Arthur Fuller
fuller.artful at gmail.com
Wed Feb 26 15:18:33 CST 2014
There are two significant things (at least) to consider here: a) the experience of newbies, plus that of tablet and smart phone users; b) the tendencies of power users / developers to want things to work the way they used to. Speaking strictly for myself, I find that my development efforts go increasingly away from the desktop and toward tablets and smart phones and traditional browsers. That means that touch-screen awareness is mandatory, and along with that, all the gestures such as scroll-left and scroll-right and open this with a pinch and close that with a pinch... and all this leads to freedom from the desk. All this leads to the ability to do useful work from the local Starbucks or Second Cup or even my couch. As things stand, Access cannot even come close to developing/deploying such an app. Visual Studio and several other products do come close. For my investment, the best choice is Alpha Anywhere, which I have previously stated. But regardless of one's chosen weapon, the future is crystal-clear, and it has little or nothing to do with traditional desktop apps. I don't see any possible argument against this. The market has moved in a huge way away from desktop PCs (although they continue to sell, but in diminishing market share) and toward phones and tablets. If your software won't run on both those platforms, then consider its life less than a year. These are IMO the brutal facts. Currently I am in the process of rewriting my last several apps to support phone and tablet and browser deployment. Most of this work is unpaid; I'm doing it so that I can master the technology involved. My current choice is Alpha Anywhere. Your needs may differ. This is not an argument in favour of this or that IDE and toolset; rather it's an argument that regarding the traditional Desktop App, it's Over; it's a relic of history, like CP/M and DOS. The world has changed. Get used to it, or get paved. Arthur On Wed, Feb 26, 2014 at 3:42 PM, Hans-Christian Andersen < hans.andersen at phulse.com> wrote: > > Gustav. > > I think Microsoft designed Windows 8 just for you. :) > > > > It's an outdated left-over from Windows 95 (seems like everyone have > forgotten how MS was ridiculed when it introduced). > > What? When? I don't ever recall the Start Menu being ridiculed when it was > introduced. And, personally, I was happy it came along, because I was using > something similar in function as the start menu in Windows 3.11, only that > you could access it via a right click of the desktop. It made Win3.11 so > much more usable. > > > > As I have mentioned before, the Metro/Modern UI is a masterpiece in > design, and if you can't "see" this, it is because of exactly this, that > excellent design doesn't stand forward, it only supports the function > > So your logic is: Metro/Modern UI is a masterpiece in design. It is not > possible to disagree. If you try to disagree, it is only evidence that it > is a masterpiece in design. > > http://i.imgur.com/2St5C4B.jpg > > > > and if you don't realize this, just borrow a Mac for a moment and study > what old-fashioned is about, indeed the ugly animation that sucks windows > when they are minimized and the sloshing icons at the bottom. I guess you > get used to it, but it makes me feel sick. > > I find it amusing that before Windows 8, people would criticize OS X for > being flashy and all about aesthetics. Form over function etc. Windows is > for the power user, who values performance and a consistent UI that > improves incrementally. > > Now OS X is apparently old fashioned and has ugly animations, while > Windows 8 is a masterpiece in modern UX/UI design. > > It's an upside down world, I tell's ya. Although, to be honest, I'm not > sure most people agree with you, Gustav. > > > - Hans > > > > > On Feb 26, 2014, at 12:55 AM, Gustav Brock <gustav at cactus.dk> wrote: > > > Hi Arthur > > > > You nailed it as usual. I was playing with words like stubborn old > farts, but pussies is much nicer! > > > > I've used Windows 8 (now 8.1 of course) on my home workstation since the > very first developer edition (with the wonderful fish on the desktop) and > with zero add-ons as I've never been a fan of the small and miserable and > messy Start menu. It's an outdated left-over from Windows 95 (seems like > everyone have forgotten how MS was ridiculed when it introduced). > > We still run Win7 and a little WinXP at the office but we seriously > consider moving to Win8 after the next update. > > > > As I have mentioned before, the Metro/Modern UI is a masterpiece in > design, and if you can't "see" this, it is because of exactly this, that > excellent design doesn't stand forward, it only supports the function - and > if you don't realize this, just borrow a Mac for a moment and study what > old-fashioned is about, indeed the ugly animation that sucks windows when > they are minimized and the sloshing icons at the bottom. I guess you get > used to it, but it makes me feel sick. > > > > Of course, as a developer I mostly use the desktop of Win8. Also, my 27" > monitor has no touch, so the Metro interface is mouse only for me. But the > organization of icons in groups on the Start screen is a big progress > compared to the multilevel Start menu of Win7-. > > > > Further, it is like most look at Win8 as Win7 with another interface. > That is not so. It is faster, and with an SSD drive you have finally > reached what a computer should be: Instantly on and off with sleep mode, > and only few seconds to the login screen from a cold boot. > > > > Finally, as Martin mentions, where Windows 8 really shines is on a > tablet. We have a Surface Pro 2, a wonderful machine, and I have used the > old desktop on that. It is doable, but don't forget your glasses or the > pen-pointer. It is not productive, and if that would have been the only > option, people would have bashed MS, much like what happened with the old > Windows Mobile. Something had to be done, and the Metro/Modern touch > interface is the answer. Apps can be snipped/snapped in and out and you > quickly feel at home. > > > > /gustav > > > > > > -----Oprindelig meddelelse----- > > Fra: accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com [mailto: > accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com] På vegne af Arthur Fuller > > Sendt: 25. februar 2014 21:05 > > Til: Access Developers discussion and problem solving > > Emne: Re: [AccessD] Ramblings of a nutcase > > > > IMHO, you folks are all pussies and refuse to see what's great about > Windows 8. With the proviso that you download and install ClassicShell > (google it). This free tool goes a long way toward making Windows 8 > palatable for old-timers. In fact it goes further than that; it's smarter > and better than the old classic start menu. > > > > Even without this wonderful tool, there are a few key things you can do > to smarten up your startup tile UI: most notably, you can drag the tiles > into an arrangement of your choice, and also create groups of tiles > containing associated programs (i.e. a Media group, a SQL group, etc. And > most significantly, you can drag your most frequently-visited programs to > the top left of the tile groups. In my tile setup, the first tile is > Desktop. I have two monitors and the desktop opens on the large monitor. I > also make extensive use of the QuickLaunch bar, and the programs soon learn > which monitor they should load on. > > > > That custom setup accomplished, you are now in a position to see some of > the startup, performance and memory management advantages of Windows 8.1. I > can only say that I'd never consider going back to Windows 7. I still have > a copy of it, but it's on a separate box entirely, and I find myself using > that box less and less -- just for large downloads and for running Ubuntu > Linux. > > > > I have one more customization of the Win 8.1 laptop planned. I recently > read a net piece on how to hook up two external monitors to a laptop. > > That's next. I'll have three monitors, two external and the laptop > monitor. > > That will be very cool. > > > > My $0.02. > > > > Arthur > > > > -- > > AccessD mailing list > > AccessD at databaseadvisors.com > > http://databaseadvisors.com/mailman/listinfo/accessd > > Website: http://www.databaseadvisors.com > > -- > AccessD mailing list > AccessD at databaseadvisors.com > http://databaseadvisors.com/mailman/listinfo/accessd > Website: http://www.databaseadvisors.com > -- Arthur