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Microsoft reinvents the wheel with Windows 8
Marketwatch ^ | 06/03/2012 | John C. Dvorak

Posted on 06/03/2012 7:30:21 AM PDT by SeekAndFind

BERKELEY, Calif. (MarketWatch) — I am writing this review on a computer that runs Windows Vista. It’s not that bad.

Generally speaking, I like Microsoft Corp. MSFT -2.54% and what it has done. Over the years, I’ve even supported the idea that Microsoft’s Bob interface was mismarketed and actually was unique and interesting.

That said, Windows 8 looks to me to be an unmitigated disaster that could decidedly hurt the company and its future.

This opinion is based on using the new release candidate beta that is pretty much what will finally ship after some bug fixes.

It’s not that the product out-and-out stinks. It is refreshingly slick-looking and modern, albeit without any charm whatsoever.

The real problem is that it is both unusable and annoying. It makes your teeth itch as you keep asking, “Why are they doing this!?”

First of all, the system-software product is mostly divorced from all the thought and trends developed by Windows over the years, as if to say that they were wrong the whole time, so let’s try something altogether new.

No business will tolerate this software, let me assure you. As a productivity tool, it is unusable.

Most applications cannot even be scaled down and so take up the whole screen. To even get out of these “apps,” you have to ram the cursor down into the lower left corner and click. That puts you back onto the vapid “Metro” start screen, where you can begin another miserable adventure.

Do you work on a huge 27-inch or bigger monitor? You know, so you have room to organize your programs and files? Well, imagine everything running full screen on that. It’s a joke.

(Excerpt) Read more at marketwatch.com ...


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KEYWORDS: microsoft; windows8
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To: SeekAndFind

BUMP


61 posted on 06/03/2012 8:55:00 AM PDT by Lancey Howard
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To: tflabo
Being a Mac guy I'm going to sound a little sacrilegious, lol, but there's nothing wrong with XP Pro, I use it all the time due to some legacy industrial software that I need for my job.

Microsoft gets corporate brainlock periodically, for instance when they missed the advent of the whole internet thingie back in the nineties. They lined up all the Senior VP’s of Product Development, gave them the “Internet Internet!” marching orders, they fanned out across Redmond and spread the word. Next thing you know, you couldn't escape it, internet bloatware, internet activation, internet error reports ... I'm surprised Clippy didn't get with the program and sprout an “@”.

Same thing here, singleminded brainlock on tablets and cross platform OS. It makes a great Powerpoint presentation, to show all the little devices arrayed around Mother Windows Desktop, all with Exciting Innovative Large Tiles. Nevermind that end users aren't interested in working that way, it's just an annoyance. The poobahs have Addressed The Market Challenge.

I have no idea how Microsoft ever became such a colossus, they're the prime example of every silly corporate behavior and buzzwordism to come down the pike, Dilbert central.

I've long loved to hate them, but a lot is riding on their getting their collective corporate heads out of their posteriors, a lot of decent people depend on them for employment. So, I hope they figure it out and right themselves before it's too far gone,

62 posted on 06/03/2012 8:56:27 AM PDT by RegulatorCountry
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To: battousai

No there is no way to have the desktop be the default setting every time. You need to trick it by opening Internet Explorer in desktop mode, and then clicking a check box within IE10 to remember to open IE in desktop mode not Metro-Sexual mode. Still, there is no way around the Start screen which you will be prompted with first before you can start IE10. So basically to get to a desktop you need to click on IE10 from start screen and then close IE10, and then you are on the desktop. Idiotic if you ask me.


63 posted on 06/03/2012 8:57:05 AM PDT by Blue Highway
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To: carriage_hill

Object Desktop,paid for that one,its good,using Object Dock and Nexus Dock which slides out from the right side of the screen when I need it.


64 posted on 06/03/2012 8:59:34 AM PDT by mdittmar
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To: MtBaldy

I’ve noticed Microsoft’s pattern. That’s interesting and strange....


65 posted on 06/03/2012 9:02:24 AM PDT by MinorityRepublican
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To: nascarnation
MS has (like General Motors and many others) become too big, too bloated, too inbred, too political, too sure that they understand what the customer wants.

Microsoft does not survey their public to find out what's needed and wanted from them in the way of new products. Because they assume the position of being all knowing, all seeing savants, they continually produce products that initially flop in the marketplace.

The know-it-all geniuses could just ask their public to begin with, but no. They know better than the customer. They only perfect a new OS after the marketplace has rejected it repeatedly. What a wasteful way to do basic R&D.

66 posted on 06/03/2012 9:02:40 AM PDT by Windflier (To anger a conservative, tell him a lie. To anger a liberal, tell him the truth.)
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To: Blue Highway

Horrible... it’s the ‘new coke’ ...


67 posted on 06/03/2012 9:05:15 AM PDT by GOPJ ( "A Dog In Every Pot" - freeper ETL)
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To: Blue Highway

Is that a Gibson?


68 posted on 06/03/2012 9:10:47 AM PDT by mdittmar
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To: mdittmar
No, a Fender Blacktop Jazzmaster, before I modded it.


69 posted on 06/03/2012 9:17:22 AM PDT by Blue Highway
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To: A Navy Vet
I currently have Windows 7 on a newish laptop, but even then, it is not as user friendly as XP. Once you find your way around (takes time and effort), it's similar to XP, but I see no additional benefits as a casual user. May be business or industrial applications find it better.

Finally forced to move from XP to 7 (old computer crashed), I find 7 to be fairly decent, especially the 64-bit oS with lots of RAM. I agree that, if they want to keep coming up with new OSs to sell, they should concentrate on smaller, faster, more stable instead of trying to add extra bells and whistles, most of which cater to small niches of users and would be better used as add-on apps.

70 posted on 06/03/2012 9:18:32 AM PDT by trebb ("If a man will not work, he should not eat" From 2 Thes 3)
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To: battousai

If it works with a new generation of tablets they will have what the business community has waited a year for avoiding the iPad — if it doesn’t this is an epic fail that will make RIM look like a bunch of geniuses.


71 posted on 06/03/2012 9:21:00 AM PDT by KC Burke (Plain Conservative opinions and common sense correction for thirteen years.)
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To: Blue Highway

My brother use to be in a band,still has an old Les Paul.


72 posted on 06/03/2012 9:28:52 AM PDT by mdittmar
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To: trebb

My legacy industrial sotware allegedly runs in XP mode on 7 but it doesn’t do so reliably, we’ve tested it. Software is Italian and very dated in appearance as far as the user interface, but it’s the best one out there as far as accomplishing the necessary task, so much so that the asking price for the hardlock key and sortware has increased, from $1,000.00 to $1,500.00 in the past year.


73 posted on 06/03/2012 9:30:10 AM PDT by RegulatorCountry
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To: mdittmar

Thanks, m; I’ll have a look at it.


74 posted on 06/03/2012 9:39:27 AM PDT by Carriage Hill (All liberals & most demoncraps think that life is just a sponge bath, with a happy ending.)
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To: MtBaldy

XP Pro was the OS of choice for my business work, and it was stout and stable in the home environment. I stuck with it until Windows-7. Using Win-7 on a Dell XPS and on my HP laptop, now. Had to upgrade to the latest MS-Office to get full functionality, but Win-7 is functioning near flawlessly in my world. And, I’ve not had any major issues since installing the full MS-Essentials for security. While I’ve not been a huge fan of MS over the years, I think they got things pretty much ‘right’ with Win-7.
I’ll not be in a big hurry to make the migration to Win-8 unless I see substantial business need, which I don’t think is likely given recent reviews.


75 posted on 06/03/2012 9:43:20 AM PDT by PubliusMM (RKBA; a matter of fact, not opinion. 01-20-2013: Change we can look forward to.)
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To: SeekAndFind

They’ll have to pry my XP from my cold, dead hands.

But what would be really nice is a meta-OS, something where you could roll your own interface over a collection of interchangable, interoperable OS objects. What a cool secondary market that would make. What freedoms we could enjoy. Why should we be subjected to the tyrannical whims of the capricious self-proclaimed OS deities at MS? Occupy the OS!

Just kidding. XP will work for now. Probably forever, for what I do. But I am hedging my bets. I run my XP on a Mac via Bootcamp. Best of both worlds.


76 posted on 06/03/2012 9:47:19 AM PDT by Springfield Reformer (Winston Churchill: No Peace Till Victory!)
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To: MtBaldy

MS seems to suffer from “Star Trek Movie Syndrome” — only it’s the even # releases that are garbage*

Windows 7 has competent Ease of Access support (including voice recognition) from startup, which is a plus ... And it’s the new company standard to support (replacing XP), I don’t see 8 ever being seriously considered.


77 posted on 06/03/2012 10:01:52 AM PDT by mikrofon (* Relatively speaking, for you Apple Phans ;)
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To: afraidfortherepublic

If you’re talking flatbed scanners; Canon, and I beleive HP, both still make those, just to name two popular names.


78 posted on 06/03/2012 10:18:16 AM PDT by AFreeBird
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To: MtBaldy

Yep. You’re absolutely right.

They have a pattern they follow: winner - loser - winner - loser - winner - loser .........

One of the reasons that W7 was immediately so successful is because their customer base couldn’t escape Vista fast enough.


79 posted on 06/03/2012 10:19:23 AM PDT by 2111USMC (Not a hard man to track. Leaves dead men wherever he goes.)
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To: DaxtonBrown

I’m in the same boat.

I’ve been experimenting with Linux on a couple of spare machines here at my desk at home. I really like Linux Mint.

For my job, I have to access websites for engineering drawings and specifications and the vast majority of these plan rooms don’t play well with Linux.


80 posted on 06/03/2012 10:31:09 AM PDT by 2111USMC (Not a hard man to track. Leaves dead men wherever he goes.)
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