Windows 8, Usability disaster (1 Viewer)

[DaveF]

http://stratechery.com/2014/windows-8-cost-complexity/In other words, instead of alleviating the problems facing PCs – no reason to buy – Windows 8′s increased complexity added a reason not to buy. That was certainly the case in my family: in early 2013, when my father asked me for advice on a Windows computer,2 I found myself advising him to seek out Windows 7.3 Were he to have had a suitable computer, I likely would have advised him to do nothing at all.It’s difficult to see where Microsoft goes from here; contrary to what you might expect, there is still minimal overlap between Windows 8 and Windows Phone, meaning apps made for one are incompatible with the other.4 Abandoning either means effectively starting from zero in that respective form factor – and pissing off a lot of partners. Yet there’s little question in my mind that the touch environment is hastening the decline of PCs suited for the Windows desktop, even as the desktop ruins what is honestly a rather delightful tablet experience.

 

[Sam Posten]

LMAO:
http://www.theverge.com/2014/1/20/5326844/hp-brings-back-windows-7-by-popular-demand

 

[Sam Posten]

The emperor has no clothes!
http://www.theverge.com/2014/1/30/5362156/windows-8-1-update-1-boot-to-desktop-by-default

 

[DaveF]

My dad bought a touchscreen windows 8 laptop in December, and he's been very happy with it. I doodled around with a bit. It's a nice computer, and does the Microsofts and the Internets.

 

[Sam Posten]

Trying for 3 days now to update my Dad's new machine to Win 8.1, what a total cluster fucking shit sandwich.http://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Notebook-Operating-Systems-and-Software/Can-t-install-Windows-8-1-update-on-my-HP-Envy-TS-M6/td-p/3270287http://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Notebook-Operating-Systems-and-Software/Windows-8-1-problems-on-my-wifes-envy-m6-k025dx/td-p/3270951http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows8_1-windows_install/hp-envy-touchsmart-sleekbook-m6-k025dx-unable-to/8ce0042c-6ec4-4b7c-8ad8-c7a9edca14e5?page=2

 

[Sam Posten]

Word.

Windows has always attempted to satisfy every possible customer need, and as such it often provides multiple ways to accomplish the same thing. The result is a messy product, if you will, one that lacks the singular vision that is typically associated with the Mac and Apple's other products. There's no reason to mince words: This criticism has always been valid.

http://m.winsupersite.com/windows-8/what-heck-happening-windows

Double word:

The reason this happened is that while Sinofsky had the maniacal power and force of will of a Steve Jobs, he lacked Jobs' best gift: An innate understanding of good design. Windows 8 is not well-designed. It's a mess. But Windows 8 is a bigger problem than that. Windows 8 is a disaster in every sense of the word.
This is not open to debate, is not part of some cute imaginary world where everyone's opinion is equally valid or whatever. Windows 8 is a disaster. Period.

Triple word:

...these people set the company and Windows back by years and have perhaps destroyed what was once the most successful software franchise of all time.

And finally, I really agree with this. The one meme, true or not, is that tablets are good for consumption and mediocre at best at getting shit done. Do you want windows to shine? Focus on the doing.

I always accepted the messy bits of Windows in the past because the system addressed such a large audience. But given the way things are going, Windows should evolve into a system that is laser targeted to the customers who will in fact continue using it regularly. That's mostly business users, but even when you look at the consumers who will use Windows, that usage is almost entirely productivity related. Windows should focus on that. On getting work done. On an audience of doers. Job one should be productivity.

 

[DaveF]

When Paul Thurrott thinks Windows is completely borked, you know you've got PR problems!

 

[Sam Posten]

The stupid, it buuuuuuurns.
http://www.neowin.net/news/windows-8-ux-designer-on-metro-it-is-the-antithesis-of-a-power-user

 

[mattCR]

The stupid, it buuuuuuurns.
http://www.neowin.net/news/windows-8-ux-designer-on-metro-it-is-the-antithesis-of-a-power-user

Millers argument makes perfect sense to me. *shrug*. if they do get multiple desktops, a feature that has been missing, it will be nice.

What isn't noted here, but is absolutely true, until RC1, in the Windows8 beta, you absolutely could chose at login which environment you wanted. And I thought that was awesome as hell. When that went away, that was the mistake.

 

[Sam Posten]

You seriously need to read the original thread:
http://www.reddit.com/r/technology/comments/1xvbsm/windows_8_sells_100_million_fewer_copies_than/

The handwaving over why Metro made its way into Server is just /boggle worthy.

It's simply too many competing goals without a clear prioritization or someone who can say no. Tablets are eating desktop's lunch so they threw the power users into a tailspin without concern, and then further crippled them because they can't figure out which to prioritize, power users versus grandma OR tablet versus desktop.

 

[mattCR]

Oh the use in server is stupid. Thus why 2008r2 still sellsSent from my RM-820_nam_att_100 using Tapatalk

 

[Clinton McClure]

"Familiarity will always trump good design. Even if something is vastly better, if it is unfamiliar it will be worse." I'm pretty sure has Miller never used OSX. Good design is what makes it so insanely great.

 

[Sam Posten]

Interesting:http://ignorethecode.net/blog/2014/03/02/windows_8_surface/

I think that’s the problem with Windows. There are people who enjoy tinkering with their BIOS, playing around in DOS, and installing bootloaders. And that’s fine. I think it’s even great. I think everybody should have the freedom to install whichever bootloader they want. The problem comes up when these people see something like Metro, do not like what they see, and then tell everybody else how terrible it is. When it’s really not terrible; it’s just not for them.The things I love about Windows 8 are exactly the things that the most vocal Windows users hate, and the things I hate about Windows 8 are the things they love. So maybe the problem with Windows 8 is that Windows 8 appeals much more to me, a Mac user of 20 years, than to your typical Slashdot-commenting Ars-Technica-reading Windows user who frequents online forums to talk about Windows. And because these people are the most vocal Windows users, and because they tell their friends which versions of Windows to like and which to avoid, that has real effects on Microsoft’s success with Windows 8

 

[Sam Posten]

NOT an Onion report! http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/borowitzreport/2014/02/gates-spends-entire-first-day-back-in-office-trying-to-install-windows-81.html?intcid=obnetwork&utm_content=bufferd9565&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=bufferEdit: Bah, fooled me, it IS satire. Bleh

 

[ManW_TheUncool]

Still haven't updated to Win8.1 yet. Not sure I really care to at this point.

Recently picked up a 256GB Samsung 840 Pro SSD (w/ the promo GC I got for my Dell XPS 8700 purchase last autumn). Am thinking about just installing Win7 Pro (from my work's MSDN subs) on it to be used on the Dell PC instead. Maybe I'll keep Win8 on the HDD for the forseeable future... unless Win7 Pro can't access that drive w/ full compatibility, etc. Not too sure at the moment.

 

[Sam Posten]

Having just gone through this at Christmas with my father's gift, YUP:http://www.zdnet.com/this-is-no-way-to-buy-a-windows-pc-7000027573/

 

[DaveF]

I saw the same. My dad was shopping for a windows 8 laptop last winter. I was trying to give him some input. But there's no good info. Here on the forum, usage of Win8 systems is so sparse, that no one could speak to my specific needs. Online reviews are now useless for windows pcs. Finally, my dad went to bestbuy, browsed and bought something that looked good.

 

[Sam Posten]

First words out of Microsoft's mouths today re: Windows 8.1: "We've improved its enterprise support and we focused on making it smoother and easier to use with people who have a mouse and keyboard focus."

Continuing updates, as Verge says "This is all mouse, all keyboard. It's clear Microsoft is trying to tweak Windows 8.1 so it's easier to use for those who use PCs the regular way."


"One of the new things we've done is enable the PC to boot or resume straight to the desktop."

Microsoft has tweaked it with Windows 8.1 Update, so Store apps are listed on the taskbar.


Added Right Mouse Context clicks to Start screen
Pre-pinning the store to the TaskBar --weird but you can unpin it

"The Store update is going to become mouse and keyboard friendly, and that's something we want you to do with your apps."

Launches next tuesday.

CAUTIOUSLY Optimistic that with these changes I can finally move on and update the rest of my systems. They all seem carefully considered and should have been there from the start. But bygones are gone by and if they fix it I'm all for moving forward!

 

[Sam Posten]

And then they drop the hammer, doubling down on one Windows:

"It's my pleasure to introduce universal Windows apps."

"Some of you want to create one app that runs across all form factors. You want to adapt that user interface automatically."

We're looking at an app with different views for each form factor, but the bulk of the code is the same across all devices.

So far this does not appear to extend to Xbox.

"If you love C++, you can use it. If you want the breadth of JavaScript and HTML, you can use those for universal Windows apps."

 

[Sam Posten]

Good info:
http://www.engadget.com/2014/04/02/windows-8-1-update/