Windows 8: a 'Christmas Gift For Someone You Hate' 740
zacharye writes "Microsoft is no stranger to criticism these days, and the company's new Windows 8 platform is once again the target of a scathing review from a high-profile user. Well-known Internet entrepreneur and MIT professor Philip Greenspun handed Windows 8 one of its most damning reviews yet earlier this week, calling the new operating system a 'Christmas gift for someone you hate.' Greenspun panned almost every aspect of Microsoft's new software, noting that Microsoft had four years to study Android and more than five to examine iOS, but still couldn't build a usable tablet experience..."
Android is NOT a useable tablet experience (Score:1, Interesting)
The guys is wrong (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:That bad? (Score:2, Interesting)
I installed it on my ancient Inspiron 640m laptop (bought it in 2006). This is a laptop with no touch screen and no multitouch gestures. Personally, I really don't see why people are so up in arms over Windows 8. A simple Windows+D keystroke takes you into desktop mode and you can choose to remain there as long as you wish. I do hate the removal of the windows launcher in Desktop mode, but there are alternative options out there to get back that functionality.
What I do like is going into the Metro interface when I'm not looking to do intensive work on my laptop. Things are quite snappy, and some of the metro specific apps are quite nice. It isn't a game changer, but I don't get what the hate is about. If my laptop had a touchscreen, I'd probably appreciate the metro component of it a lot more. I also like the limited multiwindow (only 2 really), multitasking in Metro (for a tablet OS...IOS is hopeless, and Android doesn't allow side by side apps either unless you have some heavy duty manufacturer customization a la the Galaxy Note), and the gestures and charms bar, and pretty much all of it works reasonably well even with a mouse (though I can see it being much snappier and more fun with a touch screen).
I agree with the sentiment of many people that it doesn't feel like one cohesive OS...and frankly, I don't think it can or should ever be that. It seems like a great OS for laptops/tablets with touch screens where you can use it like a tablet with the Metro UI and also be very productive on it in your traditional desktop mode. The OS itself is reasonably lightweight (by Windows standards) and seems to run quite well on my ancient laptop.
I do see Win 8 as being very appealing for HTPCs and I am considering installing it on mine. The tiles really lend themselves to HTPC use, and with the introduction of Windows 8, you now have dedicated streaming apps like that from Netflix that are easier to use on an HTPC in comparison to having to resort to a browser and the Netflix website to stream movies/tv shows. So imho, Win 8 seems great for newer touch screen laptops, HTPCs and tablet-laptop hybrid devices. For traditional desktops, there seems to be very limited value in upgrading to Windows 8.
Re:Expertise does not translate (Score:3, Interesting)
I think there is also an expectation that Microsoft will fix the Windows 8 flaws... because they have shown in the past the ability to react to negative feedback (i.e. Vista = BAD, Win 7 = GOOD, now Win 8 = CRAP, therefore... Win 9 = teh aw3s0me)
Windows 8, even in release mode, smells like beta testing. The general reaction has been very "ME/Vista"-like. So we expect them to improve it. Will they? That's the real question...
Re:He admits he's not using a tablet!!! (Score:5, Interesting)
It's a big honkin 27" all-in-one touch-screen desktop computer... so pretty much a big tablet. If you can't get the full Windows 8 experience on that, you'll never get it on a dinky little tablet.
The most common complaints (Score:5, Interesting)
It seems like the number one complaint so far is "It's different, and I don't like to think". That's just lazy, and I tend to discount it immediately.
There are two fairly valid criticisms, however. The first is that by moving functions into various gestures and hidden panels, the discoverability is quite poor. I'm constantly forgetting that the search feature is buried in that "charms" bar, and instinctively look for a search field on the screen somewhere. I'm sure the Microsoft knee-jerk approach to "fixing" this will be to print tips and reminders on the display bezel, which of course won't make any sense when the screen is rotated some other way. Going back to the drawing board and completely re-engineering a concept doesn't seem to be their thing.
Second, the weird desktop/tablet UI dichotomy is baffling. Functions that were previously confined to a small number of places - chiefly the Start menu and Control Panel - are now spread across two "control panels", a hidden "charms" bar, a "Settings" button in that charms bar, and many of these functions bounce back and forth between the tablet or desktop UI, or even duplicate features of one another. Key functionality has also been removed entirely. Where does one view, edit, and reorder the entire list of saved wireless connections? Nowhere, unless you want to use the netsh command!
So while I can appreciate making finger-friendly design considerations, the way they've done it is disjointed and nonsensical. If I had to fix it, I'd allow "Metro" apps to run windowed instead of only full-screen, make it easier to scale up UI elements of "desktop" apps for touch use, get the Control Panel consolidated into a single point of access, and put some of the most common features of the old Start menu directly on the new one, without hiding them off-screen or in menus (Control Panel, Devices and Printers, Run, Computer, Documents, etc). If you change the window manager to act more like the Metro mode when a window is maximized, then you've got a reasonably successful marrying of the two concepts.
For traditional desktop use, it's not at all horrible for an advanced user, and does have some nice performance and usability improvements here and there. For casual home users, it will probably be overly confusing, and leave them shopping for iPads even more than they are already.
Re:That bad? (Score:1, Interesting)
People don't have a problem with different. (Score:4, Interesting)
No people are not complain about different, ios is different..Andoirsd is different, people seen not only to like these interfaces they LOVE them. I'm pretty much tired of blaming the users for bad UI choices. Its not just a windows 8 thing.
Re:but isn't that a somewhat expensive (Score:3, Interesting)
They seem to fail every other version.
ME - awful.
XP - usable.
Vista - awful.
7 - usable.
8 - awful
9 - usable?
Yes, I say it is "that bad"! (Score:4, Interesting)
Since I've recently passed the 40 year mark, maybe that puts me in that "old dog" category now? But I still work in I.T. supporting multiple platforms and systems, and I think I'm still pretty good at figuring out new UIs and upgrades to applications.
Nonetheless, I absolutely agree with Greenspun's blog on this. It's not so much a debate on whether the old START menu or the new tiles screen is more useful. It's a design issue/problem, where the radically new tiled UI feels like it's crudely bolted onto the traditional desktop UI. I feel like in Windows 8, I'm really running two different operating systems in tandem on a desktop machine, except the integration between them isn't even as tight as recent versions of a product like Parallels Desktop or VMWare Fusion for Mac OS X gives you when running virtual Windows 7 sessions inside them!
For example, the tiled UI happily displays icons for apps like MS Office, which actually install and run from the Windows 7 style desktop side of things, yet it's possible to install web browsers which act completely independent of each other in the two UI's. To access them from both the tiles and the desktop side, you have to install them twice!
It was so bloody simple and they fucked up. (Score:5, Interesting)
Microsoft had a great little OS on their hands. It works better on the same hardware than the rock solid Windows 7 and incorporates real performance and useability improvements.
All they had to do to have made Windows 8 a great success on both existing and next-generation devices was:
1. Default to the desktop on systems that don't have a touchscreen.
2. Bring back the start menu.
Simple! Yet, they but on the blinders, and said to themselves 'we can be like Apple too' and proceeded to completely alienate their existing user base in favor of a user base that hasn't been proven to exist (touchscreen device users who prefer Metro to Android or iOS).
For what it's worth, I happily use Windows 8 with the free Classic Shell utility that resolves Microsoft's blunders.
Comment removed (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:That bad? (Score:5, Interesting)
In windows 8 it works more like this...
You poke at the bottom left corner for the square to pop up and click it. /r /t 0' rather then poke around to get the shutdown menu to show up.
You look for the app you want to open it's not there???
You ask a friend about it...
You now know to right click.
You right click on the desktop
You drag your mouse from the left side of the screen to the right side of the screen to click all apps.
You click all apps.
The app you want is closer to the left side of the screen now, so you drag your mouse back to the left side and
click it.
You make a shortcut on your desktop so you don't have to deal with that shit again.
You also make a batch file on your desktop containing 'shutdown
I'm guessing you are using a different product then I'm running. 'Cause I just described the Windows 8 I am using.
Re:but isn't that a somewhat expensive (Score:4, Interesting)
I run windows 8. I installed startisback... I'm not entirely sure why its not an improvement over windows 7 anymore.
Metro UI, the main part of it that is essentially a tablet-only UI, is garbage. The rest is basically good, and in most cases drastic design improvements over windows 7. Some of the easy functionality of windows xp has even been restored.
Re:but isn't that a somewhat expensive (Score:5, Interesting)
The Windows 8 as a gift does more though. If you give dog poop in a bag then the person knows that you hate him or her. However if you give out Windows 8 then the person may be fooled into thinking that you care. Windows 8 is not an impersonal gift like a gift card. If you give this to your mother-in-law she will be glad that it's not the same old basket of bath products.
Here's the best part. If the person actually uses Windows 8 and loves it then it will prove that your hatred of the person was well founded. If the person uses Windows 8 and is constantly annoyed by its UI then you will have a small measure of schadenfreude (it's someone you hate afterall). If the person sees it and immediately recognizes it as a hate gift, then this will merely be your subtle way to say "I hate you".
Windows 8 as a gift is the modern version of the white elephant.