
#No keyboard entry in excel or internet explorer or chrome windows 8
If you’re a small developer looking to create Windows 8 apps, the last thing you want to do is take on the maker of the world’s most popular productivity suite-especially when this maker controls the app store you’re competing in. In fact, PCWorld has heard as much from several productivity-focused developers. Microsoft Office is clearly to blame for the dearth of robust productivity apps in the Windows Store. Unfortunately, you can’t import an Excel file into TabularApp, killing its usefulness. The only app that even came close is TabularApp, which lets you create your own spreadsheets and even export them as Excel documents. There were also a few Markdown editors, but I needed a word processor that could let you embed Web links in text without HTML tags staring you in the face.Īfter several hours of fruitlessly searching for a solid text editor and spreadsheet program, I gave up. The store is awash in so-called “distraction free” writing environments featuring minimal menu options, but those were next to useless. The Windows Store carries more than 50,000 apps spanning a wide selection of genres, but there’s virtually nothing when it comes to useful productivity apps. I needed three simple applications: a text editor, a spreadsheet program, and a bare-bones photo editor. The first major hurdle was simply finding tools to do my job. It was so infuriating that I’d often opt for the trusty old Alt-Tab keyboard shortcut to switch apps. Launching system menus from their hidden corners required a trying level of patience: If the cursor flickered just too much to the left or right while sliding upward to select an option, the bar would disappear, dropping me back at square one.

I had to consciously think about the navigation commands. Not once.īefore my little experiment, switching apps or using the Snap feature always felt like a chore. The first surprise of my exile: The lack of a touchscreen never felt like a burden. Getting around: Surprisingly easy Windows 8’s modern Start screen.

The UI was the only alteration to my normal routine-I continued using my trusty, touch-less Lenovo X220 laptop with an external mouse and built-in keyboard. With that possibility (or eventuality?) in mind, I spent the past week off the desktop grid, living a solely “modern” life. The beefing up in Blue all occurs in the modern UI, strongly suggesting that the company considers the Start screen, not the desktop, to be the future of Windows. Despite being a desktop diehard, I decided to figure out the answer in the wake of the Windows Blue leak.
