Tuesday, February 26, 2013

I want Half View in Windows 8

Windows 8 has this mode that they call "Snap View" where an app takes 10% of the screen and another one takes the other 90%. This is cool because it allows me to work with two apps at the same time (sort of). However I sometimes like to compare things where one app isn’t that much more important than the other. For this I would request half screen where each app would get 50%.

This may be an edge case, but I like to compare the WinRT version of common apps like Kindle and Evernote with their Classic Windows versions. With two monitors I could do this, but if with just my laptop, no way. I would also like to compare two WinRT apps or even compare the data of two different apps.

Monday, February 11, 2013

My New Surface RT

This weekend I finally got my Windows RT tablet. It is a 64 GB Surface. I am using it right now to write this very blog entry.

ARM vs Intel

Originally, I was going to hold out for a Surface Pro (and I nearly made it), but I began to think about: 1) I need to be able to test my stuff on an ARM device. 2) I need to think in a Metro way (since I don’t work for the Empire, I can still use that term), I need to find a Metro app to solve whatever problem I need to solve. 3) Most of the desktop stuff I need to do require more screen area; 10 inches is not enough space for Visual Studio. 4) Besides, I’m a cheapskate.

I am running Windows 8 on my elderly HP laptop. I plan on getting a new laptop with touch much later this year; it’ll probably be cheaper than this Surface RT.

Office

I know that Window 8 is somewhat experimental. Still, I’m disappointed that there is no Metro, er, Modern App version of Office. I know that would be a big task and that Microsoft will eventually get around to it, it would be cool to see how such a big and important app migrated to the Modern World. Is there an Office worthy app out there that belongs on the Tablet.