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'Windows 10 Is Failing Us' (betanews.com)
Reader BrianFagioli writes: While Windows 10 is arguably successful from a market share perspective, it is still failing in one big way -- the user experience. Windows 8.x was an absolute disaster, and Microsoft's latest is certainly better than that, but it is still not an enjoyable experience. Before the company tries to add new features (and misses deadlines) like Timeline and Cloud Clipboard, it should focus more on improving the existing user experience. Right now it is failing us and things are not getting better. Even the third-party solutions that aim to turn this spying off aren't 100-percent successful. Unless you unplug from the internet entirely, you can't stop Windows from phoning home to Microsoft. This is a shame, as some consumers are being made to feel violated when using their own computer. Another issue that I can't believe hasn't been resolved is having two locations for system settings. Seriously, Microsoft? We still have "Settings" and "Control Panel" Live Tiles are still worthless, and it is time for Microsoft to kill them. Nobody opens an app launcher and stares at the icons for information. It is distracting and pointless. If I want the weather, I'll open a weather app and see it -- not stare at the icon for the information. It sort of made sense in the Windows 8.x era since you were presented with a full screen of app icons more often, but with a more traditional start-button design in Windows 10, it is time to retire it. Another example: Microsoft doesn't force you to use Edge and Bing entirely, but it still does force you. Cortana is a hot mess, but if you opt to use her, she will only open things in Edge. Searches are Bing-only. In other words, the virtual assistant ignores your default browser settings. Why? Not for the user's benefit. Sadly, the Windows Store is a garbage dump -- many of the "legit" apps are total trash.
Now what? I'm not quite sure I see the point of that post. If I want to hear someone rant, I'll talk to myself for half an hour.
I am in the process of banning windows to a mere gaming vm. I have enough stuff to rant about. So is there any useful information in the above?
Windows 10 is arguably successful from a market share perspective
Arguably successful - 26% market share after 2 years of being given away FREE, sneakily ninja-installed on many people's computers without their consent or through ethically dubious tricks like requiring people to agree NOT to install it, and shipped as the standard OEM OS for all new PC's for at least the past year. No, Windows 10 is a MASSIVE failure in terms of market share.
Seven puppies were harmed during the making of this post.
I seem to be able to make a good living by doing consulting - using Windows 10 and programs that are only available on Windows... Maybe it has little quirks some don't like - but please don't lump everyone in with "us".
Browsing at +1 - no ACs, I ignore their posts. So refreshing!
The problem is that the PC Desktop is a dead market, it has gone to the Tablets and Phones for a normal personal computing. Thus the Windows 8/10 interface, is focused for this market. However the Table and Phone Market is dominated by Apple and Google, and Microsoft is a Distant Third.
What we need our x86 PC systems for is no longer a normal Personal Computer, but a Personal Workstation. For our Workstations, we don't need a Table OS, or a Server OS. But a work station OS, with UI features meant for people with a Keyboard, Large Screens, Who will be expected to have a lot of things going on at the same time.
I Personally would like to see less window decoration, and use the space for more application space. And be able to have many Apps running and visible at the same time. Perhaps in Re-sizable Frames vs Windows...
Normally now when I get out my PC it is because I have some real work to do, vs just goofing off.
This is different a decade ago. And the Windows 8/10 UI was an attempt to get into a market it never really go into.
If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
Right now, we're sticking with Windows 7. Luckily, there are still tons and tons and tons of extremely cheap licenses out there. After that, we don't know what we'll do.
I don't respond to AC's.
"And these are the GOOD sides of that train wreck!"
The problem is that Microsoft doesn't give a shit about your "user experience". They care about their bottom line and that means milking you dry. They know you can't easily move away, so they can milk you for all you're worth.
There is a reason many people are still using Win7. And will do so for as long as it's humanely possible, most likely long after EOL is reached, before they will actually start looking around for alternatives.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
Decrying W10 is pure Heresy. Windows 10 is the best OS out there. Nothing comes even close to it in its user experience, security and flexibility.
{the above was written with my tongue in my cheek}
What you want me to be honest?
Ok, W10 is a pile of stinking dog poo. You'd have to pay me $1000/day to use it now and I spent much of the last 20years writing software for Windows systems.
Edge is a joke even compared to IE. Sites that work with IE fail miserably with Edge.
As for the stupid tiled interface... It works on a phone. I have a W8.1 phone but MS promised that it could be upgraded to W10 but the renaged.
On a traditional desktop is it IMHO a pile of shite. I used to install an alternative shell but the final straw was an update to W10 that removed the other shell. Thankfully that was a matter of weeks before my job went to India and I retired.
For years I helped people with Wibdows problems. I don't touch anything past W7 these days.
Windows 10 is a pile of stinking do poo.
I'd rather be riding my '63 Triumph T120.
I can see that working really well:
"How do I run my games?" "You can't"
"Why doesn't my wifi dongle work?" "You need to build this source package"
"How do I open a Word document" "Libre Office"
"All the formatting is broken" "Keep trying diiferent Office suites"
etc etc
Why do so many "BetaNews" submissions end up on the front page here at Slashdot?
Just look at this list of them if you don't believe me.
There were two on July 11. Two on July 8. Two on June 26. Two on May 22.
And that doesn't include all of the other days where there was only one.
Most of them seem to be submitted by "Mark Wilson" or "BrianFagioli".
In this case the article linked to in this submission's summary is credited to a "Brian Fagioli", and this submission was submitted by "BrianFagioli".
I don't think that Slashdot should be putting self-promotion submissions like this on the front page. They should be discarded.
And it should be explained to us why these "BetaNews" submissions end up on the Slashdot front page so often.
They're not very impressive, in my opinion. This one is just an opinion piece, from what I can see.
It's not like there aren't other submissions that could be selected instead. The Firehose is full of submissions that are better than these "BetaNews" ones.
Frankly, I'd be happy never seeing another "BetaNews" submission on the front page here ever again.
...I've still yet to see an accounting of what spying is happening on Windows 10...
You're not looking very hard, then. Indeed, Microsoft itself has published a partial list of the data being harvested. Even the partial list looked pretty bad. If the data being harvested is so benign, why didn't Microsoft publish the full list?
Excuse me while I switch to Linux and broadcast my IP address, version of my distribution, repositories from which I'm using software, and the occasional download of specific software which I've actually installed to all of the us.distro.org mirrors partnered with my distribution maintainer.
Just turn that off -- it's easy. Unlike Windows 10, where it's impossible.
I'm a Windows 10 user, and am reasonably happy. I'm able to use the Enterprise edition so a lot of the more annoying consumer features can be controlled. What I wish Microsoft would do is give more control back to the end user in general.
The person posting that ranty article actually has a valid point -- Windows 10 is currently a take-it-or-leave-it proposition with dwindling alternatives if you're tied to a Windows platform. The user interface is just one aspect; the non-Enterprise versions of the product don't allow you to control the update cycle, you can't disable a lot of the advertising features, and Microsoft is collecting a lot of data for something that's still a "personal" computer. Unfortunately, they must have just taken a massive internal charge to upgrade every Windows 7 and 8 user for "free." This will need to be made back somehow, and I think this is part of the long-term strategy. If they can get people used to this method of operation, then they can treat Windows PCs just like Apple treats iOS devices -- locked down walled gardens that users can't do anything with.
I think Microsoft would get a lot of happy customers dutifully paying their Windows 365 subscription fees if they did this:
- Allow all customers to buy access to the Enterprise feature set instead of locking it up behind enterprise agreements. This would keep most of the consumer users under control but allow power users to take back some control.
- Relax the UI controls. Windows Phone is dead, and Windows tablets aren't going to rule the entire market -- you don't need a locked down single experience. Don't ship themes, but enable full third party theming support. I would actually use a Windows Classic 2K-style theme if it were available, even though I'm reasonably happy with what comes in the box now.
- Relax the forced cumulative feature updates - again, let everyone have access to the CBB and the LTSB by paying for it
Unfortunately, this would be difficult to do because Microsoft has to earn the revenue back for all those free upgrades and loss of future revenues, and they would have to admit that enterprise customers are the ones actually paying for the development.
Who the hell 'enjoys the experience' of using an OS anymore? I stopped noticing the tool (which is what it is) ~20 years ago.
There's the one of the main problems with Windows 10 -- it gets in the way frequently and forces to me not only to notice it, but fight with it.
In terms of fading into the background and letting you get on with your work, Windows 7 was best of class in the Windows lineup.
I'm running Windows 7. Windows 8 was an abomination and Windows 10 isn't any better.
Unless Microsoft starts giving a damn about their customers and reverts back to a usable OS, I'll stay on Win7 until it's unusable and migrate to Linux Mint.
I've already done it on one of my machines to get used to it and it works fine.
So long, Microsoft.