One of the most annoying things about the metro interface is how they forced such a drastic change even on Server 2012. Metro may in fact turn out to be more usable some day but when we have work to do, we don't have time to play around with new toys. I recently had to get a 2012 server up and running quickly, but spent half my time learning all the secret and completely unnatural hovering places and clicks. I hate to admit it, but I actually had to Google how to restart in 2012.
Usability expert tears apart Windows 8
31–40 of 55 posts
Re: Usability expert tears apart Windows 8
#32Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yes. And I liked it ( I was puzzled by the UI for the 3 first days.) Besides usability and esthetical considerations, MS has done something very clever : Javascript as a first class citizen for building apps is a game changer.
I can't say I'm a huge fan, it is really undiscoverable with the charms etc... The one normal person I showed it to kept hitting escape to try to get out of where they were. I don't think it will do overly great based on what I've seen. But we'll see if I'm wrong!
Yes they definitely should have added the concept of going back.
Re: Usability expert tears apart Windows 8
#33I think he's right in a way, and wrong in another way. The combination of metro and desktop programs being used together in Windows 8 is somewhat of a usability nightmare. However, only using one or the other primarily works great. On my laptop for example, I primarily use the desktop features and regular programs. The only time I really touch the metro-styled areas is when I search for a program or file. This sort o…
It doesn't make a lot of sense to my why Metro applications need to be fullscreen, especially if lots of applications are supposed to work on a phone form factor too. Stick them in some standard chrome at a standard size, and let them float if the user wants them to float.
What's funny is that moving away from full screen apps was the entire premise of windows in the first place, not to mention the reason for its name. We did full screen apps in the 80's and hated it back then too.
Re: Usability expert tears apart Windows 8
#34From reading all these reviews, it seems that simply adding a way to disable "Metro" on desktops and bringing back the Start button, would please everyone. There's only one recurring complaint - one that could be easily fixed. It's not really a "Vista situation".
The problem is the bigger picture here--Microsoft wants to phase out the desktop and move us all to Metro so we have to buy all software through their app store. I would guess that in the near future we'll be talking about jailbreaking windows just to install our own stuff. It's the only explanation I can find for Microsoft completely ignoring how much everyone hates Metro.
I see a different picture. One where they're desperately trying to kick-start their mobile plaform, so they're unapologetically shoving it under the noses of as many customers as possible, and the only way they can see to do this, is by shipping it as the interface of Windows.
Once they've got app developers making enough apps for the mobile platform to have a viable evosystem, they can uncouple it from Windows desktop somewhat.
Re: Usability expert tears apart Windows 8
#35One thing I actually have trouble with is not being able to exit an application. You can tell me all you want that idling in the background uses few resources, but sometimes I would rather just exit. I blame Steve Jobs for that one, damn you Steve Jobs!
Re: Usability expert tears apart Windows 8
#36I think he's right in a way, and wrong in another way. The combination of metro and desktop programs being used together in Windows 8 is somewhat of a usability nightmare. However, only using one or the other primarily works great. On my laptop for example, I primarily use the desktop features and regular programs. The only time I really touch the metro-styled areas is when I search for a program or file. This sort o…
It doesn't make a lot of sense to my why Metro applications need to be fullscreen, especially if lots of applications are supposed to work on a phone form factor too. Stick them in some standard chrome at a standard size, and let them float if the user wants them to float.
Or at the very least allow tiling.
Re: Usability expert tears apart Windows 8
#37Something to keep in mind is that regardless of the issues with Metro, you can easily ignore it by using software such as Start8[0], which readds a start menu and goes straight to the oldschool desktop when you log in. Windows 8 has significant performance improvements over Windows 7, so there's no reason not to replace Windows 7 with it at this point for regular, old laptop/desktop use. 0: http://www.stardock.com/pr…
As a Gnome 3 user, I am overcome with a strange sense of schadenfreude.
Strange, as a KDE 4 user, I too was overcome with a sense of schadenfreude, when I saw Gnome 3.
Re: Usability expert tears apart Windows 8
#38Wary after all these gloomy reports, I finally went ahead and repurposed an old laptop to run Windows 8 a few days ago, half expecting to end up putting Linux on it instead. The screen is officially too small (1280x800) and the chipset (Intel's 965 Express) is not officially supported; I had to resort to their Windows 7 drivers to get OpenGL. Needless to say, it has no touch support.
And yet, I do not hesitate to call it the best Windows ever.
The optimization work which went into the kernel really shows on this old hardware; where I used to get 3-4 FPS under XP Pro I now get around 13. Every Windows program I have thrown at it, new or old (going back all the way to Windows 98), just works.
Don't-Call-It-Metro is just a big launcher where I can pin and group icons of programs I use a lot; I was already doing that anyway with folders on the desktop, since it's much faster than navigating the old Start menu. I was still maintaining an organized but nevertheless humongous Start menu out of old habit and as a way to remind myself of less frequently used, "might be useful in special situations" tools, but as MS noticed, I was not really using it anymore.
Basic workflow: start laptop, wait a few seconds, log in, click Desktop tile, and you are in the familiar Windows environment, just better than ever. Down in the left corner of the taskbar, a couple of icons launch a much improved File Explorer and IE 10 (which is scary fast compared to previous iterations). Hover over them and you get a "lightbox" with views of currently open windows; the same functionality extends to other application icons you pin on the taskbar.
File Explorer does most of what the old Start button did, i.e. gives you quick access to Documents, recently visited locations, Favorites, drives and groups. Move the mouse cursor down to the left and bottom of it, and up pops a small "Start" representation of the Start screen. Click that, and you are on your big customized launcher. Hit Esc and you are back on the desktop.
If that isn't sufficiently similar to the old ways for you, you can right-click the File Explorer icon to get a menu which looks even more like the old Start menu. Still not happy because Start | Programs is missing? Right-click the taskbar, check Toolbars | Desktop, and a classic menu is pinned which includes, among other things, Control Panel | Programs. I don't think I'll be using it, but I suppose somebody might. Choice is good.
As far as I can see, all the chatter about Windows 8 being oh so confusingly different is just a storm in a teacup. Do people seriously expect workers to be "retrained" to use this? Please. The new "concealed" stuff adds functionality, but you don't really need it. Put the mouse in upper left corner and you get small tiles of running apps, which you can click to restore or right-click and close. Neat, but you don't need to know it. Swipe down from the upper right corner and you get the famous charms with Search, Start and so on; again, neat, but you don't need to know it. They just add new ways to do things.
Oh, and finally... the desktop themes are gorgeous. :)
Re: Usability expert tears apart Windows 8
#39At the end, this is what matters: I have great hopes for Windows 9 on mobile and tablets. Just as Windows 7 was “Vista Done Right,” it’s quite likely that the touchscreen version of Windows 9 will be “Windows 8 Done Right.” I’ll stay with Win7 the next few years and hope for better times with Windows 9. One great thing about Microsoft is that they do have a history of correcting their mistakes.
Your post above should be in the dictionary under the title: 'Apologist.' ...there may be further references to Stockholm Syndrome (he doesn't mean to do this to me, that's just his process...) MS has a history of just not 'getting' it with Windows. This is just the next chapter.
What did MS not get with Windows 95/2000/XP/7? I don't think the "tick-tock model" of Windows releases is reliable, after such a big and confused change as Windows 8, I find it very likely that Windows 9 will be released to better reviews.
Re: Usability expert tears apart Windows 8
#40Earlier quoted context omitted.
As a Gnome 3 user, I am overcome with a strange sense of schadenfreude.
Strange, as a KDE 4 user, I too was overcome with a sense of schadenfreude, when I saw Gnome 3.
As an XMonad user, I am overcome with productivity and have no time to care about the way others work.