I Hate Windows 8.

[This is The End]

I don't miss my mouse.

I can't imagine not having my mouse. I sure hope the below doesn't make me sound lazy... It's not that, exactly.

When I have my hand resting on my mouse, I can move the cursor anywhere on the screen practically without moving my hand at all. Just one or two centimeters of movement from one corner to the other, if that.

 

[Hubert Cumberdale]

I don't have this problem with blurriness. I'm using an HP g7 laptop with a 17in. (1600x900) display. Pretty plain vanilla.

Reading through the thread you linked to, it looks like most of the people with problems were having them specifically with IE10 (but not IE9) and Office 2013 (but not Office 2010).

I don't use any of those programs at all, so maybe that's why I have been spared the issue.

I think its more to do with larger monitors ie. 24"+

Its odd. There are various fixes that work for some people while some people have problems in certain programs only, and others no problems at all.

 

[Wudang]

May be IE10. I have to use it at work and I can tell you it's implementation of javascript is weird.

Being lazy, can anyone recommend a page that describes Win8's benefits? Like what Trakar was saying about integrating with the mail process.

 

[Rat]

May be IE10. I have to use it at work and I can tell you it's implementation of javascript is weird.

Being lazy, can anyone recommend a page that describes Win8's benefits? Like what Trakar was saying about integrating with the mail process.

I recall reading this one a couple of years ago. I have no idea how relevant it is now.

 

[Eddie Dane]

Supposedly, it was designed for Tablet PCs, where fingers would be the primary interface device.

Microsoft assumed they could get away with "One Interface For All", that happens to be 'optimized' (to use the term loosely) only for tablets.

It didn't work. The UI is full of design flaws, that they are slowly correcting, with each patch that comes out.

For example: For Win 8.1 Update 1, they finally have right-clicking menus that show up where you right-click the mouse, instead of bringing up the menu in another spot (icons on the bottom of the screen), on the Start Screen.

It made no sense, from a design stand point, for the user to right-click in one spot, and have to move the mouse to another area to get to the actual menu they were bringing up.

Eventually, they will re-introduce the Start Menu, I think.

The sad thing is that all of this could have been avoided, if they hadn't brushed off the science of practical psychology and interface design so quickly. They pushed Win8 out the door, before it was barely dressed and didn't even have time to brush its teeth!

Did they not test it on focus groups?

I cannot image this going down very well in test group of first time users.

 

[Grizzly Bear]

Eventually, they will re-introduce the Start Menu, I think.

Confirmed actually it would seem

http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9247466/Microsoft_to_restore_Start_menu_to_Windows

 

[Wowbagger]

Did they not test it on focus groups?

From what I understand, testing was hurried and limited. Any problems that cropped up in user testing were glossed over with "we'll just reinforce that in the tutorial".
Plus, they assumed (for some stupid reason) that a LOT more people with touch screen devices would be running it. They seemed to have intentionally neglected usability with keyboards and mice, in favor of the touch-optimized "one interface for all" approach.

Compare that to the testing they did for the Office Ribbon, which went through years and years of testing and refinement, before being forced onto people. There was still resistence, but few people think they are worse off because of it, today.

Windows 8 is more than a year old, had a few updates, and most people STILL hate it.

I cannot image this going down very well in test group of first time users.

Ironically, the first round of users got to use it with various incarnations of the Win7-like Start Menu. There are screenshots of them around, somewhere. The decision to ditch it entirely came later, after it was assumed that "most people don't need it".

 

[Eddie Dane]

I was amused when my colleague who customises our ERP system got Win8 and couldn't figure out how to turn the computer off.
Eventually she relented and Googled it.

In a time when tablet computers are so user friendly that toddlers and chimpanzees can learn to use them in one hour, Microsoft manages to create an OS where IT professionals can't find the "off" button.

ETA:
I feel I should mention the Samsung Tablet I have at work that doesn't have a home button.
A similar feat of stupidity.

 

[Hubert Cumberdale]

From what I understand, testing was hurried and limited. Any problems that cropped up in user testing were glossed over with "we'll just reinforce that in the tutorial".
Plus, they assumed (for some stupid reason) that a LOT more people with touch screen devices would be running it. They seemed to have intentionally neglected usability with keyboards and mice, in favor of the touch-optimized "one interface for all" approach.

It bears of the hallmarks of a project where a senior manager has issued a diktat and the rest of the organisation has to buzz around like blue bottomed flies trying to find of way of persuading reality to dispose itself in accordance with the idiosyncracies of the senior manager's delusions.

 

[Eddie Dane]

It bears of the hallmarks of a project where a senior manager has issued a diktat and the rest of the organisation has to buzz around like blue bottomed flies trying to find of way of persuading reality to dispose itself in accordance with the idiosyncracies of the senior manager's delusions.

Can you stop it with the Dilbert spoilers?
I haven't read them all yet.

 

[quadraginta]

I was amused when my colleague who customises our ERP system got Win8 and couldn't figure out how to turn the computer off.
Eventually she relented and Googled it.

Why didn't you just tell her? Was watching the struggle too much fun?

I hope she wasn't too high up on the pay scale. All she ever had to do was type in "off" while in the Metro screen and one of the results would have been "Turn off PC".

In a time when tablet computers are so user friendly that toddlers and chimpanzees can learn to use them in one hour, Microsoft manages to create an OS where IT professionals can't find the "off" button.

"Someone go find me a child! I can't make heads or tails out of this." Rufus T. Firefly

ETA:
I feel I should mention the Samsung Tablet I have at work that doesn't have a home button.
A similar feat of stupidity.

Which model is that?

I'm always seeing reviewers complain about Samsung's insistence on a hardware Home button.

I haven't run into the ones with no home button at all.

 

[Eddie Dane]

Why didn't you just tell her? Was watching the struggle too much fun?

I hope she wasn't too high up on the pay scale. All she ever had to do was type in "off" while in the Metro screen and one of the results would have been "Turn off PC".




"Someone go find me a child! I can't make heads or tails out of this." Rufus T. Firefly




Which model is that?

I'm always seeing reviewers complain about Samsung's insistence on a hardware Home button.

I haven't run into the ones with no home button at all.

She knows databases and such, not a Windows expert. As she will always point out when people ask her to get their printers to work.


The Samsung is in a closet, hooked up to the stereo. The previous owner had no trouble parting with it an now uses an iPad.
I'll see if there's a number on it, Galaxy Tab something-something.

 

[Squeegee Beckenheim]

Confirmed actually it would seem

http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9247466/Microsoft_to_restore_Start_menu_to_Windows

[...]we are going all in with this desktop experience to make sure your applications can be accessed and loved by people that love the Windows desktop."

God, I hate that kind of corporate bollocks. I don't love the Windows desktop. It has good points and bad points. I'd wager that most people don't love it. I've certainly not seen one critical review of Windows 8 which said "we love the desktop". Instead it's been "we hate Metro".

 

[M.R.B.]

Why didn't you just tell her? Was watching the struggle too much fun?

I hope she wasn't too high up on the pay scale. All she ever had to do was type in "off" while in the Metro screen and one of the results would have been "Turn off PC".

Removed a bit.

That might work on an English install, but not in (some) other languages. Searching for anything related to (my language's version of) shutting off brings up nothing for me.

So, even though I did I think of randomly typing were there is no field to type in (not exactly how things worked in the past), there was still no info. I had to search online.

 

[oody]

Removed a bit.

That might work on an English install, but not in (some) other languages. Searching for anything related to (my language's version of) shutting off brings up nothing for me.

So, even though I did I think of randomly typing were there is no field to type in (not exactly how things worked in the past), there was still no info. I had to search online.

I believe quadragintga was extending the joke. On my system, the action he described gives an opportunity to start Microsoft Office, and nothing else.

 

[Wowbagger]

I was amused when my colleague who customises our ERP system got Win8 and couldn't figure out how to turn the computer off.

I had the same problem, for a little while. Though, I did find it while visiting the Settings page, and didn't need to Google it.

In the latest update, they added a Power switch to the top of the Start Screen, for desktop machines.

I also remember it being laughably difficult to figure out how to access the address bar and back button in the Modern UI version of Internet Explorer.

It bears of the hallmarks of a project where a senior manager has issued a diktat...

That's a good word for it, yes!

ETA: That senior manager would, specifically, be Steven Sinofsky, who was asked to leave the company shortly after Windows 8 was released.... hmmmm...

 

[quadraginta]

I believe quadragintga was extending the joke. On my system, the action he described gives an opportunity to start Microsoft Office, and nothing else.

Well, no. Not really.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/kj2ptcqvdnvl9fq/Screenshot (3).png

Pretty much like I said.

Open the Metro screen (i.e. press Windows key).

Commence to typing ..."o", "f", "f".

The above link is to a screen snapshot of the result.

Note the arrows.

 

[Tsukasa Buddha]

In 8.0 wasn't it default to search just applications? I remember there was something funny about the search.

 

[M.R.B.]

In 8.0 wasn't it default to search just applications? I remember there was something funny about the search.

Yeah, I think that's it. I still have 8.0.
I can find shutting off now by searching in settings, but I missed that back when I first bought it.

 

[Wowbagger]

In 8.0 wasn't it default to search just applications? I remember there was something funny about the search.

This was fixed in Windows 8.1

But, it was a really stupid mistake when it was first introduced.