Who is Julie Larson-Green? Meet the new head of Windows

lehnerus2000 said:

Lady Fitzgerald said:

I actually like the ribbons in M$ Office; it didn't take long to get used to them ...

I still find them basically awful in everything except Excel.
The only thing the "Ribbon" accomplished is the elimination of my ability to use menus...

Normally, I prefer menus, especially over icons (one of the first things I do in a folder, other than a picture folder, is to change the view from clunky icons to list) but, in the case of Office, I find the ribbon far more efficient. Plus, the menus are still there, if you should need them.

lehnerus2000 said:

...I would much rather that MS fix the d*** bugs and glitches, than constantly changing the GUI...

I somewhat agree with you there. Micro$not does need to spend more time on fixing bugs and glitches (preferably before releasing anything) but, other than the "GUI Formerly Known as Metro", there is nothing wrong with making changes that improve a GUI, unlike the aforementioned GUI.

lehnerus2000 said:

...I notice that in Word 2010, MS replaced the text descriptions in the paste pop-up menu with unintelligible icons...

That one briefly threw me for a loop when I installed Office 2010 the other day...for all of five seconds. Then I figured out all by my little ole lonesome (and, for this computer challenged old bi...broad, that's an accomplishment) all one has to do is put the mouse pointer on each icon and, not only does a little window popup under the icon telling you what it does, a preview of what the paste would look like if you used it shows up on the document behind the popped up windows. That seems like an improvement to me.

lehnerus2000 said:

...

Lady Fitzgerald said:

... and they are highly customizeable.

Not in:

• Office 2007
• Paint
• WordPad
• Windows Explorer (W8 version)...

I can't speak for the others since I don't use them but in Office 2007, I disagree. I customized the snot out of my copy of Word 2007, removing "menus" I never used and replacing them with ones I do use. I especially loved the Quick Access Toolbar.

DeaconFrost said:

lehnerus2000 said:

I still find them basically awful in everything except Excel.
The only thing the "Ribbon" accomplished is the elimination of my ability to use menus.

It eliminated your ability to waste more time burrowing through menus finding an option, by bringing more of the options to you directly. If my 30 non-tech savvy users can use the ribbons and spot the benefits, they should be plainly obvious to all. Sitting at a computer with Office 2003 is painful now.

I wouldn't go so far as to say it will be plainly obvious to all (mayhap many to most) but I do feel it's not al that hard to learn, especially for someone who hasn't used a previous, non-ribbon version.

whs said:

I think ribbons are great - especially since they are somewhat similar across products. Make you feel immediately at home.

Yes, that's an excellent point by whs. That could also explain why my users had no issues with it. If they are used to working in Excel, then opening Word isn't going to be very different for them.

lehnerus2000 said:

Maybe you had to hunt through the menus, but I knew where the to look for the functions I used.
I had ALL of my heavily used functions on 2 toolbars, unlike the "Ribbon".

The ribbon made life easier and made common functions more readily available. There have been plenty of usability studies to prove this as the case. Finding specific options requires less mouse clicks in most cases. We can debate this back and forth all day, but just because you have a negative opinion of ribbons, doesn't mean that holds true for all. It's been received largely as a big positive, which is why it is being used more often. It's a god-send for SharePoint users.

lehnerus2000 said:

That is exactly the same thing that Metro "fan boys" say about Metro.

Except I'm not a Metro fanboy at all. On both of my Windows 8 machines, I'm using 3rd party apps to give me a standard desktop.

smarteyeball said:

I just don't understand all the hate for metro still.

If you don't like it - don't use it

I would really like not to use it but Microsoft appears to be determined to abolish the use of a rational mouse/keyboard desktop in favor of toy touch devices. The possibility of purchasing Windows 7 for new systems will vanish shortly after the so called extended life of October 2014. What then? Windows 8 is all we will have to be able to deliver both old and new Windows content. Windows 9 will simply be more of the same kind of crap assuming the current trend continues.

Touch devices are intended to be used for consuming content but can in no way be used create the finely detailed and complex content that it requires. What is worse, any content that manages to be created will have to have the approval of Microsoft who will have full access to and rights to use the source code as it wishes. For that, they get the lions share of any revenue received. The creator of content gets royally screwed in the deal as well as does the consumer of content at the whim of Microsoft. Choice? You will have only the choice that Microsoft allows. THAT is not a choice!

Now, Windows IS Microsoft's property and they can do with it as they choose. However, the consequences will not be good even for Microsoft. As a long term business model, it cannot succeed. Without content and especially without a stream of new and more capable content, Windows is all but worthless. OK. So you can continue to browse the web, send and receive email, use FaceBook, and tweet. Is that enough? Today, maybe. In three years when you have a real job rather than living off your parents? You have to be kidding.