Paul Thurrott: "Maybe They Should Just Call It Windows 7.8"

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Paul Thurrott: "Maybe They Should Just Call It Windows 7.8"

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Started 11 years ago by mikiem2
Latest reply from mikiem2

mikiem2
Moderator

http://winsupersite.com/windows-8/maybe-they-should-just-call-it-windows-78

"With news emerging that Microsoft will be bringing the Start button back to Windows 8 in the “Blue” update and allowing users to boot directly to the desktop, one has to wonder whether there’s any real strategy occurring in Redmond anymore. If the goal is to make Windows 8 more like Windows 7, maybe they should forget the name Windows 8.1 and just call it Windows 7.8."

"One might theorize that this wrong-headed decisiveness is what led to Steve Sinofsky’s departure from Microsoft, and that the current edict to fix things from on high is something that could never have happened with him still in charge. But that doesn’t matter. What matters is that Microsoft, is belatedly, is finally listening to feedback from its customers and changing the product as a result. That is, by far, the most alarming thing that didn’t happen—Windows division protestations to the contrary notwithstanding—during the Sinofsky regime."

Posted 11 years ago #
Whiterabbit-uk
Games Guru

I really don't know what all the fuss is about. Once I'd got used to Win 8 I liked it (a lot). It only took me a few days. :)

To those who took advantatage of the reduced price pre end of Jan 2013, I personally think we got a bargain.

Posted 11 years ago #
Inas
Member

I agree with WR. I like Windows 8. As with anything new, it took some getting used to - but now that I know how to use it, I think it's great.

Posted 11 years ago #
ChrisS
Administrator

The issue is lost productivity. If you were a small "Mom and Pop" outfit, could you afford to be shut-down for "a couple of days" to get your computer system functioning? If you were a large corporation, could you afford the thousands of lost man-hours as workers stare glassy-eyed at monitors and poke random keys? If you were an isolated shut-in, could you afford to be without internet contact with family and friends while you relearned how to do what you already knew?

The PC is a tool. Microsoft took it upon itself to fundamentally redesign the tool around features that can't be used by the vast majority of users. Microsoft sees touch screens, tablets, and super-smart-phones as the future. But, those devices are years down the road and likely won't ever be adopted by the vast majority of users and they're utterly dependent on future software development (where's all that 64-bit software anyway?).

Microsoft, like Intel with their dropping the desktop motherboard line, is trying to move out of the "PC as a commodity" market into a specialized niche market because the profit margins for a niche product are much greater. Microsoft undoubtedly sees the 3x price that inferior Apple products command and they say "we want some of that" but that desire is contrary to what enabled them to be successful in the first place. The "PC as a commodity" created Microsoft but the "PC as a niche market" will destroy it because the vast majority of users see the PC as a tool rather than a status symbol. Apple already owns the "Fan Boys" who are not just willing but eager to overpay just to say "hey, look at me! I'm not part of the Microsoft herd! I'm special!". But most us aren't "tools", the PC is the tool.

Posted 11 years ago #
Whiterabbit-uk
Games Guru

I see your point Chris, but don't fully agree. I'm sure some will have found it more difficult, but the majority of users that regularily use computers would have found the learning curve to be quite easy. It only took me a few minutes to be able to find what I needed, then it was a case of leaning the ropes as and when I needed a tool. I previously said it took me a couple of days to get used to using win 8. In reality it took me around 30 minutes of searching to pick up the necessary experience before I was able to use my computer efficently (over a period of 2 days as I wasn't using the computer much due to getting the keys to my new house).

There's always costs involved when changing to a new system. Its a shame that the operating system is getting a bad press. Personally I don't think it deserves it.

I've heard that Microsoft are now backtracking on the issues of a no start button and the inability to configure the operating system to open up onto the desktop on boot up. Seems that they are going to add these in a future update.

Personally I'd rather have Aero back.

Posted 11 years ago #
Whiterabbit-uk
Games Guru

You could also argue that the faster boot up times and overall faster response you get in Win 8 over any previous Windows platform would counter any lost time (obviously over time).

I've found everything works faster; boot up times are much faster and when opening up various applications and games, they open up much faster than previously.

Large documents of over a thousand pages with images on virtually every page; for example, I wrote a review for Battlefield 2 that detailed all the custom made maps that had been created over a three year period together with all the popular mods (these custom made maps and mods weighed in at over 500GB when downloaded and the images I'd captured from playing each of the several hundred maps had not been optimised, which resulted in a document that was almost 1GB in size). The document used to take over 30 seconds to load. Now it loads in a matter of a few seconds).

Posted 11 years ago #
ChrisS
Administrator

WR, what I see with the GUI is akin to somebody rearranging my shop, office or kitchen while I'm away for the weekend. When I come back, I spend more time looking for tools to fix the lawn mower than the repair takes, I stick my hand in the paper shredder while reaching for the stapler, and my colander is forever lost. My working spaces might not have been perfectly suited for your work but they suited mine and I didn't have to devote conscious thought to finding my tools. I'd rather devote my energy to problem solving, using the tools, than finding the tools.

With previous releases Microsoft established the parameters of the workspace. Now they're saying "all that's changed!" because... why exactly? Because the new look is cool, hip, rad as the Surface commercials imply? Because the new GUI has the look and feel of Android? Or, because there's nothing appreciably different in Windows 8, it's really just Windows 7 SP2, so they needed cosmetics to paper over the ruse? Instead of giving consumers the option of the new GUI, that admittedly some will flock to, they forced the change on all users simply because they thought they could.

The biggest issue is that the furor is completely unnecessary. If they'd used a Windows 7 (or XP) GUI then nobody would have said boo. Instead of building on success they said "We're going in a completely different direction! Everything we've done before is garbage!!" and alienated their customer base. What it really looks like is that Microsoft decided that they want their future to be the Surface Tablet so they rolled out an OS to force consumers to buy the Tablet. Ultimately, it's just another manufacturer who completely misunderstands, and likely despises, their customers.

Posted 11 years ago #
mikiem2
Moderator

"Ultimately, it's just another manufacturer who completely misunderstands, and likely despises, their customers."

Personally I think the best analogy is fishing... You don't go fishing despising the fish -- you don't care that much about them one way or another. You might appreciate the sport of catching one type of fish, or love the taste of another, or it might just be something to do. You might get angry at the one that got away, but you'll likely try again, & victory if you manage it will be all the sweeter. If you truly despise fish, if you go fishing at all it'll likely be with dynamite. :p

Posted 11 years ago #
mikiem2
Moderator

You could also argue that the faster boot up times and overall faster response you get in Win 8 over any previous Windows platform would counter any lost time (obviously over time).

Where it's slower for me is the basic inefficiency of any sort of desktop icon, made worse by the distance you have to travel with the mouse because they're so large. It's not so much that I'm impatient, but if you do something all the time you do it the fastest way possible -- look at those chefs on TV chopping away at scary speed. Word processing pros & video editors often do their best never to touch a mouse so they don't lose time moving a hand away from the keyboard.

That said, it's a minimal effort to avoid it, so the most it evokes is a quick mental curse, maybe a flip off towards Microsoft every time I encounter the new GUI. That & a small hope that when MS brings back the Start Menu, the EU will go after them for destroying the livelihood unfairly of all the devs out there making replacement Start Menu apps. :) Feel our pain Microsoft.

Posted 11 years ago #
mikiem2
Moderator

Microsoft sees touch screens, tablets, and super-smart-phones as the future. But, those devices are years down the road and likely won't ever be adopted by the vast majority of users and they're utterly dependent on future software development (where's all that 64-bit software anyway?).

Tablets were a poor move for Microsoft to make -- I'm sure they thought they had good reasons, but I'm afraid it'll be seen as a failure on their part to sufficiently engage hardware manufacturers. As it is it's a very low profit, very high volume biz if you're competing with Android tablets, & MS can't put together a complete package to market that'll compete with the iPad -- they couldn't do it with the Zune either.

Tablets as a device are nice for what they are, for what they're good for, which is actually surprisingly little. I watched a movie last week when the power was out, & then my tablet was a lifesaver from boredom, but that's actually the 1st time I've watched a full movie on it, & I've got several loaded -- it's not that it doesn't play movies well, but I've got other stuff that does better [it just all takes a working electrical outlet]. Check out Amazon's or Google's app stores, & by far the vast majority of apps are simple games -- that & reading Kindle books is where it excels. Useful software, not so much.

New cells are nice [for the carriers] when they're an incentive for folks to sign new contracts, but I think most people are in danger of overload now -- it can be amusingly hard to make a simple phone call, since all that other stuff kinda crowds out the basic functions. As soon as ever more complicated phones stop bringing people in, the carriers will stop promoting them.

Posted 11 years ago #
mikiem2
Moderator

"Strategy Analytics: Apple Maintains 48 Percent Share of Global Branded Tablet Shipments in Q1 2013"
http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases-test/strategy-analytics-apple-maintains-48-percent-share-of-global-branded-tablet-shipments-in-q1-2013-204381411.html

Other findings from the research include:

Global branded tablet shipments grew 117 percent annually in Q1 2013, compared with 146 percent annually in Q1 2012. This was the highest CY Q1 shipment figure since the modern tablet industry began in Q2 2010;
Microsoft captured a niche 7.5 percent global tablet share in Q1 2013. Very limited distribution, a shortage of top tier apps, and confusion in the market, are all holding back shipments.

Posted 11 years ago #

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