Jump to content

Windows 8 - Deeper Impressions


JorgeA

Recommended Posts

For some reason I find this story funny. As everyone probably knows by now, yesterday it was announced that Microsoft started using a new logo, for the first time in 25 years. It is news on many many sites. Here is the logo as displayed on The Official Microsoft Blog where they have a synopsis explaining this 'new' logo (but leaving out an important detail) ...

0066.MSFT_2D00_Logo_2D00_RGB_2D00_450x165_5F00_LogoParts.jpg_2D00_450x0.jpg

Rumor is (I'm starting it here ;) ) that when the Desktop is retired and Windows goes all-Metro, the four panes in the symbol will be cut down to two. One bigger pane and one smaller pane about 1/4 the size.

--JorgeA

Link to comment
Share on other sites


The most confounding thing about Windows 8 Metro/Destop interface integration for me (that I don't see getting much play) is that the Metro UI obviates User multi-tasking. Perhaps the lack of attention is down to no good meme to describe the problem; as obviously Windows 8 is a fully multi-tasking OS -- the Metro UI has onerous limitations and egregious issues with respect to User multi-tasking input and monitoring information:

· the Charms Bar steals the Desktop

· accessing some Windows 8 configuration options is a Metro Only proposition

· Metro can only tile two applications at a preset split of approximately 80:20

· there is no prefigured means to launch some applications without Metro

While its been exhaustively described how the Windows 8 Metro to Desktop control interface is awkward, inconsistent, obtuse and in some respects totally irreverent of the User -- there is an even bigger disconnect in multi-tasking efficacy.

There are mission critical Windows deployments where multiple applications have to be monitored and managed concurrently in real-time (these are neither small in scale or scope; from film and music production, to industrial applications, to police and rescue dispatch operations) where production is managed in the cost per second, or even life and death... It's not difficult to imagine a situation in a deployment like this where a User or Operator inadvertently (or deliberately) trips over Metro obfuscating Desktop applications ending in costly catastrophe due to critical information or input being missed...

Even in less critical roles, the onerous aspects Windows 8 interface integration is certain to interrupt everyone's ability to multi-task work flow and applications efficiently and in many cases to be costly in terms of time wasted and general inefficiency that will increase workload frustration. This is not an improvement in user interface design...

:(

Very important points!

I'd pointed out before that Windows 8 makes it harder to follow complicated instructions (troubleshooting, installations, etc.) that involve opening the Start Menu and then clicking something in it, because the Metro Start Screen that replaced the Start Menu takes over the whole monitor, covering up the next several steps you need to follow. But what you point out has potentially vastly more serious consequences. Thanks for bringing this to attention.

--JorgeA

Link to comment
Share on other sites

One thing they fail to understand, Microsoft and its fanboys, is the amount of ill-will that is percolating. I mean I can't really decide at this point which company to despise the most: Microsoft, Apple or Google.

In this corner, I'm already looking at a Linux-flavored future. That horizon just got a lot clearer when I discovered that I can run Windows programs in that environment with PlayOnLinux. First trials with Office 2007 worked great! The windows themselves are a facsimile of the classic Win98/Win2000 look.

--JorgeA

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Very important points!

I'd pointed out before that Windows 8 makes it harder to follow complicated instructions (troubleshooting, installations, etc.) that involve opening the Start Menu and then clicking something in it, because the Metro Start Screen that replaced the Start Menu takes over the whole monitor, covering up the next several steps you need to follow. But what you point out has potentially vastly more serious consequences. Thanks for bringing this to attention.

--JorgeA

Yes and to amplify the issue you raise; even more of a problem is the fact that the 'Start Screen' will auto arrange, making even rough approximation of an application's icon location unknowable -- though perhaps this can be administered, it's still absurd to expect support personal to tell someone to 'count twenty-two icons over and three down and click on the one that sort of looks an abstract of something abstract'...

Back to User level multi-tasking, there are Windows 8 control and management interfaces that are 'Metro Exclusive', ergo they have no replicated functionality in the Control Panel, or MMC -- so at least at this time it's not even a practical consideration for a System Administrator to do something like lock down Metro (if that were even possible) and use a 3rd party 'Start Menu' application to launch applications.

This issue, with the shoddy craftsmanship of the Windows 8 interface in general demonstrates the egregious disregard and lack of thought that has gone into the Windows 8 user interface design that's sure to end in costly tragedy as there will no doubt be some large Enterprise that has some sort of preexisting commitment to deploy Windows 8 that won't discover their expensive mistake until it's too late...

All this for a passive consumption 'Shopping Mall' interface that forces shoppers to loiter as much as possible; who would think...

:huh:

Edited by hoak
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I guess that the first programmer that publishes a program called:

please_let_me_have_back_the_desktop_and_stuff_smartscreen_up_steve_ballmers_you_know_what.exe

will have quite a number of downloads and installations :thumbup as it could be a good way to deliver the message.... :angel from the "base" to the "top" (you know, the peeps that say they are listening BUT do another thing instead)

The usage of underscores and the lack of the apostrophe is to make sure that there is no issue with names containing spaces/special characters, though I cannot guarantee that Smartscreen (or IIS 7.5 :whistle:) can manage properly a name longer than 32 characters ;) .

jaclaz

Edited by jaclaz
Link to comment
Share on other sites

This Windows will be an huge failure. I bet that will reach only the 15% of the operating systems market before Windows 9, less than Vista in the same lifetime.

Until Windows Server 2003 they were doing the right things. From the Longhorn Milestones, the developers began to screw up the OS, and they gave to the world an over-bloated Vista. With SP2 the OS runs better, but the operating systems after Server 2003 never reached the level of performance of XP.

Nowadays most computers are screwed up with Windows 7. After some time the new computers become slower because of the OS.

The things are far worse than six years ago. Sooner, if this Sesame Street edition became a success, we'll say goodbye to the personalization of the OS.

I hope that Apple and Windows 8 will fail onto the water.

The first because for me is the ruin of information technology, with the useless iPhone and iPad.

The second because the Micro$oft began to impose that "modern" interface.

P.S.:What the hell is this new Micro$oft logo?

Every children can do those squares on Paint.

I miss the old "flag" of Windows 9x and 2000.

Edited by Agorima
Link to comment
Share on other sites

OT :ph34r: but actually serious matters:

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/26/technology/apple-samsung-case-shows-smartphone-as-lawsuit-magnet.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/25/technology/jury-reaches-decision-in-apple-samsung-patent-trial.html?_r=1&hp

http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/technology/apple-samsung-face-sales-bans-in-south-korea/2012/08/24/9cb1ac8c-edde-11e1-b0eb-dac6b50187ad_story.html

Without entering at all in the discussion about who is right or who is wrong, I like the statement by Samsung :

http://edition.cnn.com/2012/08/24/tech/mobile/apple-samsung-verdict/?hpt=hp_t3

Samsung said the verdict should be viewed "as a loss for the American consumer."

"It will lead to fewer choices, less innovation, and potentially higher prices," the company said in a written statement. "It is unfortunate that patent law can be manipulated to give one company a monopoly over rectangles with rounded corners, or technology that is being improved every day by Samsung and other companies.

"Consumers have the right to choices, and they know what they are buying when they purchase Samsung products. This is not the final word in this case or in battles being waged in courts and tribunals around the world, some of which have already rejected many of Apple's claims. Samsung will continue to innovate and offer choices for the consumer."

I am curious to see what will happen when the Surface hits the market:

adessoip-gg.jpg

microsoft-surface-tablet-1.jpg

I would call it a brand new usage paradigm, had I not been a (BTW very satisfied) user of ....

.... the Compaq Concerto: :thumbup

concerto1.jpg

almost twenty years ago.....

Edit: corrected the date :blushing: it was year 1993, I presume that 95% percent of the "intended users target" wasn't even born at the time :w00t:

jaclaz

Edited by jaclaz
Link to comment
Share on other sites

OT :ph34r: but actually serious matters:

Very serious matters. Well if I were Samsung, I'd raise the cash for that billion dollar fine by re-pricing the parts they produce for Apple. Let Apple pay themselves.

I don't know, I find it all very troubling. First we have both Jobs and then Ballmer on record spouting maniacal hatred at Google who they see as an upstart stepping onto their turf (arrogant monopolists!). Then we find out about a long-standing secret non-aggression pact between Microsoft and Apple (instead of planning on dividing Poland are they dividing the entire world?). Now we see another crazy court case go in Apple's favor. And somewhere today there was a story of a Microsoft executive gloating about the verdict saying it will help the WP.

My own feeling is that there is collusion going on. They both better watch it too, governments are never more trigger happy than when they need money, and they all REALLY need money these days. Microsoft and Apple sure look they are throwing their weight around. If, or when they fall it ain't gonna be pretty.

P.S. The Surface vs Concerto is an amazing comparison, and fits right in to the recycle paradigm. We're really gonna have to pull all these comparisons together. What a great find :thumbup How did you stumble upon it? I can't remember ever seeing that Compaq.

.... the Compaq Concerto: :thumbup

concerto1.jpg

almost ten years ago.....

jaclaz

EDIT: typos

Edited by CharlotteTheHarlot
Link to comment
Share on other sites

How did you stumble upon it? I can't remember ever seeing that Compaq.

And you weren't paying (much) attention :whistle: :

Actually it was the second item that contributed to the formulation of Jaclaz's Laptop Law:

Every laptop Jaclaz has ever bought and will ever buy had, has and will have a cost of around € 2,000.00 :w00t::ph34r:

yet to be proved wrong....

It was IMNSHO one of the greatest little PC's ever made, don't be fooled by the picture, the real one ran DOS 6.20 or 6.22 and Windows 3.1 (actually Windows for Pen computing):

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compaq_Concerto

Mine was a 33 Mhz 486 Dx, with 8 Mb of Ram (default was 4 Mb) and if I recall correctly a 120 Mb hard disk and believe me it was fast and smooth.

I had Microsoft Word 6 and, much more than that, EXCEL 4.0 (and later 5), and later Borland Quattro (which I had to use for some file format interchange reasons) and - drums rolling - MS Project 1.0!

And then MS Access 1.0 which was thrown away in no time and replaced by Borland Paradox for Windows.....

It had a floppy, two PCMCIA, serial, parallel and two PS/2 sockets, one for the (detachable) keyboard and one for the (optional) external mouse.

I bought it specifically to carry it with me abroad, and I had an external 14.4 K modem/fax and Winfax, I remember that sending or receiving a 1.44 Mb floppy image took around 15 minutes, but I was "connected" and could send and receive faxes!

The pen was WAY more functonal than any trackball/trackpad I ever used, and there was really no need of a "real mouse", and also the keyboard though "small" was not at all "bad", being detachable you could (besides using the PC as "pure Pen Tablet") also have a decent distance between the keyboard and the screen, like in:

http://criggie.org.nz/laptop/concerto/mvc-268f.jpg

At the time Compaq was one among the leaders, if not "the" leader, in providing excellent products, both laptop (mainstream was the Contura) and desktop.

The Concerto was a breakthrough in design and usability, and it was most probably abandoned because it was expensive, but also because it was tooo much ahead of it's time.

Guys sorry for the OT :blushing: but the Concerto fully deserved an elegy, may it R.I.P. :thumbup .

jaclaz

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I did get one of those error screens the other day when I was trying to install the Metro Skip Suite. I figured that SmartSreen Filter was checking some sort of built-in list of known/approved applications (in the same model as a virus definition list). Never occurred to me that it might actually be "phoning home."

--JorgeA

Let's hope the HOSTS file still works.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

And you weren't paying (much) attention :whistle: :

There was a First Impressions thread? Shoot, I missed it.

Off-topic, but for a good laugh ...

Steven Sinofsky caught reading the "Deeper Impressions" thread at MSFN! ( NeoWin ) okay, I made up the title!

Godd@mn &%$#@ these little @$* are really @%#*& me off! Jorge. XpClient. Coffee. What do you know anyway? You're a bunch of h8ters. Nobody used the Start Menu. The telemetry said so. And stop calling it Metro d@mmit! It's Modern. It was a codename! Hey stop it with that Comic Sans. AOL Kids! Commodore. Nemulator. I h8te you CharlotteTheHarlot. hmmph. Ours is better cause there's squares and rectangles. And charms. And invisible icons. Do they have that? Didn't think so. Ha ha. Jaclaz and his Concerto laptop. Is the keyboard blue? Does it play Cut The Rope? Does it play Angry Birds? Hey Win95 sucks anyway, it has raised buttons. And overlappping Windows. Surface doesn't have that. Surface rulez... Oh now what the ... #&%$#@ Internet Explorer! ....Waitress, check please!

527129_275312059235775_134484099_n.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Off-topic, but for a good laugh ...

Steven Sinofsky caught reading the "Deeper Impressions" thread at MSFN! ( NeoWin ) okay, I made up the title!

We are not (much ;)) amused. :rolleyes:

I mean, reality is already so fun that there is no need to make a fake to have anyway a good laugh :unsure: .

http://www.i-programmer.info/news/177-windows-8/4666-windows-8-devs-enticed-by-offers-such-as-meet-steve-ballmer.html

The final enticement is bizarre to say the least....

An opportunity for a small group of Launch Publishers to win an opportunity to meet Microsoft CEO, Steve Ballmer, when he visits the UK later this year

Now, I do respect Mr. Ballmer, and his capabilities and drive, no matter if he took, takes and will take right or wrong decisions, but I strongly doubt anyone in his right mind could see meeting him as a luring prize in a raffle :w00t::ph34r: .

(unless you are a fanboy, of course)

jaclaz

P.S.: On OT news, the war :ph34r: is just beginning :

http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/12/08/24/apple_cleared_of_infringing_motorola_patents_avoids_us_import_ban.html

http://www.foxbusiness.com/technology/2012/08/24/itc-finds-apple-didnt-violate-three-motorola-patents-sends-one-dispute-back-to/

Edited by jaclaz
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Off-topic, but for a good laugh ...

Steven Sinofsky caught reading the "Deeper Impressions" thread at MSFN! ( NeoWin ) okay, I made up the title!

Very funny, the spoiler captures all the cliches in one neat package.

Now as for pure dazzling beauty (yes, in the eye of THIS beholder), behold this.

--JorgeA

Edited by JorgeA
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest
This topic is now closed to further replies.
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...