Having used Windows for many years, I might not be 100% objective, but I feel that Explorer is vastly superior to Finder for anyone who actually uses the file system. As a developer and enterprise worker, I routinely deal with hundreds of files. Finder makes saving and opening files much more difficult than it should be. An indication of Finder weakness is the number of Finder add ons that have found a market. You just don't see that among Windows users. Another indication is the typical Mac user's overloaded desktop.
That said, I'm not overly impressed with the ribbon.
I'm shocked, Microsoft has decided it will not copy an interface someone else has already designed? Who knew they had programmers that had original ideas? Just think how much extra income Microsoft will generate for supporting a ribbonized interface! I can hear the stock price deflating and the exodus from Windows increasing exponentially. It's like their service packs, one pack fixes a ton of problems and the next one breaks the OS again.
My God, it's full of buttons upon buttons, so many they had to add tabs and call the whole thing a ribbon bar! Geez, all they did was rip off their own GUI from Office 2007 / 2010 which is giving my Windows users brain aneurysms! Nothing pleases Windows users more than for Microsoft to move every last toolbar button to new and strange locations when the GUI hasn't changed in over a decade previously! I've had to deploy Microsofts Command Reference tools for Office 2007 / 2010 which are really just EXE's with Flash embedded that show you the 2003 version of Office and when you click a button or menu time it animates switching to the new version and showing the user where to find the button they are looking for! Geez, Microsoft had to give users a GPS utility to navigate their new GUI?
They had me worried that Win8 was going to be a big threat, it's simply complicating a GUI file manager that only Geeks use anyway. The average user has no need nor care to use Explorer to manage their files. They never have. I've watched people launch Word then use file open and then do weird things like renaming the file in the Open dialog, etc. This explains a lot to the new Apple concept of hiding the file management functionality and encouraging Spotlight's All My Files feature in Lion. As well as all the autosave and versions stuff.
This is about as smart as turning the START menu into a tablet home screen full of JavaScript/HTML5 gadgets. i.e. instead of doing something unique they copy the Apple dashboard which hardly anyone uses anymore. This is going to make WIn8 tablet competition to the iPad? Seriously?
It's about as smart as XCOPY.EXE which is why Microsoft's engineers produced ROBOCOPY.EXE, at first internally and now it's built into Windows. Try copying a big tree of files using XCOPY and watch it puke half way through and lose your place. Do the same with ROBOCOPY and surprise, it works and works really well. Actually all it does is what XCOPY should have done from the start! Linux / OS X "cp" command and "rsync" always always worked and I've never had them fail because they went too many levels deep or a filename was too long, etc.
What you don't have are big windows for Spaces, instead you have them neatly at the top in a row.
So that, when you've spent many years navigating multiple desktops using Ctrl-Arrow, you now end up moving through them single file. As opposed to when they're arranged in a 2x2 grid, being able to get to any desktop with a single Ctrl-Arrow.
Sure, I'm slowly getting used to Ctrl-1, Ctrl-2, but my brain just prefers the concept of directional movement rather than numbering systems (numbering systems are for libraries).
Office 2011 is a real shame. Horribly complicated... Almost like they deliberately went out of their way to make it less usable.
Didn't someone at MS just say in answer to SJ's post PC statement that PCs were only in their middle age ... Perhaps this is the first signs of their midlife crisis!
A turd is stil a turd. No matter how pretty you try to make it look, it's still is a turd underneath it all. dll Based os. d for Dumb L for Lame and L for loser. Microsoft needs to get away from making turds and start making bonafide Unix based OS. Then they will have become the competition to Apple. Oh and hey.... What the hell with all the damn updates Microsloft. Cant wait to see Steve at the mothership.
So that, when you've spent many years navigating multiple desktops using Ctrl-Arrow, you now end up moving through them single file. As opposed to when they're arranged in a 2x2 grid, being able to get to any desktop with a single Ctrl-Arrow.
Sure, I'm slowly getting used to Ctrl-1, Ctrl-2, but my brain just prefers the concept of directional movement rather than numbering systems (numbering systems are for libraries).
Yeah, it's different, but I'd argue it's a lot more intuitive and useful for the average user. Spaces mostly copied multiple desktops from decades past with some nifty UI additions. Remember they now have fullscreen apps which are in themselves a space. Now consider you can then no longer just build out columns and rows of your desktops do this fundamental and useful change to fullscreen apps. Would you just have blank spaces for when the grud numbers weren't right or would you have a completely different way of accessing fullscreen apps? Doesn't that defeat the purpose of fullscreen apps?
What about the other two things Aquatic mentioned: Exposé and Dashboard. I don't see how those are worsened with Lion. If anything I'd say the biggest shortcoming of Dashboard is the lack of updated Widgets.
The PowerPoint 2010 ribbon isn't that horrible though it takes up a huge amount of screen space. The problem is, it crashes like a (insert profanity here)!
But a ribbon for the Explorer? Wow. Apple has an easy 10 years ahead of it.
That's the absolute stupidest thing about Lion. I CAN'T FREAKING SORT MY STUFF (other than alphabetically, which is how I have it by default, anyway) IF I WANTED TO. I CAN'T SEE ANY OF IT. I DON'T WANT TO SEE FIVE AT A TIME, I WANT TO SEE A WALL OF ICONS.
The rest is fine, though.
You can go back to the wall of icons. Cmd-J, Arrange by None, Sort by Name/Kind/Etc. There's now two different drop downs, Arrange By and Sort By. Not sure if it was always there or added in 10.7.1
Please make the Windows 8 ribbon buttons bigger and even more cartoony. That way, when running Windows 8 on a tablet, the ribbon will take up a third of the entire screen real estate.
Please make the Windows 8 ribbon buttons bigger and even more cartoony. That way, when running Windows 8 on a tablet, the ribbon will take up a third of the entire screen real estate.
Having used Windows for many years, I might not be 100% objective, but I feel that Explorer is vastly superior to Finder for anyone who actually uses the file system. As a developer and enterprise worker, I routinely deal with hundreds of files. Finder makes saving and opening files much more difficult than it should be. An indication of Finder weakness is the number of Finder add ons that have found a market. You just don't see that among Windows users. Another indication is the typical Mac user's overloaded desktop.
That said, I'm not overly impressed with the ribbon.
I take particular issue with the last statement, as the use of the desktop for file storage is 100% exactly the same between Windows and OS X (GNOME and KDE too). Being overloaded is far far more of a user tendency, some do it some don't. Though, as a side effect to common third-party practice, all things being equal Windows would tend to be more overloaded due to Windows application installers insistence on shortcuts.
Having switched myself from Windows to Mac, I don't understand your difficulties with large numbers of files. There's still the requisite load times for previews (in my experience Finder has been faster, and I've never had it crash on an unrecognized filetype - one of my Windows computers routinely crashes upon opening a folder with certain varieties of .avi files). Windows Explorer has an easier interface for sharing folders, whereas you have to go through System Preferences on OS X. Making a new blank file of various types is also useful. Finder wins out for opening files, as Quick Look makes things very quick and convenient, and it also wins for working with files, due to Automator and Services.
As for volume of addons, I fail to see how that shows any kind of weakness. If anything, it shows power, as it allows that kind of extensibility and users feel encouraged to expand. You wouldn't say addons/extensions in a web browser are a sign of weakness, would you?
Please make the Windows 8 ribbon buttons bigger and even more cartoony. That way, when running Windows 8 on a tablet, the ribbon will take up a third of the entire screen real estate.
Yeah this is the best part... They're supposedly gearing up for the tablet revolution... Like RIM, this would all be immensely hilarious if it weren't so tragic. A recent spell in the "real corporate world" and looking around at my colleagues with Windows on commodity laptops, I feel like I travelled 10 years back in time. Seriously, I don't need a company-issued POS. I'll bring my own laptop, thanks. No extra charge, boss. Windows7 64-bit and Office 2010? It's on VMWare Fusion, no worries... as a very last resort for "compatibility".
Comments
That said, I'm not overly impressed with the ribbon.
They're getting even closer to Windows RG:
http://www.albinoblacksheep.com/flash/winrg
It's amazing how Microsoft can take something really bad and make it worse.
Oh come on, it's not that amazing, they've had over thirty years practicing.
They had me worried that Win8 was going to be a big threat, it's simply complicating a GUI file manager that only Geeks use anyway. The average user has no need nor care to use Explorer to manage their files. They never have. I've watched people launch Word then use file open and then do weird things like renaming the file in the Open dialog, etc. This explains a lot to the new Apple concept of hiding the file management functionality and encouraging Spotlight's All My Files feature in Lion. As well as all the autosave and versions stuff.
This is about as smart as turning the START menu into a tablet home screen full of JavaScript/HTML5 gadgets. i.e. instead of doing something unique they copy the Apple dashboard which hardly anyone uses anymore. This is going to make WIn8 tablet competition to the iPad? Seriously?
It's about as smart as XCOPY.EXE which is why Microsoft's engineers produced ROBOCOPY.EXE, at first internally and now it's built into Windows. Try copying a big tree of files using XCOPY and watch it puke half way through and lose your place. Do the same with ROBOCOPY and surprise, it works and works really well. Actually all it does is what XCOPY should have done from the start! Linux / OS X "cp" command and "rsync" always always worked and I've never had them fail because they went too many levels deep or a filename was too long, etc.
It's unbalanced, written on skin with a switchblade, vicious. Subliminally unsettling even to today's wracked nervous systems.
How could they not see this? Something is wrong in Seattle.
Edit: excuse me, Redmond.
Well done Microsoft. You've managed to take the cluttered Aero interface and somehow make it even MORE cluttered.
Are Microsoft's UI designers asleep or just stupid?
I have this mental image of one of them jumping up and down like Donkey in Shrek ... "Me me me .. My turn to add something!"
What you don't have are big windows for Spaces, instead you have them neatly at the top in a row.
So that, when you've spent many years navigating multiple desktops using Ctrl-Arrow, you now end up moving through them single file. As opposed to when they're arranged in a 2x2 grid, being able to get to any desktop with a single Ctrl-Arrow.
Sure, I'm slowly getting used to Ctrl-1, Ctrl-2, but my brain just prefers the concept of directional movement rather than numbering systems (numbering systems are for libraries).
Office 2011 is a real shame. Horribly complicated... Almost like they deliberately went out of their way to make it less usable.
Didn't someone at MS just say in answer to SJ's post PC statement that PCs were only in their middle age ... Perhaps this is the first signs of their midlife crisis!
So that, when you've spent many years navigating multiple desktops using Ctrl-Arrow, you now end up moving through them single file. As opposed to when they're arranged in a 2x2 grid, being able to get to any desktop with a single Ctrl-Arrow.
Sure, I'm slowly getting used to Ctrl-1, Ctrl-2, but my brain just prefers the concept of directional movement rather than numbering systems (numbering systems are for libraries).
Yeah, it's different, but I'd argue it's a lot more intuitive and useful for the average user. Spaces mostly copied multiple desktops from decades past with some nifty UI additions. Remember they now have fullscreen apps which are in themselves a space. Now consider you can then no longer just build out columns and rows of your desktops do this fundamental and useful change to fullscreen apps. Would you just have blank spaces for when the grud numbers weren't right or would you have a completely different way of accessing fullscreen apps? Doesn't that defeat the purpose of fullscreen apps?
What about the other two things Aquatic mentioned: Exposé and Dashboard. I don't see how those are worsened with Lion. If anything I'd say the biggest shortcoming of Dashboard is the lack of updated Widgets.
But a ribbon for the Explorer? Wow. Apple has an easy 10 years ahead of it.
That's the absolute stupidest thing about Lion. I CAN'T FREAKING SORT MY STUFF (other than alphabetically, which is how I have it by default, anyway) IF I WANTED TO. I CAN'T SEE ANY OF IT. I DON'T WANT TO SEE FIVE AT A TIME, I WANT TO SEE A WALL OF ICONS.
The rest is fine, though.
You can go back to the wall of icons. Cmd-J, Arrange by None, Sort by Name/Kind/Etc. There's now two different drop downs, Arrange By and Sort By. Not sure if it was always there or added in 10.7.1
Please make the Windows 8 ribbon buttons bigger and even more cartoony. That way, when running Windows 8 on a tablet, the ribbon will take up a third of the entire screen real estate.
Dear Microsoft,
Please make the Windows 8 ribbon buttons bigger and even more cartoony. That way, when running Windows 8 on a tablet, the ribbon will take up a third of the entire screen real estate.
• http://www.windows-noob.com/review/i.../xpspyware.jpg (image)
Having used Windows for many years, I might not be 100% objective, but I feel that Explorer is vastly superior to Finder for anyone who actually uses the file system. As a developer and enterprise worker, I routinely deal with hundreds of files. Finder makes saving and opening files much more difficult than it should be. An indication of Finder weakness is the number of Finder add ons that have found a market. You just don't see that among Windows users. Another indication is the typical Mac user's overloaded desktop.
That said, I'm not overly impressed with the ribbon.
I take particular issue with the last statement, as the use of the desktop for file storage is 100% exactly the same between Windows and OS X (GNOME and KDE too). Being overloaded is far far more of a user tendency, some do it some don't. Though, as a side effect to common third-party practice, all things being equal Windows would tend to be more overloaded due to Windows application installers insistence on shortcuts.
Having switched myself from Windows to Mac, I don't understand your difficulties with large numbers of files. There's still the requisite load times for previews (in my experience Finder has been faster, and I've never had it crash on an unrecognized filetype - one of my Windows computers routinely crashes upon opening a folder with certain varieties of .avi files). Windows Explorer has an easier interface for sharing folders, whereas you have to go through System Preferences on OS X. Making a new blank file of various types is also useful. Finder wins out for opening files, as Quick Look makes things very quick and convenient, and it also wins for working with files, due to Automator and Services.
As for volume of addons, I fail to see how that shows any kind of weakness. If anything, it shows power, as it allows that kind of extensibility and users feel encouraged to expand. You wouldn't say addons/extensions in a web browser are a sign of weakness, would you?
Dear Microsoft,
Please make the Windows 8 ribbon buttons bigger and even more cartoony. That way, when running Windows 8 on a tablet, the ribbon will take up a third of the entire screen real estate.
Yeah this is the best part... They're supposedly gearing up for the tablet revolution...
I am liking Windows 7 and hating Lion so far. Win 7 can zoom with Res. Independence ...
Windows 7 does not have resolution independence.
We got buttons. We got a lot of buttons. Buttons Buttons!!
Did ya see how many buttons we crammed onto that window.
Everywhere we got buttons.
Buttons all over the place.
F*cking Buttons on top of one another
Buttons F*cking everywhere...
Holy Sh*t we got buttons....
best buttons around. plus we keep moving them around.
Even better - moving buttons. We are now known as the button movers.
We specialize in button movement.
We are the kings of buttons...
Love it!