Posted on 06/07/2012 7:00:02 AM PDT by 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!
(Excerpt) Read more at businessinsider.com ...
To tell you the truth, I am sick of MS software or human engineering gurus producing products that prohibit the user from fast, efficient use of the product when they know what a particular click or action will do.
Specifically, when I want to delete something, I don’t need to answer twenty effing questions about whether I am sure. Nor, do I want to see all the caution crap....if I had the time to negotiate all the screwed up human-response engineered help menus, I’d find out how to turn off all that crap if it is there. But, there’s the rub...these ‘facilitators’ make it next to humanly impossible to do that because people (other than some grandma who has just started using a computer) would like what they’ve done - thus, no need for these twits.
Windows 8: The Final Frontier
The stated goal of Office 2007 was to alter the way people worked (which is why they had no “revert to the old way” button), so it’s not too surprising that they’d try to change the way we use the OS.
I read an article way back, in which Microsoft developers were surprised to learn that Windows users had workarounds for many of the features of Windows.
Who puts their documents in “My Documents”?
Haha....and we thought only the odd numbered ST movies sucked....Windows may be setting a new paradigm here, folks...
My OS works for me—not the other way around.
windows ping! :)
Microsoft BOB.
And the interface looks like AOL from 1996.
It’s great for touchpads and phones, but for desktops or laptops it is a nightmare.
At least they should give us an alternative desktop view and a REAL start menu.
Only an underworked dilettante that writes very little. Most handle multiple documents under multiple areas. Try sifting through a thousand "My Document" entries to find that "Goldberg and Inklestein" (or other) file.....
Windows 8 must be object oriented because it extends the pain and misery of Office 2007/2010.
Wait’ll until you have a centralized IT dept to whom you have to go to on bended knee to get a problem solved, or install a new piece of s/w...
Blah Blah Blah...
Headline:
Usual group of anti-Microsoft Apple and Linux loudmouths complain yet again about the next version of Windows. Say it will fail as usual.
>> At least they should give us an alternative desktop view and a REAL start menu.
They do. It’s called Windows 7. :-)
(or XP, if you’re a hardcore reactionary.)
Heh, cool! There's a Windows Ping list now? Be still my beating heart!
Personally, it looks like I'm going to be running Windows 7 for the next decade. I can't see any reason whatsoever to switch to Win8 and waste weeks of time I don't have spare to waste. Where I work, we have had early copies of Win8 for the better part of a year, and it's just awful to work with.
My current theory is that Ballmer must secretly work for Apple. Why else would he be going about destroying Microsoft, the past 5 years or so?
“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.””
Same crap written back in 1994 when the same whiners had “issues” with that gal dang Start Menu.
I put pretty much everything in “My Documents” then put shortcuts on the desktop.
This is because our computers are leased, and “My Documents” is the default folder that they move over to the new computer. You have to specify the rest and sometimes they miss stuff...
So, since I lose my computer every three years or so, all the stuff I need to reconstitute a new working system is “My Documents.” Its a bit over 40GB, now... Takes about day or two after I get the new computer to get it back into working shape.
Currently we’re on XP and I’m happy with it, but it takes a couple of months for me to stop cursing every OS “upgrade.” Microsoft seems to change the names and locations of applications, apparently just for the hell of it. I don’t really appreciate that...
>> It’s great for touchpads and phones, but for desktops or laptops it is a nightmare.
Maybe their strategy is to force everyone onto tablets and phones by making the PC form factor OS unusable.
Won’t work for me, but I don’t count anyway.
The problem is that Windows 8 must run on Desktops, Laptops, Smart Phones and Pads. The Pads and Phones are the largest market not desktops. To run on Pads and Phones Windows had to be streamlined (dumbed down) to run faster with less power. This plus the lower screen resolution required the UI revisions. Desktops are now second priority for Windows. IMHO, this is Microsoft shooting itself in the foot.
Call me old-fashioned, but I don’t think a week goes by that I don’t curse Bill Gates.
Continuing the trend that began as SAP started to make inroads into the U.S. market.
You VILL do your business de vay our software tells you to.
Orders VILL be OBEYED without question!
Software guys are Lefties. What did you expect?
Removing the Start Menu from Windows is like removing the steering wheel from a new car model. It is NOT an improvement or a “new” way of driving! It
s a wreck in the making is what it is.
Metro UI itself may be barely acceptable on a credit-card sized touch-screen device, but is 100% useless on a desktop or laptop screen, pretty much akin to stripping your kitchen of all cooking utensils except for a bowl and a pan.
If MS persists with this insanity when they release W8 to the public, I will be buying some LEAP Puts on a PC-tech index fund.
LOL!
I have to deal with *spit* Vista on the one laptop here.
I’m finding all kinds of things that Vista doesn’t play well with.
That's a lame excuse and you know it.
Find the independent reviewers or users or developers, ones who AREN'T either getting paid by Microsoft and who don't earn their bread by giving Lewinsky service to Microsoft for some other outfit -- just regular unbiased reviewers, users, developers -- who have a strong positive opinion of Win8 after using it for a while.
Few and far between, FRiend.
Microsoft is murdering its golden goose. Win7 is terrific -- fast, stable, secure. I can't fathom why they're killing it off, except that they're intent on committing seppuku in an effort to become relevant in the mobile space, something they can't seem to get their minds wrapped around.
I do (or used to before I started keeping most things in Dropbox instead). But with lots of subfolders, and of course having the "My Documents" folder mapped to my directory on an NAS.
Spare us from clueless pundits such as these who can't see the forest for the trees. Microsoft's market share in other areas is due almost entirely to their OS market share.
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?
“Maybe their strategy is to force everyone onto tablets and phones by making the PC form factor OS unusable.”
Yes, that seems to be the strategy.
For about two years or so now we’ve been hearing that “The desktop computer is dead!”
Only because they are trying to force it to be so..
I put my documents in “My Documents” - but only because, after years of fighting with Windows over the issue, I finally relented and let it put them where it wants.
On a related tangent, I’m upgrading from WinXP to OS X. With all the anti-user UX misfeatures, Vista wasn’t happening. Hardware requirements, just to get no additional software benefit, meant Win7 was pointless. And now Win8 is going to take millions of pixels and terabytes of storage and give us ... AOL. Hello, Xcode...
I agree.
And who are the largest users of desktops and laptops? Businesses, gamers, etc. This alone is a huge install base.
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.
I work in the control engineering industry. Trust me, nobody is going to run an oil refinery using Windows 8 tiles. Ain’t ever going to happen.
critics liked betamax too.
I do, albeit usually in individual project subfolders.
Where do you put your documents?
So how is it?
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? All of a sudden users are acting as if they practically live in their Start Menu. The last time I actually did anything other than use the frequently used program list must have been months ago.
Just for fun I just clicked on the “all programs” button and I have a god awful list of tiny icons and small black text on white backgrounds.
But we are to think this is the apex of GUI design that MS should not dare move away from?
Win7 already has plenty of annoyances. From what I have read, I intend to skip 8, just like I skipped VISTA.
Ribbon menus. Jumping-jack file explorer. Aero screen shaker. Search-and-you-might-find links.
7 makes me pine for XP. However, Win7 does utilize more memory and it is better with graphics/video intensive websites.
MS would have been smart to create a full XP theme for Win7.
Actually I wouldn’t trust anyone that says what tech any company will be using 2 years from now.
Because those are the same geniuses that said that:
Windows 95 is just too confusing to be of any use at a serious office. We have DOS and that’s all we need.
No one is going to ever upgrade to XP in my office. It looks like something from Playskool!
No one is going to install Windows7 (Vista service pack) in my firm!
iPad? Who’s ever going to use that toy! My IT guys laughed when I asked them if they plan on getting any.
A motorcycle is not a Mack Truck cut down to just Cummings Diesel engine and two 36" tires.
A truck is not a stretched Austin Mini.
If there is a need for commonality, it must be a microkernel layered with whatever drivers & interfaces the platform can handle. Scaling from 3" to 27" screen should bring more information/capability to view, not just more pixels rendering the same single-function buttons.
Yes, M$ is shooting itself in the foot ... using a 600m, 12ga slugs, a Serbu Super Shorty, and a distance of 1".
Then Office 2010 changed the way Office 2007 worked.
I swear that Microsoft changes their interfaces just to justify the existance of all those interface programmers.
“That’s a lame excuse and you know it.
Find the independent reviewers or users or developers, ones who AREN’T either getting paid by Microsoft and who don’t earn their bread by giving Lewinsky service to Microsoft for some other outfit — just regular unbiased reviewers, users, developers — who have a strong positive opinion of Win8 after using it for a while.”
Oh please!
It is the SAME group of people writing the same lame “OMG M$ sucks”!!! reviews of every MS OS since Windows 95.
And every time they look like idiots when actual people use it, dont act like little drama queens at having to learn something different, and actually grow to like it.
Then in a few years they are screaming when something they were told from “unbiased” reviewers was horrible is slightly altered because now they cant live without it.
Like what OS hasnt gone through some major UI changes? And what person would actually expect them not to?
“Who puts their documents in “My Documents”?”
People who work in enterprise environments and want their redirected profiles to be backed up.
In project folders on a separate drive. C is for executables and system, other drives are for project folders with project-related files.
Most people I know do this.
Maybe that’s a bad example of a Microsoft workaround, I’ll see if I can find the article I read.
but these critics know EVERYTHING, just ask them.
remember MS is not reaaaally sitting on cash. It is still just a little company. We are still using wordstar dot commands. Wordperfect is still a wannabe.
and their waste product produces the aroma of wild orchids.
(/s)
(for those in rio linda....)
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.
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.
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.
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!
Here’s an idea. How about just fixing the problems of the previous versions and leaving the rest of it alone.
“The folks at Gizmodo think “
That’s good for them.
Not me.
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.
Thinking isn’t good for you?
That is funny! The truth shouldn't always be like that.
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