8 things Microsoft needs to do to save Windows 8

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8 things Microsoft needs to do to save Windows 8[/h] By David Gewirtz
April 26, 2012, 2:14am PDT


Summary: The real world runs on real computers doing real work and those computers run Windows. Microsoft needs to remember that as they introduce Windows 8 to the real world.


Our home media PC is getting a little long in the tooth. It’s always been a bit of a problem because we bought a horizontal case that would look pretty in our media room, rather than one optimized for holding PC hardware. Right now, the machine is just about three years old, hasn’t had a Windows reinstall in all that time, and has developed its own set of quirks.


It’s getting near that time. It’s getting near that time when either a Windows reinstall is necessary, or its general crotchetiness will give us an excuse to build a spiffy, new machine. And that has had me thinking about whether we’ll just put our trusty copy of 64-bit Windows 7 on it, or hold out for Windows 8.


That has had me thinking about whether I even want to run Windows 8, and that got me thinking about what it would take to make Windows 8 a real, acknowledged, indisputable success in the marketplace.


Here, then, are eight things Microsoft needs to do to save Windows 8:

see two page report

(I think most would agree on Item #3! )

 

[Night Hawk]

What the Start screen does is put all program buttons in your face immediately rather then going through the three step process of click on Start, click on All Programs, click on program folder if one is present since some are simply items with an icon only like IE or other browser, Windows dvd maker, Secunia PSI if installed, etc. Plus you can move your finger back and forth much faster then moving a mouse cursor for the obvious speed advantage as well as grab windows and resize as well as move them with your finger tips.

The downsides are also things like custom themes people love to apply to their "desktops" not Start screen as well as not waiting for a tool bar to finally come out from the right side when it appears in order to shutdown, logoff(missing in CP, sleep mode instead), or reboot. Other then the appearance changes to menus like Settings and Apps the majority however will tend to look at "what else" 8 will be bringing in as well.

 

[lehnerus2000]

Clarification

Word DOES crash sometimes - although I have to say not particularly often and it's often caused probably by me in trying to mess about with attachments.

I can't remember Word crashing (I guess it depends on your definition).

What happens is functions stop working:

• Try to re-Number, it doesn't do it or it re-numbers everything at random.
• Try to apply a Style, nothing happens.
• Headers and Footers not staying in their defined document sections.

Restarting Word always fixes the glitch.

As far as "Security nightmare" -- well I've NEVER had any virus on a private PC -- and I have sometime in the past used some "decent Torrent" sites (if "decent" can be applied to them. I remember in the early days of W7 to get latest builds Torrents were almost "legal" !!!!!). Security is usually caused by bad computer practices and user giving away data rather than sensibly surfing the Internet.

I guess you've missed the constant stream of articles about (and updates for) Flash and Java.

I haven't had a malware-related system failure, since I stopped using IE6 on XP (~6 years ago).
I'm shocked if I see malware in my Virus Vault (I think the last time was ~6 months ago).
I rarely installing anything except updates (Windows and programs).

My point was, you can't sue software makers for shoddy workmanship (unlike auto-makers, home builders, appliance makers, etc.).

Security is usually caused by bad computer practices and user giving away data rather than sensibly surfing the Internet.

According to most articles I've seen, most malware infections rely on tricking the user into installing something (social engineering).
Better computer education would help reduce the infection rate.

 

[jimbo45]

Hi Nighthawk
Your point about the "classical" start screen putting all the programs in front of you *can* be valid if you haven't installed a lot of programs each having ZILLIONS of sub menus and those sub menus having get more choices

I.e

Progam===>submenu1===>sub sub menu1 and so on

>submenu2

It gets VERY unwieldy -- this is where people either put stuff on the desktop or taskbar to avoid these menu searches.

Also if you are using a notebook with a small screen the old menu system doesn't work very well on it either - sometimes you can't get all the stuff on to the menu. On a large screen or even a "Normal" laptop it's not a problem.


Fine if you just have OFFICE, Photoshop and possibly one or two other programs.

I don't mind the Metro start --just the Tiles are so ugly and it would be nice say when clicking some tiles to have a set of "sub tiles" rather than an infinite left scroll on the screen.

Cheers
jimbo

 

[Night Hawk]

For Tablet you can see the obvious advantage while for the desktop with a multitude of programs the constant back and forth to the Start screen is the drawback! What MS will need would be a desktop or portable mode option for system builders as well as the option to auto login on the desktop bypassing the Metro for those who won't be using any touchscreens.

Here I hardly ever use the Start except to restart or copy a new desktop shortcut since I have everything either pinned on the taskbar or mostly found in additional Quick Launch type toolbars as well as RocketDock. The methodology keeps everything organized under different catagories as well as a zero shortcut desktop for both displays.

As for Word in 8 that's now called the Windows Write just to make a note on that when wondering why there was no Word to find at first. Some name changes have been seen.