"Oh no, I don't want all that cr*p on my screen!"

[JorgeA]

I'm putting this on its own thread, instead of in "Deeper Impressions," for (hopefully) greater visibility:

We were a bit early for a World Series party tonight and, to kill some time, drove to a big-box electronics store. I decided to test my wife's reaction to the Windows 8 Start Screen that's proliferating on store shelves this week, and asked her to walk with me to the computer department.

"Here, let me show you what Windows 8 looks like," I said as she came out of the ladies' room.

When we reached the laptop section, I pointed to one of the many purple Start Screens full of squares and rectangles.

Unprompted, she said to me, "Oh, no -- I don't want all that cr*p on my screen!"

--JorgeA

Edited October 25, 2012 by JorgeA

[Tripredacus]

I think people who go into Windows 8 thinking of the classic desktop experience are the ones who are going to have the most problems, because it is radically different. It is even radically different from the Apple PC experience, which also uses a desktop style UI. Those coming from a smart-phone perspective will be able to go about it easier since it is not that much of a transition.

[JorgeA]

That makes sense.

One more note about that visit to the store. The salesman was making a big pitch for Windows 8 based on how it stores everything in the cloud. We expressed our concern about leaving our personal e-mails in a big, juicy target of a server somewhere. In my Outlook, e-mails get deleted from the ISP as they're downloaded and then reside on my PC, which is a much smaller target. He responded by saying that copies of my e-mails are still stored somewhere at the ISP. Unless he was referring to Patriot Act type of stuff, I'm dubious about his claim.

--JorgeA

[Tripredacus]

He responded by saying that copies of my e-mails are still stored somewhere at the ISP. Unless he was referring to Patriot Act type of stuff, I'm dubious about his claim.

This practice pre-dates the Patriot Act. At least one ISP as far back as 2000 kept about 3 months of emails backed up in the Mail Exchangers, and approximately 7-8 months on tape backup.

[Guest]

I don't get why people don't use the cloud more. All your data is safe from a catastrophic event. Your computer could be stolen, fail if you're stupid enough to not do backups.

I only use Gmail on the web and have all my mail automatically send a second copy to a second account as a backup. My D drive (where I keep all my "portabolish" programs, desktop, docs, and start menu) I sync with Wuala and Sugarsync. The only thing that's not in the cloud is my over 700 GB movie collection.

Edited October 25, 2012 by -X-

[Servelius]

Unprompted, she said to me, "Oh, no -- I don't want all that cr*p on my screen!"

Microsoft should simply release an update that would bypass metro on startup, and add back the start menu. That's all it takes, everyone will be more or less happy. In fact, metro is not bad, it's pretty much a replacement for Vista/7 sidebar.

You needed to show actually how beautiful and helpful Metro is meant to be, such as Travels' Panoramas, Weather, People, etc. and better show that all in a tablet.

[jaclaz]

I don't get why people don't use the cloud more. All your data is safe from a catastrophic event. Your computer could be stolen, fail if you're stupid enough to not do backups.

I only use Gmail on the web and have all my mail automatically send a second copy to a second account as a backup. My D drive (where I keep all my "portabolish" programs, desktop, docs, and start menu) I sync with Wuala and Sugarsync. The only thing that's not in the cloud is my over 700 GB movie collection.

One reason :

http://www.edrants.com/3am-magazine-how-twelve-years-of-literary-content-disappeared-in-an-instant/

jaclaz

[Guest]

[JorgeA]

He responded by saying that copies of my e-mails are still stored somewhere at the ISP. Unless he was referring to Patriot Act type of stuff, I'm dubious about his claim.

This practice pre-dates the Patriot Act. At least one ISP as far back as 2000 kept about 3 months of emails backed up in the Mail Exchangers, and approximately 7-8 months on tape backup.

OK, I looked it up, and my ISP says that they keep e-mails for 90 days and then they are gone, incapable of being retrieved.

Well, at least 90 days is better than forever.

--JorgeA

[Tripredacus]

He responded by saying that copies of my e-mails are still stored somewhere at the ISP. Unless he was referring to Patriot Act type of stuff, I'm dubious about his claim.

This practice pre-dates the Patriot Act. At least one ISP as far back as 2000 kept about 3 months of emails backed up in the Mail Exchangers, and approximately 7-8 months on tape backup.

OK, I looked it up, and my ISP says that they keep e-mails for 90 days and then they are gone, incapable of being retrieved.

Retrieved by them FOR you, yes. Retrievable by them? Well let's put it this way, if you had become under the watch of the Abuse Department for some illegal reason, trust me they would have access to those emails.

[Kelsenellenelvian]

"Oh, no -- I don't want all that cr*p on my screen!"

It was a fisher price sh*t

[JorgeA]

Retrieved by them FOR you, yes. Retrievable by them? Well let's put it this way, if you had become under the watch of the Abuse Department for some illegal reason, trust me they would have access to those emails.

Well, that's a bummer. The salesman's point was that our e-mail already lives in the cloud somewhere, so we may as well not worry about it, and happily join the matrix embrace Windows 8. :angrym:

--JorgeA

[JorgeA]

"Oh, no -- I don't want all that cr*p on my screen!"

It was a fisher price sh*t

My sentiments exactly!

--JorgeA

[Tripredacus]

Retrieved by them FOR you, yes. Retrievable by them? Well let's put it this way, if you had become under the watch of the Abuse Department for some illegal reason, trust me they would have access to those emails.

Well, that's a bummer. The salesman's point was that our e-mail already lives in the cloud somewhere, so we may as well not worry about it, and happily join the matrix embrace Windows 8. :angrym:

--JorgeA

I wonder what the numbers are for people using "cloud" email vs "downloaded" email nowadays. I haven't had "downloaded" email for home use... um... ever. My first ever personal email account was in the "cloud" of course back then it was just called webmail. And I only use "webmail" for work for the past 2 years or so... but only because Thunderbird stopped working.

[submix8c]

(sigh... I must!)

I use OE (yeah, I know) and Gmail so I download mine with "delete" set in "the cloud". I break them apart according to subject/sender. Occasionally I "back up" the files, delete the contents, then compress. I prefer to have a permanent record of my communications "just in case".