John W Colby
jwcolby at gmail.com
Wed Feb 26 06:50:48 CST 2014
Gustav,
I would remind you that Windows has had a desktop FOREVER. You are free to place pretty icons on it
to represent your programs, and go there to click on things to start them. You can even buy third
party programs to lasso them into groups. Microsoft could easily have applied their magic to the
existing desktop. And I would also remind you that if you don't like all of the Windows 7 "pretty",
you can go in and click the "optimize for performance" which gets rid of the aero glass, the
animations etc. Voila, you are back to Windows XP look, though not quite the bland sucky look of
Windows 8. I am quite sure they could have added an "optimize for Windows 8 bland sucky look"
button that you could check to get rid of the last vestiges of "pretty".
I don't know how many people read this, from a member of the design team:
http://www.neowin.net/news/windows-8-ux-designer-on-metro-it-is-the-antithesis-of-a-power-user
But a couple of things stand out.
>>>
Miller continued on to explain that the design team split users into two groups:/content
creators/and/content consumers/:
* *Content creators*were explained to be power users: they have multiple windows open across
multiple monitors, they sometimes even have virtual machines that also have their own nested
levels of complexity.
* *Content consumers*were explained to be casual users who just use basic social media platforms,
view photos, and so on. They were described as the computer illiterate younger siblings, the
older grandparents, or the mother "who just wants to look up apple pie recipes."
*Windows 8 was designed for the latter group: the content consumers.* This is also where Metro stems
from: it is a platform that is "simple, clear, *and does one thing (and only one thing) relatively
easily.*" Miller described Metro as***/the antithesis of a power user/*.
>>>
/"Our hands were bound, and our users were annoyed with their rented jackets. So what did we do? We
separated the users into two groups. Casual and Power. We made two separate playgrounds for them.
All the casual users would have their own new and shiny place to look at pictures of cats - Metro.
The power users would then have free reign over their native domain - the desktop."/- Miller
>>>
Except that they intentionally crippled the desktop for the power user. How can you claim that the
power user has free reign over his playground when the start menu and task bar are gone and they
refuse to give it back? And that metro apps (and all future apps) refuse to minimize or size? That
windowing is intentionally crippled.
Does that sound like "free reign" to you?
The fact that some people like a desktop as the primary OS interface doesn't make it better, it just
makes it better for those who like it. Those of us who don't like it?
"Fuck you, get used to it" appears to be the attitude.
Free reign?
Humans seem to have a "I like things this way so it must be better" attitude built in. The fact
that you like the new interface doesn't make it better, it just means you like it. I am happy for
you. It is just annoying that my preferences ( and a LOT of other people's ) are being not only
ignored, but denigrated. Windows has always been about "a dozen ways to do anything". They are
trying to make it "one way to do anything" - and only one thing at a time by the way.
Personally I don't see that as a win.
John W. Colby
Reality is what refuses to go away
when you do not believe in it
On 2/26/2014 3:55 AM, Gustav Brock wrote:
> Hi Arthur
>
> You nailed it as usual. I was playing with words like stubborn old farts, but pussies is much nicer!
>
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