Dear Windows 7 Taskbar

Posted on May 8th, 2009. Written by Rico.

…You must be tired of hearing this, but let this tech noob have his say: you are totally awesome!

Seems like those Redmond guys finally got it! People really don’t need to see the name of the apps that are open, but only the icons. That’s what icons are for, right?

windows-7-taskbar

You know what makes even more sense? Bunching together all those similar window buttons immediately, instead of waiting for too many of them to appear on the taskbar. Those numerous Firefox windows seem much more manageable!

Talk about getting rid of the extra crap! Like, who needs quick launch, when you can just “pin” an app to the taskbar, leaving a easy-access shortcut for later use? And whoever decided to drop that (unreliable) auto-hiding system tray, and replace it with a one-click menu, has earned my eternal gratitude.

Even better, your developers figured out that the show desktop button was real important. Important enough to be a permanent fixture on the right-most side, intead of a deletable shortcut on the quick launch bar.

But perhaps the best part of your makeover is how you quickly present all those windows bunched together. I mean, all I have to do is move my mouse over one of those app button, and you immediately pop-out a grid showing all those app windows! Definitely beats Alt+Tab if you like using the mouse!

In short, Windows 7 Taskbar, I love you.

xoxoxoxoxoxo
Rico

PS: I’ll be asking people to leave their thoughts about your Taskbar and you in general in the space below [That means, leave opinions on what you think about Windows 7, dear readers!]

This entry was posted on Friday, May 8th, 2009 at 7:30 am and is filed under Editorial, Featured. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

Rico

Rico Mossesgeld is the founding editor of Technograph. Learn more about him at rico.mossesgeld.com/about.

http://bursky.wordpress.com bursky

hmmm… makes me want to install this on my PC. only prob– i got Ubuntu installed already! pagbili ko ng bagong HDD, try ko ‘to. :D ehehehe…
http://poyayan.livejournal.com/ Ryan Ramos

i wish Windows 7 would be out by the time I buy a new desktop… that OS is looking really amazing.
http://vaes9.codedgraphic.com/ Eugene

My, my. This post is positively dripping with sarcasm. Hehehe.
BrianB

Great, almost better than Expose.

Here’s a good take from an Apple fan:

http://gizmodo.com/5131933/giz-explains-why-the-windows-7-taskbar-beats-mac-os-xs-dock
http://technogra.ph Rico

C’mon Eugene, I wasn’t being sarcastic! The new taskbar really does make managing multiple apps a lot easier! :P :lol:

Have you tried Windows 7 na?
http://ozarcilla.multiply.com Michael Arcilla

Windows 7 is the best OS they have ever made.

-W7 fanboy

Seriously, though. All the windows navigation features in 7 are amazing! (Except for Flip 3D. I honestly think they should license Expose from Apple. It’s the only thing I miss when switching from OSX to Windows.)

Other great things: When you hover over the taskbar icon, the open windows pop up. And when you mouse over those, the window in question comes into focus and all other windows fade to 100% transparency!

Or how about Aero Shake? Grab the window title bar and give it a shake – every other window open automatically minimizes! Great for focusing your attention on the task at hand. (Shake it again and everything pops right back up.)

Or how about Aero Snap? Drag the title bar to the top of the desktop and the window maximizes! Drag to the left or rightmost sides of the desktop and the window snaps to that side and maximizes to 50% of the desktop! It’s so much easier to work across two folders now!

There are a million other great things about this new OS and I’m glad they’re finally getting things right. Best of all, it looks like they’re on track for an early Q4 2009 release! Yay!

Dear Windows 7,

I love you.

Love,
Michael
http://technogra.ph Rico

Wow, didn’t know about the shake feature! I do hope they won’t price the OS too high! :(
Michael Arcilla

Oh, there’s also the jumplists. Right click on an icon (or click and drag upwards – an alternate interface for touchsreens) and the jumplist appears. These will be program-specific functions. For instance, in Firefox, you can find “Open a New Tab” or “Open a New Window” in the list. Fairly generic, as the current version obviously hasn’t been written to be optimized for 7 yet. But in IE8, for instance, the jumplist gives you the same options plus “InPrivate mode” which will automatically convert your entire current session to the “porn mode” – records no histories, saves no cookies, etc.

For items on the Device Stage, the jumplist can get far more esoteric, such as allowing you to clean printer heads straight from the taskbar. Or to download pictures from your DLSR to a predetermined folder.

It’s all very exciting, but it will only work if third-parties actually implement it. Otherwise, it will be another case of a cool feature that can only be used in Microsoft Products.
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