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Microsoft's ex-UI chief is shocked about the Windows 11 start menu

borncity.com

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Re: Microsoft's ex-UI chief is shocked about the Windows 11 start menu

#31

Harris was chief of the Windows User Experience for Windows 8. He created Windows 8. He created Metro UI. He created the Windows 8 Start screen, charms, allowed ads in its inbox apps (e.g. Weather), etc. Keep that in mind when Harris says things like "the Start menu is Microsoft's flagship user experience. It should represent the very best UI design the company is capable of."

Can you still use win+r for the important stuff? That right there is a classic of Windows UI

Re: Microsoft's ex-UI chief is shocked about the Windows 11 start menu

#32
post #2

This article quotes Jensen Harris... the guy responsible for Windows 8 UI, which was a disaster.

Which was too bad, the zuneHD UI it was based on is still my favourite ever touch screen experience.

It's however, really opinionated about being for listening to music and playing some games

Re: Microsoft's ex-UI chief is shocked about the Windows 11 start menu

#33
It's a large enterprise. Big enough there will be a range of views about any change. I would be amazed if an EX- ui chief in any enterprise would always align to design decisions his successors enact. It's stunningly unlikely because it suggests innovation is stultified by the dead hand of prior staff.

That said, I think its not the best UI either. But the POLA here is "don't be surprised if people who replace you try to put their mark on things they control"

Re: Microsoft's ex-UI chief is shocked about the Windows 11 start menu

#34

Harris was chief of the Windows User Experience for Windows 8. He created Windows 8. He created Metro UI. He created the Windows 8 Start screen, charms, allowed ads in its inbox apps (e.g. Weather), etc. Keep that in mind when Harris says things like "the Start menu is Microsoft's flagship user experience. It should represent the very best UI design the company is capable of."

Can you still use win+r for the important stuff? That right there is a classic of Windows UI

That still works fine in windows 11.

Re: Microsoft's ex-UI chief is shocked about the Windows 11 start menu

#35

Harris was chief of the Windows User Experience for Windows 8. He created Windows 8. He created Metro UI. He created the Windows 8 Start screen, charms, allowed ads in its inbox apps (e.g. Weather), etc. Keep that in mind when Harris says things like "the Start menu is Microsoft's flagship user experience. It should represent the very best UI design the company is capable of."

Did you read the article and see what he was complaining about? He typed the word "Chrome" and the top hit was a web search with a bunch of ads on the right-hand sidebar. His complaints were 100% justified and imho correct, and the immediate jump to ad-hominem attacks rather than debating the content of the article seems uncalled for.

Re: Microsoft's ex-UI chief is shocked about the Windows 11 start menu

#36

Harris was chief of the Windows User Experience for Windows 8. He created Windows 8. He created Metro UI. He created the Windows 8 Start screen, charms, allowed ads in its inbox apps (e.g. Weather), etc. Keep that in mind when Harris says things like "the Start menu is Microsoft's flagship user experience. It should represent the very best UI design the company is capable of."

Yeah the start menu of Windows 2000 was just fine.

Re: Microsoft's ex-UI chief is shocked about the Windows 11 start menu

#37

Harris was chief of the Windows User Experience for Windows 8. He created Windows 8. He created Metro UI. He created the Windows 8 Start screen, charms, allowed ads in its inbox apps (e.g. Weather), etc. Keep that in mind when Harris says things like "the Start menu is Microsoft's flagship user experience. It should represent the very best UI design the company is capable of."

Can you still use win+r for the important stuff? That right there is a classic of Windows UI

Only if you know the exact name of the executable or .cpl you want to run.

Re: Microsoft's ex-UI chief is shocked about the Windows 11 start menu

#38
post #6

I work in IT. The Windows 10/11 "settings" are a hole pile of shit. It seems like Microsoft almost purposefully took the 10 things you would most often use, and nested them so deep that you cant even memorize how to find them anymore. So you get forced into using the god awful search, which returns results FROM THE GOD DAMN INTERNET. If I am in Windows setting, or hell even on just the normal Start Menu, I DON'T WANT…

Disable web search. I think I’ve done something like that on Win10.

https://nerdschalk.com/how-to-disable-web-results-in-windows...

Re: Microsoft's ex-UI chief is shocked about the Windows 11 start menu

#39

Honestly Windows 11 is getting better all the time. It's much cleaner and less cluttered compared to 10 as well. It's not perfect of course, but it's the best one so far imo, and it keeps getting better. I really like the new way to connect and manage Bluetooth devices from the taskbar that was recently added. But then again, it's Windows, so when you look underneath the shiny new surface and realize e.g there's no w…

Getting better all the time? Yes, so do wounds. Microsoft wounded technology for so many with Windows 11. It's gotten to the point it auto installs even without elevation, so many of us are home with family for Thanksgiving only to spend hours with confused parents trying to navigate the mess of broken 'features'.

Re: Microsoft's ex-UI chief is shocked about the Windows 11 start menu

#40

Harris was chief of the Windows User Experience for Windows 8. He created Windows 8. He created Metro UI. He created the Windows 8 Start screen, charms, allowed ads in its inbox apps (e.g. Weather), etc. Keep that in mind when Harris says things like "the Start menu is Microsoft's flagship user experience. It should represent the very best UI design the company is capable of."

Did you read the article and see what he was complaining about? He typed the word "Chrome" and the top hit was a web search with a bunch of ads on the right-hand sidebar. His complaints were 100% justified and imho correct, and the immediate jump to ad-hominem attacks rather than debating the content of the article seems uncalled for.

sorry, but this is one of the few cases where its justified. Anyone whos developed on Windows since 7 or before (raises hand) knows how awful Window UI has been since 8.

You wouldn't want Richard Nixon (if he was alive) commenting on Obama's term would you? Even if Harris is 100% right, its just tone deaf and in bad taste. No one want to hear his opinion on Microsoft products. Hes done enough already.

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