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Review: Windows 8 Is Both Infuriating And Brilliant
Business Insider ^ | 10/19/2012 | Julie Bort

Posted on 10/19/2012 7:26:57 AM PDT by SeekAndFind

We've had our hands on a Samsung Series 7 Windows 8 tablet PC for the past couple of weeks.

Microsoft just might have a winner on its hands with Windows 8.

But that's only if users are willing to forgive Microsoft for the many stupid design mistakes it made with its new operating system.

There's a big learning curve to Windows 8, just like there is for most new tech. The thing that's particularly infuriating is that so many of these things should be intuitive.

* You have to relearn stuff like how to close a file and an app. The familiar "X" is gone. Now you have to tap a window until it changes size, then drag it to the bottom of the screen, and for some reason, this doesn't always work with every app.

* You have to find the secret way to see your open windows: Grab a window, swipe it to the right, THEN swipe it back to the left until it magically changes into the open windows list.

* You can swipe screens to the right to move through each window in the order you opened them. But you can't swipe to the left to move forward.

Insane. Infuriating. But here's the thing. None of that matters. Because eventually, users will learn that stuff. And that's where the brilliance of Windows 8 comes in.

Because the full operating system, the one that runs on an Intel chip, is both a full-fledged PC and a tablet.

With this one device, a typical knowledge worker, student, or home-office worker has everything in one device.

The PC can run Windows 7 software (even if the new user interface for Windows 7 is a little clunky). They also have a touchscreen and portable device for playing games, reading,

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


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Computers/Internet
KEYWORDS: microsoft; whataboutbob; windows8
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To: flintsilver7

“that a significant majority of people with negative perceptions of Vista have never actually used it.”

I used it. What I objected to most was the unnecessary changes to the interface. Worse, those stupid ribbon menus carried over to Office. I couldn’t find anything! As an analogy, suppose you bought a car and found the steering wheel and brakes had been moved to the trunk. That sparked my determination to defect from Windows altogether. I tried a number of Linux programs and settled on Ubuntu. Later, when someone gave me a nice computer loaded with Vista Ultimate, I took that sucker off and installed Ubuntu. No regrets at all.


61 posted on 10/19/2012 11:15:41 AM PDT by TexasRepublic (Socialism is the gospel of envy and the religion of thieves)
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To: TopDog2

“for Morons”

Hey - I resemble that remark. I have been waiting to buy my first smart phone to see what Win 8 is all about. Those boxes with just the icons would be tough for me I think. I can’t remember half the icons on my computer as it is - even with the names underneath them! Take away the names and .....


62 posted on 10/19/2012 11:19:32 AM PDT by 21twelve (So I [God] gave them over to their stubborn hearts to follow their own devices. Psalm 81:12)
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To: SeekAndFind

User inyourface is one thing, the internals another.
The Windows concept of the keyboard and the screen
being the computer’s console which means in terms as old
as computers, the one and the only and the last means of
access to the CPU, is flawed from the getgo! Windows user session in this arrangement hangs = the computer hangs,
there is no other session to which you could switch and
free the hanging session. How do you spell “PRIMITIVE”?


63 posted on 10/19/2012 11:23:04 AM PDT by Revolting cat! (Bad things are wrong! Ice cream is delicious!)
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To: Cicero
it seems to be designed primarily for touch screen iPads,

Windows 8 is designed for iPads?

I hate any and all finger-swipe devices myself. Threw away my last semi-smartphone touch screen and went back to a slide-out keyboard. And got rid of Unity as well and am using KDE and Xfce.

64 posted on 10/19/2012 11:31:33 AM PDT by steve86 (Acerbic by nature not nurture TM)
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To: Revolting cat!

I still miss XP.


65 posted on 10/19/2012 11:36:07 AM PDT by Slings and Arrows (You can't have IngSoc without an Emmanuel Goldstein.)
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To: flintsilver7

I have a ME Gateway box I paid like $2.5 G’s for back in 1997ish? I wiped ME off and put in XP Professional and the thing still works fine. I am, however, currently using it as a door stop. Not kidding. My iPhone has more processing power.


66 posted on 10/19/2012 11:50:34 AM PDT by BreezyDog (PLAN A: A Peaceful Restoration of the Republic.....PLAN B: A Restoration of the Republic)
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To: tacticalogic

I’m not baiting you...I have no interest in your perspective because I’m sick of you self-appointed Techno-Priests be-clowning the rest of us in the IT industry with your pious pronouncements of pedantry, in a futile effort to make yourself look smarter than everyone else.

It’s ridiculous.

A house is just a box you eat and sleep in...why bother trying to make it something unique that you enjoy? Why bother picking matching furniture? Why have flatware with different patterns?

Everything can be deconstructed to its fundamental purpose by some know-it-all who thinks everyone else should stop being stupid and just do things the way they do it.

You people are what the rest of us call “bores”.

Clue-up or shut-up.


67 posted on 10/19/2012 11:51:14 AM PDT by Psycho_Bunny (Thought Puzzle: Describe Islam without using the phrase "mental disorder" more than four times.)
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To: Psycho_Bunny

Got it. You speak for the entire IT industry, and I’m the only one that isn’t wailing about it being “ugly”.


68 posted on 10/19/2012 11:58:10 AM PDT by tacticalogic ("Oh, bother!" said Pooh, as he chambered his last round.)
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To: Revolting cat!

Is it wrong to say that I actually miss Clippy?


69 posted on 10/19/2012 12:00:21 PM PDT by kevkrom (If a wise man has an argument with a foolish man, the fool only rages or laughs...)
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To: kevkrom

True story. My pal, who worked in corporate IT, was at one time helping a hot secretary, or administrative assistant as they are now called, training her in Microsoft Office, using Clippy as an aid, all went well, too well, because one thing led to another, and in the end he told me that “Clippy gave me the clap!”


70 posted on 10/19/2012 12:11:52 PM PDT by Revolting cat! (Bad things are wrong! Ice cream is delicious!)
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To: Revolting cat!

LOL, now that’s some malware.


71 posted on 10/19/2012 12:18:03 PM PDT by Lurkina.n.Learnin (Ignorance is bliss- I'm stoked)
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To: Lurkina.n.Learnin; Revolting cat!

And I bet he now keeps his AV definitions up to date!


72 posted on 10/19/2012 12:45:54 PM PDT by kevkrom (If a wise man has an argument with a foolish man, the fool only rages or laughs...)
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To: kevkrom

Yes!

(No “malware” story required to justify)


73 posted on 10/19/2012 3:37:35 PM PDT by Gil4 (Progressives - Trying to repeal the Law of Supply and Demand since 1848)
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To: kevkrom
Is it wrong to say that I actually miss Clippy?

Yes. They couldn't figure out how to make Clippy sprout an "@" so he landed on the ash heap of Microsoft innovations right along with Bob.

They're both thoroughly buried by now, probably mashed beyond all recognition by that $18,000.00 coffee table touchscreen computer, WinPhone 7 and Zunes by the container load.

Poor things. Whatever happened to that little dog?

74 posted on 10/20/2012 6:57:22 AM PDT by RegulatorCountry
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To: RegulatorCountry
Whatever happened to that little dog?

He was taken to a nice virtual farm in the virtual country.

As far as you know.

75 posted on 10/22/2012 5:32:48 AM PDT by kevkrom (If a wise man has an argument with a foolish man, the fool only rages or laughs...)
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