What's wrong with W8 and what MS should do to fix it....

One thing about Windows 8 that irritates me...

post your thoughts below.

 

I could have stopped reading at that point. I didn't, but the conclusion does not change: This guy has no clue at all of what it is he is talking about. No desktop=no Windows -> Microsoft goes bye-bye. Complete idiocy is almost too mild of a term to describe ideas along those lines. Some of you kids may be too young to remember, but we already had single-tasking user paradigms, running, for example, on top of MS-DOS more than 20 years ago (Desqview anyone? That was in 1985, by the way). There was a reason windowing GUIs were developed. Those reasons did not suddenly lose their validity when the iPad came around.

P.S.: I looked at some more articles on that site, and they're likewise garbage. My advice is: Folks, don't go there...

 

Imo the start screen/menu was developed with touch in mind with little regard for traditional desktop use.

With that said and out of the way, configuring what I want and how I want it on the start menu was incredibly easy. Drag and drop into desired columns, label those columns, unpin anything I don't want showing.

Win key bring me straight to a desktop complete with one click shut down and restart (also pinned to start) that, with the exception of the orb not being there, looks and operates exactly as my win 7 desktop did. The charms menu is a mouse flick away, search can bring every single app/setting/file into view within a couple of seconds.

Win+D, Win+W, Win+R, or Win+C gets me anywhere I need to go instantly, unless navigating to a specific file location. Flipping through open apps/pages/files is just as easy.

With this in mind, I don't see a need for tighter integration between the UI and desktop, nor do I see a conflict as I am still free to use any program as default for a given task - or at worst, simply don't use one or the other that the author mentions.

Quite frankly some of his comments are a little puzzling - "Way too much space in open apps..." Doe he mean the app defaulting to full screen? Snap it to half screen if desired. Shrink the desktop icon if he thinks it's too large.

Dunno - I'm pretty anal about some little irritations over the course of various windows developments, but, while 8 certainly isn't perfect, it' very easy to get along with after some familiarization.

Just my humble $0.02

 

This OS was probably better left to mobile units running on ARM processors. Perhaps with Service Pack 1, we'll see some changes (for the better). As for an enterprise solution, though, it seems most businesses are sticking with either Windows XP and Windows Server - and some more recently are upgrading to Windows 7.

 

This article is unusual because, in attacking Win8, it calls for more integration between Metro and Desktop, whereas most people here want more separation. He brings up the fact that there's two ways to do Windows Update--one through Metro and one through the Desktop. Sure, it would be more "consistent" if the only way to do that was through Metro, but would people here be happy if the only way to access Windows Update and other such features was through Metro? I doubt it.

I'm really glad it wasn't. I like the fact that I've got an Ivy Bridge processor in my convertible tablet. The flood of new Ivy Bridge convertible tablets and Ivy Bridge touchscreen all-in-ones the OEMs are releasing suggests I'm not alone. The Apple approach of having one OS for tablets and one OS for desktops/laptops leaves these genre-bending machines without an appropriate OS.

 

Microsoft is working on what you're looking for. Expect a more integrated and fully fleshed out product for Windows 9. Windows 8 is very much a "first attempt" when it comes to the new interface. That's why the "old" interface is almost entirely intact.

 

I think the biggest problem with Windows 8 is the lack of a good tutorial. There should be a tile on the start screen that says "tutorial" that launches a 5 minute video showing you how to use Win 8 with keyboard and mouse, and with touch. This would be a major benefit both for people who aren't computer literate in general as well as people coming from a different OS. And it would be VERY inexpensive and easy for Microsoft to implement.

 

Ahahaha! Good grief. Was this written by an eighth grader?

I'm with Miltov and Pirx. This person's not got a clue when it comes to evaluating a piece of software.

But in all seriousness, Windows 8 does have it's flaws. I still maintain Metro UI should have been made optional for Windows 8. A touch interface like Metro is really only appreciable on mobile devices anyway. I agree with Microsoft's logic that the convertibles and tablets needed a specialized OS like Windows RT with an interface that specifically tailors to mobile devices and touchscreen interfaces. I don't think it had anything to do with CPU performance or hardware constraints. If the history of electronics has taught us anything, it's that hardware updates and advances so much faster than software. I can only hope Microsoft revamps the obvious flaws in Windows 8/RT whilst improving upon it's strengths (UEFI and fast boot).

That article was really good for a laugh, though.

(PS: Miltov, if it seems like I'm going soft on Windows 8, it's cause I am. I'm gonna have to learn to live with it since it's not going away anytime soon)

 

Since it is not going away soon, I'll just not touch it and prepare for the future to leave M$ all together. I should also state they need to fix Windows 8 now, not wait for Windows 9. The reason is they are sending a message that as a desktop consumer/business user you do not need or have to upgrade beyond windows 7! This is not a good message to their core group of consumers nor one that their shareholders should see either. Nor is it good for any groups to in mass look to downgrade new machines.

M$ will not give us what we want even though for months before the final release we have all stated steadilly what we wanted. They have totally ignored their core consumer group at the time with a we know better attitude and with complete distain for the user groups supporting beta's and development. So I have no pitty for them now. Just look up Microsoft stock performance graph over 1 year and about the release dates of windows 8 and the time frames of the decision to remove the start button, gadgets and Aero Glass, all a downhill slide. Coincidence?

just a bit more bad press;

Windows 8 failure is wake-up call for Microsoft: Windows 8 vs Windows 7 | Northern Voices Online

Does Windows 8's Three-Month Report Card Read Pass or Fail? - CIO.com

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-34227_162-57565722/microsoft-earnings-dip-despite-windows-8-lift/

http://news.softpedia.com/news/Micr...or-Disappointing-Windows-8-Sales-323813.shtml

http://betanews.com/2013/01/24/why-are-windows-8-sales-so-good-when-pc-shipments-are-so-bad/

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/earnings-preview-windows-8-surface-185601807.html

 

Well, yeah, any way you cut it, Windows 8 so far is an abysmal failure. Whether it will recover remains to be seen. If Microsoft started to listen to their customers, it may still have a chance. If not, this may be the beginning of the end. And not just for Windows 8.

As for leaving Microsoft altogether, well, if things do not improve with Windows 9, which I expect in about three years, I may stay with 7 until the end of its support in 2020. By that time the nature of the work I do will have changed to a degree where abandoning my investment in Windows-based software will be no problem at all. Plus, both Linux and OS X will likely be perfectly viable for me as well.

 

About business users using XP, they have to upgrade soon with MS support ending in about a year. I feel like a lot will switch to 8 just because it will have longer support. XP has been around over 11 years already. Windows 7 support will halt 6 years from now. Even if Windows 7 was the better OS for them, I think they will choose 8 just because of the longer shelf life imposed by Microsoft.

 

Well, the shelf life may be longer as far as support but going to windows 7 gives the message to M$ too shape up and if not the IT department 6 years to find an alternative. As I had mentioned though much earlier MinWin could open a market for a company to put out an alternative shell(s). The bad part is this could send IT departments into a flurry trying to be able to support all those new full shell(s) if there is a system issue.........

 

In its current iteration no business will ever adopt Win 8. Win 7 yes, but not Win 8. They will save that move for Win 9 or 10 when all computers are basically touch screens with optional holographic keyboards and at the rate big business is controlling Capex that wont' be for 15 years.

 

Big companies, the Exxons and Walmarts and Unilevers and whoever else with tens of thousands of employees, vast global IT infrastructures, and decades of life, these companies do not flip a switch and migrate their entire company to a new OS. They just don't. One can point a finger and say "GlobalCorp over there, they are on XP still" and ya know, to some extent they may be. But there's a difference between what the CxOs and secretaries and finance and human resources people are actually using, and what someone standing the lobby saw the security guard using.

That said, there is also a difference between "companies actively want to use XP" and "short-sighted companies painted themselves into a corner with IE6-specific sites which are now so deeply embedded in their workflows that they can't get rid of them, or they would be using Win7 in a heartbeat." I strongly doubt you'll find much of the former, and I'm sure you'll find plenty of the latter. I'm sure they are still using TN3270 emulators to talk to 30 year old minicomputers in the basement too. Nobody seems to fault them for that.

My current client is a quickly growing tech company started a few years ago. In the time I have been there, I have never seen an XP machine. It's all Macs or Win7, and a handful of Win8 pilots that are doing just peachy. The policy is if the laptop comes from the vendor with Win8, the user gets Win8.

 

There in lies the key, quickly growing tech company. As you had metioned larger corps. can't just flip the switch. Also where you have 10's of thousands of employee's training them from XP, let alone win 7, to win 8 is a logistical nightmare for IT. Let alone as you mentioned needing IE6 and having to use IE10. BTW I know of at least one company using TN3270 emulators on the desktops as access to systems that have been slated for legacy for a VERY LONG time.

Edit; Memories of the days of programing macro's in Attachmate EXTRA............

 

Ah, yes.... Automating your editing by writing macros for VAX TPU, or using that line editor on a DEC VT220 (or, if you were the man, you might even have a VT 420 that could be switched into "graphics mode"!) that would talk to the IBM mainframe over in the "computer center". Those were the days....

 

Windows 8 is Microsoft`s attempt at a dumbed down version of windows 7, metro a nice big colorful interface to simplify things.

john.