Windows 7: Windows 8: Ready, set, preorder

indianacarnie · 25 Nov 2012

Very interesting article. Thanks for posting it. I agree 100% of course, as I've made known in other posts on this subject.

Night Hawk · 25 Nov 2012

It was detailed but a fair assessment. The designer works with the desktop platform even if that's with a totally different company entirely. He understands what does and what doesn't work.

The Big Goober MS made with 8 is of course the most obvious by not following suit with the working success seen with 7 to trash the OS instead when putting everything into work on the Tablet platform. And 8 will continue to see negative feedback as a result.

One thing I could add here is that if there hadn't been a "7" and I was still running Vista and ran into 8 I would be still be running the older of the two! At with Vista you had options like choosing between the Classic or Aero style as well as disabling the side bar if not wanted. With 8 however... 3rd party tools?! says a great deal unfortunately.

Layback Bear · 26 Nov 2012

Thank you PaulGo. Very nice read. He read my mind.
Windows 8 UI 'strategic mistake,' argues design guru | Microsoft Windows - InfoWorld

Night Hawk · 26 Nov 2012

One of the best points there was pointing out that the user wants to feel as if they are in control not being controlled when going into the unusable gui factor as well as hidden rather then visible functions. And here's the other big point made about people rushing to adapt this?

Quote:

He also rejected the notion that because users adapted to the shift 17 year ago from DOS to Windows 95 that they will gladly do the same this time with Windows 8.

"The difference is that then they took something really bad, DOS, and added something, Windows, on top of it that was much easier to use," Nielsen said. "This time they're taking the standard GUI [graphical user interface] that has a lot of usability and discoverability, and making a U-turn by hiding features."

The result is a user adrift from the hard-won experience gained through years of time spent working with Windows.

"With Windows 8, you don't feel in control," said Nielsen. "One of the biggest goals of user interface design is to give people the feeling of mastery or control. This is a big, big change. Users have become familiar with the idea that the 'mouse is me,' but Windows 8 largely discards that. People feel a loss of control, and feel insecure in relation to the machine.

"That's the failure, and the missed strategic decision," Nielsen said.

Degressive instead of "Progressive" like 7 was to Vista! You would think MS would have learned to follow suit with what has been found to work in order to avoid the next "Flop"! They went off elsewhere to work on Surface RT instead and... we know the rest!

And now for the sales results following the first month since Windows 8's launch date! The news is not so happy for ...

Quote:

Windows 8 brings zero 'pop' to consumer PC sales

U.S. notebook and desktop sales down 21% in Windows 8's first month, says NPD, showing the new OS hasn't moved the meter

By Gregg Keizer
November 29, 2012 03:16 PM ET

Full report

Windows 7: Windows 8: Ready, set, preorder

Windows 8: Ready, set, preorder problems?