It's amazing that nobody at MS realized until now that putting a tablet interface on a desktop computer was a bad idea.
Then making it non-Windowed but still calling it Windows.
It's such a mess. It takes an excessive number of steps (I think around a dozen) to just change the orientation of the display. You have to go back into the old UI to do it. It's horrible.
It can't get out of its own way, and now it can't even do mimicry properly.
Metro should have been a wholly new touch-enabled lightweight OS.
Windows 8 should have been the one to embrace the new (Thunderbolt), drop all the legacy connectors and lose 100,000 lines of code.
That would have shoved the PC market into the future. But it didn't happen, Steve knew it wouldn't happen and that's why the post-PC world creeps closer every day.
Ballmer should do the following if he wants to be relevant in 10 years
1) Give away phone and tablet OS for free to all vendors. Make it open source even. Short of that it is never getting traction. They gave away IE and even that failed in the end. Now if they even want a chance they have to give away the OS
2) Break up the company. Today there should have been an iOS Office app. Only reason there was not is because Ballmer the moron did not want to reduce any leverage to force people to buy a windows OS product. Windows OS is over
3) Near term drop the desktop price to $15/year subscription. At this price they can slow the bleed. Eventually it has to go to zero too.
Eventually they will make money on Xbox, office, SQL, maybe some online initiatives too. If they stay on the current course they are ensuring a complete epic failure and loss in phone/tablet and eventual loss on the desktop too. Chrome and Ubuntu coming on strong. Free is a hard thing to pass up when the product does what you need it to do. These are now free viable alternatives. You are watching Ballmer in a slow motion train wreck. The only good tailwind he has these days is Tim Cook at the helm of Apple. With Jobs he did not have a chance. With Cook though the odds may ever be in his favor....
I use a Windows 8 laptop sometimes and I don't mind Metro too much. But what I do mind is that I had to Google how to shut down and restart the damned computer - unbelievably, you have to go into the Settings to do this. It's absurd. There's a semi-hack you can install that lets you create buttons for these things, but why is that even necessary? (Plus, this method creates a button that shuts you down instantly, without asking if you're sure - you're out of luck if you hit it accidentally.) It should just be there on the screen!
Stevo's greatest contribution to tech was corralling nerdy programmers into stop making and bringing to market crappy sw and instead, make excellent sw.
It just isn't in MS' DNA to do good quality work...never mind great work. Ugh! It's their DOS roots still at work!
P.S. I'm not a programmer but I was so impressed with what Apple did with SL. Now that was a real effort to make the OS better. MS just sucks dead goats.
Apple have also been moving elements of their touch GUI in to their desktop OS don't forget. They have just been a bit more selective about it. In fact Launchpad is kind of a "start screen."
What is this - a collective mushroom day at AI forums?
8.1 will have an option to boot to desktop directly, but default will be Modern Start Screen.
Even if you select to boot to desktop, you will still have access to Start Screen and Charms.
This is still Windows 8; only difference regarding desktop/Modern is that you will not need any of already available 3rd party "desktop-boot" options - this functionality will be included. Can't really figure out why most around here should care at all, but either way - get over it. Modern is here to stay, for (subjectively) good or bad.
It's amazing that nobody at MS realized until now that putting a tablet interface on a desktop computer was a bad idea.
Then making it non-Windowed but still calling it Windows.
It's such a mess. It takes an excessive number of steps (I think around a dozen) to just change the orientation of the display. You have to go back into the old UI to do it. It's horrible.
So, what will happen to the "Win...", er, ah... "Tiles Everywhere" mantra?
The best thing is how Microsoft apologists defend the shit out of this, when not long ago they kept trolling and bashing Apple for "iOS-ifying" their desktop, making it "for babies" simply because they added a couple optional iOS features like launchpad, notification center, etc (which all work quite well), But as soon as Microsoft brought them massive colored tiles on the desktop, they just guzzled it right up, foamed at how "innovative it was", without the slightest sense of irony.
That would be a good first start. After months of using Windows 8 here at the office for testing, I pretty much gave up on it. It's just not enterprise ready. It's fine for running on touch-devices, but on workstations the Metro interface just gets in the way.
Apple have also been moving elements of their touch GUI in to their desktop OS don't forget. They have just been a bit more selective about it. In fact Launchpad is kind of a "start screen."
Does anyone actually use the Launchpad? (not a rhetorical question, I am curious).
Don't see what the issue is. I can easily log in and launch wmc with my remote. All I have to do is press enter on the lock screen, enter my 4 digit pin with the number pad on the remote, press enter 2 times to log in and launch wmc.
I've been using win 8 since release (cost me $15 to upgrade, so why not) and at this point, I wouldn't dream of going back to win 7; the improvements vastly outweigh the inconvenience of an additional click to get to a few items.
Now granted, I'm not a tech retard and can actually learn to use something new instead of whine about it, but I think Microsoft did a pretty good job with win 8. There are still some rough corners they need to polish, but overall, it is the best version of windows I've ever used, and I would even say it is the best consumer level OS thus far.
I use Windows 8 also, and it's OK, but what ARE the improvements over Win 7?
I use a Windows 8 laptop sometimes and I don't mind Metro too much. But what I do mind is that I had to Google how to shut down and restart the damned computer - unbelievably, you have to go into the Settings to do this. It's absurd. There's a semi-hack you can install that lets you create buttons for these things, but why is that even necessary? (Plus, this method creates a button that shuts you down instantly, without asking if you're sure - you're out of luck if you hit it accidentally.) It should just be there on the screen!
How is this unbelievable? Have you tried to actually do something with Microsoft Office and that Ribbon UI? I finally realized that you're supposed to take training courses to use Microsoft products. It's not supposed to be intuitive. PCs are supposed to make you feel stupid.
Comments
Originally Posted by dcolley
…boot to the curve would work as well.
I thought it was "curb".
Dang it, Ballmer, you can't do anything right!
Then making it non-Windowed but still calling it Windows.
It's such a mess. It takes an excessive number of steps (I think around a dozen) to just change the orientation of the display. You have to go back into the old UI to do it. It's horrible.
Microsoft is a victim of its own success.
It can't get out of its own way, and now it can't even do mimicry properly.
Metro should have been a wholly new touch-enabled lightweight OS.
Windows 8 should have been the one to embrace the new (Thunderbolt), drop all the legacy connectors and lose 100,000 lines of code.
That would have shoved the PC market into the future. But it didn't happen, Steve knew it wouldn't happen and that's why the post-PC world creeps closer every day.
Ballmer should do the following if he wants to be relevant in 10 years
1) Give away phone and tablet OS for free to all vendors. Make it open source even. Short of that it is never getting traction. They gave away IE and even that failed in the end. Now if they even want a chance they have to give away the OS
2) Break up the company. Today there should have been an iOS Office app. Only reason there was not is because Ballmer the moron did not want to reduce any leverage to force people to buy a windows OS product. Windows OS is over
3) Near term drop the desktop price to $15/year subscription. At this price they can slow the bleed. Eventually it has to go to zero too.
Eventually they will make money on Xbox, office, SQL, maybe some online initiatives too. If they stay on the current course they are ensuring a complete epic failure and loss in phone/tablet and eventual loss on the desktop too. Chrome and Ubuntu coming on strong. Free is a hard thing to pass up when the product does what you need it to do. These are now free viable alternatives. You are watching Ballmer in a slow motion train wreck. The only good tailwind he has these days is Tim Cook at the helm of Apple. With Jobs he did not have a chance. With Cook though the odds may ever be in his favor....
Originally Posted by tetzel1517
But what I do mind is that I had to Google how to shut down and restart the damned computer…
Uh, what? Top or bottom right corner of the screen. There's a button RIGHT THERE on the overlay that comes up.
Settings?
Stevo's greatest contribution to tech was corralling nerdy programmers into stop making and bringing to market crappy sw and instead, make excellent sw.
It just isn't in MS' DNA to do good quality work...never mind great work. Ugh! It's their DOS roots still at work!
P.S. I'm not a programmer but I was so impressed with what Apple did with SL. Now that was a real effort to make the OS better. MS just sucks dead goats.
Apple have also been moving elements of their touch GUI in to their desktop OS don't forget. They have just been a bit more selective about it. In fact Launchpad is kind of a "start screen."
8.1 will have an option to boot to desktop directly, but default will be Modern Start Screen.
Even if you select to boot to desktop, you will still have access to Start Screen and Charms.
This is still Windows 8; only difference regarding desktop/Modern is that you will not need any of already available 3rd party "desktop-boot" options - this functionality will be included. Can't really figure out why most around here should care at all, but either way - get over it. Modern is here to stay, for (subjectively) good or bad.
Originally Posted by nikon133
Modern is here to stay, for (subjectively) good or bad.
Objectively bad. And I love that.
So, what will happen to the "Win...", er, ah... "Tiles Everywhere" mantra?
[IMG]http://forums.appleinsider.com/content/type/61/id/23650/width/200/height/400[/IMG]
It's apparently ideal for the chair throwing demographic.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Quadra 610
How can someone stand to look at this shit?
The best thing is how Microsoft apologists defend the shit out of this, when not long ago they kept trolling and bashing Apple for "iOS-ifying" their desktop, making it "for babies" simply because they added a couple optional iOS features like launchpad, notification center, etc (which all work quite well), But as soon as Microsoft brought them massive colored tiles on the desktop, they just guzzled it right up, foamed at how "innovative it was", without the slightest sense of irony.
Quote:
Originally Posted by sflocal
That would be a good first start. After months of using Windows 8 here at the office for testing, I pretty much gave up on it. It's just not enterprise ready. It's fine for running on touch-devices, but on workstations the Metro interface just gets in the way.
Microsoft really screwed themselves on this.
Just use Classic Shell
Quote:
Originally Posted by ascii
Apple have also been moving elements of their touch GUI in to their desktop OS don't forget. They have just been a bit more selective about it. In fact Launchpad is kind of a "start screen."
Does anyone actually use the Launchpad? (not a rhetorical question, I am curious).
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tallest Skil
Objectively bad. And I love that.
"Objectively bad". Jonny, is that you?
Quote:
Originally Posted by majjo
Don't see what the issue is. I can easily log in and launch wmc with my remote. All I have to do is press enter on the lock screen, enter my 4 digit pin with the number pad on the remote, press enter 2 times to log in and launch wmc.
I've been using win 8 since release (cost me $15 to upgrade, so why not) and at this point, I wouldn't dream of going back to win 7; the improvements vastly outweigh the inconvenience of an additional click to get to a few items.
Now granted, I'm not a tech retard and can actually learn to use something new instead of whine about it, but I think Microsoft did a pretty good job with win 8. There are still some rough corners they need to polish, but overall, it is the best version of windows I've ever used, and I would even say it is the best consumer level OS thus far.
I use Windows 8 also, and it's OK, but what ARE the improvements over Win 7?
Quote:
Originally Posted by tetzel1517
I use a Windows 8 laptop sometimes and I don't mind Metro too much. But what I do mind is that I had to Google how to shut down and restart the damned computer - unbelievably, you have to go into the Settings to do this. It's absurd. There's a semi-hack you can install that lets you create buttons for these things, but why is that even necessary? (Plus, this method creates a button that shuts you down instantly, without asking if you're sure - you're out of luck if you hit it accidentally.) It should just be there on the screen!
How is this unbelievable? Have you tried to actually do something with Microsoft Office and that Ribbon UI? I finally realized that you're supposed to take training courses to use Microsoft products. It's not supposed to be intuitive. PCs are supposed to make you feel stupid.