Microsoft on Windows 8 Haters: We Could See This Coming

Windows chief Julie Larson-Green recently talked about Windows 8 and Windows Blue during the WIRED Business Conference, confirming not only a major upgrade for the OS, but also the intense criticism it received since October 2012.

There’s no doubt that Windows 8 is one of the most controversial products ever released by the tech giant, but Julie Larson-Green says everybody in the Redmond campus could see this coming.

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The explanation is quite simple, actually. The company made so many changes in Windows 8 that it was quite obvious that some users, be they experienced or beginners, might encounter difficulties when it comes to exploring them.

One of the things Microsoft could change in the next Windows Blue is the way users launch apps. Sources familiar with the matter hinted that Blue could mark the Start button’s comeback, even though there are some signs that it might actually be just a simple shortcut for the Start Screen.

Microsoft on Windows 8 Haters: We Could See This Coming


Maybe they think that money will cure there problems.

 

[SIW2]

McRuff
I have noticed that people who do not like metro attack the product. The fans of the interface attack their opponents. Calling them Whiners, haters, afraid of change. To lazy to make one little click to get to the desktop and so on.

The lazy and /or afraid comes up a lot.

It seems some desperately need their choices approved.

 

[Wind0ws8]

Why don't they add an option to have a start menu or a screen?

 

[Jody Thornton]

They will in Windows 9...lol.

Wow this is an ancient thread.

 

[burtie]

They will in Windows 9...lol.

Wow this is an ancient thread.

I just came to that conclusion only after reading through half of the posts on the first page! lol

 

[Winuser]

When I started reading this post I was wondering why M$ was taking a step backwards. It pays to check post dates.

 

[popeye]

When I started reading this post I was wondering why M$ was taking a step backwards. It pays to check post dates.

 

[musiclover7]

"Larson-Green emphasized once again that the software company was more open to customer feedback, explaining that Microsoft’s staff is now reading basically every single detail about Windows 8 that reaches the web."

And people wonder why I often try to post such detailed, critical posts within this forum. There are those around here who have even written things like, "Why do you keep harping on the negative. Do you really think someone from Microsoft will read your post and take some sort of action because of it?" Well, as it turns out, maybe they will. Truth be told, quite a few of my initial gripes with Win8 were addressed in some of the updates. Now if they could just add folders/containers to the stinking start screen already, to make it easier to group apps. Oh well...

 

[oneeyed]

"Larson-Green emphasized once again that the software company was more open to customer feedback, explaining that Microsoft’s staff is now reading basically every single detail about Windows 8 that reaches the web."And people wonder why I often try to post such detailed, critical posts within this forum. There are those around here who have even written things like, "Why do you keep harping on the negative. Do you really think someone from Microsoft will read your post and take some sort of action because of it?" Well, as it turns out, maybe they will. Truth be told, quite a few of my initial gripes with Win8 were addressed in some of the updates. Now if they could just add folders/containers to the stinking start screen already, to make it easier to group apps. Oh well...

That MS listens or reads feedback sure, and their assurances that they will focus on that is cool. That's good. But that they will ACT on such feedback is another thing entirely.

A lot of complaints about windows have been about the start menu. It is actually a very interesting UI component and shouldn't be replaced by Search but complementary. When you have lots of programs, having the info organized in a tree is very useful. It's kinda like looking for sites on the internet via directories (DMOZ for example) compared to a Search engine. Both are different and complementary ways to search information.

I'll be honest here, implementing a classic start menu is VERY easy programatically. It's only a menu that is filled with files from the '\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs' directory . A couple of minutes is enough to get that in any visual programming language, not kidding or exagerating here, only minutes. And what has MS done ? They LISTENED... and gave you a crappy shortcut to the Metro UI.... Sigh. So yeah I don't count on this "feedback" having much influence on MS decisions.

I don't consider myself a hater mind you, but I don't have much faith in MS basing their product on what the customers feel like they want. Some highly paid guys do the decisions for you, and you don't enter the picture, they "anticipate" customer needs and if that's contrary to what most people want then too bad, you'll just have to adapt.

 

[musiclover7]

Well.. Some of my early complaints that I did not see raised all over, were addressed in the initial 8.1 release. For instance, I really disliked the fact that when installing apps in the original release, you would wind up with a shortcut on your start screen for ever piece that used to wind up in the start menu folder. This meant, that after installing a program like Quickbooks, or Sql Server, you would have like 5-10 new icons cluttering up your start screen. This was addressed in 8.1.

I still say that the organization of the start screen and the all apps screen is far from decent. They could fix a lot of the issues by just giving us the ability to clump apps into folders, similar to what you can do in both IOS and Android. In a similar fashion, on my all apps page, I do not need a direct link to all 10 applets that got installed when I loaded Visual Basic, I just need a folder that contains all of them called visual basic. To many individual links, means stuff gets cluttered and lost, which is why I still rarely use this stuff that they created.

 

[Mystere]

And people wonder why I often try to post such detailed, critical posts within this forum. There are those around here who have even written things like, "Why do you keep harping on the negative. Do you really think someone from Microsoft will read your post and take some sort of action because of it?" Well, as it turns out, maybe they will. Truth be told, quite a few of my initial gripes with Win8 were addressed in some of the updates.

It's unlikely that anything you said influenced Microsoft. More than likely, this was because of input from deep pockets in Microsoft's business customers.

Now if they could just add folders/containers to the stinking start screen already, to make it easier to group apps. Oh well...

They do have containers in the start screen. You can create groups of icons, name them, etc... Then, in the all programs folder, there are folders, although they are expanded by default. Ctrl+scroll will collapse them. But, that's probably not what you were talking about...

 

[waltc]

The reason is that 8 is really that good when one learns it and sees what MS is trying to accomplish.

Given what MS are trying to accomplish, it might seem surprising 60m people are actually using it. Probably because a lot of them don't know what MS is trying to do.

MS may have to tone it down it somewhat - that will likely work out better for them

I've been using Win8.x since January 2013, after purchasing it and Media Center direct from Microsoft for $39.99. In all that time I have not used either the start page or the "modernUI" or whatever Microsoft is calling Metro now. I daresay most people using it today are using it this way. For some reason Microsoft has tried to hide the fact that the Win7 explorer.exe UI is alive and well inside Win8.1. Use of "Metro" as indeed the start page is and always has been optional inside Windows 8. No one should ever assume that the majority of people on Win8 are using Metro because I'm quite certain they are not. UNLESS we're talking about a touch-screen device as that's the only hardware on which the Metro UI makes sense and has value.

Windows 8.x is better than Win7. Noticeably better. But only after you get past the lousy bolted on Metro GUI... If Metro wasn't optional I doubt Win8 sales would be 25% of what they've been. If "butt-ugly" is a design metric, then Microsoft nailed it squarely in Win8's Metro GUI--my eyes have not beheld this primary-color level of ugliness since kindergarten...fortunately, Win8 is not constrained to that default and no 3rd-party software is required to make Windows a feast for the eyes again...! (Still do need a 3rd-party start menu, however, to Microsoft's everlasting shame.)

 

[Rickkins]

[h=1][/h][h=1] Microsoft on Windows 8 Haters: We Could See This Coming
[/h]

And yet.....

 

[Mystere]

I've been using Win8.x since January 2013, after purchasing it and Media Center direct from Microsoft for $39.99. In all that time I have not used either the start page or the "modernUI" or whatever Microsoft is calling Metro now. I daresay most people using it today are using it this way.

It's funny how everyone seems to think that the way THEY use their computer is the way EVERYONE uses their computer.

The fact is, most people who buy a computer get one with Windows 8 because that's what's in the stores. Most people don't know that there are start menu replacements. Most people just use it the way it comes.... To say "I daresay most people using it today are using it this way" assumes that everyone is geeky enough to reconfigure their systems...

 

[CountMike]

Yeah really, it's funny how that "everyone" or "average" works. There's a saying in my country about "Average": "I eat cabbage, you eat meet and as an average we eat cabbage rolls".

 

[David Bailey]

Hog=Microsoft
Acorn=What customers want

 

[Rickkins]

I do like cabbage rolls.

 

[waltc]

I've been using Win8.x since January 2013, after purchasing it and Media Center direct from Microsoft for $39.99. In all that time I have not used either the start page or the "modernUI" or whatever Microsoft is calling Metro now. I daresay most people using it today are using it this way.

It's funny how everyone seems to think that the way THEY use their computer is the way EVERYONE uses their computer.

The fact is, most people who buy a computer get one with Windows 8 because that's what's in the stores. Most people don't know that there are start menu replacements. Most people just use it the way it comes.... To say "I daresay most people using it today are using it this way" assumes that everyone is geeky enough to reconfigure their systems...

You've got a point, I suppose, as most people are fairly clueless about many things... But my point is simply to let people know that if they don't like Metro, they don't have to use it, because Microsoft doesn't force them to use it, regardless of how it comes configured on the machine they buy. Very simple. Geeky? Well, let's see, not using Metro in Win8.1 involves the following "geeky" steps...

1) Using the standard Win8.1 Microsoft taskbar options to setup the desktop as your boot-to screen, if you aren't already doing that.

2)Installing one (1) third-party program like Classic Shell (for the start menu), and then setting that up via the program's own point-and-click options.

And...you're done. At this point you can operate 8.1 just like you operated Win7. I realize that some people will find the above instructions far too complex to comprehend, let alone carry out. I think that's a shame and I weep for them. Otherwise, there is absolutely nothing I can do about it, so blaming me for informing those very people of options they might not be aware of hardly seems rational. The more informed people are the better off they are, seems to me. Staying stupid and clueless benefits no one.

And, yes, many, many people are running Win8.1 sans Metro because it is so easy to do--how many millions I do not know, of course.

 

[Rxd]

And you can always get your new car repainted... But I think you should be able to get the color you want

 

[David Bailey]

And you can always get your new car repainted... But I think you should be able to get the color you want

“Any customer can have a car painted any colour that he wants so long as it is black.”
― Henry Ford

:shock:

 

[Antilope]

I must admit the Windows 8.1 default color hurt my eyes. I couldn't change it fast enough. Who thought that the average person would like that?

I like Windows 8.1 and haven't added any 3rd party menu apps, just some themes to change the color schemes it comes with.