Vista is a poor excuse for a product. What can Vista do for customer experience that Linux or OS X can't? I dislike the fact that the operating system is still compromising on security for features no one asked for / trying to put in features into the operating system that belong to third party add-ons. UAC helps, but it doesn't go far enough. Besides, for DRM, almost every large game asks you to turn it off.
As far as CEOs go, I don't buy products based on the CEO of an organization.
The lack of responsiveness of the UI is the most annoying thing for me: you click a button or start an application, and nothing happens. The button does not show you it has been clicked (as the Mac does), nothing happens for a few seconds, you click again and again, and some 15 seconds later, the thing you wanted to open opens three times. And this on this-year hardware.
And everything pops up - a browser window is loading in the background, and as soon as it's loaded, it pops into the foreground. Try to start Outlook and IE at the same time, and it switches between these applications a few times. I'm quite shure there must be a way to change this behaviour, but as a "normal" user, I don't want to bother with such things.
I hate the fact that the only thing keeping Windows competitive is its perceived position as a monopoly product for typical business tasks. If it weren't for the fact that 99% of businesses think then NEED Windows and Office, and can't operate without it, then both products would die, as they are clearly inferior to the competition.
The lack of responsiveness of the UI is the most annoying thing for me: you click a button or start an application, and nothing happens. The button does not show you it has been clicked (as the Mac does), nothing happens for a few seconds, you click again and again, and some 15 seconds later, the thing you wanted to open opens three times. And this on this-year hardware.
And everything pops up - a browser window is loading in the background, and as soon as it's loaded, it pops into the foreground. Try to start Outlook and IE at the same time, and it switches between these applications a few times. I'm quite shure there must be a way to change this behaviour, but as a "normal" user, I don't want to bother with such things.
Agreed and experienced 100%. Anyone defending Windows care to explain this?
The thing I hate the most is how apps can pop forward and full focus away from the app you are using. It seems like right when I'm half way through typing a password POP I've some fscking new mail notification in my face or maybe my file has finished downloading.
It's one of the things that makes my love my Mac OS.
Cc: Chris Jones (WINDOWS); Bharat Shah (NT); Joe Peterson; Will Poole; Brian Valentine; Anoop Gupta (RESEARCH)
Subject: Windows Usability Systematic degradation flame
I am quite disappointed at how Windows Usability has been going backwards and the program management groups don't drive usability issues.
Let me give you my experience from yesterday.
I decided to download (Moviemaker) and buy the Digital Plus pack ... so I went to Microsoft.com. They have a download place so I went there.
The first 5 times I used the site it timed out while trying to bring up the download page. Then after an 8 second delay I got it to come up.
This site is so slow it is unusable.
It wasn't in the top 5 so I expanded the other 45.
These 45 names are totally confusing. These names make stuff like: C\Documents and Settings\\billg\\My Documents\\My Pictures seem clear.
They are not filtered by the system ... and so many of the things are strange.
I tried scoping to Media stuff. Still no moviemaker. I typed in movie. Nothing. I typed in movie maker. Nothing.
So I gave up and sent mail to Amir saying - where is this Moviemaker download? Does it exist?
So they told me that using the download page to download something was not something they anticipated.
They told me to go to the main page search button and type movie maker (not moviemaker!).
I tried that. The site was pathetically slow but after 6 seconds of waiting up it came.
I thought for sure now I would see a button to just go do the download.
In fact it is more like a puzzle that you get to solve. It told me to go to Windows Update and do a bunch of incantations.
This struck me as completely odd. Why should I have to go somewhere else and do a scan to download moviemaker?
So I went to Windows update. Windows Update decides I need to download a bunch of controls. (Not) just once but multiple times where I get to see weird dialog boxes.
Doesn't Windows update know some key to talk to Windows?
Then I did the scan. This took quite some time and I was told it was critical for me to download 17megs of stuff.
This is after I was told we were doing delta patches to things but instead just to get 6 things that are labeled in the SCARIEST possible way I had to download 17meg.
So I did the download. That part was fast. Then it wanted to do an install. This took 6 minutes and the machine was so slow I couldn't use it for anything else during this time.
What the heck is going on during those 6 minutes? That is crazy. This is after the download was finished.
Then it told me to reboot my machine. Why should I do that? I reboot every night -- why should I reboot at that time?
So I did the reboot because it INSISTED on it. Of course that meant completely getting rid of all my Outlook state.
So I got back up and running and went to Windows Update again. I forgot why I was in Windows Update at all since all I wanted was to get Moviemaker.
So I went back to Microsoft.com and looked at the instructions. I have to click on a folder called WindowsXP. Why should I do that? Windows Update knows I am on Windows XP.
What does it mean to have to click on that folder? So I get a bunch of confusing stuff but sure enough one of them is Moviemaker.
So I do the download. The download is fast but the Install takes many minutes. Amazing how slow this thing is.
At some point I get told I need to go get Windows Media Series 9 to download.
So I decide I will go do that. This time I get dialogs saying things like "Open" or "Save". No guidance in the instructions which to do. I have no clue which to do.
The download is fast and the install takes 7 minutes for this thing.
So now I think I am going to have Moviemaker. I go to my add/remove programs place to make sure it is there.
It is not there.
What is there? The following garbage is there. Microsoft Autoupdate Exclusive test package, Microsoft Autoupdate Reboot test package, Microsoft Autoupdate testpackage1. Microsoft AUtoupdate testpackage2, Microsoft Autoupdate Test package3.
Someone decided to trash the one part of Windows that was usable? The file system is no longer usable. The registry is not usable. This program listing was one sane place but now it is all crapped up.
But that is just the start of the crap. Later I have listed things like Windows XP Hotfix see Q329048 for more information. What is Q329048? Why are these series of patches listed here? Some of the patches just things like Q810655 instead of saying see Q329048 for more information.
What an absolute mess.
Moviemaker is just not there at all.
So I give up on Moviemaker and decide to download the Digital Plus Package.
I get told I need to go enter a bunch of information about myself.
I enter it all in and because it decides I have mistyped something I have to try again. Of course it has cleared out most of what I typed.
I try (typing) the right stuff in 5 times and it just keeps clearing things out for me to type them in again.
So after more than an hour of craziness and making my programs list garbage and being scared and seeing that Microsoft.com is a terrible website I haven't run Moviemaker and I haven't got the plus package.
The lack of attention to usability represented by these experiences blows my mind. I thought we had reached a low with Windows Network places or the messages I get when I try to use 802.11. (don't you just love that root certificate message?)
When I really get to use the stuff I am sure I will have more feedback.
You know, that was the most polite & toned down email I have read in a long time from a user who has experienced such frusturation. Maybe there are code words in there or maybe there is an internal torture squad that visits the receipients of these emails...
Adding a printer on a network requires you not to select Network Printer, but a Local Printer with an interface of a TCP/IP port that is defined as being on a network.
To recap, a network printer is not a Network Printer but a Local Printer on a network port.
Are you sure you don't want to not do this action right now. Remember you can choose to not have this dialog box not bother you at a later time, but you can always change you mind.
I haven't had any problems with Vista recently, besides UAC/Windows Defender popups at startup, due to poorly written apps. I could turn off UAC, but I only notice it maybe a couple times a week.
I will say though, my Vista PCs always shutdown when I tell them to, unlike my Mini, that will randomly hang - should be fixed with 10.5.4 though, OS has only been out since last October...
Could never say I love any of the OS' I run however (Leopard, Vista (Business and HP) or Kubuntu 8.04), as they can all be fantastic, or completely retarded, depending on the tides or phase of the planets or something.
I want to buy Windows so I can play some games I'd but just before switching that I can't play on Mac (EA). But since XP's out the door, I'm stuck buying Vista, and a decent version (home premium) costs $270 and there's nothing I could put on it that would make it worth the damage...
I want to buy Windows so I can play some games I'd but just before switching that I can't play on Mac (EA). But since XP's out the door, I'm stuck buying Vista, and a decent version (home premium) costs $270 and there's nothing I could put on it that would make it worth the damage...
Eh, internet games'll keep me alive for now...
If you are a student, or know someone who is a student, or can pretend to be a student, you can probably pick up a copy of XP for $65 at your local university bookstore. That's what I've paid for my two installations of XP.
I want to buy Windows so I can play some games I'd but just before switching that I can't play on Mac (EA). But since XP's out the door, I'm stuck buying Vista, and a decent version (home premium) costs $270 and there's nothing I could put on it that would make it worth the damage...
I went with the OEM version. Works as well as Vista can.
Also, what do I hate about Windows? The fact it doesn't run OmniOutliner and OmniFocus is pretty high on the list.
Comments
Vista is a poor excuse for a product. What can Vista do for customer experience that Linux or OS X can't? I dislike the fact that the operating system is still compromising on security for features no one asked for / trying to put in features into the operating system that belong to third party add-ons. UAC helps, but it doesn't go far enough. Besides, for DRM, almost every large game asks you to turn it off.
As far as CEOs go, I don't buy products based on the CEO of an organization.
And everything pops up - a browser window is loading in the background, and as soon as it's loaded, it pops into the foreground. Try to start Outlook and IE at the same time, and it switches between these applications a few times. I'm quite shure there must be a way to change this behaviour, but as a "normal" user, I don't want to bother with such things.
The lack of responsiveness of the UI is the most annoying thing for me: you click a button or start an application, and nothing happens. The button does not show you it has been clicked (as the Mac does), nothing happens for a few seconds, you click again and again, and some 15 seconds later, the thing you wanted to open opens three times. And this on this-year hardware.
And everything pops up - a browser window is loading in the background, and as soon as it's loaded, it pops into the foreground. Try to start Outlook and IE at the same time, and it switches between these applications a few times. I'm quite shure there must be a way to change this behaviour, but as a "normal" user, I don't want to bother with such things.
Agreed and experienced 100%. Anyone defending Windows care to explain this?
It's one of the things that makes my love my Mac OS.
As far as CEOs go, I don't buy products based on the CEO of an organization.
Yeah but I thought I'd throw it in there.
---- Original Message ----
From: Bill Gates
Sent: Wednesday, January 15, 2003 10:05 AM
To: Jim Allchin
Cc: Chris Jones (WINDOWS); Bharat Shah (NT); Joe Peterson; Will Poole; Brian Valentine; Anoop Gupta (RESEARCH)
Subject: Windows Usability Systematic degradation flame
I am quite disappointed at how Windows Usability has been going backwards and the program management groups don't drive usability issues.
Let me give you my experience from yesterday.
I decided to download (Moviemaker) and buy the Digital Plus pack ... so I went to Microsoft.com. They have a download place so I went there.
The first 5 times I used the site it timed out while trying to bring up the download page. Then after an 8 second delay I got it to come up.
This site is so slow it is unusable.
It wasn't in the top 5 so I expanded the other 45.
These 45 names are totally confusing. These names make stuff like: C
They are not filtered by the system ... and so many of the things are strange.
I tried scoping to Media stuff. Still no moviemaker. I typed in movie. Nothing. I typed in movie maker. Nothing.
So I gave up and sent mail to Amir saying - where is this Moviemaker download? Does it exist?
So they told me that using the download page to download something was not something they anticipated.
They told me to go to the main page search button and type movie maker (not moviemaker!).
I tried that. The site was pathetically slow but after 6 seconds of waiting up it came.
I thought for sure now I would see a button to just go do the download.
In fact it is more like a puzzle that you get to solve. It told me to go to Windows Update and do a bunch of incantations.
This struck me as completely odd. Why should I have to go somewhere else and do a scan to download moviemaker?
So I went to Windows update. Windows Update decides I need to download a bunch of controls. (Not) just once but multiple times where I get to see weird dialog boxes.
Doesn't Windows update know some key to talk to Windows?
Then I did the scan. This took quite some time and I was told it was critical for me to download 17megs of stuff.
This is after I was told we were doing delta patches to things but instead just to get 6 things that are labeled in the SCARIEST possible way I had to download 17meg.
So I did the download. That part was fast. Then it wanted to do an install. This took 6 minutes and the machine was so slow I couldn't use it for anything else during this time.
What the heck is going on during those 6 minutes? That is crazy. This is after the download was finished.
Then it told me to reboot my machine. Why should I do that? I reboot every night -- why should I reboot at that time?
So I did the reboot because it INSISTED on it. Of course that meant completely getting rid of all my Outlook state.
So I got back up and running and went to Windows Update again. I forgot why I was in Windows Update at all since all I wanted was to get Moviemaker.
So I went back to Microsoft.com and looked at the instructions. I have to click on a folder called WindowsXP. Why should I do that? Windows Update knows I am on Windows XP.
What does it mean to have to click on that folder? So I get a bunch of confusing stuff but sure enough one of them is Moviemaker.
So I do the download. The download is fast but the Install takes many minutes. Amazing how slow this thing is.
At some point I get told I need to go get Windows Media Series 9 to download.
So I decide I will go do that. This time I get dialogs saying things like "Open" or "Save". No guidance in the instructions which to do. I have no clue which to do.
The download is fast and the install takes 7 minutes for this thing.
So now I think I am going to have Moviemaker. I go to my add/remove programs place to make sure it is there.
It is not there.
What is there? The following garbage is there. Microsoft Autoupdate Exclusive test package, Microsoft Autoupdate Reboot test package, Microsoft Autoupdate testpackage1. Microsoft AUtoupdate testpackage2, Microsoft Autoupdate Test package3.
Someone decided to trash the one part of Windows that was usable? The file system is no longer usable. The registry is not usable. This program listing was one sane place but now it is all crapped up.
But that is just the start of the crap. Later I have listed things like Windows XP Hotfix see Q329048 for more information. What is Q329048? Why are these series of patches listed here? Some of the patches just things like Q810655 instead of saying see Q329048 for more information.
What an absolute mess.
Moviemaker is just not there at all.
So I give up on Moviemaker and decide to download the Digital Plus Package.
I get told I need to go enter a bunch of information about myself.
I enter it all in and because it decides I have mistyped something I have to try again. Of course it has cleared out most of what I typed.
I try (typing) the right stuff in 5 times and it just keeps clearing things out for me to type them in again.
So after more than an hour of craziness and making my programs list garbage and being scared and seeing that Microsoft.com is a terrible website I haven't run Moviemaker and I haven't got the plus package.
The lack of attention to usability represented by these experiences blows my mind. I thought we had reached a low with Windows Network places or the messages I get when I try to use 802.11. (don't you just love that root certificate message?)
When I really get to use the stuff I am sure I will have more feedback.
That about sums it up. Had to share that.
That about sums it up. Had to share that.
You know, that was the most polite & toned down email I have read in a long time from a user who has experienced such frusturation. Maybe there are code words in there or maybe there is an internal torture squad that visits the receipients of these emails...
2. Memory hog.
2. Poor Vista compatibility.
3. THE STUPID "ARE YOU SURE YOU WOULD LIKE TO" MESSAGES EVERY SINGLE TIME I OPEN ANY FU^KING PROGRAM!!
5. Viruses.
[Yes] [No]
WTF?
Welcome to the Social!
To recap, a network printer is not a Network Printer but a Local Printer on a network port.
Welcome to the Social!
Welcome to the Social!
The reminder that I can connect to a network in other ways that I choose not.
The reminder that I just installed a new program. Yes I know! I installed it!
Welcome to the Social!
Training me to hit OK so that when a real threat occurs, I will just hit OK anyway.
Welcome to the Social!
I will say though, my Vista PCs always shutdown when I tell them to, unlike my Mini, that will randomly hang - should be fixed with 10.5.4 though, OS has only been out since last October...
Could never say I love any of the OS' I run however (Leopard, Vista (Business and HP) or Kubuntu 8.04), as they can all be fantastic, or completely retarded, depending on the tides or phase of the planets or something.
I want to buy Windows so I can play some games I'd but just before switching that I can't play on Mac (EA). But since XP's out the door, I'm stuck buying Vista, and a decent version (home premium) costs $270 and there's nothing I could put on it that would make it worth the damage...
Eh, internet games'll keep me alive for now...
It's SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO expensive!!!
I want to buy Windows so I can play some games I'd but just before switching that I can't play on Mac (EA). But since XP's out the door, I'm stuck buying Vista, and a decent version (home premium) costs $270 and there's nothing I could put on it that would make it worth the damage...
Eh, internet games'll keep me alive for now...
If you are a student, or know someone who is a student, or can pretend to be a student, you can probably pick up a copy of XP for $65 at your local university bookstore. That's what I've paid for my two installations of XP.
It's SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO expensive!!!
I want to buy Windows so I can play some games I'd but just before switching that I can't play on Mac (EA). But since XP's out the door, I'm stuck buying Vista, and a decent version (home premium) costs $270 and there's nothing I could put on it that would make it worth the damage...
I went with the OEM version. Works as well as Vista can.
Also, what do I hate about Windows? The fact it doesn't run OmniOutliner and OmniFocus is pretty high on the list.
Do you want to Copy or Move the file?
[Yes] [No]
WTF?
Welcome to the Social!
LOL, these are the classics.
-t