Windows 8 - Deeper Impressions

[JorgeA]

More importantly to me, the questions I had above (were there any concessions from Redmond to the overwhelming criticism of the death of the Start Menu and Aero Glass effects) appear to be answered. NO!

Fanboy Central has an article where the writer and a pack of groupies gloat over the fact that most elements of Aero still remain in Windows 8. Most elements --- except for the most distinctive one, which is the transparent glass border around windows.

--JorgeA

[JorgeA]

Analyst: Microsoft Surface is the new Zune

...Tim Coulling, from leading technology market analysts Canalys, doesn’t think that Microsoft’s efforts will pay off. “The information available to date suggests the prices of both [the Windows RT Surface and Windows 8 Surface Pro tablets] will be too high to capture significant market share, and a direct sales approach will prove inadequate,” he explained, a reference to Microsoft’s plans to only sell the devices via its website and physical Microsoft Stores.

Worse still, Canalys believes that Surface will “have a similar impact on the PC industry as Zune did in portable music players”; despite being on sale for years, Microsoft’s Zune music players failed to sell in any great volumes, while Apple’s iPod went on to claim much of the market.

So the Metro UI failed in the Zune, in the Windows Phone, and now may well fail in the tablet market too. O Microsoft wisemen and fanboys, tell me again why it's such a great idea to graft it onto the Windows OS?

--JorgeA

[CoffeeFiend]

realized that it was only the Metro name that's being eliminated...

Indeed...

Analyst: Microsoft Surface is the new Zune

All I feel like saying is "duh!". Of course it'll fail... All it'll manage is make the other Win RT tablets seem even less attractive, and that's quite a feat in itself.

MS managed to repeatedly fail in the mobile world (WM, Zune, Kin, WP, ...) when it's a market with huge growth, and that, with devices that had a very similar interface. In fact, their one and only non-failure (if you can call it that) on the hardware side besides the usual keyboards & mice is the Xbox. And that's because they're selling the hardware at a loss, and that they sunk over 30 billions into it (which they might never recoup -- they're basically already due for a new design) and consumers have still been plagued with the RROD. You also get to pay for online gaming unlike all other consoles, the dashboard also has ads, and there's not that many exclusive titles either. Nevermind that the Wii clearly outsold it, and that they're *barely* ahead of the latecomer and hard-to-code-for PS3. Now, add to that the usual poor launch, like missing the back to school period with Win8. Or the lack of the Apple "cool factor". The unavoidable x86/ARM confusion in customers. The people stuck with a touch UI on their desktops who will quickly learn to hate everything Metro (or whatever you're supposed to call it now) which is already abundantly clear... There's simply no way it's not going to be a huge flop.

[CharlotteTheHarlot]

In other words you are confusing the N version (Windows Media Player related and for which MS was condemned/fined) with the E version (Internet Explorer or more generally "browser" related for which MS changed plans without having been condemned/fined).

No confusion, I was just in a hurry writing that comment. I am aware of the several different versions but of course have never had reason nor inclination to get copies of them.

Just to clarify what I meant ... the DoJ antitrust case set a bad precedent, paving the way for these current EU versions (and whatever more to come). My point is that the precedent was bad exactly because it was over a trivial matter and consequently all further manifestations derived from it will also be trivial. That's my point. The 800 pound gorilla is in fact antitrust, not the trivial anti-competitive practices of bundling a browser. Thanks to the DoJ, that 800 pound gorilla was left free to wreak havoc because the DoJ wasted their ammo shooting at phantoms. A conspiracy theorist might even believe that Microsoft setup the MSIE vs Netscape fiasco just to have the government waste time pursuing it all the while they were busy with backroom deals, strong-arming Dell, Gateway, HP, Compaq into exclusive deals, cementing the billion user base, setting up the current takeover attempt with a walled garden. (I don't subscribe to this setup conspiracy btw, but have strong reservations and suspicions about those backroom deals).

Amazingly, it all could have been much, much worse. After the 2000 judgment, I fully expected each and every free part of Windows to be challenged and eventually removed by every 3rd party software company. Calculator, Defrag, Notepad, Outlook Express, the list is endless. Then we would be left with DOS with a GUI. Needless to say, even the old traditional DOS would not survive under these circumstances since at least half of the internal and external commands could be challenged! For some reason only MSIE and WMP have been successfully targeted, but it really could have been the entire thing.

[dencorso]

In any case, the best replacemeny for the name "Metro" ought to be the prophetic "Fail'll" or "Failwill", or even "Fail-0"...

[CharlotteTheHarlot]

Fanboy Central has an article where the writer and a pack of groupies gloat over the fact that most elements of Aero still remain in Windows 8. Most elements --- except for the most distinctive one, which is the transparent glass border around windows.

These are exactly the kids I am talking about. Somehow when they were born or hatched they were missing the gene that respects choice. I read through that thread and I am still amazed at the obfuscation: 'Aero is still there crybabies, it's the same!'. No it is not the same, and we never meant simply 'Aero'. Duh. Some of them in other threads are saying Metro was really just a codename, nothing else happened. But what's the point of arguing, if they cannot even fathom the concept of choice and the individual private desktop customization that helped made Windows what is, arguing is pointless. They are sheep. Since it is a forum that apparently includes 10-year olds or younger, it might be considered child-abuse just challenging their notions. Neobond (Steven Parker) knows this but is just fine with having Neowin drift into irrelevancy as long as he gets click counts. More troubling to me is that TechSpot, a partner site, also shows signs of fanboyism. It must be contagious!

Ironically Stardock has a substantial stake in Neowin.

Stardock involvement with Neowin FAQ

I really admire Stardock and everything since I first tried Windows Blinds. They always seem to create stuff that I am looking for. Yet they still manage catch a lot of grief over there. Weird. Some people think Neowin is just over-correcting by lurching to the other side after being burned by Microsoft ...

Cnet: Microsoft speaks, [Neowin] site goes dark

We'll probably never know unless Neobond 'fesses up. For now he just links to that Cnet page when asked.

Microsoft Windows 8 : RTM ( Revising The Meme )

[CoffeeFiend]

Those are the same people that own a Windows Phone, a brown Zune with a Zune pass, who will buy a Surface on day one, and that praised Vista as the 2nd coming of Ballmer (their idea of a deity). And a handful of people that have no need for a computer and just want a tablet instead. And I'll say it: astroturfers and paid shills.

Unfortunately for MS, that tiny minority of the population won't make any statistically relevant change in sales figures.

Edit: Windows Server 2012 has also been leaked, and non-N versions of Win 8 too.

[JorgeA]

Another successful software creator weighs in against Windows 8:

If Microsoft decides to lock down Windows 8, it would be very, very bad for Indie games and competition in general. If we can keep open platforms around, there's going to be a lot of very interesting games in ten years, mixed in with the huge AAA games that we all love.

Any chance that the PC gaming community will help to pressure MS into relenting on its march toward Metrofying Windows and demanding a piece of the action via the Windows Store?

--JorgeA

Edited August 5, 2012 by JorgeA

[MagicAndre1981]

the RTM is so ugly. The 5 new lockscreens are ugly

and the new options to select the wallpapers are also ugly:

which doesn't look nice if you use them

You should really change the topic to "Deeper depressions". Windows 8 really has the worst and most ugly UI ever made ...

Edited August 6, 2012 by MagicAndre1981

[MagicAndre1981]

and the desktop without Aero Glass is also ugly

But the strange thing is, that Aero Glass is stil used, when you activate Aero Peek and the licence properties for Aero Glass are also stil present. So now we need a way to activate full Aero Glass Support gain, not this ugly workaroundwith the high contrast theme which activates an ugly Aero

[CharlotteTheHarlot]

and the desktop without Aero Glass is also ugly

But the strange thing is, that Aero Glass is stil used, when you activate Aero Peek and the licence properties for Aero Glass are also stil present. So now we need a way to activate full Aero Glass Support gain, not this ugly workaroundwith the high contrast theme which activates an ugly Aero

Agreed. It completely negates the most visible visual advancement out of Microsoft in years, I think the last one of note was msstyles for WinXP. They could have left Aero glass in and let it be handled by the visual settings selector ('set for best performance' or 'best appearance') which was the entire purpose of that dialog!

Anyway, those pictures are with Explorer.exe from RTM, but any images using the Tihiy mod using Explorer.exe from Win7, or possibly one of the three Win8 betas?

[CoffeeFiend]

You should really change the topic to "Deeper depressions". Windows 8 really has the worst and most ugly UI ever made ...

For a while I was thinking about "derper impressions", but yeah. Just like you said.

[JorgeA]

OK, here's an interesting visual illustration of how great an "advance" Microsoft has made with Windows 8.

First, a screenshot of Windows 1.0:

And now, a screenshot of the "modern" Windows 8:

Note the similarity of the two in terms of the flatness of the look. Even Windows 3.1 had visual "depth" elements in the buttons!

In what sense can the Windows 8 look be considered an advance? Vista and even Windows 7 are leagues ahead of Win8 in visual sophistication.

--JorgeA

[Joseph_sw]

probably a deliberate attempts of desktop's ugly-fication,

perhaps to achieve something like: "oh look, the metro part actually look better" or similar crappy-mindset like that.

of course, if the W8 desktop were beautiful that mean less incentive to switch/use to W8' Metro/Tiles.

I believe MS knew transition to metro will even harder, if they dont' make anything non-metro more-worse than before.

[JorgeA]

probably a deliberate attempts of desktop's ugly-fication,

perhaps to achieve something like: "oh look, the metro part actually look better" or similar crappy-mindset like that.

of course, if the W8 desktop were beautiful that mean less incentive to switch/use to W8' Metro/Tiles.

I believe MS knew transition to metro will even harder, if they dont' make anything non-metro more-worse than before.

Wow, if that's their strategy, it would be remarkable for its sneakiness. I wouldn't be surprised to learn that this did enter into their thinking (even if it wasn't the main reason for degrading the looks of the windows).

BTW, in addition to the flatness, note another similarity between Win1 and Win8 -- the squared-off corners.

--JorgeA