Microsoft's Windows 8 approach: Bold, arrogant, or both?

I believe Microsoft’s motives were sincere, but their decision was mistaken

Ed Bott has always shown a very balanced view of the Microsoft products. This article is an excellent summary of the Windows 8 problems and the challenges ahead.

Microsoft’s role as the kingpin of computing is long gone and some already consider it irrelevant or obsolete. Windows 8 and its ecosystem have all the ingredients to change that perception and make the next generation of computing devices very interesting. But even with flawless execution there’s no guarantee of success.

Microsoft's Windows 8 approach: Bold, arrogant, or both? | ZDNet
 
I could understand why MS made such a drastic change on Win 8. They are riding the tablet bandwagon and the changes they have made is purely based on a tablet GUI but still usable on regular desktop PCs. What I don't understand is why they made an assumption that the end user would easily adapt to those changes. A third party organization created Start8 to turn Win 8 GUI somewhat like a Win 7 which is a familiar interface to everyone since XP or earliers versions. They should have made this user interface option built-in to Win 8 for people using a desktop PC.

Change is a very welcome move... only to a certain extent.
 

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Nice thoughtful read, very comprehensive.

From the article:
They need to tweak the system extensively and use third-party utilities to achieve the desired result.

I, and most people, have always done this with every version of Microsoft Operating Systems including DOS.
In order to make DOS and Windows 3 work properly, I had to create hundreds of BAT files.
Mega Customization tools have been used by most every traditional desktop pc user.
I removed the start screen tiles and installed Décor 8. Others installed a traditional start menu.
Some added desktop gadgets and skinning tools. Big Wup.

The bickering about the lack of familiarity is what is driving the polarization.
And of course, the conspiracies about merchandising evils are rampant.
Does anyone believe in the free enterprise system across the pond?
 

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I, and most people, have always done this with every version of Microsoft Operating Systems including DOS.
In order to make DOS and Windows 3 work properly, I had to create hundreds of BAT files.

I don't think you can expect Joe and Mary Public to do that. Plus there are serious restrictions even for an advanced user. Read this evealuation I found on another forum:

So, why in all that's lovely in the land would I want to mess all that up for an OS that - by all accounts of people who actually do more than just check their Facebook page and play Angry Birds - is an obtuse, obscure, convoluted schizophrenic mess? I'm accustomed to having at least 3 desktops when I'm coding and editing and studying in Mint: why would I want to give that up for MS Window (no more 's')? And on top of this: pay for the privilege??? Seriously, it just doesn't... compute.

Something that all too often is ignored or held at no value by developers is: workflow. Windows has enabled a rich multi-tasking environment. Linux has taken that idea even further with multiple desktops. I can't see fitting my current workflow into Win8's restrictive tiled back-yard, and I suspect I'm not alone.
 

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If M$ had not included the RT UI in Windows 8 and built it for x 64 CPUs the masses would have accepted Windows 8 much better than Window 8. Instead they gave us a crippled UI made for RT.
 

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Hi there
Whatever those articles in the Technical Press say the Markets seem to have a reasonable amount of confidence in MSFT.

Even on a Market DOWN day (DOW down on the day -- usually is it seems on Fridays) MSFT isn't doing too badly -- the price on the whole is nudging upwards towards the 52 week high (unlike the Fruit Company - AAPL) and is near to breaking through "The Resistance point" of 29.00 USD -- any market traders on these Forums into "technical Analysis" will know what I'm talking about here. Note also that stocks often fall around "Earnings dates" -- the reason for this is quite complex and this Forum isn't the place to explain this - there are plenty of other sites available if people are interested such as :

Technical Analysis: Support And Resistance | Investopedia.

Skip the 10 sec advertisement first.

Enc todays Market graph.

Cheers
jimbo
 

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Linux has taken that idea even further with multiple desktops.

The desktop is an immersive app (In Windows 8). Multiple desktops are multiple immersive apps.
6 and 1/2 dozen the other.

....Something that all too often is ignored or held at no value by developers is: workflow. Windows has enabled a rich multi-tasking environment....

Like I said, doesn't anyone across the pond believe in or like the "free" enterprise system?
MS would stand to make a few bucks on app development, Is that wrong?
The desktop, and everything traditionally needed, is still there for now.
So, go ahead, install a start button, disable the metro and edges, and you (master productive types) are on your way.

Windows 8 might not succeed as some have said, although millions and millions - a failure?
It is a gamble. The stock market is a gamble. It is a risk adventure they can afford.
They (MS) have the right to pursue product development without a suggestion box.
 

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mdmd said:

Like I said, doesn't anyone across the pond believe or like the "free" enterprise system?
............


Hi there
What about those "In the middle of the Pond - Iceland - ".

We aren't people who use the whole apparatus of the State to block web sites at the whim of commercial organisations like the MAFIAA, arrest people in FOREIGN jurisdictions when these people are NOT breaking LOCAL laws, operate illegal "Jails" (Rendition I think it's called), carry out scores of "Black Ops" on behalf of the CIA or suspend people's basic rights on the grounds of "National Security" without anybody ever being given the slightest indication over what the "Emergency" is. -- If the CIA wanted to do something useful why not spend the time on Sabotaging N.Korea's Rocket / nuclear plants.

Sometimes I think people in the USA don't realize how many freedoms they've actually signed away for all sorts of silly reasons -- and experience shows that any suspension of "Human Rights" for any reason takes forever to restore again.

Don't get me wrong here -- I think pretty well ANYBODY in the "Free" world is much better off having the USA on THEIR side rather than having it as an enemy -- but other countries often have just as good if not a BETTER record of democracy than even the USA -- although with a population of around 300,000 it's difficult "To protect" anybody else except ourselves.

We also need to recognize that totally un-regulated "Free Enterprise" carries its own problems and a big issue is over what sort of control should we exercise over big business -- I think the recent Financial crisis and things like the ENRON scandal show that some sort of control needs to be exercised -- the great difficulty is in establishing the boundaries -- over to the Politicians as I'm just an Engineer.

As for the point - Ms isn't stupid -- it's bought out what it thinks *Might* work -- and in the long term probably will -- but even if it doesn't the Market will eventually force Ms to either provide a system people want or it will go under. Changes will CERTAINLY appear -- they always do. The 8.1 Blue release (leaked version) is a step in the right direction.

In any case NOBODY is forcing you to USE W8 if you don't like it -- W7's life cycle is guaranteed for at least another 7 years -- and that's almost a Geological epoch in computing terms these days.

Cheers
jimbo
 

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Freedom is expensive. Freedom isn't free.

So, why in all that's lovely in the land would I want to mess all that up for an OS that - by all accounts of people who actually do more than just check their Facebook page and play Angry Birds - is an obtuse, obscure, convoluted schizophrenic mess?

Rambling, inaccurate, false, insulting.

I'm accustomed to having at least 3 desktops when I'm coding and editing and studying in Mint:

Continue to use Mint.
 

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Well, if they're asking me the question, my answer is a resounding "Arrogance".
If Blue is more of the same, I would have to add "Ignorance" to the answer as well. Eventually they absolutely will have to realize that the vast majority of desktop users do NOT want the lame assed turkey they call metro( or whatever the f they're calling it today) "Fixing" metro won't help win8, period. The majority have spoken, with their wallets. Best they heed the warnings.
 

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Like I said, doesn't anyone across the pond believe in or like the "free" enterprise system?

I know you do. Highlighting in red makes me nervous.
 

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Thanks whs. This thread should get a lot of posts. Good Luck. Signing off.
 

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mdmd said:

Like I said, doesn't anyone across the pond believe or like the "free" enterprise system?
............


Sometimes I think people in the USA don't realize how many freedoms they've actually signed away for all sorts of silly reasons -- and experience shows that any suspension of "Human Rights" for any reason takes forever to restore again.

We are well aware and we're watching as our politicians further encroach on our rights as they attempt to disarm us all the while building up police and homeland security forces up to the level of SWAT teams and Special Operations. Our constitution is being tread on and we don't like it.

That being said, our biggest problem is the astronomical number of uneducated dumb a!@!% we have in this country that have learned that they can use their vote to get Obama phones and money from our treasury.

Too much sacrificing freedom for security. We used to give our lives for freedom. Now we give our freedoms for life.

I hope we hit a hard 10 years of time to remove all the chaff we have accumulated over the years.
 

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I listened to the Windows weekly podcast and they were discussing Windows 8. They made some good points

  1. Historically, MS has been behind the curve in lots of areas. This time they are really trying to get ahead of the curve and get people onboard in the infancy with touch and such
  2. Had Microsoft just released another Windows 7 and called it Windows 8, the people would complain that MS just doesn't get it and touch screens and such are the future and they are missing the curve and have screwed up and will be too late.

So, more or less, they cannot win.

The other thing they discussed was the "death of the PC". As Paul Thurrott said, iPad's sell 100 million and people rave about how unbelievably outstanding sales are, but yet the PC comes in around 78 million and they declare an apocalypse. It is what it is.
 

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But Patrick, it would have been so easy to provide both flavors. No need to massacre the desktop when you want to be modern on the tablets.
 

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But Patrick, it would have been so easy to provide both flavors. No need to massacre the desktop when you want to be modern on the tablets.

I think all they had to do was include a start menu and ability to boot straight to the desktop. Once I did both of these things, Windows 8 was fine. I don't use charms, and I almost never see the start screen.
 

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I listened to the Windows weekly podcast and they were discussing Windows 8. They made some good points

  1. Historically, MS has been behind the curve in lots of areas. This time they are really trying to get ahead of the curve and get people onboard in the infancy with touch and such
  2. Had Microsoft just released another Windows 7 and called it Windows 8, the people would complain that MS just doesn't get it and touch screens and such are the future and they are missing the curve and have screwed up and will be too late.

So, more or less, they cannot win.

The other thing they discussed was the "death of the PC". As Paul Thurrott said, iPad's sell 100 million and people rave about how unbelievably outstanding sales are, but yet the PC comes in around 78 million and they declare an apocalypse. It is what it is.

How on earth can they say that touch is in its infancy? It's now been around for almost a decade and certainly mainstream in mobile phone for at least half that time. It's where it works best. Touch is already being superseded by other technologies that will work with non-touch screens, so that you don't have to buy expensive touch screens for at least desktop systems.

I think that's where Microsoft has completely screwed up, by insisting that the desktop will look and work the same as a mobile phone. It shouldn't and doesn't need to do so. There is so much development happening with interface controls from waving your hands about, to eye tracking and even brain interfaces. The former two are moving along at a rapid pace and are even available right now.

Why this obsession with touch?
 

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Like I said, doesn't anyone across the pond believe in or like the "free" enterprise system?

Yes, that is why we are pointing out what is going on here.
 

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Why this obsession with touch?

Because its use has increased over the last couple of years. It will still increase for the next couple - until something better comes along. It is not exactly last years fad, but it is almost catching the market toward the end.

There seems to be strange assumption it will continue to increase increase exponentially, and all else will fade into insignificance.
 

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I think all they had to do was include a start menu and ability to boot straight to the desktop. Once I did both of these things, Windows 8 was fine. I don't use charms, and I almost never see the start screen.

The advantage MS was hoping to gain is clear.

They want everyone in the mobile phone as much as possible. That is how they push their services and their bundled ( read deeply integrated ) flagging products, like Bing.

Not sure why they haven't been challenged about that.

Perhaps it is because they are not seen as a threat.
 

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