Windows 8 - Deeper Impressions

[CharlotteTheHarlot]

From The Forums: Windows 8.1 mini-review ( NeoWin 2013-06-07 )

Nothing Earth-shattering here except that it is a review from a lukewarm Windows 8 user, so naturally the MetroTards are nitpicking his points and lack of 100% love for Microsoft Tles.

The thread veers into Aero Glass and the Start Menu so naturally our most special MicroZealot pops up, rattling off all the usual propaganda and some new angles. There is too much to quote in context but this is a classic. One smart commenter sets them up and ropes them in by describing ways they could improve the right-click Start Menu ( that abominable little thing that gives a quasi-similar looking traditional Start Menu ) ...

The "fake start button" is a step in the right direction (discoverable, target to aim at).

In particular, its right-click menu (try it!!) is a bit cluttered, but has lots of very useful options.

I think the right-click menu, useful though it is, could be improved still more.

- Make it a little PANEL, nicely laid out.

- And then it could have some submenus, and even be a bit customisable.

- Why not let it open with left-click? Why only right-click?

- And it would be really nice if it could also show a list of available programs to run. Why not, it shows almost every other thing you might want to do !!!

- Better yet, tidy it up by allowing the list to be arranged into subfolders, to avoid mess and clutter.

I believe these would be simple and desirable additional improvements to the start button right-click menu, to aid usability ;-)

I see what you did there....

and ladies and gentlemen, this is how lousy the start menu was.

Metro is very much a desktop driven UI, having its roots in the Media Center UI that debuted with Windows XP.

Desktop UI done badly, unfortunately, if that was the case. It ends up looking indistinguishable from what a scaled-up phone UI would be like, i.e. desktop-hostile.

The Start Screen is far from desktop hostile, and takes full advantage of today's wide and large scale monitors. Something the Start Menu never did.

And that ladies and gentlemen is MetroTardia. You gotta love that clever setup, right?

The last comment from the MetroTard-in-chief boils it right down to the core though, because they cannot even understand the purpose of the unobtrusive traditional Start Menu. He immediately cites the fact that it isn't full-screen as a negative. The purpose of the Start Menu was to open and disappear, this was in stark contrast to the huge folder interface in Windows 3.x. Now here's where the cognitive dissonance comes in. The traditional Start Menu is a quick appearing and disappearing pop on and off menu, and this is alien to them ... but ... the MetroTards embrace and extol the virtues of the Charms bar and other Metro GUI elements that do what? That's right, appear and disappear. These guys are stuck on stupid.

One more thing about this. If you read enough of this silliness you will notice that they really never used the traditional Start Menu correctly! You keep hearing about same number of clicks to do this or that. But the traditional Start Menu allows access to any part of it, no matter how many levels deep, with less than one click. That means a half-click ( button down ) to get to any part of it, and then release to execute it. Try it. You click on the Start Menu button and hold it and then can go anywhere from there. I don't know how it would be possible to do it in less clicks except for a GUI that uses mouse-over as a click ( and I think Vista and 7 might just have this in some quirky situations from what I have seen ), but it really is perfect as it is from a security standpoint or accidental click prevention.

From The Forums: Readers post their Windows 8.1 Start screens ( NeoWin 2013-07-04 )

Okay, so it's been two years since this twisted nightmare of a Playskool interface was hatched. Two years. Now all the MetroTards have had their time to tweak and customize their toys, you know, to differentiate themselves from each other and their MicroBorg collective. How have they done? Well not so good if you ask me. Visit the link to scroll through a bunch of examples and there are even more to see if you go to the forum link.

The point is simple, after all their blathering about fixing it up and personalizing all they have done is to re-create a cluttered desktop that we have seen for 18 years now, and in some ways even longer.

I made this a while ago and this is the perfect place for it ...

[Aero7x64]

Does anybody here, other than me think that slightly surrealistic design would be good idea? Why everything should have to be either flat or realistic?

This is example of very realistic design:

http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5260/5535287995_582289c70c_z.jpg

And Windows 8 is example of flat design.

slightly surrealistic design would remove need to try look realistic and would remove certain really realistic thinks but retaining transparent and translucent elements like glass and other elements that look shiny and modern.

Examples of slightly surrealistic design:

http://voyager9600.deviantart.com/art/Windows-7-Swirl-Wallpaper-156485118 (Grass is not used so it look less realistic to me at least, instead bubbles and swirls are used to create modern and shiny look)

http://image.shutterstock.com/display_pic_with_logo/844213/100115684/stock-vector-neon-illumination-shelves-100115684.jpg

http://image.shutterstock.com/display_pic_with_logo/844213/844213,1330285491,4/stock-vector-neon-glass-shelves-96130448.jpg

http://image.shutterstock.com/display_pic_with_logo/844213/844213,1330285490,2/stock-vector-aqua-glass-shelves-96130445.jpg

http://image.shutterstock.com/display_pic_with_logo/844213/844213,1329431465,2/stock-vector-glass-shelves-95350096.jpg

Edited July 8, 2013 by Aero7x64

[Formfiller]

Windows 8.1 preview removes Windows Experience Index ( NeoWin 2013-07-07 )

Poof goes another feature. Check out the thought progression of the NeoWin writer, this style skeleton gets a lot of use over there ...

Windows 8.1 may add a number of new features to Microsoft's latest OS, but it is also removing some features as well, such as the Messaging app.

Now it appears the public preview of Windows 8.1 has put an end to a feature that was originally put into Windows Vista back in 2007.

[...]

In practice, however, there was very little use of the Windows Experience Index by outside software makers, who ...

First they butter you up with fluff about some added features, then drop the hammer telling you a certain thing has been killed, then they finally slip in the official propaganda, this time a strawman about "outside software makers" not really using it ( wait, what? ) to shelve the whole story for good. Needless to say that the point of that benchmark was not for "outside software makers" at least not that I can recall, but as a basic layman diagnosis for weak points in performance for the purposes of hardware upgrading, and also as a rough estimate of the entire system rating. One does wonder though why they would remove it at all? It was working, now it is not. Why kill it? Battery life again?

I think it's because of the Surface. It's embarrassing that third party devices score better than Surface Pro (Cheap PC makers doing Windows better than MS? Impossible!). I guess it made a dent in the pride of the "devices and services" NuMicrosoft.

[Formfiller]

Another episode of "riling up the fantards":

http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1770699

Grab it while it's hot!

[CharlotteTheHarlot]

Does anybody here, other than me think that slightly surrealistic design would be good idea? Why everything should have to be either flat or realistic?

I love Surrealism. Sign me up.

I posted these earlier, Metatools and KPT kind of did it already. Drove sane people crazy.

( originals: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 )

I'm not perfectly sane, so I dig this stuff.

EDIT: typo

Edited July 8, 2013 by CharlotteTheHarlot

[CharlotteTheHarlot]

Another episode of "riling up the fantards":

http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1770699

Grab it while it's hot!

"PC's don't come with drives" and "What's a DVD?" Like I said, if it were left up to the 'tards all these years, Microsoft would have died long ago. Their fanboys are like Dr. Kevorkian.

How is it that the Softie and fanboys in that thread using Windows 8 are talking about every possible codec option except for K-Lite?

Dumb question I guess. Windows 8 was designed for them.

[JorgeA]

You can create local account in Windows 8.1 preview and to do so you need write someone@example.com and wrong password to Microsoft account then it will suggest you that you can create local account. Option is hidden obviously. Microsoft indeed is trying to get users to use Microsoft account by hiding this option but it is still there.

Nice trick, thanks for sharing it.

I've read in at least a couple of different places now (can't remember where, maybe even here ) that if you leave the computer unconnected to the Internet during Windows 8.1 setup, then you get the local account option.

--JorgeA

[JorgeA]

Windows 8.1 preview removes Windows Experience Index ( NeoWin 2013-07-07 )

Poof goes another feature. [...]

My take on this news is that the WE index would show embarrassingly low values for the cr*ppy devices that Metro was designed for. Imagine as a new buyer you proudly look up the WEI for your shiny tablet and it comes back with a 1.7 or something. Removing the WEI removes another possible focus of dissatisfaction with Windows 8.

--JorgeA

[JorgeA]

Great comments to that article :

... Good thing the new Kinect can recognise individual fingers; I can show them one ...

--JorgeA

[Formfiller]

Oh, the hardforums thread is getting hot. I think they could delete or lock it.

Edited July 8, 2013 by Formfiller

[Aero7x64]

Slight surrealism that I suggested is not any officially known surreal movement it is just design that I feel fit best in operating system design and has no official name. I feel that slightly surrealistic design would be nice. Especially slightly surrealistic improved Aero. Full surrealism doesn't fit in operating system design.

http://benguy12.deviantart.com/art/windows-8-aero-ish-login-screen-323040115

what you think about this? Little improved and more shiny and glassy login screen. Though grassy wallpaper doesn't fit.

http://voyager9600.deviantart.com/art/Windows-7-Swirl-Wallpaper-156485118

This kind of wallpaper fit better with glassy login screen.This wallpaper + aero-ish login screen at first link would make login screen more modern and shiny than login screen in Windows 7 which is good but can be improved.

Edited July 8, 2013 by Aero7x64

[jaclaz]

Well, someone has to say this:

The idea (if you use the PC for actual work), is that you don't spend much time looking at the desktop, 99.99% of the time you will be looking into one or more programs.

This desktop background is very good :

and the corresponding login page does what it is supposed to do (logging on):

jaclaz

[Aero7x64]

Well, someone has to say this:

The idea (if you use the PC for actual work), is that you don't spend much time looking at the desktop, 99.99% of the time you will be looking into one or more programs.

This desktop background is very good :

and the corresponding login page does what it is supposed to do (logging on):

jaclaz

Sure, but desktop and login screen can also look better, more elegant and modern. After all hardware of current computers is so powerful that why not have shiny and glassy desktop and login screen as an option?

[Formfiller]

Arrrgh:

http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?p=1040028489#post1040028489

I am usually able to handle them very well (waging war with metrotards became a bit of a hobby), but this guy is a tough nut. No amount of arguments seems to move him. He is ridiculously calm even in the most heated threads. His techniques remind me of the "manual" I've posted here before:

http://pastebin.com/irj4Fyd5

Especially this part: Artificial Emotions. An odd kind of 'artificial' emotionalism and an unusually thick skin -- an ability to persevere and persist even in the face of overwhelming criticism and unacceptance. This likely stems from intelligence community training that, no matter how condemning the evidence, deny everything, and never become emotionally involved or reactive. The net result for a disinfo artist is that emotions can seem artificial.

With respect to being thick-skinned, no amount of criticism will deter them from doing their job, and they will generally continue their old disinfo patterns without any adjustments to criticisms of how obvious it is that they play that game -- where a more rational individual who truly cares what others think might seek to improve their communications style, substance, and so forth, or simply give up.

Given his insane post count, and that pretty much all his posts are about defending MS at all costs, think he's a shill. The best I've ever met. His arguments aren't great, but he has an outstanding ability to wear down people (a very annoying combination of emotionless passive-aggressiveness and playing dumb). His stuff is also quite boring, which, bizarrely, is helping his case because it adds to the annoyingness.

He has been teached well. A worthy opponent I must say.

Edited July 8, 2013 by Formfiller

[G8YMW]

You haven't latched onto the Metrotard Taliban Branch?

He just will not listen