Fahrenheit. Metro is a joke and the smart companies like Stardock are making a fortune helping people avoid it.

Windows 7 was progress. Metro or Modern or whatever you are calling it now is not, assuming by progress you mean better than before.

 

[Tom T]

You know, I have been using pen/touch enabled devices for years, long before there was realistic support in windows. To make it viable these companies, including Sony, had to add a layer to bridge the pen/touch interface to windows. Now Microsoft has done an admirable job of it with Windows 8, and there are actually people complaining about it? So I have to ask, why buy a touch/pen focused tablet in the first place? There are plenty of powerful Ultrabooks out there, and you don't have to deal with Metro if you don't care to. Windows 8 is just fine without it if that is your preference.

 

[Arizona Willie]

mithcellvii: the older desktop versions of programs were written before there WAS a Surface tablet and they don't know HOW to call up the onscreen keyboard when a dialogue box is opened.

It would be possible for Microsoft to patch the sub-routine for opening a dialogue box and have it check to see if a keyboard is attached ( the usual case with desktops and laptops ) and if NOT then bring up the onscreen keyboard.

I'm not saying it would be easy ... but I wouldn't think it would be an insurmountable problem to stick a few more lines of code in there.
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Actually just Office and MS Explorer. Those are the only apps where it is really an issue.

Its not that MS can't its that they won't. They are full blown committed to the idiocy that is Metro UI and are intentionally making Desktop uncomfortable to use in order to drive the user to Metro. Even terrible sales figures for Windows 8 and PC's in general won't deter them. Doesn't matter. What MS won't solve and enterprising developer will.

 

[mitchellvii]

mithcellvii: the older desktop versions of programs were written before there WAS a Surface tablet and they don't know HOW to call up the onscreen keyboard when a dialogue box is opened.

It would be possible for Microsoft to patch the sub-routine for opening a dialogue box and have it check to see if a keyboard is attached ( the usual case with desktops and laptops ) and if NOT then bring up the onscreen keyboard.

I'm not saying it would be easy ... but I wouldn't think it would be an insurmountable problem to stick a few more lines of code in there.
===============

I agree. It is doable (very) but the issue is MS doesn't want to do it because they want to make Desktop as uncomfortable to use as possible to force us to Metro (since Metro cannot attract us on it's own). The elimination of the incredibly popular and useful Start Button is evidence of that.

For those of you who disagree with me on Metro and see it as visionary and "the future", Windows 8 now has exactly 4% of the marketshare. Numbers don't lie, Metro is a fail. I honestly think a 4 year old designed Metro because all of the emphasis is on big blocky images and pretty colors rather than usability. I've been in IT for 30 years and if I found myself saying WTF about 100 times the first hour I used Metro I promise you the casual user is really flummoxed. The problem is the guys that designed it love it because they designed it - the way to use it is obvious to them - but to someone seeing it for the first time there is NOTHING intuitive about it. Swipe here, click this, swoosh that...it's just a terrible mess.

I doubt 4% marketshare is what TPTB at MS had in mind.

 

[J515OP]

Actually just Office and MS Explorer. Those are the only apps where it is really an issue.

How do you figure that? What about Chrome? Visual Studio? WWII Tanks or any other desktop legacy app? The problem is far larger than "Just Office and MS Explorer." I haven't heard anybody ask for a popup keyboard in just those apps, the request is for a popup keyboard to work in all of desktop which may not be as simple as "turning popup keyboard function to on."

I agree. It is doable (very) but the issue is MS doesn't want to do it because they want to make Desktop as uncomfortable to use as possible to force us to Metro (since Metro cannot attract us on it's own). The elimination of the incredibly popular and useful Start Button is evidence of that.

If that was the case they could have eliminated desktop entirely, as others would like them to do so your opinion of desktop only is in contradiction to those that want to drop it for Modern UI only. Your argument that they would go through the extra effort of making desktop "bad" (only by removing the start button which as you point out can be easily replaced and by not having an auto on screen keyboard) to force people to use Modern UI is not a very good argument for how MS is "forcing" people into a new way to use Windows.

For those of you who disagree with me on Metro and see it as visionary and "the future", Windows 8 now has exactly 4% of the marketshare. Numbers don't lie, Metro is a fail. I honestly think a 4 year old designed Metro because all of the emphasis is on big blocky images and pretty colors rather than usability. I've been in IT for 30 years and if I found myself saying WTF about 100 times the first hour I used Metro I promise you the casual user is really flummoxed. The problem is the guys that designed it love it because they designed it - the way to use it is obvious to them - but to someone seeing it for the first time there is NOTHING intuitive about it. Swipe here, click this, swoosh that...it's just a terrible mess.

I doubt 4% marketshare is what TPTB at MS had in mind.

Windows 8 is on par with the success of Windows 7 in these early days, which according to your posts must be the best Windows every created. I don't think that is exactly a "fail." http://www.techradar.com/us/news/so...-are-on-par-with-windows-7-90-days-in-1129313

 

[jnjroach]

So your argument is that because MS is basing their whole future on Metro it is therefore precluded from being mind numbingly dumb? Metro is a BAD idea. America isn't buying it and they won't. Instead of Metro UI they should call it Metro ES for "Extra Step" because everything you want to do takes an extra step from Windows 7.

I am guessing that the same guy who thought of Metro also designed the power connector for the SP and then thought it would be brilliant to actually store the pen IN the power connector so you cannot charge your tablet with the pen stored. I mean friend, these are unbelievably stupid design choices. What am I supposed to do with my pen while my tablet is charging? Are they hoping to sell a lot of replacement pens because so many will be lost? We won't even talk about how the power cord pulls out if I even move my tablet slightly.

Overall I like the Surface Pro despite the cheap pen with the plastic tip, the idiotic power connector and the fact it idles at 123 degrees Fahrenheit. Metro is a joke and the smart companies like Stardock are making a fortune helping people avoid it.

Windows 7 was progress. Metro or Modern or whatever you are calling it now is not, assuming by progress you mean better than before.

You say it is mind numbingly dumb and America hates it, it is more true to say you and a group of Rapid Windows 7 fan boys who feel beholden to the past hate it, we saw this when XP came out, Windows NT4 and Windows 2000 fan boys complained about the Fisher Price UI and they were afraid that Tinky Winky from the Teletubbies was going to come over the hill on the Bliss Wallpaper. Then once they embraced XP around SP2 the bashed Vista UI changes and the KRNL Locking which the OHM failed to update their drivers in time, the XP fan boys finally accepted Windows 7 in the last 18 months and now they are as rapid as ever. I get change is hard, but the industry is moving forward and MS has taken bold moves not to copy Apple or Google in UI for the PC Plus era.

America hasn’t moved to Windows 8 in mass mainly because they don’t own a touch screen device but that is changing as all new Ultrabooks require 10 finger touch, AIO are replacing desktops which also have touchscreens and tablets are gaining a foothold. Once America has a touchscreen Windows 8 machine they will also see the advantage of a Windows 8/RT Tablet. 90% of People will use whatever OS is loaded on their machines and as people refresh their machines they will get Windows 8 machines. OEMs need to get their prices inline to take advantage of the refresh cycle.

The Pen dock was designed for you place your pen there as you work on battery, most thin and light tablets have removed the “pen barn” all together, and those that kept it have given us very a small stylus,(Samsung and Lenovo) or have moved the barn to the Keyboard Dock (Fujitsu).

I’ve used Windows based tablets since 2001 and have watched the progression, the Modern UI is great for Tablet and Touch Devices and once we see what Office Gemini has to offer we will see Office done in the Modern UI (building on OneNote and Lync that already have Modern UI versions). The Modern UI Apps have one very large advantage over traditional Win32 binaries, and that is security, the environment they run in is much more secure than the Win32 Subsystem.