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    The best explanation, so far, of why Metro fails

    In trying to accomodate desktops, Metro fails as a well-designed tablet UI. In trying to accomodate tablets, Metro fails as a desktop UI.

    http://www.useit.com/alertbox/windows-8.html

    As mentioned in the introduction, Windows 8 encompasses two UI styles within one product. Windows 8 on mobile devices and tablets is akin to Dr. Jekyll: a tortured soul hoping for redemption. On a regular PC, Windows 8 is Mr. Hyde: a monster that terrorizes poor office workers and strangles their productivity.

    The situation is much worse on regular PCs, particularly for knowledge workers doing productivity tasks in the office. This used to be Microsoft's core audience, and it has now thrown the old customer base under the bus by designing an operating system that removes a powerful PC's benefits in order to work better on smaller devices.

    The underlying problem is the idea of recycling a single software UI for two very different classes of hardware devices. It would have been much better to have two different designs: one for mobile and tablets, and one for the PC.

    I understand why Microsoft likes the marketing message of "One Windows, Everywhere." But this strategy is wrong for users.
    And on Windows Server 2013, it's even worse!

    http://semiaccurate.com/2012/09/12/m...-the-bleeding/

    Servers are about management, efficiency, low overhead control, and remote management. Command lines rule, remote accessibility is mandatory, and anything that gets in the way is a bad idea. Microsoft is bleeding marketshare at alarming rates, so how do you stop it? Big colorful graphics that make remote management slow, tie it to Microsoft end user devices, and a UI that is painful to work with if you don’t have a touch screen. Right now, Windows Phone is 2% of the market and screens are unwelcome in server rooms. Touch screens do not exist in server rooms at all. What genius thought tying these two things in to a wounded product line would help?

    To make matters even better, the UI and control schemes that people are familiar with are gone. In its place is a UI that is familiar to no one, makes users hunt for tools that used to be second nature, and requires a mouse, touch screen, and Windows Phone 8 to remotely manage. What percentage of tech gurus use Windows Phone 8 again? Please note, Windows Phone 7.x won’t cut it here, it has to be 8. And those 3rd party tools you used to use to manage things? Gone too.
    Cheezburger documents:

    Last edited by SteveRiley; Nov 29, 2012, 02:29 AM.

    #2
    I'd imagine it's a simple thing to disable the Metro UI and get back to a more conventional looking desktop and that business users would not be confronted with it. In that case, the question is: why upgrade to Windows 8 from Windows 7?

    .

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      #3
      Originally posted by SteveRiley View Post
      In trying to accomodate tablets, Metro fails as a desktop UI.
      Precisely what I found.

      This situation is "easily" fixable (meaning it is easy for me to say ...). Like KDE4 did, they need to add a "classic menu" option to allow the user to revert to a familiar menu system. KDE found out what happens when you dork around with users' productivity -- and it's not pretty.

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        #4
        Omg, those pictures are funny Steve, what a howl!

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          #5
          +1
          GigaByte GA-965G-DS3, Core2Duo at 2.1 GHz, 4 GB RAM, ASUS DRW-24B1ST, LiteOn iHAS 324 A, NVIDIA 7300 GS, 500 GB and 80 GB WD HDD

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            #6
            Dibl:

            Like KDE4 did, they need to add a "classic menu" option to allow the user to revert to a familiar menu system. KDE found out what happens when you dork around with users' productivity -- and it's not pretty.
            Yes, I remember those days.... It took me quite a while to adopt KDE 4.x.

            Even more important, I think, is that KDE has both a netbook interface, and a classic interface. Either can be easily selected.

            I just bought an Asus X202E netbook yesterday that came with Win8 and a touchscreen. I am using it now to post this, using Kubuntu 12.10 64 bit. I am using the classic desktop interface. I've not had the unit long enough to try the netbook interface, but I know that it is there when I have the chance to experiment with the touchscreen.

            Now, why can't others be that sensible? Change takes time.

            Frank.
            Linux: Powerful, open, elegant. Its all I use.

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              #7
              Those few people standing at the back in the Windows store are obviously the sales staff, watching TV.

              I read another article by a guy who watched an Apple store on one level of a shopping mall and a Windows store on another. He spent several hours at both. The apple store was selling a product about every 15-20 minutes. The Windows staff never sold a single computer. Sorry, don't have the link any more. Saw it on G+
              "A nation that is afraid to let its people judge the truth and falsehood in an open market is a nation that is afraid of its people.”
              – John F. Kennedy, February 26, 1962.

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                #8
                Here's link from CNET. Don't know if that is the article you were referring. (This article talks about Black Friday sales.)

                http://news.cnet.com/8301-10805_3-57...-vs-microsoft/
                Linux User #454271

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                  #9
                  Originally posted by SteveRiley View Post
                  In trying to accomodate desktops, Metro fails as a well-designed tablet UI. In trying to accomodate tablets, Metro fails as a desktop UI.

                  http://www.useit.com/alertbox/windows-8.html

                  And on Windows Server 2013, it's even worse!

                  http://semiaccurate.com/2012/09/12/m...-the-bleeding/
                  "On a regular PC, Windows 8 is Mr. Hyde: a monster that terrorizes poor office workers and strangles their productivity."

                  The "Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde"-comparison is really most fitting for that abysmal Metro junk (except maybe that Mr Hyde isn't quite that ugly and could feel insulted )
                  The "MS throwing users under the bus"-image is very fitting as well.

                  As for the server market, it seems MS wants to get rid of the few remaining server customers which haven't jumped ship yet.

                  Originally posted by dibl View Post
                  Precisely what I found.

                  This situation is "easily" fixable (meaning it is easy for me to say ...). Like KDE4 did, they need to add a "classic menu" option to allow the user to revert to a familiar menu system. KDE found out what happens when you dork around with users' productivity -- and it's not pretty.
                  Actually, it *isn't* easily fixable. The desktop in Windumb 8 is crippled by design, e.g. the start menu was removed, so you're forced to use that Metro crap to start apps. Lots of other things also have arbitrarily changed. There's no way to easily fix that. You'd have to use all sorts of thrud party apps to bring back functionality that was intentionally removed.
                  Going from Win 7 > Win 8 would be an even bigger downgrade than XP > Vista was.

                  Originally posted by Frank616 View Post
                  Yes, I remember those days.... It took me quite a while to adopt KDE 4.x.
                  When I switched over to Linux, Kde had just released 4.0
                  I had been planning to try out Linux for quite a while already, when I found an article about the just Kde 4.0. I read it, and itrigued by it, I looked around some more for articles about it, until I eventually thought: "Hey, that looks really good. Now's a golden chance to try out Linux with that new Kde 4 stuff."
                  I then looked around for distros using the then new kde 4 and ended up with Mandriva. I've then tried out several other distros, until I landed at Kubuntu some time later and didn't see any reason anymore to still try other distros
                  The whole time I've always been using Kde 4, since the very beginnings of Kde 4.0. It always worked fine for me, and I never looed back to Windumb.
                  I never understood why some other people seemed to be dissatisfied with Kde 4.

                  Originally posted by Frank616 View Post
                  I just bought an Asus X202E netbook yesterday that came with Win8 and a touchscreen.
                  Oh, the pain. I could never do that. Not only that it would be painful to buy something with Windumb on it (even much more so with that abysmal Win 8). Much more so I would be unwilling to pay the $100 for the Windumb on it that I would never use >
                  Yes, with all desktop PCs, notebooks and netbooks that come with Windumb, you pay for it, even if it's never explicitly listed. The price you pay is the price for the Oem (Original equipment manufacturer) version, which is what the Oem, which builds your PC or laptop, pays for it:
                  http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16832416550

                  If you're ok with burning $100 for a piece of useless and unwanted software, just go ahead. Otherwise, look around for offers without Windumb.
                  Here's a selection of notebooks that come without Windumb (sorted by price), so you don't have to pay for unwanted software:
                  http://skinflint.co.uk/?cat=nb&xf=26...ssystem&sort=p
                  Kubuntu Raring Ringtail x64 w/ Kde 4.10.5

                  Multimedia packages for Kubuntu x64 (x264 10bit, mplayer2, Aegisub etc.)
                  http://erokawaii.org/?page_id=5181

                  My stuff on kde-look.org
                  http://kde-look.org/usermanager/sear...ction=contents

                  Comment


                    #10
                    Shimapan:

                    I never understood why some other people seemed to be dissatisfied with Kde 4.
                    It appears that you are a relative newcomer to Linux. Welcome aboard! However, KDE4 lacked a lot of the functionality that KDE3.x had. Long time Linux users had to go backward to use it. And, yes, Linux IS that far ahead of Windows. It was also quite buggy. Most of that has been fixed since about KDE 4.5, but the early days were underwhelming.

                    If you're ok with burning $100 for a piece of useless and unwanted software, just go ahead. Otherwise, look around for offers without Windumb.
                    I tried. But I live in Canada, and there are import/export rules to be followed and duties to be paid. It was cheaper to pay the MS tax than have the machine I really wanted shipped from Germany or Indonesia.

                    I tried an Acer S3, but it isn't half the machine that this little Asus is, and it was $50 more besides.

                    I wrote to Asus and gently complained about their lack of offering a native Linux machine in this country, especially when they already have one that is on Amazon in Germany (F201E).

                    So, it isn't always that simple.

                    Frank.
                    Linux: Powerful, open, elegant. Its all I use.

                    Comment


                      #11
                      Originally posted by notabug View Post
                      Here's link from CNET. Don't know if that is the article you were referring. (This article talks about Black Friday sales.)

                      http://news.cnet.com/8301-10805_3-57...-vs-microsoft/
                      This is why I only believe what is going on in the real world, not MS's fluffed up numbers, kinda like marshmallows, all fluffy and they take up room but there is very little substance, heh.

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