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Longhorn Drops 'My' Prefixes

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the but-how-will-i-know-who-owns-it dept.

ryanjm writes "Microsoft has decided to drop the "my" prefixes for Longhorn. Instead of "My Computer," it will be just just plain simple "Computer". "

15 of 1,037 comments (clear)

  1. My My... by nweaver · · Score: 5, Interesting

    My My, what a shocking change....

    I guess it means that with the new DRM technology, it really IS no longer your computer.

    --
    Test your net with Netalyzr
    1. Re:My My... by Rei · · Score: 2, Interesting

      The thought of having your operating system "expire" on you if you don't pay a renewal fee (the ultimate DRM concept) is rather frightening, to say the least. I think that would actually be something disturbing enough to your average person to get them to consider alternative operating systems.

      If they ever manage subscription-only operating systems, it would be tempting to make a "Donnie Darko" theme with an animated background: a scrawled-on arm whose numbers count down till the end of your license.

      --
      Aeris Died For Your Sins.
    2. Re:My My... by darkjedi521 · · Score: 3, Interesting

      The thought of having your operating system "expire" on you if you don't pay a renewal fee (the ultimate DRM concept) is rather frightening, to say the least. I think that would actually be something disturbing enough to your average person to get them to consider alternative operating systems.

      DEC/Compaq/HP have been doing that for years. If you let your VMS OS and application licenses lapse, the system locks you out. You can only login on the system console, the network stack won't load (due to expired license), and any licensed apps won't run. Its been done before, is being done, and will continue to be done for quite some time.

  2. Make sense... by Lemmingue · · Score: 2, Interesting

    ... since when a computer is shared between people it cannot be called "My Computer". The cyber café's box is not "My Computer".
    Microsoft should check if there's more than one user registered in the machine and put an "Our Computer" label below the icon :-)

  3. Who wanna bet... by SharpFang · · Score: 5, Interesting

    every user will end up with "My Documents" directory right beside the "Documents" one?
    I already have "Moje Dokumenty" (original name by Windows with polish localization) and "My Documents" right next to it, created by some dumb program.
    Windows resides on D:, but of course there's "Program Files" with something in it on 510MB FreeDOS C: partition. I cleaned up the Start Menu so there's just "Aplikacje" and whatever created "Applications" went there. Sure there are system variables that default to proper directories. Just not every application uses them.

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    45 5F E1 04 22 CA 29 C4 93 3F 95 05 2B 79 2A B2
  4. Re:Who cares? by oc255 · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Fine, you know what you're doing, I rename them too (My Computer -> .box and My Network Places -> .net or something clever and non-default) see: One True Way. Not a big deal to you but a big deal to a teacher/instructor.

    What about in a classroom where all the lab/learning computers are set up like this by default? It's confusing as hell.

    "Class, double click on My Computer."
    "What do you mean Your Computer?"
    "No, I mean your My Computer."
    "What?!"
    "Click on the icon My Computer on Your Computer. *sigh*"
    "Computers are stupid."
    "Yes. Now do it or your resume will suck."

    etc, etc. I always hated that My Computer organization, I never go to network shares via My Computer. Really, the only thing I use My Computer for is getting to the Properties screen so I can fiddle with Device Manager or some other crap. Windows-break is much faster of course. If I'm trying to get to the C: drive I just hit Windows+R and type "C:". it's 4 key strokes (if you count the windows key).

    I like Gnome's Home Directory on the Desktop or "Macintosh HD" on the Desktop. It's much more logical in my mind.

    Not bashing Windows. I'm still trying to learn to keyboard navigate under OSX as fast as I can in Windows. Someone should organize a GUI race between OS keyboard navigating experts.

    Did you know that in Windows detail view in explorer you can auto-fit the columns with ctrl-shift-numpad +? I haven't gotten those kinds of shortcuts down under Gnome and OSX.

  5. Re:Stuff that matters? by msmercenary · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Parent has by far the best point made on this story. Semantic differences and ownership jokes aside, what you call the directory means absolutely nothing, except where it breaks syntax or otherwise complicates using the computer. Spaces in pathnames do exactly that, by breaking command-line syntax -- A problem both for power users and developers.

    When I set up Win2k boxes these days, I run a registry script to change the locations of all of the "special" Windows folders. Program files are in C:\PF, and user profiles are in C:\DS.

    This not only allows me to remove the spaces, but also improves security. How much malware do you know that actually use the %PROGRAMFILES% environment variable instead of just dumping stuff into "C:\Program Files"?

    The downside is that there's a LOT of software out there that does the same, and inevitably I find that I've got a "Documents and Settings" or "Program Files" folder on my drive where the latest dumb installer assumed the folders would be.

    Look in the registry under HKU\$user\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersio n\Explorer\Shell Folders

    No idea if it works in XP, though.

  6. Awkward metaphor for an awkward interface by SnuffySmith · · Score: 2, Interesting
    The use of My and of the terms Favorites, and Start, were always feeble and awkward attempts to put some sort of (grinning, goofy, half-witted) face on the slap-up bunch of functions and metaphors that Windows is. And I have always resented the presumptuous and ham-fisted way those terms co-opted me personally when I used a computer, as I had to say "My Computer" or "My Documents" which are not only stupid things to say, but also often literally incorrect: "OK, Dad, now click on 'My Computer.'"

    Further, the sites I choose to remember on the web are not always favorites -- if I'm doing research on racism, I don't have any particular desire to mark some bigot's soapbox a ``Favorite.'' And the Start menu wants to suggest some kind of damn computing adventure I'm gonna have -- which is sorta true in that every new release of Windows re-orders crap according to some schizophrenic scheme. But, really, they ought to call it the "Unwieldy, Confusing, Labrynthine, Mystery Way to Get to Your Programs and God Knows What Else That May or May Not Accessible Through the (My) Computer Icon" menu.

    And so, now, they're gonna call it "Computer" which is less cloying, but really doesn't improve on the fact that the Mac metaphors Windows is based offer a reasonable pleasant working environment and Windows is, at its core, a screwed mess.

  7. Re:or path issues...UGH! by Tim+Browse · · Score: 5, Interesting

    All the spaces in default folders are (were) Microsoft's way of forcing app developers to cope with spaces in filenames.

    Quite an elegant way of doing it, imho.

  8. Re:lemme get this straight... by dotgain · · Score: 3, Interesting
    It was pretty slow even on cable but pretty cool.

    Ah, yeah. I had to grab some files off my PC at work, I opened a VPN connection there, went Start->Run , typed (for example) \\10.10.10.20\myfiles.

    More than a meg of traffic went over that VPN before the windows was populated with (ten) icons.

    SMB SUCKS. It's terribly ineffient. You might as well convert the binary to ASCII, ie 1010110110101 and then XML it, ie <BinaryDigit Value="1"/><BinaryDigit Value="0"/>... and then FTP it. You'd still be more efficient than SMB.

  9. Forcing Developers to Code to Spec by Roger_Wilco · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I have been told that one original purpose to do the "My Documents" thing was to force application writers to deal with spaces in the path. Since the user will usually save into the My Documents directory, the bug of not properly dealing with that path would come up quite readily.

  10. Computers for Adults by exp(pi*sqrt(163)) · · Score: 4, Interesting
    That god for that! How was I ever supposed to take my job seriously when the PC I worked on not only felt like a toy, but a toy for particularly young kids. If you're an engineer, say, you might start out with Lego Duplo, but eventually you move on to tools that feel like they're made for adults. But for software engineers using Windows PCs was almost embarassing - the only thing stopping it being embarassing was that everyone else had the same stupid patronizing shit on their desktops too. And they had the cheek to call the OS Windows XP Professional.

    I've always said that since W2K MS have produced a very capable operating system held back by an interface designed with nothing but contempt for users.

    --
    Doesn't it make you feel good to know that our freedoms are protected by politicans, lawyers and journalists.
  11. Netscape vs. Microsoft by cakoose · · Score: 2, Interesting

    The worst was when IE and Navigator would continually fight over naming HTML documents "Microsoft Web Document" (?) vs. "Netscape Hypertext Document".

  12. Thank God, I've been doing this for years. by TheLittleJetson · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Or at least did when I used windows. I dropped "My" and "Neighborhood" from all desktop icons. I believe this is the first Longhorn feature I have no issues with. :-)

  13. small fix, need more! by yagu · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Reading the posts, I was surprised there weren't more suggestions for a more reasonable or intuitive directory organization, e.g, perhaps "/home/USER" for instead of "Documents and Settings/blah blah blah". The "Documents and Settings" paradigm seems to be confusing enough to baffle even the software application providers.

    Many times I've had to traverse the hell that is "Documents and Settings" just to find where some misguided application has dropped my latest "Untitled n" masterpiece. Sometimes, I never find it.

    My solution, for myself, and for others I do support for has been to actually create a "/home/USER" where USER is... Then I show users how to set up their software to point to that directory or any subdirectories they've chosen to create. So far, they've all thanked me.

    I'm guessing there'll be a bit of flaming at me along the lines of "The standard is Documents and Settings...", but as I mentioned at the outset, educating me, your friends, etc. isn't enough... I've seen off-the-shelf software misuse or completely miss the paradigm.

    So, hopefully, this will be fixed too... (while "/home" may be imperfect... what exactly does "Documents and Settings" represent? Especially as Microsoft begins to move more and more to an "object" model.)