At Build 2023 developer conference, Microsoft finally teased the all-new modern File Explorer refresh. It’s unclear when the update is coming out, but we have accessed an early and unreleased version of the new File Explorer that mirrors what was teased at the conference.
This definitely looks like a marked improvement over the aging current File Explorer, which isn’t very hard to do. It should ship somewhere later this year.
As usual, add more places to show 365 ads rather than fixing the unusable start menu, taskbar, task switcher, task manager and whatnot.
And have the PR department make news of moving around a few menus while you’re at it.
Far File Manager is approximately 20 times faster, 20 times leaner, and 20 times more effective.
Yeah, it’s text based, only if you want to manage media files you’ll still need something other than Windows Explorer.
We all have our favorites as in the last two decades windows explorer did what ie6 did, resting on its laurels and effectively leaving the market to newcomers. Let’s make this thread a list of OSNews users’ favorite explorer replacements.
xplorer2 is the one I love, with tabs and all. However its settings are a mess, to be honest. Its interface could do with a good cleanup.
I also took a good look at q-dir, but it also felt very rough.
OneCommander (available on microsoft store) is also not bad, but as most universal apps, it could be a good lot faster, and use a good lot less memory.
Been a Windows Commander, then Total Commander, user since 2001. Why bother with minimalist applications packages with Windows just to name it an operating system ? Sure you can write great stories with Notepad, do great artwork with Paint, but dealing with files…
It does make renaming files when software refuse to use ISO date order much easier. I mean you can do it in powershell but meh.
Same. There’s also Double Commander, an open source clone that advanced a lot in the last years. It can even use Total Commander’s plugins.
I have used FAR in the past. But it also needs an update.
Nowadays, for example, file names could be longer than one line. There should be a “wrap” option. This is a small thing, but there are many other “quality of life” improvements that need to happen.
One good user experience is Mac Finder, with multiple column browsing. As you navigate, you can see parent folders on the left side, and also a preview of the document you click on the right. But again, copying between windows is not as simple as hitting “F5”.
FAR can perfectly show file names with up to 110 symbols at 2560×1440 with a quite large font (at least 14 pixels). Not sure if anyone needs more than that.
You know Microsoft could make a killing by just adding an option to keep old designs as a subscription. Keep windows 7 start menu, only $10 a month. Companies would pay. Hell, I’d probably end up paying. sometimes managers have to prove they own a feature by changing it to be worse. Just it was fine. My parents have never understood windows explorer, and will remain not understanding it regardless of how many times you change its design. its not getting easier its not getting better, mostly just different. Heck it might be the same as the old once people get used to it. But there is a loss of productivity as people come up to speed with new uis. You’re hurting your customers and losing a possible revenue stream. This of course will mean they will go bankrupt next week.
Bill Shooter of Bul,
I agree with this. But $10/mo to keep the old UI…yikes! This comes across as the exact opposite of the SaaS business model:
Pay $10/mo subscription to get the latest features. Yay!
vs.
Pay $10/mo subscription to keep the older features. Yay!
Haha.
Here is the thing with Windows 11 folks…its 100% skippable, just like Vista and Windows 8. MSFT has already said that Windows 12 will be out Oct 2024 and Windows 10 doesn’t reach EOL until Oct 2025 so you can just do like me and follow the “every other version sucks” rule and go straight from 10 to 12 just as you could from XP to 7 and Windows 7 to 10.