Windows 8 Metro: The Good Kind of Market Segmentation? 389
nk497 writes "A UX designer working at Microsoft has taken to Reddit to explain why Windows 8's Metro screen isn't designed for power users — but is still good news for them. Jacob Miller, posting as 'pwnies,' said Metro is the 'antithesis of a [power user's desktop],' and designed for 'your computer illiterate little sister,' not for content creators or power users. By splitting Windows into Metro and the desktop, Microsoft has created space for casual users as well as power users."
Update: 02/18 18:14 GMT by S : Further explanations from Miller are available now.
Really?!?! (Score:5, Funny)
And this would explain why they use the Metro interface on Server 2012? So my illiterate little sister can mange servers in the data center?
Re:Really?!?! (Score:5, Funny)
Have you met most IIS developers?
I'M FROM MICROSOFT (Score:5, Funny)
"AND I'M WORKING HARD, to keep you little sister ILLITERATE!"
Re:I'M FROM MICROSOFT (Score:4, Informative)
Same thing could be said of the (in)famous Clippy tool. As derided as it was in tech circle (jerks), apparently he was pretty popular with the ladies according to one of my friends in tech support, who had to deal with lots of sticky keyboards. But I suppose just another way Clippy was spreading the joy, of, er, digital manipulation to the masses.
Re:Really?!?! (Score:5, Funny)
I somehow misread the headline, confusing it with the headline below it on the /. front page: "Windows 8 Metro Could Face Prosecution For 'Crimes Against Humanity'". Sadly, I was mistaken.
Re:Really?!?! (Score:5, Insightful)
Not a bad attempt at trolling, but in a data center, server 2012 would likely be a headless server-core instance with no GUI at all. To address your question, I would imagine that developers who choose to develop on a server SKU may want to target Metro/Modern apps so it is available, if required.
Re:Really?!?! (Score:5, Informative)
Sorry to dig in like this, but judging from your site, you're a primary powershell user, and most Microsoft sysadmins... aren't. You're projecting your own usage onto others.
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If you're a real Windows sysadmin today and you're not using powershell you won't remain an admin for long.
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"Primary" is a critical keyword here and was not included accidentally.
Powershell is (Score:5, Funny)
Powershell is a BSD pipelined interface with all the lovely syntax of Visual Basic oriented around objects in layers all the way down.
It is like an onion, you keep peeling back the layers, and each one makes you want to cry more.
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but you miss the point - the unix shell works, and still works today. So why try to break it by changing it in the name of "progress".
Powershell is an abomination that makes WMI look good (which is it BTW, it doesn't look pretty though). But hey, Microsoft likes changing things for changes sake,. Maybe one day they'll mature.
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I'm dubious that they features are improvements, but it could simply be a philosophical difference. What I was raised with, so to speak, in the *nix world was a toolset built of discrete commands and a fairly simplistic scripting language (though I admit the passage from sh to ksh to bash has introduced more complex structures). Powershell drives me nuts because there are a bazillion scriptlets tied to the already overly complex underpinnings that is the Windows kernel, WMI, .Net and everything else ever th
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In Unix everything is a text file ... supposedly and this has been fading out for the past few decades as SystemD and Xorg are not. Plan 9 was supposed to fix this but never came into light.
In windows everything is an object. WMI is strange in alot of ways but PS is powerful in others with objects. I see no other way to do this under Windows.
Re:Really?!?! (Score:5, Insightful)
"Can't figure out" isn't the same as "don't want to use because it's less functional and more time consuming to do basic tasks". You knew that and yet you pretended they were the same because you have an inferiority complex that demands you think less of others to justify your own pathetic skills.
I'm not an admin, and I know how to use powershell. That doesn't excuse fucking metro.
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Oh fuck off, I have windows 8, and any UI that has transitioned to metro sucks balls, comparatively. There's nothing there to redeem it. This isn't complicated. It adds negative value, as a subsystem, because it replaces things that work better.
The ridiculously absurd argument you're trying to make it "if you bothered to learn it, it's only slightly worse". It's still worse.
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You, sir, must be a Linux user. I spend a lot of my day on Windows servers debugging issues and doing deployment tasks. RDP is the standard way to interface with a Windows server, and fucking Metro on 2012 is really annoying.
Re:Really?!?! (Score:4, Interesting)
No, what sucks is that there's no search bar where I can type "Printers" or "ODBC" and there pops up the appropriate Control Panel or Administrator functions. The first Server 2012 installation I did it took me a few minutes just to find the goddamned System Management functions.
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High UID, has time to sit around Slashdot and make multiple posts per day but you admin "~6000 Server 2012 boxes"?
Where did he say he was the only one? Single handedly doing it by himself? I didn't see that.
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That occurred to me too. There are thousands of boxes in my department too. There are also a handful of people to admin them for us. Personally, I only admin a handful of systems at home.
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Not a bad attempt at trolling,
Serious?
but in a data center, server 2012 would likely be a headless server-core instance with no GUI at all.
Having connected to many hundreds of windows servers throughout the world not a single one was ever running "server core"
To address your question, I would imagine that developers who choose to develop on a server SKU may want to target Metro/Modern apps so it is available, if required.
I'm sure this happened...once... in the history of mankind.
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probably twice. but that's it. there are some people who think that microsoft puts "more robust code" into the server compiles(instead of microsoft just upping some connection limits on them and not make them boot without warning whenever it feels like it).
but it just tells how fucked up it is that the ux designer has to go on reddit for "damage control". heck, even he doesn't want to fucking use it, but that it's for the magical "mom & pop". just like fucking bob!
imho the ux designer should just go fuc
99% are NOT headless (Score:5, Interesting)
In fact, if you accept Azure as the best reference profile for Windows servers, I'm not even sure there's a way to get a headless Windows server on Azure (try searching "site:windowsazure.com headless" if you don't believe me).
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You can't even use server core for some MS services (CM 2012 comes to mind).
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No, that's because nobody gives a shit about the UI on a server, so why bother creating a different UI? The Metro interface is good enough to get done what needs to be done while logged in to the server.
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No, that's because nobody gives a shit about the UI on a server, so why bother creating a different UI? The Metro interface is good enough to get done what needs to be done while logged in to the server.
Which contradicts the whole point about this behind some kind of segmentation, if it were then the workstation/server market would use the traditional desktop. Clearly we shall all use Metro whether we like it or not. Oh well, still 5+ years until my Windows 7 support ends...
Re:Really?!?! (Score:5, Insightful)
Women, too dumb to work a computer? (Score:3)
What makes you think that little sisters are more computer illiterate than little brothers? Sexist much, Jacob Miller?
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There's no reason not to have 2 disjoint desktops - one cutesy and one "srs bsns". Have them both available everywhere, but make the default appropriate for the platform. If I really want Metro on a server or workstation, I can enable that feature (but for goodness sake make it go away by default). If I want a real UI on a tablet, say I've attached a keyboard, mouse, and monitor, I should be able to make that switch, but I'd want to go back to Metro for mobile use.
Well, look at the bright side (Score:3, Insightful)
At least this one admits to working for MS.
I swear, I have seen more shills flood the internet advocating Windows8 than for any other product in history.
Re:Well, look at the bright side (Score:5, Funny)
I'm surprised they admit to being a 'UX designer'. They're so widely hated after the Gnome 3 and Metro debacles that, pretty soon, they'll have to claim they were playing piano in a brothel for those years to make their resume look more reputable.
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At least this one admits to working for MS.
I swear, I have seen more shills flood the internet advocating Windows8 than for any other product in history.
They're probably paying him extra for this little speech.
Or blackmailing him.
mod options (Score:5, Insightful)
Where do I mod this article -1 Flamebait? I'd really like to know.
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Without the bad Windows 8 fine (Score:3, Informative)
The Windows 8 metro ui drove me mad for months, but because it's still Windows I kept searching for a way to kill them off. Of course I installed Classic shell right away, but finding that way: this: http://winaero.com/blog/how-to-remove-all-bundled-modern-apps-from-your-user-account-in-windows-8/ really fixed Windows 8 for me.
Multiple Desktops on a Single screen. (Score:2, Insightful)
The fact that windows does not have this in 2014 is shameful.
good thing it's discoverable (Score:2)
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What, move your mouse to the right edge until a huge gutter of icons appears, then clicking "Settings" in order to find a button to shut down / restart isn't your idea of intuitive?
Remember: this is the company that gave us "start > shut down" - you have to start before you can stop!
Bullshit (Score:2, Interesting)
Windows 8 is dumbed down in more ways than just this Metro/Desktop schizophrenia.
A lot of power features are not "hidden". They are GONE.
If you down want to show them to the causual user that's ok with me..
But make them optional AND ALLOW TO MAKE THEM DEFAULT for those of us who need to get real work done.
(Sorry about the shouting, I just spend several hours fighting the usability nightmare that is a 2012 server box.)
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Exactly. "pwnies" even says in his posting on Reddit how MS looked at adding multiple desktops to Windows, but in testing they found out that casual users were confused by them. Because of this, they took them out.
I use multiple desktops on my two computers that run KDE, and of course I use the feature a lot. My wife uses KDE on her laptop too, and she's definitely NOT a power user. Does she get confused by multiple desktops? Nope. It's really simple: I never enabled that feature for her like I did on
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Well now I'm a little sad I didn't know about that because that sounds like the best feature I never had a chance to use.
Whoosh. (Score:5, Insightful)
This "UX designer" has completely missed the complaint everyone has lodged against Windows 8 and its interface. Nobody cares that there's a new interface added to the system, or even that it's the default. But power users do care that there's no way to bypass it.
Give us a way to shut it off and restore the original functionality in a control panel somewhere.
And shut your dumbass mouth, Jacob Miller. We didn't miss the point. You did.
Re: Whoosh. (Score:5, Funny)
Dammit, your post is such a mixed bag I want to mod it with a complex number.
Bad argument (Score:2)
Apologist fail (Score:2)
Link to Actual Reddit Thread (Score:5, Informative)
Because neither Slashdot, nor Neowin, nor PC Pro can apparently do a little goddamn legwork, here's a link to the comment thread [reddit.com] on Reddit.
My computer illiterate little sister... (Score:2)
...Microsoft has created space for casual users as well as power users....
Not really. What Microsoft did was chase away a significant number of people who were looking for a PC. The sales numbers speak for themselves. If it were only the power users who were avoiding Windows 8, then the sales numbers would not be as bad as they are.
Re:My computer illiterate little sister... (Score:5, Interesting)
I posted this story a while back. Still relevant:
I tried changing the wallpaper on my brother-in-law's Windows 8 laptop the other day. So I downloaded a picture, and opened it after it finished downloading. The picture loaded in the OS' default image viewer. I saw the picture appear, full-screened, and with no interface. I tried right-clicking the picture. That didn't give me a menu, but an interface did fade into appearance. I promptly saw an option to "Set as."
I clicked it, thinking: "Surely this will let me set the image as the wallpaper", but I was given just two options: set as lockscreen (IT'S A LAPTOP!), and set as 'app tile'
I immediately closed the window since the option I wanted wasn't there--no wait, actually I didn't close it. There was no UI option to close this fullscreen picture. I alt-tabbed back to the desktop. I found the picture again, right clicked it, and went to the "open with" option. There were like 5 image viewers that came with Windows to choose from. I chose the old "Windows Photo Viewer" and set it as the default so this madness won't happen again.
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The first time I had to use Windows 8 it was at a hotel and I was trying to print a PDF. I had to give up... Metro is the worst interface ever. I'm sure if you had a day long training explaining where you randomly move your mouse to so buttons appear it might be usable, but seriously... I'd rather use DOS. I mean if I can only use one application at a time, where is the advantage?
This article is why everyone hates 'U/X' designers (Score:3)
Asking if Metro was the good kind of market segmentation is sort of like asking if your wife cheating on you is the 'good' kind of having 'time to ourselves'
Metro was a bullshit, Clippy, Chicken McNugget version of the iOS design.
That's *all* it's ever been, and everyone knows this...posting pointless articles about the 'U/X' of Metro is silly. Metro and all Windows products tack on 'U/X' as an afterthought.
To try to understand good design principles from looking at M$ design process is like learning how to cook by watching a trucker take a shit.
Illiterate? (Score:2, Insightful)
Whose little sister is computer illiterate in 2014? Both of my little sisters are established professionals who have been using computers since they were children, and anyone younger than them has been using computers since birth. This mythical audience doesn't exist except in the minds of "UX Designers".
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This is the problem with all these new UIs designed by 'UX designers'. They're designed for people who've never used a computer before, and never seen someone use a computer before.
Which probably means a few dozen Amazon tribes who've never been contacted by the outside world. Not a big market, really.
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And what's even more funny, is that there have been numerous reporters that have brought their iPad with them to those tribes in the Amazon, or the jungles of the Congo, and they figured out how to use it in about 5 seconds with no instruction whatsoever, as they didn't speak the same language as the reporter.
Metro / Modern fails in every way except for one: it is a pretty good kiosk interface. Licensors of Windows Embedded will love it - stupidly easy to use with a touchscreen, and you can lock it up lik
Even their desktop ... (Score:2)
user design? (Score:5, Interesting)
Learning curve is high enough that an old windows user like me (since the early 90s) can't figure out how to open an application or find where anything I have installed is.
No menus, no help, no interface, no organization, no context, no structure and too many ads.
I can't help anyone running windows 8. I can't find applications, documents, programs or interface. I'm not sure what that great scrolling walls of ads is, but it doesn't seem to relate to anything resembling functionality - it's easier to find an installed app using "google play" than it is to use that.
And forget "power user". I DO know how to open a command shell, and replace the scrolling wall of stupidity with a terrible second-rate wannabe menu that injects ads everywhere. (which is to say, pretty much every start menu replacement)
I don't actually -need- the start menu - the folders of windows 3 were actually more or less ok.
If I were running a tablet with this stupidity, it'd probably be tossed across the room.
It managed to build an interface almost as terrible and in your face as Ubuntu's "Unity". Except that it takes 50-90% of your CPU to run windows 8 and Unity only prevents you from using it.
I'm not sure who designed either system, but they should be kicked out of user design and forced to go back to school, perhaps in something useful like sales.
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Exactly.
Metro is a typical Microsoft endeavor these days, they don't why they are doing anything, come up with some silly whim for 2 years then abandon it.
If they are strongly considering abandoning Windows Phone, what is the point of keeping the Metro interface in Windows 8?
Re:user design? (Score:5, Interesting)
now try using it on a tablet without a keyboard... (you know, what it was ostensibly designed for) Work recently took away my XP laptop and replaced it with a windows 8 tablet... my productivity has halved... (and that's an optimistic estimate) our best guess is that some VP thought it would look cooler in front of customers if we were on tablets instead of laptops, never mind that we've lost most of our functionality.
Winkey+D (Score:3, Funny)
Had to be said (Score:2)
Jacob Miller, posting as 'pwnies,'
First name: OMG
Completely missing the point (Score:3)
The problem isn't that The UI Formerly Named Metro is good for non-power users, it's that Metro is bad for power users and you can't avoid using it.
(Likewise, at least so far you can still say "no" to Slashdot Beta.)
Re:Completely missing the point (Score:4, Funny)
ah, but Metro is bad for non-power users too and they can't avoid using it either.
Its just bad all round.
I question the 'article' (Score:2)
If you look at the source that 'Bacon Bits' posted -- what I see if a pretty dubious, random post on Reddit, that PC Pro picked up. Nowhere do I see any actual evidence that anyone, other than a troll, or some kid just posted. This is about as useful an article as something 'my friend heard from his cousin's mom's next door neighbor's mother-in-law..."
A lot of doublespeak and nonsense (Score:3)
"Before Windows 8 and Metro came along, power users and casual users - the content creators and the content consumers - had to share the same space," he added. "It was like a rented tuxedo coat - something that somewhat fit a wide variety of people."
There's a difference between a physical thing that cannot be changed easily like hardware and software which is more malleable. Also they don't have to share the same space. See Android vs Linux. See iOS vs OS X.
If that's the case, why not allow power users to turn off the settings they find annoying? "We needed casual users to learn this interface," Miller explained. "If there was an option to make all the new go away, many users would do it. It's the same reason why Facebook doesn't have an option to go back to old designs of Facebook. People hate change.
Casual users would not turn off the interface. Casual users would save files to the desktop because they can't be bothered to put them in folders. And another problem is that this new interface still has enough elements of the old interface to confuse both power users and casual users. It is bi-polar at times and more of a sign it really wasn't ready when launched. If history is correct it won't be before the 3rd version that MS gets Metro working acceptably.
He pointed out that power users shouldn't normally have to use the Metro Start screen once they've pinned their ten most used apps to the taskbar. Microsoft's research shows that this covers more than 90% of interactions, and the rest of the time it makes sense to search textually for that little-used app, rather than hunting around with your mouse. "That's why we default to keyboard navigation (search to launch/find) in this situation," he explained.
Most power users I know use more than 10 applications. Also searching pages and pages of unsorted tiles is much faster than using text. Oh, the solution is to manually organize the tiles for each and every program that the user may or may not use right away. Yes, that's much easier.
Indeed, Windows 8 isn't designed to be used with a mouse, he wrote. "It's designed for keyboard (power users) and touch (casual users) primarily," he said. "Time trials showed that these were far faster methods than mouse-based navigation on the old start menu, so we optimised for that."
So that makes sense for MS to put it on desktops where the primary input is keyboard and mouse? Also the interface isn't good for casual users either. UI experts like Jacob Nielsen has listed [nngroup.com] all the issues with Metro for power and novice users.
"In the short term you'll see less resources devoted to it until we get Metro figured out, but once that happens the desktop is very much a first world citizen," Miller wrote. "It will be equal with Metro. The desktop is not going away, we can't develop Windows in Metro."
So everyone is a guinea pig until version 3 then?
While admitting that Microsoft hasn't done a good job of marketing the changes and explaining how to use the new interface, Miller revealed that he's currently working on new first-run experience tutorials to address that.
While marketing is often an area of fail for MS, the problem is that MS would like to ignore that wasn't the only problem. The interface suffers from many other defects. Scores of beta testers including many loyal Windows fans told MS about issues before Win 8 was launched. Also if you have to teach someone how to use an interface, then the interface isn't intuitive. Not all interfaces should be but an interface for casual and novice users should be.
And he suggested that Windows 9 will help clean up many of the issues with Windows 8, admitting that Microsoft appears to be working on a "tick/tock" development cycle. "Windows 7
Whatever. (Score:5, Insightful)
Doesn't matter if you're right if you can't sell it.
Can't sell it to developers (Score:3)
It is worth pointing out that all developers are power users, and will write applications first for themselves unless they are paid to do otherwise. The reason Windows is so popular is the sheer number of applications available for it. Once the "newbie" interface is segregated from the "power user" interface, there will be a lot fewer applications written for the former due to everyone but the big companies leaving for more useful environments. Fewer applications, and the unlikelihood of anybody writing any
Wroooooong! Sorry but, WRONG! (Score:5, Interesting)
Re: (Score:3)
Re:Wroooooong! Sorry but, WRONG! (Score:4, Interesting)
too late for that (Score:2)
I recently special-ordered a desktop computer for my very-computer-illiterate mother (a retired musician) and somewhat-computer-illiterate father (a retired lawyer) to use, to avoid confusing them with Metro. Meanwhile my niece (I'm too old for my "little sister" to be relevant) has no trouble at all dealing with the traditional Windows Explorer desktop (though she prefers her Mac, which is mostly the same) because she grew up with it. In fact, it's the only interface she's ever known, which makes replaci
Ubuntu and Windows 8 fail the newbie test (Score:5, Insightful)
What a load of steaming BS (Score:2)
In other words, he concluded, Microsoft is "making two meals now instead of one. That way we can provide steak for the grown men, and skim milk for the babies."
If that's the case, why not allow power users to turn off the settings they find annoying? "We needed casual users to learn this interface,"
What a load of crap. If it truly was setup with Metro for casual, desktop for power users, then you would be able to select one or the other. If by default, Metro was used, and they made it some normal "difficult" to get to setting that had to be edited under the system management areas, your "casual" users would have no clue how to make that change and would thus, be using Metro. We also wouldn't have Metro on the SERVER editions being used PRIMARILY BY CORPORATE PROFESSIONAL IT DEPARTMENTS!
This entire int
So you're saying... (Score:2)
Windows 8 isn't for me. Ok. Got that. So gimme Win7. Huh? Why can't I get it?
So you make a system that's not for me, but you don't wanna sell me the system that was made for me?
Maybe you should have asked that consultant who told you that this was a good idea what that "I (heart) RMS" sticker on his laptop meant. Clue: He didn't want to express his love to your Rights Management Services [wikipedia.org].
I call bullshit (Score:5, Insightful)
To really understand metro, you have to watch the development videos at microsoft virtual academy website.
Somehow their UI designers came up with this ridicilous notion that your apps don't need any "distract" menus or system icons and it should only display content. Content is the king they say, none of those resizing bars or window icons or anything. This is the main reason why metro apps look like that.
It's like someone designed a car and said.. "you don't doors once you're in the car all you need is the road". To that I say "getting in and out a car shouldn't be an un-intuitive mess dumbass"
Re: (Score:3)
TIL Microsoft designed the General Lee.
Tried before (Score:2)
They tried this "idiots interface" before, what makes them think Metro will end up faring better than that failed attempt? Hi Bob!
Also, so you train an entire GENERATION of people how to use the start menu and then you take it away to make the system EASIER to use.
Sorry For The Blunt Language... (Score:3)
But suggesting that Win 8 Metro is "designed to be the anti-thesis [of power user desktop]" seems like big time BS. All you need to do is look at the lock/login screen: Only a power user would have the inclination to start taping and pushing and dragging things around trying to figure out how to activate the login process. A less experience user would just click around aimlessly looking for a button missed or can't see wondering what the next step is.
The best interfaces seem to have simple expressions with simple feedback that extend into powerful combination. Win 8 Metro fails at this pretty badly because so many things are never explained or demonstrated or even suggested let alone expressed cleanly or completely. What does putting the pointer in the corner do? Why does click-drag direction-release count as a swipe only in the shell? Expecting a new or neophyte user to figure this out with the intuitive help of Windows 8 is kind of fanciful.
Explaining things (Score:4, Insightful)
You know how if you have to explain a joke, it isn't funny? Well, if you have to explain a decision you made like this, there's a solid chance it wasn't the right one. Especially when it comes to matters of personal taste, preferences, perception, etc. "No, see, you should like this, because..."
"De gustibus non est disputandum." [wikipedia.org]
(I'm not using Latin to make me look smarter, but to illustrate that this idea has been around for a long damn time.)
Interesting . . . (Score:2)
Not how it was sold (Score:2)
So, what exactly is Metro doing in the background? (Score:4, Insightful)
1) How is my machine being slowed down (CPU cycles, disk I/O, etc.) and how much bandwidth is being wasted (especially if I don't get unlimited data) by Metro apps that are running "in the background"? This is really important at the server level--why do I need any apps running on a server--especially if it's running in a VM???
2) What information is being sent out the door about my usage to Microsoft and other entities (spyware), especially if those apps came preloaded with Windows 8.x / Server 2012 (base/R2)??? Again, servers are especially of concern--why should Microsoft or anyone else know how I'm using my server?
Numerous articles have said that Windows 8.x runs better/faster than Windows 7 on all kinds of hardware (even using less memory), but I can't see how this is possible given the concerns above...
Casual and Power use cases on same desktop - easy (Score:3)
I think the reality this totally-free-to-say-what-he-wants MS employee is not mentioning is that MS has company-strategic user-hostile motives for Metro
Hard to believe the same person said this ... (Score:3)
Use the best tool for the job. My personal setup is Windows for desktops (I think windows handles multiple monitors better than osx does), OSX for laptops (Apple's hardware is just so much better for portables), and linux for servers. I'm currently typing this on my Macbook Air. Definitely agree with you about dev tools on windows though. If you aren't bought into the .net stack, it's a bitch. For any web dev I'd recommend OSX or Linux. I'm a huge vim guy, so using windows and just ssh'ing into my linux boxes works great for me. (here [reddit.com]).
He must have multiple personality disorder. That comment makes so much sense ... and yet his actual Reddit post is so absent of logic ...
Re:Non sequitur. Your facts are uncoordinated. (Score:4, Insightful)
Ditto. Casual users are used to the XP interface, and they really don't want to be forced to use some crappy shiny thing designed for three year olds.
Re:Non sequitur. Your facts are uncoordinated. (Score:5, Interesting)
My experience mirrors yours. I've had gift cards, thank you cards, and other notes shoved under my office door for pointing people to StartMenu8 ever since Windows 8 became available. Some people like the UI, but MANY seem to loathe it (as I do)...
Re:I'm confused (Score:5, Insightful)
A good example of this are hot keys. Most apps have them, but you don't need them to use the app. They are easy to figure out because they are listed next to every menu item, so if you forget how to past, you can look at 'paste' from the menu and see it's cntrl-V.
The joke here is that Win8 is not discoverable, the gestures are rather hidden. Furthermore creating two different UIs for the same computer is pretty near the opposite of good design. You will inevitably run into the same types of problems you have with 'mobile' websites, which are not good for anybody.
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Nah, they're going to double down on the cloud thing. Expect more and more core OS functionality to drift away into the fluffy little cloud, with an optional, but expensive option to "run your own cloud" for those recalcitrant privacy advocates who don't want practically all their information stored "securely" in some huge corporate data center in Montana. Win 8 already has their stupid little Microsoft Account which you can use to "... get apps from the Windows Store, back up all your important data and
full denigration (Score:4, Interesting)
I don't know what would be enough **for you** but TFA is shameful admission
Shameful if you are in the design part of the tech industry.
This is M$ fully admitting that Metro (and many of their design decisions) was nothing more than **DUMBING DOWN THE INTERFACE**
I know coders don't get this as easily b/c you dont think of the user...but look...
Metro's awfulness is an expression of what M$ thinks of its users. Its 'easy' version of the OS is so mind-numbingly stilted that in attempting to be usable by the stupidest person on earth, it has instead been rendered useless to *everyone*
This article is proof that Microsoft really does act as if it **hates its users**
Re:Astruturf? (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Computer illiterate little sister? (Score:5, Informative)
Re: (Score:3)
My grampa was not retarded, so he wouldn't have liked it.
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The quote is out of context, and was part of a larger list of users. On its own it does seem negative - here's my full quote:
Metro is a content consumption space. It is designed for casual users who only want to check facebook, view some photos, and maybe post a selfie to instagram. It's designed for your computer illiterate little sister, for grandpas who don't know how to use that computer dofangle thingy, and for mom who just wants to look up apple pie recipes. It's simple, clear, and does one thing (and only one thing) relatively easily.
The word you are looking for is "iPad".
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Having two different interfaces might be a good thing if the user could actually CHOOSE between them.
No, Metro would be pointless if the user could actually CHOOSE it, because no-one would choose it on a desktop PC.
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Take the proverbial computer illiterate: My dad. He's the anti-geek. The non-techie. The proverbial bureaucratic pencil pusher who started using computers when he noticed that "that electronic fad" won't go away.
He FINALLY got around to using Windows. Kinda-sorta. More or less. Confronted with Win8 he threw a fit. He finally got that crap down and now they change everything around.
He eventually bought an Apple laptop. Seems he can more easily deal with that change than with the transition from XP to 8.
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He eventually bought an Apple laptop. Seems he can more easily deal with that change than with the transition from XP to 8.
He's not the only one. I know a number of people who've moved from Windows to Mac, because the Mac is now more like Windows than Windows is.
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And if he'd said illiterate little brother it wouldn't have been? Why?
He could have easily left gender out of it but chose not to. The discussion had nothing whatsoever to do with gender so why bring it into the mix? Furthermore are you aware of the relative proportions of males versus females in IT? Hell I've been guilty myself of using my mom as an example of computer illiteracy when my dad is probably even worse with computers than she is. If gender has nothing to do with the story then don't bring it up.
Do you think boys are naturally more stupid than girls or are you just angling for some right-on brownie points? Which it looks like you didn't get btw.
Right. That is why I pointed out a comment which needlessly brou