Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

30 Days Is Too Long: Animated Rant About Windows 8

Posted by timothy on from the devil's-advocate dept.

First time accepted submitter Funksaw writes "Back in 2007, I wrote three articles on Ubuntu 6, Mac OS X 10.4, and Windows Vista, which were all featured on Slashdot. Now, with the release of Windows 8, I took a different tactic and produced an animated video. Those expecting me to bust out the performance tests and in-depth use of the OS are going to be disappointed. While that was my intention coming into the project, I couldn't even use Windows 8 long enough to get to the in-depth technical tests. In my opinion, Windows 8 is so horribly broken that it should be recalled."

10 of 1,110 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Not again... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Yeah, the author's attitude is more than a little arrogant. You expect reasonable people to give your video a chance after speaking like that?

    Yes I have used Windows 8, and while I am one of the hoards who loves the old start menu, apart from that change Win 8 is simply better. 7 was excellent, 8 has a few improvements over that.

  2. Re:Not again... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    It's getting old. This shill account might be pretty old (879048), yet just check the posting history. Not a single post not related to Microsoft.

  3. Re:Not again... by cbiltcliffe · · Score: 4, Interesting

    So removing windowing, and requiring all programs to be full screen, so only able to run one program at a time, is an improvement to you?
    This is Windows 1.01 level technology, not an improvement on Windows 7.

    --
    "City hall" in German is "Rathaus" Kinda explains a few things......
  4. I felt stupid... by benjfowler · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Just out of interest, I walked into a PC World store to check out the new touch-screen PCs running Windows 8.

    I timed myself: I was sitting there trying to work out how to do the gesture to get the Start screen. 90 seconds later, I simply gave up.

    Windows 8, even on high-spec hardware with multitouch displays is completely unintuitive, completely undiscoverable, clunky, and amateur-looking.

    I am GOBSMACKED, that Microsoft claimed that they've put a million user-hours into usability testing.

    It'll snow in Hell before I put my hand in my pocket to upgrade.

  5. Amnesia as you go through a doorway by tepples · · Score: 5, Interesting

    treat the Start screen like a full-screen version of the Start menu

    And because it's full-screen, it all but encourages the user to forget what he's working on. Ever have amnesia as you go through a doorway? The fact that the Start screen is full-screen is like that.

    You don't need a Start orb to click on -- just hit the Windows key.

    How are users who have been opening the Start menu with the mouse for a decade and a half expected to discover the Windows key?

    1. Re:Amnesia as you go through a doorway by tepples · · Score: 3, Interesting

      They could try looking at their keyboards for starters.

      First, if they forgot the OOBE tutorial video (or never watched it in the first place because they're using someone else's account for a short time), how would they know to look at the keyboard, as opposed to exhaustively scanning the screen and then giving up? Second, how would they associate "picture of a flag" with the Start screen? Third, I've known gamers to pry off their Windows keys or buy Windows key-less keyboards because accidentally pressing the Windows key while reaching for Ctrl or Alt or Z during a full-screen game makes certain games fail.

  6. Re:Not again... by pudding7 · · Score: 3, Interesting

    So you're ignoring half the OS, and you've installed a 3rd party application to make the part you aren't ignoring actually usable?

  7. Re:Not again... by Nerdfest · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I think you'll find that over the next couple of versions, that the 'classic' interface disappears or has reduced functionality. Anyone think this is not gong to happen? Apple set the precedent, now Microsoft is going to try cashing in on the same lock-in. Buying or using Windows 8 is funding the loss of your ability to actually 'own' your own hardware, same as iOS.

  8. Re:First World Problems by DrGamez · · Score: 5, Interesting

    There is no discoverability within Windows 8, it's the worst aspect about it. A note on the Metro apps: you aren't "supposed" to close them, and in the early DP versions there wasn't a way to close them at all. They have their own memory-management/PLM processes, and when they haven't been used for a set time - they Suspend and close in the background.

  9. Re:First World Problems by JBMcB · · Score: 5, Interesting

    The ribbon UI is so awesome, that Visual Studio doesn't have it (thank God) So the people who actually *write Microsoft software* don't like the ribbon.

    So there's that.

    --
    My Other Computer Is A Data General Nova III.