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Microsoft Has Been Watching, and It Says You're Getting Used To Windows 8
Dupple writes "Microsoft's user data shows that users are getting used to dealing with the Windows 8 user interface, reports this article at MIT Technology Review. Despite some of the more scathing reviews of Windows 8, ordinary users are getting along with it just fine, according to Julie Larson-Green, the Microsoft executive who leads Windows product development. Data collected automatically from some Windows users, she says, show they are adjusting to some of the new operating system's controversial features without problems 'So far we're seeing very encouraging things,' Larson-Green says of the large volume of data that Microsoft receives every day from people using Windows 8 who have chosen to join the company's 'customer experience improvement program.' All users are invited to enroll in that program when they first log into the new operating system. If they do so, anonymized information about how they are using the operating system is sent to Microsoft. Referring to complaints from some quarters, Larson-Green says: 'Even with the rumblings, we feel confident that it's a moment in time more than an actual problem.'"
I don't know a single company whose IT will implement Windows 8 on anything. I'm talking everything from tablets, phones, laptops, PC's, or servers. In fact my company said straight out "No" because of all the problems it would entail.
Did they ever fix the lack of command line for windows 8 servers?
most techs-savvy users, or people who know what they're doing just click 'no' to any such data collection prompts so the sample is going to be severely skewed towards people who have ended up with this bundled and know no different.
Are already probably lenient towards Microsoft, so they will of course make themselves learn the new UI. About 80% of the people I know just automatically click no and go past it, and the other 20% make an active effort to click no and go past it. It's like polling the people at a major sporting event about how enjoyable they find that sporting event.
... let the M$ hate flow through you."
wanting to pound keyboard in frustration or fist through monitor is 'getting used to it'?
I am not saying that Windows 8 is even remotely similar to prison rape (though some might suggest there may be some similarities, I am not saying that) but the very notion that a party or group is getting used to something does not mean they like it or want it.
I supposed I could have said "taxes" or any other thing people generally don't like, but I wanted to be a little edgy... a little dramatic.
So yes. We acknowledge Microsoft is shoving their things [Windows 8 in this case] through our [choose an orifice] and we acknowledge that we presently don't have much choice in the matter.
Anyone really surprised?
Give any big change 3 months and it will get accepted if you don't give in as the change forcer.
I've seen it at work too many times to count. Manglement makes a decision that upsets everyone and lots of people talk about how they are going to start looking elsewhere for employment and the sky will fall and this is terrible, but after the 3 month gripe period, everyone accepts the changes and life moves on.
It's how things work.
I'm a Toydarian. Mind tricks don't work on me, only sensible user interfaces!
I've found that I use the mouse less for launching apps when using Windows 8 which I didn't in Windows 7, despite the functionality being the same. Press the Windows key, start typing an app / file name, and hit Return to launch. While the Start Menu existed, I was using the mouse, because we navigate WIMP UIs with a mouse. The Start Screen took that away; It was a full-screen interface all of its own, without menus, and that broke the psychological boundary between me pointing-and-clicking and moving over fully to the keyboard for launching apps.
:) Thanks again, Microsoft!
So, now I've learned that behaviour instead, I've swapped back to Windows 7 with its sensible desktop UI
Finally had enough. Come see us over at https://soylentnews.org/
Oh, that gives me such a warm feeling inside...
morcego
I've noticed a couple different things:
1) It makes me a lot more selective about putting things on the taskbar and desktop.
a) I put things I really do use out there, so things are highly geared to my workflow
b) Things I find I'm not using get punted
2) The windows button finally has purpose. You can hit that button, start typing an app name and then space/enter to launch. I find I'm mousing less actually.
In addition, Windows 8 hasn't come with the alternating-release-something-new instability problems we've gotten used to. It's every bit as solid as 7 and has better integrated security features. Win, win in my book.
My mother had to get a new machine this past weekend, all they had in stock came with Win8. I was dreading it the entire way back from the store, and while I was removing her old box and connecting up the new box, due to my experiences with the Win8 preview. Looked and acted pretty much like the preview did to me, but surprisingly, my mother liked it. I heard a lot more "oh wow"s than I did "oh no"s.
My karma is in a nose dive
Microsoft Has Been Watching, and It Says You're Getting Used To Windows 8
Much like a kid who has broken his arm "gets used to" a cast or sling. Much like a cow who has been electrocuted many times by a fence "gets used to" staying away from it. Much like someone convicted of a DUI "gets used to" riding a bicycle.
'Even with the rumblings, we feel confident that it's a moment in time more than an actual problem.'
Under what circumstances, exactly, would someone who works for Microsoft ever say anything contrary to that? Anything could be going on, good or bad, and that is exactly what they would say to dismiss criticism.
My work here is dung.
Should not require the user to "become used to it" in order to use it.
It's mind boggling, only 90% managed to use the start screen and charms on day1.
So in that 10% are folk that failed to work out how to get the login prompt from the completely control free boot page. And people who failed to shutdown their PC making up the bulk of it - since that needs the charmless bar.
Just to install ClassicShell or fire up the desktop to use it with needs use of both the start screen and charms. So even if you never use them again you still count as a MS success in these stats.
Any other company would be panicking over a 10% fail rate just starting up their software, not claiming it as a success.
Success in my book.
Many moons ago we got a new intern in the office. He was young, naive and hopelessly clueless about the corporate world. We took a liking to him immediately.
Of course, this meant that we had to play pranks on him. Because that's what you do to people you like, right?
Our best prank was what we did to his computer. We wrote a small program that ran in the background and drew a dot in the center of the screen on top of whatever was running. This dot grew bigger over time; at first it was just one pixel wide, but after a week it was over twenty.
One morning, just over a week after we'd secretly installed it onto the intern's computer, he called me into his cubicle and asked me if I had ever heard of "dead pixels on a CRT". I said no, holding back the laughter, and politely suggested that he try reinstalling his graphics card drivers. He declined, and said that was too much effort and he would just live with it.
The intern was fully prepared to live with this large, expanding, black dot in the center of his monitor. It was nothing but sheer annoyance, but he was willing to ignore it.
At this point we caved and uninstalled the software.
That experience taught me that users will put up with just about anything. As long as it doesn't outright prevent them from doing their job (eg, the network card has died), they will find some way to soldier on.
Numerous people also get used to living with terrible diseases.
I don't have a problem using Windows 8, my problem is it is not helping me do what I want to do. Simple things like cutting and pasting between applications is a pain. Copying text from the Metro email app to a word document is far to difficult. I have been using it since the first preview, so it is not the learning curve. Too many times the item you are working on leaves the screen so you can do some Windows function full screen.
Oh yea! Vista.
Most the people in my IT group at work are windows users. most of my friends and relative are windows users. No one likes windows 8, several have downgraded new gear because they hated the 8 so much. At work they say its the new Vista, useless rubbish that should be shunned, and that hopefully "9" will be a release Redmond gets a clue again and puts out something useful.
That's pretty funny when the die-hard windoze fangals/fanbois I know can only bad-mouth the windows 8. Microsoft has failed its own customers, driven dissatisfaction upward, regressed the state of the UI art.
So give people a choice, Windows 8 versus Windows 7 - see which one people prefer.....
Yeah, Windows 8 is fine, as long as you install a third party app like Start8 in order to giver yourself power user abilities from the Desktop.
Seriously Micro$oft, how boneheaded are you?
how they are using the operating system
If the great unwashed are "using" the OS then they're doing it wrong.
From the end user perspective the OS is supposed to be an app launcher, not much else.
"Science flies us to the moon. Religion flies us into buildings." - Victor Stenger
I recently overheard a staples employee state that they were no longer allowed to sell any Windows 7 machines. This is why Windows 8 is picking up market share. The couple he was talking to walked out when he said that. Microsoft is screwing itself over with moves like these. Our company has no plans to deploy Windows 8 any time soon, nor do we plan to roll out Windows Server 2012. Sorry Microsoft.
Anyone getting used to VISUAL STUDIO 2012, where the UI is so flat you often can't tell where dialog box borders are, and the MENUS shout at you? This has got to be a usability disaster of historical proportions.
...you're already pretty used to substandard things.
You can probably "get used to" almost anything when you aren't given a choice. Heck, you can "get used to" chronic back pain too...
But that's a far cry from meaning that a person actually prefers it
File under 'M' for 'Manic ranting'
Have gnu, will travel.
"...ordinary users are getting along with it just fine..."
Ah, them! You do mean the ones that cannot distinguish between Microsoft Word and Microsoft Windows?
I'm amused how he looks a little more and more like Colonel Kurtz from Apocalypse Now every year. I'm pretty sure that there's eventually going to be an investor meeting in a temple surrounded by spikes with iMacs and Apple computers skewered on them somewhere in Redmond. Ballmer will be sweating out and squeezing cool water over his bald forehead while rambling slowly in spurts to SEC reporters who are trying to make heads or tails of what he is saying. Minions will be slaughtering a cow with chairs in the background while he sputters on about Windows 8's success and how they said his methods were madness.
My work here is dung.
The sheer number of friends and relatives bringing their shiny new computers to me (The resident geek) begging me to upgrade them from Windows 8 to Windows 7 says otherwise...
I suspect most of these people did not voluntary opt into Microsoft's "Track Me" program either.
Never ask a geek why, just nod your head and slowly back away. -Rob Malda
I wanted to try it out, so I put it on my (non-touch) laptop. The Metro UI is an abomination. I wouldn't even want it on a touch tablet ("live tiles" compare very badly to Android's widget, notifications are a joke...), on a PC, it should be taken out and shot.
Which, luckily, you can do easily with http://classicshell.sourceforge.net/, and get back the Desktop shell that the IT gods intended.
Apart form that, the new features are:
1- Remote Desktop server...
2- and that's it. Not even ReadyBoost for SSD, nor some tiered storage like Apple has started doing.
3- and after Jan 31st, you won't even get Media Server.
MS is trying to force-feed Metro UI to their Desktop users, hoping to use that familiarity to get some traction on phones and tablets. The problem are that Metro UI 1) makes no sense on non-touch machines, and 2) lacks severely even on tablets and phones.
The Cloud - because you don't care if your apps and data are up in the air.
so they all were paying to be beta testers?
Other famous Microsoft Moments In Time (MMITs) that were not Actual Problems:
= 8.3 filenames
= Microsoft Bob
= Windows XP security
= Microsoft Windows Vista, *.*
= Microsoft advertisement in which Seinfeld asks Bill Gates to "adjust his shorts"
= Microsoft Zune, whether brown or not
= Chief Executive Orificer, Squirts Ballmer, *.*
= Microsoft advertisement for the Surface tablet in which ungraceful, robotic people coordinate senseless movements that no one would ever do in reality... if anyone bought a Surface tablet in reality
Rich And Stupid is not so bad as Working For Rich And Stupid.
This statement alone should say it all:
"users are getting used to dealing with Windows 8"
If it was such a "success" wouldn't you expect users to do more than deal with it.
Call me a skeptic but somehow the very fact that MS feels the need to say this, shows people are NOT picking up Windows 8. Yeah, so early adapters of the new MS vision who are so in love with the company they allow it to see everything they do, are sticking with it... and? Fans of a dog food company eat their favorite companies dog food. Doesn't mean it doesn't tastes like... well like nothing actually, animal food lacks spicing.
If Windows 8 adoption was really good, MS would be crowing about actual sales figures. They are not. For the truth NEVER listen to what a spokesman says, listen for what he doesn't say.
Basically, people that haven't given up on Windows 8 or refused to even start using it or didn't mind MS watching over their shoulder, haven't given up in large volumes. Damned by faint praise? If this is the best press release they could come up with, the truth is far more dire.
Want proof? Go back in history and read MS press release on Bob, ME and Vista.
MMO Quests are like orgasms:
You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.
If people backcharged Microsoft for the time and frustration the Windows OS cost them, would microsoft still be in business?
Windows 8 is a lot more palatable once you realize that Metro can be ignored completely.
Faster startup/shutdown, a much improved task-manager, and large-file-copy that actually works makes this a big improvement over Win 7.
People can adapt to a range of misfortunes, from bad weather to living without limbs. The question is, would they, unless they had to? And if they would, what does that make those people?
They know when you're awake
What kind of data is being collected? Is it detecting the frustration level of the user? Maybe it could detect HOW HARD the user taps on the touch screen.... Maybe it's a PUNCH!
I'd get used to having a prostate exam every day, if I had to.
systemd is Roko's Basilisk.
But I'm not using the "metro" crap on it. I am using start8 which makes windows 8 usable again.. At least for me. I did try the new start screen for a day or two, and figured out how to uninstall or un-pin all of the metro type applications as I refuse to run 8 on anything other than a local account so couldn't use em anyways. After doing this and then pinning all of the programs I normally use, it was usable but I still missed using the desktop and start menu. and I agree with the other posters who complain about having to jump thru hoops to shut down or restart windows 8. Yeah I know you can press the power button and turn the computer off or have it go to sleep depending on how you have it configured, but for those of us who keep their computers up under their desk having to do this is a pain in the ass compared to just being able to click shutdown and have the computer do so as opposed to how you do it on windows 8. using start8 kept me from having to reformat my computer and go back to windows 7.
according to Julie Larson-Green, the Microsoft executive who leads Windows product development also showed she enjoys getting a paycheck and is willing to skew any set of numbers as she is told to. Early adoption of her pay check as an executive has led to a quick adaption of weasling positions and stats to make the higher ups, and HR, happy. She expects, as an early adopter of her pay, that future trends will encourage more of this same behavior leading to hoped for increase in pay adoption.
Papa Legba come and open the gate
This is how propaganda works -- make everyone believe that everyone else agrees with something, and you have a herd of sheep ready to be controlled.
Contrary to the popular belief, there indeed is no God.
Yeah, I'm really getting used to being forced to check my POP3 inboxes using my supposedly less-powerful WinPhone. And the IE10 renderer's tendency to render all-white/all-black when I have more than 8 tabs open tells me I've been using the browser wrong all these years.
In the early days of using computers to optimize logistics folks would peer into their inventories and make decisions with a narrow view of what made them the most money. It was only later they discovered secondary effects of this was actually costing them money.
The lack of low value item x in stock meant a customer wanting item x and may also purchase item y decides they would rather shop somewhere both x and y items are in stock translating into lost sales.
I think as TFA points out this data shows only that humans can adapt to changes in their environment. It does not address TFAs productivity question or validate a design decision.
If we did a "project mojave" style test replacing metro shell with program manager I suspect we would find the same signals in the data.
Canonical Has Been Watching, and It Says You're Getting Used To Unity
134340: I am not a number. I am a free planet!
win8, you don't sweat much for a fat guy. Overall, those are pretty terrible results and microsoft appears to be panicking even with their PR.
MS is really throwing the bull**** around when it comes to Win8. They will do almost anything other than admit they screwed up.
What Larson-Green fails to take into account is that technically experienced users (1) are still running Windows 7, and (2) turn off Customer Experience Improvement Program anyway for privacy reasons.
In addition, most corporations will turn off Customer Experience Improvement Program via group policy, for the same reasons power users do. (Even if it's not supposed to be personally identifiable, why risk sending more personal/corporate information to Microsoft than you have to?) So CEIP turns out to measure little more than the responses of technically inexperienced users who buy cheap OEM systems – a shrinking demographic.
Microsoft needs to remember that business users and power users, not the dumbasses who buy $299 eMachines, are its real customer base.
Well, being into computers for at least 20 years my wife likes it over win 7. Took a while to rip the gui apart but it seems to work well for her.
As far as me... well the MS compatibility tester prog says there's about a dozen or more legacy progs I depend on that aren't compatible. So it'll probably cost me at least $500 to upgrade them. And there are some that'll just die.
Seems like it's getting more and more like the mac. Upgrade the OS you have to upgrade some programs. Want to upgrade some programs, you have to update the OS.
So I'm at a catch-22 with it.
Wuddooeyeno? IITYWYBMAD? Like nuts? eclecticallyincorrect.com
I can't imagine Apple or Google putting out something similar ... "despite all the negative reviews, people really like it"
Right. No one was asking for a more complicated OS but that's exactly what MSFT delivered.
You complain that Microsoft doesn't innovate. Microsoft has no ideas. Microsoft just copies.
Then, when they realise they might need to update the 3 decade old UI to handle innovations such as trackpads, touchscreens, multitouch, and multiple screens everyone is horrorstruck that they're actually trying to do something different.
And while the UI experts analyse how people use computers, they maximise real estate, maximise flexibility, and design a UI that tries to fit these usage patterns, people who have barely even used it declare it the worst idea ever.
...then it's definitely not.
Seriously.. this sounds directly like a microsoft propaganda puff piece.
I would want the actual data to be made available for independent analysis before wasting slashdot's bandwidth on an article saying "a microsoft executive says users are liking our product".
I mean-- seriously. Come on.
She was like chocolate when she drank... semi-sweet at first and then increasingly bitter.
1. It's self selecting, and selection is based practically on a positive view of Microsoft products;
2.it might be too small to be representative of the whole, and no data on enrollment is available in the article.
moreover, the article says:
"[...]The data collected by Microsoft also show that people are becoming more familiar with the new features over time, says Larson-Green. She previously led a redesign of the Microsoft Office interface that, in 2007, replaced text-based menus with a more visual “ribbon interface,” an initially controversial change that is now widely accepted as an example of good design. “Two days to two weeks is what we used to say in Office, and it’s similar in Windows 8,” she says.
So my quick summary: Microsoft wants me to believe that a group, selected according to criteria and methods that would have my statistics professor at the University screaming that I am a confounded moron, is right in believing that windows 8 does not have a usability problem, and therefore I am also a confounded moron because I use windows 7 with the XP menus. Ah, I did not mention that there's no word on how would I use touch on my installed screen base, which does not have a touch interface.
"If a boss demands loyalty, give him integrity. But if he demands integrity, give him loyalty." (John Boyd, 1927-1997)
"an initially controversial change that is now widely accepted as an example of good design"
Yes, since they fixed it in Office 2010. The Office 2007 interface was just like Vista's. They got it fixed on the next version of both.
Because I'm not using it.
End of story.
When I sit on a toilet I get used to the smell of shit. But that does not mean I will want to start playing with it.
"the large volume of data that Microsoft receives every day from people using Windows 8 who have chosen to join the company's 'customer experience improvement program.'"
They're not spying - just stuffing the ballot box (in this case).
Walked in big-box store, had to browse the web to check some prices and asked if I could use one of their machines. They said "Sure, use one of the laptops." I do that, discover they're all Windows 8. This was my first time using it. "How bad can it be? I only have to browse the web." I spent 2 minutes trying to figure out how to get to the "real" desktop before finally giving up and asking one of the sales people, who let me in on the secret. Of *course* -- the Windows key. It does make sense. I'll grant them that. But when a person who has been using computers of many different operating systems since the 1980s can't figure it out how to get started, then there's a problem.
I suppose, like anything, I could get used to it, but it's not exactly a good first impression. Maybe I'm just too stupid or set in my ways, but I don't think the neophytes in my family would find it any easier. I mean, hell, I got used to VMS at one stage, so anything is possible.
On top of that, the local computer shop that does build-to-order/pick-your-own-components machines hasn't sold a *single* Windows 8 machine when users have been given the choice between Win 8 and 7. The only reason people are buying Windows 8 is due to pushing it through the retail system as almost the only option offered. What you've got here is people showing up at the big-box retail stores, seeing all the brand-new machines saying "What are my choices?" "Well, there's Windows 8, Windows 8, and Mac", "Windows 8, Windows 8, Windows 8, Windows 8, Mac, Windows 8, and Mac", "Windows 8, Window 8, Windows 8, Windows 8, Windows 8, Windows 8, Mac, Windows 8, Windows 8, and Mac", "Win8, Win8, ..." [Vikings]"WINDOWS 8, LOVELY WINDOWS 8! WINDOWS 8, WONDERFUL WINDOWS 8!"[/Vikings]
"But I don't like Windows 8!"
And so on. Adding Lobster Thermidor doesn't make it any more palatable for most people.
staples is dumb to not offer to install 7 on systems but then again there techs are ranked on sales and don't have the time to install a os + do a driver hunt.
I've spent my life on different flavours of Windows for the past 18 years (and DOS before that).
Took me two months to get totally used to OSX.
I have some formal training in HCI and a love of accurate terminology, so I have the ability to articulate problems with a user interface - I can voice my opinion and experience with weak design. A regular user doesn't have those skills, so they appear silent. The end result is that you call us IT types whiny.
"Less sophisticated users" aren't getting along fine. They struggle to use it and/or call for help because bad user interfaces (and arbitrary vendor changes) interfere with the creation of an accurate mental model of how the software is supposed to be used or what it's capable of. The confusion created in their mind is real.
If opportunity came disguised as temptation, one knock would be enough.
3^2 * 67^1 * 977^1
Seriously, I don't... I still have my keyboard from 1993 because these new ones stink.
More seriously - I use my computer for work. Not kids, not watching videos, not games, WORK. Windows XP/7 is better at getting work done than Windows 8.
Hopefully microsoft pulls their heads out of their butts on this and allows a quick setting change to "I have no use for metro, thanks."
paintball
"Ordinary users"? I guess they're those who don't use a computer to get work done, and therefore would be better off with a tablet anyway.
Can't get 'used' to something you've never tried..................
They're right, I have learned how to quickly change the JPG and multimedia extensions back to opening with normal Windows programs in desktop mode, learned how to create shortcuts to useful, common things on the desktop in desktop mode, how to uninstall apps, and generally learned other nifty ways to stay off of that terrible not-metro-anymore interface. So they're right but it does sort of imply that we still hate their terrible design.
Except you'll already be doing that going to Win8. It won't be painless and there will be things you miss.
Oddly enough, this doesn't appear to you to be a reason why Win8 is a non-viable option for people, especially those whose livelihood depends on a continued sustained level of productivity.
With the Windows 8 UI... because I'm still running 7. Fercryin' out loud, I just went to 7 from XP in June. They're smoking crack if they think I'm shelling out money to upgrade anytime soon.
And I like it ... I don't use any metro apps, i uninstalled all of them that I could. I use the desktop 99% of the time and the 1% i hit the win button, i'm using the metro interface to find the app i want to open on the desktop. Its actually much faster than using start->programs->{folder}->{application}. I have all of my most frequently used apps at the front of the tiles.
NOTE: I'm a windows driver developer and until now have never been able to use Windows as a full time workstation, i've always used Linux or OSX and RDP'd to my dev box. Now, I use Win8 full time for everything and only ssh to a linux box when I need to.
I'm getting used to Windows 8.
Of course, I've had to buy third party apps to replace the start menu. Use Firefox since IE10 doesn't work on certain sites. Download the "soon to be not free" Windows Media Player, which was included with Windows 7. Oh and spend wads of cash on upgrading all my apps and utilities.
Now, I'm almost as productive as before I upgraded!
In the end?
Still tastes like chicken.
Seriously. If this is the best language of encouragement that Ballmer can choke out of his throat, then you know there is a Vista-sized hole in Microsoft's delivery.
I know! Why don't we all get used to Ubuntu Unity and Libre Office? "Even with the rumblings, we feel confident that it's a moment in time more than an actual problem."
"Flyin' in just a sweet place,
Never been known to fail..."
Just two days ago, I saw a Windows 8 ad running on a laptop in a store display. It said "the desktop you are used to".
So, apparently the old Metro interface is so bad that Microsoft has decided to offer Windows 8 with XFCE. Well, either that, or they would just love to get fined for false advertising.
In short, Windows 8 is a train that went off the rails. I'm a techie, so I don't put too much credence in my own experiences with a new interface. However, when I hear from a number of (non techie) people around me that they *hate* Windows 8, I have to take note.
I really think that Microsoft has put a brave face on the fact that Windows 8 is a bad product.
The Emperor has no clothes? Don't say that!
Personally, I think they're scrambling internally to bring on Windows 9 to keep the people that are really unhappy with 8 'in the fold'.
I have been using it for a couple of months now.
I hate it.
Maybe it is a Microsoft business plan:
1. Sell Windows 8 on a pre-loaded machine.
2. User tries windows 8 and hates it.
3. User purchases Windows 7 and reloads machine.
4. Double license fee profit.
Most people buy a PC and are stuck with the OS on it. So of course they need to suck it up and use it.
IE has a feature to let websites monitor all the mouse activity on your computer. Iâ(TM)m not sure why they left this open to everyone, I would think they would charge for this level of access.
Maybe afraid of another criminal charge? Does WA have a three-strikes rule?
I bought the preorder back in October, but only today have had time to deal with the big problems installing it. Tried to install it over a Windows 7 Pro system, and every time just as it was very nearly done, it bluescreened on some IRQ error and removed itself, going back to Windwos 7. Though at some point Windows 7 developed a Counterfeit copy error and became a problem itself. I then tried to install Windows 8 to a clean hard drive, which it did successfully, but then failed to activate/authenticate due to the previous failed installs. And it took an hour or two and 4 MS phone reps to get that cleared out and working as it should have the first time.
So my experience so far is not a happy one. Though I really haven't got to actually use Windows yet, or install applications or games or anything to run on it.
And luckily I made a backup of Windows 7 before I started any of this, so I have it in good condition as well, and can wipe the mangled copy hard drive to use for something else.
Of course they can't collect data from people who get fed up and install something else, or who know enough to turn off data collection.
Do you really think that Microsoft would say anything else besides, ~the users are getting used to Windows 8's interface~. Let's be real here. You are not going to see anything from Redmond along the lines of, ~the users are still fumbling around trying to get Windows 8 to work for them~
Nothing more.
"Ahh! I see you're in that indeterminate Schrodinger state where - oh, uh
There ARE alternatives, ya know. You might not have ever heard any mentioned here on /. ;-)
"Ahh! I see you're in that indeterminate Schrodinger state where - oh, uh
I've set up laptops for a couple of family members. I tell them to avoid the full-screen apps. Seems fast, and they don't have any complaints at all.
ok good, many thank - http://cado24.net
Since not one of my co-workers or clients are on Windows 8 at the moment.
Chas - The one, the only.
THANK GOD!!!
I walk with a limp. But I can get around just fine.
With UEFI, The set things up so Linux can be locked out, but UEFI is too big and complex to be bug free, as a BIOS should be. Now, the customer pays the price.
MS is walling in their garden, but it's not their garden, but one they took from IBM, and gave and sold to the people in the form of an open hardware market, but now that Apple pulls things from that open market and makes money, they figure that they should just close up the rest of it.
With all the software money going through MS, the retailers that supported MS, are screwed. Big program such as games, such as Guild Wars 2 at over 20 GB will have to be downloaded byte for byte.
Microsoft learned nothing with their 2 prior bad releases: Windows ME and Windows Vista. They are spending too much time working to take marketshare through force and not enough time trying to please customers.
With a graphic suite and a CAD program, I have thousands of dollars of software--and not confidence in MS.
https://www.youtube.com/c/BrendaEM
But thanks anyway, Microsoft.
After all, we all more or less got used to BSOD's. Pressing Ctrl+S become a reflex so that we stopped losing much content. I still have the Ctrl+S reflex. Whenever the building starts shaking, my hands form Ctrl+S without even thinking about it. People think I'm a "Horizontal Catholic" or something.
Table-ized A.I.
...and they say that you're getting used to sleep deprivation, exhaustive labor, and daily gassings.
Apple's slogan:
"We make things easier"
Microsoft's slogan:
"You'll get used to it."
Table-ized A.I.
We have at present 973 devices in our organization, 589 of which are on WIndows XP.
Runs like a champ.
is that Win8 is an utter pile of crap. Windows 8 Pro might possibly be less crappy, and is apparently the version all of the pre-release 'you can get used to this' reviews were based on. But from the pointless non-locking lock screen that you can't disable, to the tiles thing to its ridiculous insistence on making documents full screen on a widescreen laptop, regular Windows 8 does nothing but get in the way of user. And I will be darned before I pay Microsoft another penny to remove some of the suckage they went to extra effort to ram in there. And so, my shiny new core i3 laptop is less useful than my 10 year old pentium-m/WinXP system, at least until I get some flavor of linux installed.
And once that happens, Microsoft, know full well that I will not be going back.
you've been bad or good, so update for goodness' sake!
If by getting used to they really mean avoiding then yes. There is a big difference to "getting used to" and still hating the re-design. People may lose a limb and get used to it but it does not mean they like it. Personally, I won't be recommending it to anyone.
Ordered a HP laptop for my son as a present. It arrives at work and my plan is to load up MInt 14 MATE but first I might as well make a recovery disk for Windows just in case I have to send the laptop for repairs.. Anyways I go through the normal first time install.
Well so I install it and I'm greeted with some weird screen that has boxes all over the place and I have to scroll sideways to see the rest. WTF? There's a reason no website scrolls sideways and just up and down. Ok ok maybe there's a reason for this madness. So I'm moving the mouse around trying to get some kind of a panel/menu. I get one but can't figure out where to get the programs menu. Also noticed something weird when I moved the mouse over to the corner, a small screen shots appears. I'm like WTF, OK?
Anyways I look online and find the menu to create the backups disk or in this case "5" DVD disk or a USB drive that requires min 20 gigs of space. WTF again? Christ most Linux distros are one DVD. Ok what ever, I go ahead and it says I can't use DVD-RW ony DVD-R, well fuck me.
Ok I give up and decide I will just get a 32gig USB drive later. I go do some work and I guess as I was turning around to my desktop the mouse must have moved to one of the corners and somehow the desktop appeared. Now I didn't notice this till about an hour later when I turn around and see the desktop there and the start screen is gone. So now I'm scratching my head as to what happened. Eventually I figure out that moving the mouse to the corner and clicking the small screen shot would flip me between desktop and start screen. BUT WHY?
So today I start the laptop and figure ok get the little screen shot in the corner to flip to the desktop. Well its not showing, mother fucker I think I'm gonna need beer for this. Eventually clicking on Norton AV brings me back and now I can flip back and forth.
Now I'm usually not too ani MS and I'm for using the tight too for the right job but where we have a swiss army knife where you have to pull out the scissors to be able to pull out the blade and you have to pull out the tooth pick to be able to close the scissors and blade.
WTF is the point of the start screen?
by TheSpoom (715771) Uncaring Linux user here. I have nothing to add to this but please continue. *munches popcorn*
I was hoping to come in here and see that someone had already brought up something along these lines.
I mean seriously, "getting used to dealing with"? If you have to use terms like that, you've horribly failed. One should not have to "deal with" your product. Saying that (hell, advertising the fact) is basically another way of saying "Users manage to suffer through the misery"
It's possible for many stroke sufferers to make nearly a complete recovery.
What power user would agree to such a thing?
It's just using my connectivity needlessly, and the anonymity in it is probably dubious.
I don't care what microsoft says, metro is horrible on the PC.
I love how they use the "all is fine, nothing to see here" mentality. Actually there is Microsoft. your Metro interface on the PC..blows...trying to force folks to use it doesn't mean they will. Just means for me, that I'm now running linux. I have everything I need, the Office suites (which are basically free) are excellent, the OS runs great, less problems. excellent, thanks for giving me the nudge I needed to switch.
Only drawback, is some mainstream gaming..and I believe folks are working to solve that as well and NO I don't want to use wine.
...is that I'm still using Windows XP (within an OSX/VMWARE VM) and that's what I expect to be using forever, because (a) I have all the Windows software I need, and (b) XP is sandboxed from the Intertubes so it can't fall and hurt itself. As well as keeping it in a fully backed up state, and only home to software and configurations, rather than my most important data, which lives under OSX, an OS which has yet to truly jump the shark.
I imagine there might in fact be a lot of people out there that want an OS that is essentially a surface clone of an XBox. But I don't. I want a computer that starts out right at the top with tools I can use to manipulate and examine the system -- not just a hotlink to twitter. Here on slashdot, I'm thinking I probably have a fair bit of company in that outlook, although I have no doubt many of you use something later than XP, but still not Windows 8.
It looks like this is a sea change, and that it might be inevitable. But I'm digging in my heels and will resist the dumbification of the desktop by MIcrosoft (and Ubuntu, for that matter) as long as I can.
I sure am glad I really went for broke last time I bought a computer. I think I'm safe from them trapping me with a new machine that an older OS can't boot on.
Ah, change. It isn't always pleasant!
I've fallen off your lawn, and I can't get up.
They should have ported Ubuntus Unity. Best NG UI imho.
Actually, I prefer Unity to Metro. Not even close either. I'm not sure what that really means though ;)
Agent K: A *person* is smart. People are dumb, stupid, panicky animals, and you know it.
...and It Says You're Getting Used To Windows 8"
They're wrong. I've never even seen it.
Warning: this article may contain humor, sarcasm, parody, and perhaps even irony. Read at your own risk.
"Getting used to"?
"There's a cutover point, around six weeks in, where you start using the new things more than the things you're familiar with."
That's a lot longer than it takes for people to get used to *emacs*.
I never heard anyone "getting used to" iOS or even "getting used to" Android.
Although I have heard people taking time "getting used to" windows 3.0, unix shell, emacs, and gnome 3.
I believe when something takes any noticeable time getting used to, and it's post 1995, there's a very serious user interface design problem.
(That said, I could probably get used to Windows 8, if it decided it wanted to be windows 8 all the time and not pretend to be windows 7 when someone didn't want to redesign something.)
The first thing I did on Win 8 to make it useable was install one of the 3rd party start menus (Classic Explorer) and then move the desktop card to the top left hand corner of the sodomizing (q.v. above) and irrelevant (for non-touchscreen devices) Metro. Then you get something like the Windows 7 desktop back on boot and will never have to look at Metro again, unless it's on a tablet.
What an idiotic business decision it was to try to fuse these two very different use cases, shove it down the consumer's throat with a rolled up newspaper, and then totally omit the option to have a traditional start menu. Seniors will not cope but who cares about them, eh? MS are banking on kids just taking to Metro and then never learning what a start menu is.
Also strange that MS are duplicating the mistakes of numerous smaller companies who have worked hard to build something rather like Metro and then dismally failed in the marketplace. Stop force-feeding consumers what you think they have to have! I am dumbfounded at the stupidity of that decision.
I think the desktop metaphor is as optimum as it gets for usability on traditional boxes/laptops. Apple know that; they have had the brains to keep the desktop on OS X. MS doesn't know it or chooses not to. There is simply nothing better around for a non-touchscreen device with a keyboard. If there is, where is it? 'Coz it ain't Metro. It's all just about trying to move to the iOS walled garden model and shut down our choices and freedom as usual.
It appears the captured Jewish people are getting used to traveling by train...
I'm not.
I have two operating systems currently installed on my machine; the Windows 8 Enterprise Evaluation and something else entirely. The W8 eval was installed shortly after it was released. For a week I played around with it and then got bored, seeing no reason to continue on with it. Two things I have decided during my evaluation:
1. I don't like it. Used to it or not, I just don't like it. All I care about are a few programs, and they're not important enough to subject myself to Windows 8 to use.
2. I will be ordering my next computer from a company that doesn't preload Windows 8... probably System76, and wipe the default Ubuntu crap they install by default.
There's no way I'm going to support that monstrosity if I can help it, and I certainly won't be recommending it to friends either.
I've said it before and I'll say it again, I'm sure marketing has already done a report and they will plug in some so called statistics of this type to say that with Windows 8, Home users never installed anything outside of the app store and then the next windows will allow only Professionals to install non-store software.
And here we see they are already softening people up.
... get used to something I haven't used at all, due to a complete lack of interest, and that I will not use any time soon?
They're there in their room. You're on your own.
every single time a new version of windows comes out there will always be a small, yet vocal crowd stirring up the pot. "i have never used windows 8, but I KNOW it sucks". This is 100% a 1:1 mirror of the vista release. oh noo this UAC crap is everywhere oh no my life is ruined. never mind that a lot of the problem had to do with 3rd party developers not using the new UAC guidelines. a few months after vista, and people educated themselves, actually used vista, 99% of the UAC hate was gone. Now here we are doing the same dance all over again. While all you anal retentive's scream, whine, and throw a tantrum, everyone else is happily using windows 8 and enjoying it. I actually pity most of you who are turning 3 shades of red over your exclamations of how terrible some OS is that you have never used, or even given a real chance. anyways, i'l see you guys in windows 9, with the SAME metro UI still, or windows 10, or however long it takes you guys to get over your OS tantrum this time.
So opinions Microsoft is forming comes from "people using Windows 8 who have chosen to join the company's 'customer experience improvement program.' ". Isn't that automatically pre-sorting for the sycophants that love Win 8 or Microsoft in general? I hate these kind of programs and I think most users do too, so those who have signed up are already ready to selflessly help the folks in Redmond. I expect that means their tolerance for bad behavior is higher, their inclination to like the Win 8 UI starts strong and their willingness to be patient with fixes will be extraordinarily deep. If Microsoft thinks that's representative sample of the user population, they need to revisit their methodology. (Or move to the assumption that Win 8 is a niche OS with a small, cult following).
If Microsoft sincerely wanted to find out what's wrong and what's right with Win 8, they would PAY random users to spend the time to give them honest impressions about the user experience. Anyone willing to do that work for nothing has drunk way to much Win 8 Kool-Aid already.
... Just like Diarrhea!
So MS has no way of knowing that I've tried Win 8 and replaced it with Win7 on one machine, switched one user to a Mac Mini w/Office, and returned one laptop that had win 8 preloaded and no win 7 drivers from the vendor.
Maybe it's not Windows 8 that is the issue. Maybe it's the technology. Mouse/keyboard/screen/windows.. nothing new.. When it comes to laptops... I'm bored. Nothing has changed in forever. I go to Best Buy and look around for something really new and interesting.. Oh look.. more laptops.. Touch screens? We were doing that on Macs back in the 90's with a cheap kit. I have Window's 8 on my 3 year old laptop and mostly I just hit escape to get back to Windows 7 look and feel, and do what I've been doing all along. But it's all boring.. really.. now my new Galaxy Note II phone, that's a little more interesting.. I can talk to it, touch it, shake it, you can smell the innovation in it!
Have you fscked your local propeller head today?
Windows 8 is basically a tweaked windows 7 with a new start menu. I don't understand why people think windows 7 is for work and windows 8 is not professional enough to be used in a work environment. If you can get your work done in 7 than 8 should be no problem. For xp, vista, and 7 I never used the start menu I always found myself using a docking system to access my programs as quickly as possibly. In kubuntu or mint kde on my dual monitor I always created a third taskbar and just pin whatever program I want on to their and afterwards hide it. I actually prefer metro, gnome 3, and unity(basically a dock) over any of the old start menu taskbars.
When windows 95 came out people were reluctant to make the huge leap to a new interface and it was the same with xp, vista, 7, and now 8. It's same thing with people and software companies scared of moving from windows to a linux distro, mint is more stable and faster than ubuntu.
Does MSFT still think they're a monopoly? Really? They want users to get used to a phone/tablet interface, where they have a 2% share (? less?), so they put it on their desktop where people keep buying Macs these days every time they pull these boneheaded stunts.
The other huge thing waiting to be noticed is that there are Linux distros out there (e.g. LinuxMint) that take less "getting used to" for a WinXp user than Win8. The only thing saving MSFT is that Linux has no advertising budget. And we'd never agree on which distro to recommend.
For giving me the final push required to go completely Linux.
This is nothing but M$ FUD from the masters of FUD!
When I first had access to Windows 8 through the MS Partner site I installed it on a workstation at work and placed it at a free desk. I asked my users to test it and let me know if they're interested in having it on their workstation. Not one reported back they want this OS. The only reason we'll keep it is for testing.
I'm not pushing this upgrade because I don't think the adaption downtime is worth it. I have some users that have a hard time with change and Windows 8 would kill them.
I just gave my girlfriend a new laptop which came with Win 8 pre-installed. It only took her 30 minutes before she asked me to "fix her laptop" and put Win 7 on it.
My studio - www.graylands.ca
I had a severe dental issues in my early 20s.
I spent almost 3 years living with the issue (which caused a wonderful gamut of pain, every second of every minute of every hour of every day). I "got used to it", as you say, and simply learned to keep on trucking and ignore it as best I could. That didn't mean that there were moments of idleness where that pain overrode my ability to block it out, because there were times when I felt like I should go jump off a building just to make it stop.
My family and friends tell me that I wasn't a very pleasant person to be around during this time. The pain made me very cynical and bitter towards a lot of things. I didn't go out much and I didn't sleep very well at night. But I learned to live with it, I "got used to it" in the hopes that one day someone would be able to help me. This didn't mean that I was better off for it. In fact, those three years were some of the darkest days of my entire life.
Eventually I found a dental surgeon crazy enough to go in there and fix things. The procedure took the better part of a day. When I woke up in an aesthetic induced daze all cross-eyed and barely able to make sense of myself, soon everything started coming back to me. Except the pain. The pain was gone, left beside the operating chair in a stainless steel bowl as bits of a dead wisdom tooth cut out from my head.
I never took a single pain killer after the operation. The pain I felt afterwards from the stitching and void in my head was nearly imperceptible compared to what I'd been living with and what I'd "gotten used to". Soon that too faded, and I was borderline euphoric for a few weeks afterwards. I'd totally forgotten what it had felt like to simply sit somewhere- in a chair or on the couch- and breathe. Stare into nothingness, and feel nothing back. No pain, no alarms inside my body, no pressure in my head making me feel like I should rip out my jaw and take a jackhammer to my upper left rear teeth.
So, frankly, in regards to your "you're gonna get used to it" mentality- fuck you. Just because you get used to something doesn't mean you're going to be a better person for it. A long time ago, people used to say that "computers let you do anything". Today, they're saying "computers do everything for you". I don't need my computer doing shit for me, I don't need you to make decisions on my behalf without offering me the option to revert. I operate the tool, the tool does not operate me.
So fuck your Metro and Windows 8 in general. I'll make up my own damned mind, and you can be sure I won't get used to something simply because you think I should. I tried that 10 years ago when 7 different dentists told me I was hosed and I should deal with it. I don't feel like repeating that mistake again. Using computers is a joy with Windows 7. Why should I put myself through the same damned thing with Windows 8 and "get used to it"?
From the linked article: "In the slide-out menu (known as the Charms Bar) "
Just shoot me.
Never let a lack of data get in the way of a good rant.
If they hadn't *broken* it, no one would *have* to adjust.
As long as people have to call tech support the scripts would ask first did you update to Windows 8? As both hoping having to go through an upgrade would be a cover-all approach to solving legacy support and the latest Windows OS is the only education offered.
there is no excuse for this operating system on a PC
on the plus side, newer computers with multiple cores and gpus do see a speed increase.
but the gui interface is nice on a cell phone, great on a surface tablet, marginal ok on a tablet and ABSURD on a PC
What i want is just my old desktop back with those ridiculous icons gone, gone , gone.
Microsoft really dumped on this user AND EVERYONE THAT I KNOW. getting used to it is not an approval, at all
the old saying, "You can polish a turd, but it's still a turd."
Microsoft is in denial. It's a turd.
It's been great ever since. I use it all day for work with ease. All the FUD people were throwing about how terrible it was for desktops has not materialized. Turns out they were just fear mongering. I would recommend Windows 8 to anyone as long as they are willing to put in a few hours up front getting used to it.
The whole 2 color giant tile thing is ugly, a step backwards, and a giant waste of my screen's real estate.
No minimize, no maximize, no start menu... that's what's called "losing functionality". It's really more of a downgrade.
Canonical Has Been Watching, and They See I've Switched to Mint 13 Xfce.
I work in the industry. I usually lag behind the Microsoft propaganda push for why their new features are so Needed and Wanted by users. This time out, I decided to be proactive and jump in early and try the newest OS.
Here is my take so far. First and foremost, Windows 8 is Ugly. The "Metro" (or whatever the interface is now called) is one step above CGA graphics (I'm dating myself here). The Desktop and Explorer screens are not much better. I guess it is easier for an OS to appear quicker when you take away any eye appeal, no rich colors, no 3-D shadows, or button textures. The end result is no visual snap and grab, it is simply ugly. Live tiles make the metro experience seem more vivid, but quickly becomes very distracting. I have searched minutes for features that should be much more accessible. All I have shown it too have commented on the look of it, which they all call UGLY.
The Metro interface is more about Microsoft having it's own App Store that delivering what people expect from an OS, and frankly if there is one thing computer users and developers do not need is another App Store.
Next is the branding and Ads. I do not need ads popping up in the content tiles (as they do in games mode or Music mode). For a business deployment the last thing anyone, including a CEO, wants to see on someones computer is ax XBOX logo on the screen of their employees. Go to Video, or Music, or Games and the XBOX logo is all over.
The Windows Desktop looks barren and washed out, the Explorer windows and dialogs are ugly, and extremely boring.
The switching back and forth between the Metro Start screen and the Desktop for apps is very counterproductive and is confusing and distracting.
One thing I have noticed, a touch screen does make the interface a little better, but on an ultrabook, doing anything needing a soft keyboard reduces the screen to the real estate of a smart phone.
I agree with one of the comments here about giving a Traditional Desktop (Win7) desktop mode to let seasoned users keep a productive interface.
Microsoft has carried the Ugly to it's new release of Office, Office 2013. Pure ugly. Interface and start screens that make you feel like you are back in Kindergarten again. There are three color schemes for Office, White (or Extremely Ugly), Light Grey (did the color actually just change?), and Dark Grey (is gray a color now?). All kidding aside, this stuff really is extremely non pleasing to the eyes.
So once again Microsoft offers downgrade rights so that from this point on, even if you buy a pc loaded with Windows 7 it is registered as a sale of Windows 8. Vista was the OS that sold more copies of an OS that was never run, than ever before. Every time I see a PC with Vista on it (Which thank goodness is rare) I think, oh so you are the one running this!
So all in all, the only benefits I have seen in Windows 8 are the speed with which it operates (Boots, shutdown, video smoothness) and the fact that so far backward compatibility seems good. All in all, the touch and the feature sets are a good addition in some ways, but the Interface and the visual aspects are very very below par for today's colorful and vivid devices. When your Android Phone has a richer Screen experience than your desktop, things are headed in the wrong direction, Let's hope Windows 8.5 or 9 will have a new "Expert Mode" that gives you back a more productive Desktop screen or a maintenance mode that allows IT people a Desktop that lets us get done what we need to without the Ugly Wow screens.
I've been using it for a couple of days and most of my reponses to the changes have been "I can live without that" - I keep finding things that were handy but don't seem to exist any more (I say seem to, I might be wrong, I'm still exploring)
I keep hitting the left most icon on my taskbar by mistake when I want to launch an application. I'm trying the new launcher, but one feature I miss from the start menu is the ability for each application to have it's own submenu - of recently opened items, recently visited websites, or whatever. I don't see the equivalent functionality anywhere in the new interface.
I want to give it a fair shot before I go for a third party launcher, but so far my impression is that it'll do, but it's lacking features I took for granted.
Sigs are so 1990s. No way would I be seen dead with one.
Win8 isn't that bad at all. I think once you get used to the UI its much more agile than Win7.
Just in IT we have a bunch of hillbillies who think that because a giant start button is missing the world is over.
The metro apps were a pretty good excuse to to revamp a few programs to. Have you used the new RDP metro? Its slick!
a self-licking ice cream cone.
Perhaps you should delicately ask her if she found the start button yet, it could just be a face saving exercise like what MS is trying to pull.
No - first thing we did was sit down and work out whether she was going to use the Start page, or if I was going to go with a 3rd party Start button add-on. She decided to stick with the Start page. Seems to be working alright.
So you thought that Win8 was infinitely better?
Windows what? There's an update to XP? ;-)
Microsoft Has Been Watching, and It Says You're Getting Used To Windows 8
In related news, the guy sodomizing you has been watching, and he says your anus is getting used to his cock. Also, Al Qaeda has been watching, and they say you're getting used to having no freedoms as a result of their actions anymore. The businesscriminals have been watching, and they say you're getting used to them stealing everyone's money, pissing in your face, and laughing about it as you tremble with impotent rage. Your neighbor has been watching, and he says you're getting used to him fucking your wife while you're at work earning money that she then spends on presents for him. The waiter at your favorite restaurant has been watching, and he says you're getting used to him spitting in your food. The sun has been watching, and it says you're getting used to its UV rays causing you to develop skin cancer. Your colon has been watching, and it says that since you're okay with skin cancer, you're getting used to the idea of dying from colo-rectal cancer. Opportunistic bacteria have been watching, and they say you're getting used to having no immune system with which to fight them off. The nurse has been watching, and she says you're getting used to the idea of a dozen different things fighting for the honor of being what kills you. The angel of death has been watching, and he says you're getting used to the idea of being a corpse.
I've been watching, and I say you're getting used to the idea that Microsoft is run by a bunch of greedy fucking shitheads.
Meaning that consumers don't have the option to switch back to Windows 7, or that Dell and HP no longer sell Windows 7 computers? I upgraded one laptop to Windows 8 (because it has a touch screen) and everybody in my household hates it so I installed and run by default Classic Desktop on Windows 8, thank you very much.
... That I dumped windows for Linux a decade ago.
windows phone -- like the xbox -- is great. very good ui. and also entirely useful.
windows pc. complete cr*p. cant even get at the file system.
I recently had a chance to check out the system in a large regional medical center. Sho nuff...even the custom programs were based on XP Pro. Medical records and all!
On one hand you have Mac that has a limited range of software available for it, on the other hand there is Linux that has both limited range of available "WORKING" software that doesn't require one to Hack & / it in order to get any usability out of it and an unfriendly UI. Believe it or not the majority of computer users that make a difference, (Thats the little punks and elderly, kids, and other computer illiterate people out there) and they want a GUI. Windows is the ONLY operating system that whether you want to hate it or not has a wide range of working software available for it, is a Stable platform, and not to forget is the only OS that will run Visual Studio. Windows also runs Eclipse, Netbeans, the Python IDLE and any other IDE you want to think of with ease. The GUI in Windows7 was devine, and I have played around with Windows8, but I currently have no interest in it since I am quite comfortable with my Start button... As it is there really aren't alternatives for people like me... Linux is the most unfriendly OS I have ever encounterd, and Mac, well it speaks for itself... Android sort of had the right idea, but it is way too fragmented compared to the iPad which developing software for is a piece of cake compared to Android. I know my App will run on every single iPad, but thats not the case with Android unfortunately and that has scared alot of developers away. A.D.D It's a bitch...