Windows XP, Vista Miss Out on Office 2013

King Arthur · 31 Jul 2012

I'm probably getting baited by a troll here, but whatever I'm bored, come at me bro~

Gornot said:

A bit off topic now, but I'm getting the feeling that the hate towards Metro is the same, if not bigger, than the hate towards Vista... And this is for absolutely no good reason i.e. it's just blown completely out of proportions. Half the people that hate it didn't even try it, or if they did, they couldn't understand how to make the best of it, instead just trying to force it to act the way they want to.

Having tried Windows 8 CP, I can see that Metro can be good in a touch-based environment like a tablet, smartphone, or a very small netbook. The GUI in general is attuned to a "make everything large in a small space and make it interact via finger/touch" style of management, not keyboard and mouse like a traditional desktop or laptop. Simply put, Metro is designed for mobile devices.

Having said that, why do I hate Metro? Precisely because Metro is not attuned to keyboard and mouse as its primary means of interaction. I sit at a desk and use a desktop for both work and play, I require the precision a mouse provides, I require the speed which a keyboard provides; I have absolutely no need to reach out to my monitor and proceed to interact with it via finger when I'm using a desktop.

Given that the next OS, Windows 8, is not attuned to my needs and since that OS is definitely going to be pushed down my throat at some point in the future, yes I do have legitimate reasons to be hating on Windows 8 and where Windows is going in general.

Gornot said:

If you want complete control of how you can f**k up your system, or even your whole computer, then use Linux and go nuts; Windows isn't like that, like it or not.

Actually, Windows has been surprisingly hands-off when it comes to letting the user mess with its inner guts. Not as much as Linux, that much I will concede, but Windows has never actually babysat the user more than was necessary to at least BSOD itself for our amusement.

Gornot · 05 Aug 2012

I agree completely that Metro (or whatever Microsoft will call it from now on, since it's not Metro anymore) does tend to look boring on big screens, and that it's not designed for mouse and keyboard, but that doesn't make it unusable. All the features are still there compared to a touch environment, it just feels awkward using it the first few (dozen) times. The greatest fear, and possibly the biggest reason for not liking Metro in the future is the lack of apps. I still can't imagine how MS is going to conquer that area of the OS (if at all). They have been trying hard for WP and despite the number of apps the store still has shortcomings, unfortunately.

I personally still despise the searching though Metro for having to choose between apps, files and settings. Totally unneccessary if I just want to quickly launch, for example, cmd
So since the Win7 days, I found myself little opportunity to use the Run (WIN+R) shortcut again, until Win8. It kinda sucks because it's not the same, but it's enough.

In the end, though, right now I find myself barely looking at Metro once I load the desktop, except to view the Calendar where I store private notes of my working shifts (very handy!) and check the Weather, not needing a gadget or a special program/bookark/widget/whatever for it. Letting it (the Calendar app) display detailed content on the Lock Screen makes it even easier when I lock my PC (which is whenever I leave it but don't want to turn it off), and it's always a reminder not to forget something.

That might change when RTM hits (if I decide to upgrade) or not, there's still time to see. Another good point I forgot to mention is that Metro, in its simplicity which is more often than not too forced, interacting on the internet through, lets say, the People apps, isn't as big a strain on my eyes as a full-blown website. The big letters on the screen also mean that I don't have to get too close to the monitor to read something, which is always helpful to me.

I do agree with many people on one thing, though: Microsoft definitely did NOT need to take this road for Windows, but I can understand them wanting to get back into competition and offer something different than the pretty much same stuff for the last 20 years (with a handful of exceptions, of course) and be original among their competitiors.

WP7 was a spot-on move. Win8 not so much. WinRT? If we get a good amount of decent apps, hell yes! When it comes to tablets, I'd rather use WinRT than an iPad or Android.

It is a shame that Vista doesn't get Office 2013, but at the same time I'm not surprised because of the bad reviews and overblown "facts". Still to this day, it's the best Windows OS I have (personally) used (in terms of presentation and visuals).