Out, out d***ed spot!

[mitchellvii]

Does anyone else find the dot on your screen beneath your pen when you are trying to ink incredibly annoying? What purpose does it serve other than to be distracting? I can understand the cursor appearing if you are in typing mode to help you find your place for highlighting but a dot to show me where my pen is touching the screen? I can SEE where my pen is touching the screen. That dot is like a constantly buzzing mosquito.

Now I am sure there are those who love the dot. I am sure MS focus-grouped this and learned that more than anything else in life, people wanted a little dot flitting around on the screen as they write, but I hate it. Coming from the Note 10.1 they had the same dot but there you could turn it off. MS isn't so gracious. The dot is the dot is the dot.

So, does anyone know of a hack or an app that will allow us to turn off the dot? Or please tell me that I'm blind as a bat and the option has been there all along and I just missed it.

View attachment 685

 

[Cowboy]

Does anyone else find the dot on your screen beneath your pen when you are trying to ink incredibly annoying? What purpose does it serve other than to be distracting? I can understand the cursor appearing if you are in typing mode to help you find your place for highlighting but a dot to show me where my pen is touching the screen? I can SEE where my pen is touching the screen. That dot is like a constantly buzzing mosquito.

Now I am sure there are those who love the dot. I am sure MS focus-grouped this and learned that more than anything else in life, people wanted a little dot flitting around on the screen as they write, but I hate it. Coming from the Note 10.1 they had the same dot but there you could turn it off. MS isn't so gracious. The dot is the dot is the dot.

So, does anyone know of a hack or an app that will allow us to turn off the dot? Or please tell me that I'm blind as a bat and the option has been there all along and I just missed it.

What dot? I don't see a dot!

 

[mitchellvii]

What dot? I don't see a dot!

When you ink a little dot appears beneath the nib of your pen to show you where the touch point is. It is useful for clicking links or highlighting text, but when trying to write it is very annoying.

 

[Nuspieds]

Does anyone else find the dot on your screen beneath your pen when you are trying to ink incredibly annoying? What purpose does it serve other than to be distracting? I can understand the cursor appearing if you are in typing mode to help you find your place for highlighting but a dot to show me where my pen is touching the screen? I can SEE where my pen is touching the screen. That dot is like a constantly buzzing mosquito.

Now I am sure there are those who love the dot. I am sure MS focus-grouped this and learned that more than anything else in life, people wanted a little dot flitting around on the screen as they write, but I hate it. Coming from the Note 10.1 they had the same dot but there you could turn it off. MS isn't so gracious. The dot is the dot is the dot.

So, does anyone know of a hack or an app that will allow us to turn off the dot? Or please tell me that I'm blind as a bat and the option has been there all along and I just missed it.

View attachment 685

Pardon me, Lady Macbeth, but how in the world does that little dot get to you?!

No, you are not blind as a bat, but maybe you're not busy enough! :LOL:

First, I'm all for options to enable/disable settings so that the end user can customize to his/her preference. In the case of the stylus "dot," how does it get in your way to the point that you are so obstructed that you need to disable it?!

Again, I agree that customizations are always great but this "dot" is not always a dot because in Paint, for example, it is the same as if you were using the mouse; in Notepad, it clearly lets you know where you will be positioning the cursor--which might be between two adjacent letters.

So, whether I use my mouse or the pen, the result is the same; therefore, no issues for me.

 

[riggi]

It doesn't bother me.
It helps when I'm drawing and want 2 lines to meet at a point.

When I'm writing, I don't really notice it.

It's the same as when you move your mouse around, you have a cursor moving on the screen. I don't get distracted by it, and hardly notice it.
Maybe my brain has been conditioned to filter it out when required.

[edit] Actually, on reflection, I do find it useful, because I use it as a visual cue to know when the pen is close enough to the screen for the palm rejection to kick in. It's something I do without really thinking about it. [/edit]

 

[mitchellvii]

I don't know how it is in other apps, but when I attempt to ink in OneNote it appears flitting around beneath my pen nib every time I lift my pen. For me this makes it difficult to write as I am seeing what appears to be false markings when it is actually just the dot zooming about.

Regardless, I am sure there are those, like yourself, who aren't bothered by it. I just hate that MS seems to being going the "My way or the highway" approach as opposed to giving users options as they used to. They could have coded in a choice for us to turn it off yet chose not to. Why? Why the removal of options at every turn?

The thing I have always loved about MS was that you could make it what YOU wanted it to be. It wasn't black box like Apple or white box like Linux, it way gray box. Now they seem to be going more black box every day.

Black Box - Software that is like magic. It just works but allows very little user customization.
Gray Box - Software that has a solid base that the user cannot change, but has a highly customizable top layer for the knowledgeable user. Those who do not wish to customize can still have a robust, easy-to-use interface.
White Box - Software is very flexible and customizable but may seem confusing or hard to use to the non-technical individual.

 

[tonyz3]

Ok after seeing how a dot affects you I can now answer you're other question. Yes you are insane...:mad2:

 

[Nuspieds]

The thing I have always loved about MS was that you could make it what YOU wanted it to be. It wasn't black box like Apple or white box like Linux, it way gray box. Now they seem to be going more black box every day.

For me, the beauty about the Windows platform has always been the ability for you to customize it to your heart's content.

And for the longest while, I have always been a Windows Mobile user. Just like the Desktop Windows OS, there was a Registry and I was able to tweak and configure a whole bunch of settings. Yes, of course you can severely mess things up with this level of customization but, to me, the benefits far outweigh the dangers.

Then came Windows Phone 7 and the lockdown/Apple emulation festival began! Ironically, what led me away from the Microsoft mobile platform was the lack of their support for direct syncing with Outlook, starting in WP7. All their competitors (Apple, Android, BlackBerry) all support direct syncing with Outlook. Microsoft, on the other hand, dropped that capability starting with WP7, forcing you to go to the cloud, instead.

Well, not me; my personal and confidential data do not belong on somebody's server somewhere.

Their move to black box what has been a pillar of the Windows platform is, to me, counterproductive and only serves to alienate your once-loyal followers.

 

[mitchellvii]

Ok after seeing how a dot affects you I can now answer you're other question. Yes you are insane...:mad2:

It is metaphysically impossible to be this good looking and sane. The universe finds a balance

 

[machistmo]

It is metaphysically impossible to be this good looking and sane. The universe finds a balance

Same with my current GF, hence she can be a wicked pain in my ass.

 

[mitchellvii]

Same with my current GF, hence she can be a wicked pain in my ass.

Luckily life only comes at us 24 hours at a time