Windows 8

[Howell]

I'm talking about Metro, the user interface, not Windows 8, the operating system. I thought we were all talking about the fact that some people like the GUI and some don't.
What we are really talking about is that people need access to their data. If the interface is too cumbersome OR too restrictive for a particular user you fail the test for that user.
Now back to what I was saying about Apple. It is difficult to be all things to all people OOB. And Apple chose to reduce the number of variables by being all things to a select group of people. Microsoft could do the same with a different niche.

 

[Mercutio]

Wait. There are people who like MetroUI?

 

[ddrueding]

The only people I know using Metro are those that didn't know an alternative exists.

 

[LiamC]

I'm talking about Metro, the user interface, not Windows 8, the operating system. I thought we were all talking about the fact that some people like the GUI and some don't.
What we are really talking about is that people need access to their data. If the interface is too cumbersome OR too restrictive for a particular user you fail the test for that user.
Now back to what I was saying about Apple. It is difficult to be all things to all people OOB. And Apple chose to reduce the number of variables by being all things to a select group of people. Microsoft could do the same with a different niche.

I don't think you can separate Win8 and Metro. I agree that Apple chose their niche very well, but Microsoft is still trying to be jack-of-all-trades, whilst attempting to push Metro/Windows store. As a result, it's doing none of the things well, and it's pissing people off.

And I'm not sure the niche exists. Apple and Android have already staked their respective claims. What's left?

 

[Chewy509]

The thing is, most commodity installations are covered in great depth

Tablet/Phone: Android/iOS/RIM/Win
Console: WiiU/PS3/XBox
Desktop: MacOSX/Win/Linux
SME Server: Win (and some Linux)
Enterprise Server: IBM Mainframe/Solaris/AIX/HP-UX/VMS/Win/Linux
Cloud: Linux mostly (and a tiny fraction is Win)
Embedded: QNX/VXWorks/Linux, etc.

The only area where MS dominates is SMB Server and Desktop (enterprise, SME and home). Otherwise they are a minor player in most other spaces... Consoles are slightly different, as they are short lived market with the share effectively resetting at each console release...

The thing is, Microsoft is the only one charging for an operating system these days? Sure, RedHat, Oracle, IBM all have service contracts, but none of these are aimed at a commodity home market... I think MS lost the memo that the OS is a commodity item these days, Linux has shown it, Apple only charges a few dollars for the new Mac OS X versions... Heck, even Oracle allows home users to run Solaris 11 for free!

As LiamC has pointed out and I agree, LibreOffice is fine for home/SMB, except where there is a lot of VBA or automation taking place... Google Apps is taking off.... So MS Office is on the edge of losing share in the desktop office application space as well...

About the only steady hold MS has at the moment is Exchange, and that's only because no one else has stepped up to try to displace this hydra of software. (All that is needed is integrated email/calendaring/contacts with seamless smartphone support is a really good application, that can be locked down appropriated - something GMail can't do since your email is effectively in Googles hands). Sure any decent Linux/UNIX admin can put together a LDAP server/Postfix/etc server together, but it's not seamless and is difficult to administer for someone who is lost without a GUI and how has a poor understanding of the architecture as a whole.

So what areas are left for MS?

As a side note: Amusingly, I've been invited to an Open Source meeting at Uni next week, and the major sponsor: Microsoft! WTF!

 

[Mercutio]

Microsoft also makes tons and tons of money supporting application development. Visual Studio is probably the best development environment I've ever seen and the documentation and ecosystem for building code really are first rate. Of course Microsoft wants to encourage people to use its tools!

So, OK, there are no new worlds to conquer. Not quite true, but the obvious stuff is being dealt with. Microsoft's current position is that we need a unified UI for all of our electronic interaction, and that interface should involve blocky, colorful Live Tiles, minimal window management and finger-friendly interaction. OK fine. In theory, the benefit of doing that is that someone familiar with one system will be able to operate the rest with little difficulty. I sort-of buy that, but it for the most part people manage to work fairly complex non-standard user interfaces all the damned time (to whit: THE ENTIRE WORLD WIDE WEB).

When I look at the stuff people have a hard time with in 2013, it's no so much computers or phones or game machines but TVs, set-top boxes, ovens, security systems, thermostats, lighting systems and the like - basically systems that now have electronic controls and features we never would have dreamed of 30 years ago but with god-awful interfaces built around the finest technologies that 1980s-era Communist Nations could produce.

 

[Bozo]

I just watched one of the demos of Windows 8.1. Microsoft still don't get it. Seems all the so called improvements were made to Metro for phones and tablets. Not one mention of the desktop user or the Start Button/Menu.

 

[Mercutio]

Honestly, the only thing that's wrong with the desktop experience on Windows 8 is that some things involve Metro and the Start screen.

 

[Tannin]

OMG! I just used the search function in Win 8 for the first time. Vomitsville! The interface is so bad that I honestly do not believe it. I mean, for the love of Mike, the user interface for searching was something Microsoft got pretty much right with Windows 95! How hard can it be to do something even half as well as you did it almost 20 years ago?

Unbelievable!

 

[Mercutio]

It's acceptable if you're already in an application supported by the interface, like the Store. It's god awful for general purpose search because unlike Windows 7's version, it expects you to either search for a program by default (probably wrong) or else immediately choose the context for the search (stupid because regular users won't understand that).

That said, they've restored the Windows 7 behavior for 8.1. So that's good at least.

 

[Tannin]

Sigh. All I wanted was to look for a missing JPG file which wasn't present in its proper folder. Where the bloody hell was the navigation tree so that I could select a suitable start point (such as one of my hard drives)? Unbelievably bad! All I could see was that asinine bloody ribbon thing morphing all over the place and never showing me the same thing in a row. Steve Sinofsky must be the most brain-dead senior software exec to ever draw a paycheque.

The only real question now is - can Microsoft find someone with a clue now, or are there more like him?