Hey old man, use something you've never seen before without any lessons so we can film you looking stupid. We have a narrative to push!
Posted on 10/22/2012 7:34:25 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
Microsoft is launching its new operating system, Windows 8, this week.
Windows 8 is a radical departure for anyone who has used Windows in the past two decades. The new interface is designed primarily for touch-screens. And based on some anecdotal responses from those who have tried it--professional reviewers and normal people alike--it's not exactly love at first sight.
SAI's Matt Rosoff reviewed a preview version of Windows 8 a couple of months ago. He found it "needlessly confusing and hard to use."
The AP said the new OS interface "baffles" consumers.
The New York Times's David Gallagher invited 5 people to try Windows 8 and filmed them while they did so. One of the five people seemed to like the look of the design ("Awesome," "This is so cool,"). But figuring out how to actually go about doing things seemed to confuse the hell out of everyone--including the person who liked the design.
The video is embedded below.
Here are some of the quotes:
"I don't like this design."
"I think it's really confusing."
"Some of it feels intuitive once you've already done it, but it doesn't feel automatically intuitive."
"It should be easier. I shouldn't have to think about it."
"Beats me." [In response to a question about how to print something]
"I felt like the biggest computer user amateur ever. It made me feel stupid."
I've never used Windows 8, so all I know about it is what I've seen in this video and read in a couple of reviews. One thing I can tell you I already hate about it, though, is the apparent need to manipulate it by touching your laptop screen.
(Excerpt) Read more at businessinsider.com ...
Microsoft reminds me of Sears - big, comfortable, and on the way out.
I’ve not touched most of the options on the metro start screen as I also did not want to be sharing my email address and such. I’ve been able to find all the control panel stuff, load firefox (even though ie 10 seems really fast) and open office. Finding a few things to make it easier to navigate, like right clicking on the start screen to get more of what you would see on the old start menu helps a lot. Not sure windows 8 will catch on very fast, but once you’re used to it, it isn’t bad. I still think this phase of touch devices will pass but who knows...hehe
I got the impression that they were trying to reconstitute MS “Bob” ;-)
We installed the developer and consumer previews of 8...simply put, it’s an epic fail we’ve been laughing about for months.
The laughing will stop when MS stops selling 7, though.
However, if MS allows the Start Bar to be re-enabled for desktop users, the OS will be a great Win 7 patch.
This 3 year old found it very easy to learn Windows 8:
“3 year old shows exactly how hard it is to learn Windows 8”
Video here:
http://microsoft-news.com/3-year-old-shows-exactly-how-hard-it-is-to-learn-windows-8/
From the link:
“I read these tech pundits and journalists discussing how hard it’s gonna be for the general public to learn the new UI of Windows 8. Nonsense. This video (sorry for the poor video quality – I have no proper video equipment whatsoever) is my response to such pessimism.
For the record, I do whatever I can to keep my boy *off* the computer. We watch some sesame st videos at night and play a game or two during the day. And over the past month that we’ve had Windows 8 on this computer this is how well he uses it. I could easily teach him some of the even more in depth operations of the system if I didn’t think it more important that he interact with the real world.
The long and short of it is: If my 3 years old son can learn Windows 8 through very moderate usage, anybody with half a brain can do so too.
So next time some-one tells you how difficult Windows 8 is on the desktop, tell them to ask the nearest 3 year old for some help.”
Meanwhile, Windows 8 has been at the top of the Amazon software best seller list since it went on pre-orders 11 days ago.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/bestsellers/software/ref=sv_sw_0
The point is not how easy it is to learn, the point is that MS is asking the users to learn a new way of doing things unnecessarily. People have no problem taking time to learn something new, if they need to learn it in order to do something they want to do. However, there is no pressing need to learn the Windows 8 interface in order to do anything. People already can do everything they want to do with Windows 7, so why would they want to bother to learn a whole new interface to do the same things?
It’s change for the sake of change, and it will be received the same as every other time MS made a change for the sake of change, such as Vista, and the Office ribbon.
My laptop isn’t a touchscreen so the functionality was useless until I figured out how to rearrange icons to get the ones I use all on the initial boot screen. Software I installed had icons placed on the initial boot screen, but not on the desktop. So, if I was working on the desktop, I’d have to go back to the overlay to open a program (even Office 2010). Not very thoughtful...
It boots and runs fast. Programs open quickly, and it seemed stable, except for a problem I ran in to after a couple weeks. It didn’t want to shut down properly, sometimes hanging up. I’d get a message about there not being a disc in an external drive. Come to find out, it was referring to the SD slot on my laptop that had the fake card inserted in it (came that way from Dell). Once I put a real SD card into the slot all was well. I discovered that through a Google search for Win8 shutdown issues. I wasn’t alone in that problem.
So, some good, some not so good. Being that it can be bought for $40 or so, I just might do that. But if it were more expensive, forget it.
I’m running 8 on an old laptop, and while it runs well... better on older hardware than 7... Metro IS one hell of a learning curve, and it’s going to be a long and painful process getting people used to it. Where things are really going to be hard is on the server side, where Microsoft is forcing network administrators to use PowerShell for much of their work. Microsoft has a bit of Unix envy here, but for really big networks, PowerShell will actually simplify some of the work.
Do a Google search. IIRC, there may be a way to get it back...
My habit has been to skip over releases. I went from 3.1 to 98 to XP and am now moving (partially) to 7.
“I also rename the stupid recycle bin to “Trash”, because I am a counterrevolutionary conservative. “
Think of all those electrons that could have been properly recycled. You should be ashamed.
Well you know Microsoft is a company that has a market they have to compete in, and catering to people that have no ability to roll with the pace of change in the tech world is not a winning strategy. They are not required to take the form of an old shoe because it “feels” comfortable to people set in a rut.
They didn’t have to make the changes they made from Win 3.11 to 95 either. No one asked for it, but they knew that the way of using the computer was evolving from a 99.9% corporate environment to one more geared to internet use at home and “multimedia” entertainment and educational use. The changes from 95 to 7 were just mere variations on the same theme. Nibbling around the edges while the basic structure was the same for almost 20 years. That is far too long and dangerous of a span to just rehash it yet again to save people the agony of having to learn something new.
Yeah?
I have been laughing about something quite different, the iPhone 5 and Apple's funny maps:
Forbes:
“Apple Maps’ Six Most Epic Fails
1. 747 Rendezvous. As CNNMoneyTech reported, Apple Maps provides an incorrect address for Washington, DC’s Dulles Airport and directions to it that “could get a driver arrested and possibly run over by a 747.”
2. Brooklyn Bridge Plunge. WeKnowMemes provides a comparative image of the Brooklyn Bridge from Nokia Maps and Apple Maps. The Nokia image looks right, but the Apple one depicts a sharp plunge in the road — if drivers used that image, they’d prepare themselves for sudden death and be pleasantly surprised when it did not happen.
-—snip-—
4. Israel missing its capital. As Haaretz reports, Apple Maps — unlike all the other mapping programs out there — does not show Jerusalem as the capital of Israel — moreover, it does not affiliate Jerusalem with a country. Let’s hope this Apple Map epic fail does not set off another Middle East conflagration.
5. Florida hospital replaced by supermarket. The Times reports that Apple Maps labels a Jacksonville, Fla. Publix supermarket as the Riverside Hospital. In 2002, that location was a hospital, but if you were having an emergency and followed the Apple Maps directions to Riverside Hospital, chances are excellent that you would not get the free care about which Mitt Romney bragged in the Publix fresh produce aisle.”
http://www.forbes.com/sites/petercohan/2012/09/27/apple-maps-six-most-epic-fails/
Apple Maps Dark Knight Parody Movie HD
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=llyq-zyE-wU
Watch the video..its a hoot!
Chuckle!
Why should I learn something new when I’ve been happy with the interface since XP? The problem for MS is that most people don’t feel a need to upgrade at all.
“Why should I learn something new when I’ve been happy with the interface since XP? The problem for MS is that most people don’t feel a need to upgrade at all.”
Well in the working world, the reason is called “because someone else can be hired to do what you refuse”. Seen lots of people that huffed and puffed, when it came to having to learn new programs critical for the department, get passed over for more enthusiastic younger people that were more open.
Microsoft isnt forcing you to buy Win8, but dont expect them to give warm hugs to those that feel using an OS from 2001 is something to be proud of.
Speak for yourself mate. You are not "most people:
Windows 7 Overtakes Windows XP As the Most Popular Desktop OS
http://news.yahoo.com/windows-7-overtakes-windows-xp-most-popular-desktop-053648086.html
“Windows 9 could be even worse. They could get rid of Desktop mode, forcing you to use Metro apps.”
If they do that for W9, Microsoft will be out of the PC operating system business. More likely they’ll be touting how much like W7 W9 is. Even more likely, Service Pack 1 for W8 will provide a configuration option at OS initiation time that asks if you want the OS optimized for a touch screen or a mouse, which in the latter case restores the original Desktop and Start Menu as the default and completely hides Metro UI. Without such a service pack, W8 is going to be the biggest disaster in the history of Microsoft, making Vista look like the finest OS in the history of computing.
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