Microsoft Is In Serious Danger Of Flying Straight Into A Mountain With Windows 8

Business Insider ^ | 06/07/2012 | Jay Yarrow

[SeekAndFind]

Alarm bells must be ringing in Microsoft's Redmond headquarters.

Microsoft is close to releasing Windows 8 and it's shaping up to be another "Vista". Only this time the repercussions could be much worse. The critics who have been using Windows 8 are extremely negative on the new look and feel of the operating system:

At Slate, Farhad Manjoo writes, "In my time with Windows 8, I’ve felt almost totally at sea—confused, paralyzed, angry, and ultimately resigned to the pain of having to alter the way I do most of my work."

At Marketwatch, John Dvorak says, "Windows 8 looks to me to be an unmitigated disaster that could decidedly hurt the company and its future ... The real problem is that it is both unusable and annoying."

Our own analyst, and long time Microsoft observer Matt Rosoff said, "I still think it's needlessly confusing and hard to use ... I've spoken to other people who have been testing Windows 8 for months. A lot of them found it puzzling like I did, and it's getting worse, not better, with each beta update."

Rosoff doesn't think it's going to be a disaster for Microsoft. He thinks Microsoft will be safe because it has so many other lines of business that are strong.

Maybe!

[dayglored]

> Windows 7? You mean the last Windows OS people said was terrible and “ruined” the perfection of XP, which was said to have ruined the perfection from Windows 2000?

Windows 7 has generally gotten great reviews. It's not just me who likes it.

Granted, it's basically just Vista with the most egregious mistakes corrected. But it IS fast, and stable, and secure.

Granted, I have my Win7 desktop set to look like classic Win2K, because that's my preference, but that's just window-dressing, it doesn't affect the operation of the OS. I direct my company's System Admin department -- I don't need crap cluttering my desktop.

Look, Win 7 is the best desktop OS I've ever encountered for doing basic business work. OS-X is very good for personal stuff, media work, creative tasks, and I like having Unix under the hood. But I prefer Win7 for serious stuff at my day job and can't imagine something that actually gets work done better.

What Win8 does is force the limited hand-held view onto the desktop, which is wrong-headed, IMO. Might be great for Facebook and Twitter crap, but it just doesn't suit getting real work done.

After all these years -- indeed, decades -- of Microsoft leading the development of the desktop, they are now getting led around by the nose, by Apple. And because MS doesn't have the visionary capability, they're just "me-too"ing themselves into irrelevance.

If they're smart, MS will abandon this foolishness and concentrate on what they do well, which is to supply a solid desktop environment for 90% of the real business work. Not try to compete with the hand-helds. They just can't seem to do it, and they'll hurt themselves trying.

[q_an_a]

the interface is called Metro and you can turn off the touch screen and it works just like Win 7. The folks at Gizmodo think the integration of pad/tablet phone and PC will make lots of people happy. I like my windows phone and win7. Stop by gizmodo today and see the cool super thin “16.9 screen” and keyboard to attach to your phone or pad.

[adorno]

Not this same crap from the same ABM crowd predicting failure for Windows 8. The same kind of nonsense comes out from so-called experts in the field, about any and all products just before they're released. The same kind of predictions were made about all Windows versions and about MS Word and it's "ribbon interface", and now, Windows is still in just about every household in the world where computers can be used. Same kind of predictions were made about iPhones and iPads and Android smartphones, and, here we are with those gadgets, seemingly, in everyone's hands.

Predictions are best made after a product has been in the market for years (20-20 hindsight works best). Most consumers don't pay attention to the "experts", and success depends on those consumers, who, most times, are wiser than those "experts".

[In Maryland]

"What will wind up happening is Microsuck will have to support Windows 7 AND 8 at the same time because businesses will refuse to port."

Not for very long - as they have in the past, they will stop licensing Windows 7 as OEM software and insist manufacturers buy and install Windows 8. Then they will drop support for Windows 7 and you will be on your own.

On the other hand, my Windows XP machine is still doing what I need it to do; hopefully my Windows 7 machines will do the same until I reach the point where I simply have no choice but to buy new hardware.

[dayglored]

> Like what OS hasnt gone through some major UI changes? And what person would actually expect them not to?

Of course. The question is, does the UI change improve the functions people use the computer for?

It is my opinion that Win8 reduces the usability of the desktop for real business work. It's an attempt to appear "hand-held-like". It is just not a good idea for the desktop, IMO.

We'll see. No point in you and I just trading opinions -- we can agree to disagree and leave it at that. :)

And wait to see how it pans out in the marketplace. I gotta run... Have a great day!

[bgill]

Here’s an idea. How about just fixing the problems of the previous versions and leaving the rest of it alone.

[Darksheare]

“The folks at Gizmodo think “

That’s good for them.
Not me.

[ctdonath2]

You press the Windows key on the key board, and you select a program. Why is this now something that is so beyond average people to grasp?

You must use two input devices to do a trivial common task, when prior you could use one input device via a single click-drag-release gesture.

Sure, pressing a button with one hand and point-and-click with the other is easy. Thing is, Apple is succeeding by realizing that even such "easy" tasks are unnecessarily complicated: place left hand on keyboard, adjust by touch to arrange hand, press key (featuring culturally abnormal icon), place right hand on mouse, adjust by touch to arrange hand, jiggle mouse to find cursor on screen, drag cursor to menu choice, click. Why all the keyboard involvement when it could be - and was - done with just the mouse?

Apple's UI designer Jonny Ive is paid $10,000,000/year because he understands that the apex of GUI design is less complexity, not more. MS is daring move away from this apex. At least the Start menu could be operated without a keyboard.

[ctdonath2]

Thinking isn’t good for you?

[GingisK]

...IT dept to whom you have to go to on bended knee...

That is funny! The truth shouldn't always be like that.

[Darksheare]

I’m not the guys at Gizmodo, and I don’t like touchpad devices, doesn’t offer what I want.
Like I said, good for them, not me.

[bgill]

Can’t stand Windows 7. Wish I still had XP.

[MasterGunner01]

Hey, Microsoft, I’m still using Windows XP Pro! I’ve got two laptops with Win 7. Vista sucked major wind and now you’re screwing around with Win 8? Winning the future is NOT with Win 8, bozos.

[bgill]

The XP Start was fine. I could find everything in it. Now with Windows 7, I have to google where to find something in Start. I cn only imagine the headaches if 8 doesn’t have a Start menu. There’s not a week that goes by without having to seach for something.

[ken in texas]

Who puts their documents in “My Documents”?

For me, the problem was violation of a cardinal rule we used live with -- directory and file names do not contain spaces. So, MS came up with names like "My Documents", "Documents and Settings", and "Program Files" instead of "Documents", "Profiles", "Programs".

I have a fair number of scripts that manipulate directories and files. Everything had to be changed to add quotes around the names lest I confuse something.

[VanDeKoik]

*sigh* fine.

Move your mouse to the edge of the screen, see the menu bar pop out, press the Windows icon.

I beginning to wonder how many people complaining about Windows 8 actually spent more time learning it, than the time it took to start whining about it.

And when Apple changes OSX to act like iOS (which they are now), be sure to drop Tim Cook a line about how terrible it is. He will care even less.

Seriously no one is going to keep this stuff in Park so tech-geezers wont get upset. Stuff is moving on. Stick with an 11 year old OS (XP) if it just so scary.

[Constitutionalist Conservative]

iPad? Who’s ever going to use that toy!

Its popularity doesn't change the fact that it's a toy (i.e. entertainment device), not a productivity tool.

[ctdonath2]

So the menu bar will keep popping up as my cursor rattles around the screen? Other apps do that, and it’s obnoxious.

The point is: yeah, these changes may work, but that doesn’t mean there’s a good reason for them. “Start” works. Some gestures work, but not others, and while the difference is subtle it is important. It’s not a matter of upsetting geezers, it’s a matter of confusing users - geezers or not - for no good reason, and wasting opportunities to do what people are demanding (or will once they’re shown the new better way).

Nobody is arguing “to keep this stuff in Park”. We’re arguing that going from Park to Sideways by default is dumb. Oh, sure, it will make money, but only because there is such massive momentum in the Windows ecosystem that users will grumble quietly and use whatever they must ... until they discover that the transition to OS X is pretty easy, which is making Apple very happy.

And oh, yes, Apple is getting flack about their attempt to fuse iOS with OS X. But somehow that’s going over a lot better...

[Mr. K]

A whole new operating system??

Microsoft seems to think they have to rewrite the thing every couple of years or else they will lose revenue (actually they are probably right)

They should have stuck with WinXPPro and implemented a new support model- new features and serious upgrades if you have a yearly ‘support’ contract for $30 per year or something nominal

Win7 would also be a good candidate for that

but from what I have seen, Microsoft is the only company that gives you LESS features and calls it an ‘upgrade’

MSN messenger was absolutely fine until they removed useful features

[kevkrom]

Its popularity doesn't change the fact that it's a toy (i.e. entertainment device), not a productivity tool.

Hate to break it to you, but lots of folks use iPads for legitimate business purposes.