| News | Features | Interviews |
| Blog | Contact | Editorials |
| Creating the Windows 8 user experience |
| By Thom Holwerda on 2012-05-18 21:54:37 |
| A long - very long - blog post justifying all the ideas and choices behind Windows 8. We've all been here before, but it's nice to have it all summed up once again for easy reference in case we hit another yes/no debate on Windows 8 and keyboard and mouse. Anywho, the most interesting bit is that Microsoft has updated the theme of the traditional desktop, flattening it to achieve a very nice look. |
|
| Comment by Luminair |
| By Luminair on 2012-05-18 22:45:10 |
|
it is good that microsoft does these big blog posts. but it has been hard to interpret them as anything other than well rehearsed marketing. I want to read it like a "blog post" but it feels like I am drinking a sweetened beverage (I spit it out) anyone think this blog post convinces anyone who isnt already in the cult? .... |
 - Score: 3 |
| Comment by Luminair |
| By Luminair on 2012-05-18 23:01:08 |
|
"Just as yesterday's static highway signs telling you what you already know are being replaced by active and customizable message boards with road conditions, traffic alerts, and flexible lane usage, your PC should convey information that is current and up-to-date. Icons are yesterday’s way of representing apps." apparently apple really does have the patent on making icons dynamic. either that or microsoft hasnt been able to figure out how to improve desktop icons, right? because they're the same they've always been, and here is sinofsky complaining about them. I'm starting to get angry thom, dont let me read any more |
| - Score: 4 |
| RE: Comment by Luminair |
| By Luminair on 2012-05-18 23:14:58 |
|
"Windows is almost absurdly configurable. Even the most obscure features are often tweakable through a sometimes impenetrable labyrinth of control panels, group policies, special command-line utilities, undocumented registry keys, etc. Most of these settings are changeable not only by the user, but by any program that happens to be running on the PC that decides to “tweak” something." no, that was not a mac fanboy on a forum. that was a microsoft employee working on windows. serenity now, serenity now.... |
| - Score: 3 |
| RE: Comment by Luminair |
| By WereCatf on 2012-05-18 23:23:08 |
|
> either that or microsoft hasnt been able to figure out how to improve desktop icons, right? I don't really grasp his logic, either. Icons are actually a very good method for conveying non-physical meanings fast and precisely. Human brains are developed in a way that they can recognize familiar shapes very quickly and efficiently, whereas recognizing text in arbitrary boxes is a much more inefficient process for us. What I am getting at is that there is a time and place for everything and that both approaches can be used simultaneously where applicable. Unfortunately Microsoft has decided icons are a second-class citizen now, if even that, and that everything should provide a live tile even when it makes no sense. OT: The article was a good read, though I do also agree that it has a very 'we are doing this only for the PR' - feeling to it and that I do not agree with everything there. Still, worth reading. |
| - Score: 6 |
| RE[2]: Comment by Luminair |
| By WereCatf on 2012-05-18 23:24:43 |
| Well, you should see this as Microsoft trying to find new niches: they're training online-comedians these days! ;) |
| - Score: 4 |
| RE: Comment by Luminair |
| By MollyC on 2012-05-18 23:51:25 |
|
Most of Steve Sinofsky's blog entries have a great deal of PR in them, because he's a VP; PR is a major reason for the "Buiding Windows 8" blog, whether the entries are written by Sinofky, Jensen Harris, Thom's crush Julie Larson-Green, or somebody else. (Though at times the entries in that blog are more like the normal MSDN blogs written by programmers, that are less about PR and more about technical stuff.) As for "it won't convince anyone not already in the cult", I don't know. But I'll agree that it won't convince anyone that's in the "Windows 8 sucks" cult, that's for sure. Then again, there are those that think President Obama is an America-hating, Kenyan-born, Muslim Marxist, and no matter what you say, you simply cannot convince them otherwise. Maybe the blog entry is indeed PR, but that's because the "Windows 8 sucks" cult would have folks believe that the decisions made in creating Windows 8 were made with absolutely no good reasoning whatsoever. What's wrong with Microsoft putting forth their reasoning for their decisions and countering the constant FUD spewed by the "Windows 8 sucks" cult? Edited 2012-05-19 00:06 UTC |
| - Score: 3 |
| RE[2]: Comment by Luminair |
| By MollyC on 2012-05-18 23:53:35 |
| I'm trying to figure out what your point is. Do you disagree with the comment, or are you upset that the comment is accurate? I can't tell what your complaining about here. |
| - Score: 3 |
| RE[3]: Comment by Luminair |
| By WereCatf on 2012-05-19 00:49:42 |
|
> I'm trying to figure out what your point is. Do you disagree with the comment, or are you upset that the comment is accurate? I can't tell what your complaining about here. While your question wasn't aimed at me I thought I could also answer it: I have to disagree with that assessment. For example, something being possible to alter via undocumented or unintended ways is not designed "configurable." "Configurable" means a something where you can alter it by design, where the capability for someone or something to alter the functionings of it is intended. Even when something is designed to be configurable you often need a 3rd-party tool to actually do that. Most software on Linux, on the other hand, is designed to be configurable; their configuration - files are generally very easily editable since they are simple text-files, their respective homepages usually document quite clearly what can be configured and how, and there often aren't any unintended or undocumented configuration options at all. Can't really comment on OSX as I have used it only very briefly, but in general I have an image that it is a lot less configurable than Windows. |
| - Score: 4 |
| RE[3]: Comment by Luminair |
| By Luminair on 2012-05-19 01:09:01 |
|
the point is they're basically saying everything the company has done is wrong. so either microsoft was always wrong, or the guys in command of the billion dollar behemoth today are wrong. these ideas are too opposed to both be right. if you agree with that premise, you probably also agree that the people who turned microsoft into the billion dollar company weren't stupid. the people who inherited it are. |
| - Score: 1 |
| Never a fan of Aero |
| By redshift on 2012-05-19 03:48:38 |
|
I think that Microsoft may have a bipolar disorder. I was not a fan of Aero glass anyway. The transparency just made it hard to read things... but this swings too far the other way. I did not think you could have something that is both stark and cluttered at the same time. |
| - Score: 3 |
| News | Features | Interviews |
| Blog | Contact | Editorials |