YouTube Video Shows How "Real People" React To Windows 8

Consumers downloaded the Windows 8 Consumer Preview over a million times in less than 24 hours, but we're willing to bet that the majority of those downloads came from the technically inclined rather than, say, your parents. The tech world has already proclaimed what it likes and doesn't like in Windows 8 -- but do everyday people really care if W8 has an enhanced contact app? Can everyday people even locate the contact app in W8? Lockergnome's Chris Pirillo decided to put the W8 interface to the test by plopping his elderly father down in front of the new OS with no introduction.

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Maximum PC | YouTube Video Shows How "Real People" React To Windows 8


[video=youtube;v4boTbv9_nU]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v4boTbv9_nU[/video]

 

[Night Hawk]

The "Big Deal"? It's more of a matter of prospective! Any beta will always look a bit crude to start with since it is just that. Beta!

One click to get to the desktop is certainly no biggie here. The new gui can be a bit staggering for the novice user however kind of where 8 is headed to be the new "Geek's OS" formerly given to all those open source OSs!

I think area 66 hit it closer on the button with the comment about it being more of a phone OS which compliments Windows Phone 8 perhaps as well as Tablet PC seemingly moving away from an actual desktop OS people would normally be expecting to see.

Just like the word on Linux the other guy's OS was always if you can get it to run... blah blah blah MS is leaning in that direction to some degree with all the "hidden" menus rather then having something like a button bar for Start screen, Personalization, Settings, etc. where people can at least "find things" to some extent as the YT clip brings to bear.

At least the one thing MS did mostly in the past prior to 7 with any retail release was include a large paperback along with the media in a larger carton. With 7 you saw a small booklet in a convenient but "delicate" plastic case. What will they do with 8? now that they have made a major GUI change is yet to be seen.

The largest problem I have seen here so far has not been with the new look but simply getting a VM connected online! For some reason the 8 VM is looking for device drivers detecting the host's hardwares directly! As we all know installing drivers for any VM OS for physical devices is a bit awkward and rare since virtual appliances are typically seen.



The rest is simply "getting acquainted with" 8's Metro UI just as if you were trying out an entirely new OS. Problematic at first as with any newer version and a bit more confusing at the start no doubt. But eventually you get there. One of these years anyways!

Meanwhile here's another pair of W8 YT clips one by the geeks seen at Windows 8 Consumer Preview Hands On! - Tekzilla Daily Tip - YouTube

Then there's the official CP Demo with some harsh comments made by viewers note seen at Windows 8 Consumer Preview Official Demo - YouTube

You will notice the negative however is mainly directed at the Metro UI itself.

 

[whs]

That get's me back to my " Where is the beef" discussion. I think MS was too busy to implement the ARM support and to introduce the Metro that there were few resources left to come up with new, exciting functions for the desktop. The better performance probably came from the ARM effort (a prerequisite on mobile devices). But for more they just ran out of resources. I am sure, Windows 9 and 10 will fix that and we will see a lot more exciting stuff.

So yes, Win8 will probably be a disappointment for the PC - but in the meantime MS will rake up a new money from the mobile devices.

 

[Night Hawk]

I found it discouraging more then being a flop in that sense since they had something working from scratch with 7 and then go off in bewilderment of user with some abstract mobile orientated OS! I think we both will be looking to see what 9 and 10 if those are called by number again will offer for the desktop as well as just what the RTM for 8 will actually look like.

As far as sales they extended support for 7 until 2020 suggesting they know 7 will still be selling leaving room for them to "experiment" with mobile OS for grabbing market there!

What will kill 8 sales however would be those who are strictly desktop users planning to upgrade out of XP or Vista into a newer version not having gone for 7 and then running into... Metro UI!

"Hey where did Windows go?!" will be like the dismay and confusion illustrated in the YT clip which does make a good analogy for MS to think about in the long term.

 

[jimbo45]

Hi there
C'mon guys -- ever seen how "Ordinary People" seem totally flummexed when standing in front of an ATM -- Sometimes you can see them taking 10 Mins !!!!! yes 10 Mins over what is essentially a trivial transaction.

Same again to a lesser extent in SuperMarkets.

I might be being a bit "Sexist" here but from my own experiences in lots of countries --doesn't matter what the "Line" is for --if you have to stand in one ALWAYS choose the line with THE LEAST WOMEN in it.

(To the fairer sex : Please tell me why is it when you are in a Supermarket line and you finally get to the checkout you THEN start searching in your bag for your credit card etc --which is invariably at the bottom and you have to empty all sorts of stuff to get at it --can't you do it when you are NEXT in line !!!!!).

Cheers
jimbo

 

[SIW2]

Well Jimbo,

If ( as you claim ) people do have trouble working an ATM - that mean MS should be aware that real people are like that.


BTW - it should be fewest

Least is the superlative of little.

Fewest is the superlative of few.

 

[whs]

Hi there
C'mon guys -- ever seen how "Ordinary People" seem totally flummexed when standing in front of an ATM -- Sometimes you can see them taking 10 Mins !!!!! yes 10 Mins over what is essentially a trivial transaction.

Same again to a lesser extent in SuperMarkets.

I might be being a bit "Sexist" here but from my own experiences in lots of countries --doesn't matter what the "Line" is for --if you have to stand in one ALWAYS choose the line with THE LEAST WOMEN in it.

(To the fairer sex : Please tell me why is it when you are in a Supermarket line and you finally get to the checkout you THEN start searching in your bag for your credit card etc --which is invariably at the bottom and you have to empty all sorts of stuff to get at it --can't you do it when you are NEXT in line !!!!!).

Cheers
jimbo

Jimbo, you are exactly right. I always try to avoid the lines with a lot of females. They stand there forever but only when the cash register rings do they start looking for their money - if you are lucky. I have seen where they were on their cell phone and you had to wait until they were done babbling. Once I blew my top and said something that was not nice.

In Europe that is a bit different. Since you have to pack your stuff yourself, they are at least busy doing something. And people are a lot more rude than in the US. They push you out of the store if you hold up traffic.

 

[area 66]

Please tell me why is it when you are in a Supermarket line and you finally get to the checkout you THEN start searching in your bag for your credit card etc --which is invariably at the bottom and you have to empty all sorts of stuff to get at it --can't you do it when you are NEXT in line !!!!!).

Cheers
jimbo

How come you know my wife ?

 

[NoUserName]

I am probably the same age as the grandfather in the video and Win8 has me flustered but still trying. Perhaps part of the problem is I loaded it on my Mac so the drivers may not be perfect. I sat there for a while trying to find the menu screen which is apparently hidden on the right side of the screen and is like trying to shoot moving targets at the Carnival. Everytime I'd see it pop up it would disappear before I could mouse it.

I would get confused with the nice apps on how to return to the desktop while wondering if the app was running in the background. Sometimes when the carnival shoot menu appeared it would fool you as it may or may not show the Control Panel which I sorely needed. Sometimes it led you back to the apps you were trying to escape. As I said, maybe it was the display on my Mac that screwed up the hidden menu.

I like it but it will take a lot more getting use to. I've used Windows for years but I am basically a point and click so anything beyond that is a mystery to me in computers. Like grandpa, I love my Mac and wouldn't have bothered with Windows except that damned Intuit has made a Quicken product for Mac that sucks. They must be in cahoots with Bill G lol.

 

[whs]

From grandpa to grandpa - I made you a little tutorial. Maybe that can get you started. http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials/4899-windows-8-getting-started-video.html

 

[Night Hawk]

I think where some of the confusion has been in that is intended to be the "Touchscreen OS for PC". You once had an XP Pro x64 back in 2005 which hardly saw any support or users for that matter. And then onto the 64bit Vista will install problems where more then 2gb of memory was installed and then onto a large success with 7.

Now comes the flood of Netbooks, Smart phones, even Windows Phones as well as what? A totally new gui for the desktop PC?!

As Sean Connery would have put it in an old Jame Bond movie, "Positively Shocking!" MS finally pulled one of the hat that has everyone flabbergausted!

 

[MINKIN2]

in front of the new OS with no introduction

This is the key. Without any guidance it will be hard for a non-geek. But I found that a 1 hour rundown of the main features makes average users quite comfortable. For XP, Vista or Win7 you would need more time to explain the basics.

Yep, I agree it will be very hard for a non geek. The very point of the Start button back in 85 was to help non-geeks (even the geeks back then I guess) and give them that one consistant point to launch their program and be productive. Heck, I spend my working day looking at the cmd prompt and even I had to go searching for it. I finally gave up and opened task manager in the end.

My big problem with this is the lack of a shutdown button. This is the one place where MS are really missing the point with the whole desktop/tablet OS. I see that Win8 is going to be compatible with ARM machines and that's good, ARM machines do not require to be powered off as often and draw very little power, hence they are favored by Mobile manufacurers. However X86 machines such as desktops and even laptops to a lesser extent are very power hungry and by their nature require more frequent reboots.

Also what normal user would want to keep their PC on all day? Electricity cost mone, consumers will want to turn it off.

 

[area 66]

Also what normal user would want to keep their PC on all day? Electricity cost mone, consumers will want to turn it off.

I let certain of my PCs run 24/7 other have the sleep mode enable, you can use the power button of the case to shutdown.

 

[MINKIN2]

Now now remember our computers 101 training. Improper shut downs can lead to undesired affects, that is why we have shutdown buttons. Haha

Of course we might be aware of any issues that can be caused by doing this and would also make sure any work that we doing has been saved before hitting the button but many of the Muggles would still throw a wobbler when their excel docs become corrupt.

 

[area 66]

Now now remember our computers 101 training. Improper shut downs can lead to undesired affects, that is why we have shutdown buttons. Haha .

Have you try to use a recent computer recently? ..Computer 101 training LOL, when did you get your lass course ? 10 years ago ? .. If you press the power button for 1 second on a recent computer, it's the same as clicking on the shutdown Icon of Windows 7, it send a commend to shut down the PC. To close the computer like you seem to think it will happen, you have to press the power button form more than 5 seconds.

 

[Hopachi]

Yes today the power button is safe unless you use Win 98 or something old where apci schemes don't work well.

Unplugging cable from socket, now that's bad.

 

[MINKIN2]

Ok the computer101 comment was a little tongue in cheek, but please do not believe that pressing the power button does the same thing as clicking the shutdown button. When hold down the power button and let go you are giving the signal to the CMOS to power down, effectively cutting the power to the rest of the mobo regardless of what the OS is doing at that time. Doing this is often the main reason why PCs initiate the Disk Check sequence if the pc was writing to the HDD at the time of shutdown.

In contrast, clicking on the Shutdown button will give windows the signal to start closing down it services, background processors and also prompting the user if they still have programs running (if any), before sending the signal to power off the PC. This is the safe and correct shut down procedure.

And yes, I do use pcs a lot. I am an IT technician for a pharmaceutical company where force shutdowns are common, so we need to be aware of this procedure.

 

[whs]

Yes today the power button is safe unless you use Win 98 or something old where apci schemes don't work well.

Unplugging cable from socket, now that's bad.

One of my neighbors kept shutting here XP system down - with the switch on the surge protector. She had routinely done that for years - never had any problems.

 

[area 66]

but please do not believe that pressing the power button does the same thing as clicking the shutdown button. When hold down the power button and let go you are giving the signal to the CMOS to power down, ..

No it's not, it send a signal to Windows and depending on your setting in the power option it will, shutdown, hibernate, sleep or do nothing , it's in control panel, see the picture down

Doing this is often the main reason why PCs initiate the Disk Check sequence if the pc was writing to the HDD at the time of shutdown..

Windows will restart normally as it was shutdown properly

And yes, I do use pcs a lot. I am an IT technician for a pharmaceutical company where force shutdowns are common, so we need to be aware of this procedure.

LOL, let's say that your company have to send you on training.....

 

[MINKIN2]

Thank you but I know where the power options are, and even knew that before I became Microsoft Certified. But please, tell me what you think windows is doing when you see the words "Windows is shutting down"? Because it ain't just sending a kill all power signal directly to the CMOS.

 

[area 66]

Thank you but I know where the power options are, and even knew that before I became Microsoft Certified. But please, tell me what you think windows is doing when you see the words "Windows is shutting down"? Because it ain't just sending a kill all power signal directly to the CMOS.

Why you call it CMOS ? , it's a BIOS or UEFI, CMOS " Complementary metal–oxide–semiconductor " is a technology for constructing integrated circuits. Bios can be a chips made with CMOS technology, but not all the CMOS are BIOS

Please stop to say your work as an IT or you are Microsoft Certified, in another tread you said that Metro is an interactive screen saver. this is why another members reply with this ; ROTFLMAO. it's easy to see you have very limited knowledge of Windows.

Can you just try the Power Button for 1 sec, you will see it close the aplications and give you also the Windows is shutting down.

Anyway this start to be very off topic.