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A “real” user proves Windows 8 fails on the desktop

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"Metro" interface works extremely well on a mobile phone [my wife's work provided one to her - the only thing I don't like about it is lack of popular apps that exist on Apple/Droid devices - words with friends, all of the angry birds games, etc]. However, unless there is a well laid out tutorial and/or a convenient way to bring up a help menu - people are going to be extremely frustrated with this OS.

I can definitely understand why he [in the video] was frustrated and exactly what he was doing - he's used to the current flavors of OS - all of them share a common interface - icons, menu system, etc. I'm really impressed that he managed to keep his cool during the entire video - I would've been throwing out F-this, F-that, this is a piece of crap, etc.

I think Windows 8 will be extremely popular on touch screen lcd's, tablets and phones. However, it will probably bomb on desktop pc's UNLESS there is an easy and convenient way to for most people to access the OS as they have been since Windows 95. This is where MS will NEED to take a page out of Apple's design book.
 
coloumb said:
I think Windows 8 will be extremely popular on touch screen lcd's, tablets and phones. However, it will probably bomb on desktop pc's UNLESS there is an easy and convenient way to for most people to access the OS as they have been since Windows 95. This is where MS will NEED to take a page out of Apple's design book.
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Press the Windows key. Its the same concept as pressing the Home button on a phone/tablet.
 
her209 said:
If your keyboard doesn't have one, press Ctrl+Esc.

😉
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Oh, I know there's other ways of doing it. The point was hitting the super key isn't obvious for everyone. It would never occur to me to use it because I've never used it in the past.
 
lxskllr said:
Oh, I know there's other ways of doing it. The point was hitting the super key isn't obvious for everyone. It would never occur to me to use it because I've never used it in the past.
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It was the first thing I tried when I didn't see the Start button.
 
Lol this video is most certainly prejudiced. The guy took his old dad or granddad, told him
"that's it, that's what you see!" and he responded "that's it, I take it's all the new there?"

Because it's simple psychology. The old man doesn't want to appear dull in the head or 'slow' so he will just go by with the guys first GIVEN impression. If this old man bought windows 8, installed it all alone in his room, then he would get used to it in probably a couple of hours. I just installed win8 and it's very easy to use if you've used win7. I NEVER used any tablet PCs so I don't know how their OS'es are, and still win8 was very easy for me to adapt and I found switching between desktop and metro to be useful and I just like having an alternative. Stop being hipsters and reject anything that doesn't get along with your stagnated mindset and strict expectations. This reminds me of Mass Effect3 ending where people whined because the world as we know it just ended and no resume was given (expectations weren't met). Win 8 is just good. I know I won't be going back to win7 myself.
 
Why can't people just accept innovation?

post-125978-0-63250700-1334212270.jpg
 
Kristijonas said:
Stop being hipsters and reject anything that doesn't get along with your stagnated mindset and strict expectations. This reminds me of Mass Effect3 ending where people whined because the world as we know it just ended and no resume was given (expectations weren't met). Win 8 is just good. I know I won't be going back to win7 myself.
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Stop quoting the tired "Embrace change for the sake of change."

Change just for the sake of change is not a good thing. That's like saying, "Hey we invented the wheel a thousand years ago. But that's not good enough for modern cars. The next improvement will be triangles. Now we can let go of that indeterminate constant, pi."

Windows 8 for the desktop is a step backwards. And if people reject it, it's not because they are being hipsters but because it is harder to use than the older Windows XP/Vista/7.
 
Sadly programmers that also know how to design user friendly programs are lacking in the industry. A good programmer can create something that anyone can pick up and start using without the user having to read a help file every 10 minutes. MS has a whole division dedicated to interface designs and over the recent years they appear to be on vacation.

Others can probably cite programs that are well written and don't require lots of learning, I know I have seen a few of them, programs that just work and are intuitively designed with the user in mind.

The VCR thing with the blinking clock wasn't because people didn't read the manuals, it was because engineers created something thinking like engineers would be using it, had they spent the time to consider the target market they could have designed a much better way of setting the time.

MS has gone too far in trying to make the OS user friendly . If what you are doing is removing functionality then you are doing it wrong.
 
gevorg said:
Why does everything needs to be super intuitive? Why does software needs to be designed for an idiot? Just spend some time to RTFM so that you can use the latest technology fast and efficiently. It will pay-off in no time.
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Because making it easy to use and intuitive is the basis behind any user interface. The point is to make it idiot proof. Why would anybody intentionally build a UI that is difficult to navigate?
 
Genx87 said:
Because making it easy to use and intuitive is the basis behind any user interface. The point is to make it idiot proof. Why would anybody intentionally build a UI that is difficult to navigate?
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No one intentionally makes a UI difficult to navigate. But the problem is that there is a limit on how intuitive (idiot-proof actually) a UI can be before you have to reduce functionality as a cost. Windows 8 is making people turned off because they don't appreciate the additional difficulty of relearning the UI since the benefits are non-existent.

Why relearn a UI if the old UI works fine and there is no point to the new one?
 
Revolution 11 said:
No one intentionally makes a UI difficult to navigate. But the problem is that there is a limit on how intuitive (idiot-proof actually) a UI can be before you have to reduce functionality as a cost. Windows 8 is making people turned off because they don't appreciate the additional difficulty of relearning the UI since the benefits are non-existent.

Why relearn a UI if the old UI works fine and there is no point to the new one?
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We wouldn't have the Start Menu if you believed that.
 
her209 said:
It doesn't. Its an old holdout from Windows 95. Microsoft wants you to use a keyboard with the Windows key.
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And yet I don't know a single non-technical person that does that so how would they know that's what they need to do now?
 
Modelworks said:
MS has a whole division dedicated to interface designs and over the recent years they appear to be on vacation.
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The ribbon UI is one the of the most intuitive interfaces I've seen. For me personally. Looking back, in my opinion, it's much better than the old interface of office 2003 and older. And Joe average seems to be picking it up pretty well. Even users coming from Word Perfect seem to have picked up Office 2010 pretty well. I personally think it's a home run.
 
gmaster456 said:
The ribbon UI is one the of the most intuitive interfaces I've seen. For me personally. Looking back, in my opinion, it's much better than the old interface of office 2003 and older. And Joe average seems to be picking it up pretty well. Even users coming from Word Perfect seem to have picked up Office 2010 pretty well. I personally think it's a home run.
Click to expand...

I hate those ribbons. I can never find anything.
 
lxskllr said:
The point was hitting the super key isn't obvious for everyone. It would never occur to me to use it because I've never used it in the past.
Click to expand...

Well it should be. And thanks to smartphones it will gain in use. If you just tell someone "It's just like the button on the front of the iPhone" then they will understand it and start using it immediately. And from there they can start using Winkey+D (show desktop), Winkey+E (for browsing/exploring), etc.
 
until the keyboard shortcuts become common knowledge, a lot of people are going to be annoyed.

frankly there should be a button that flashes up a box with shortcuts that can be used in the current scenario.
 
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