Reviews:
 ·AT&T Southwest
| Win8 - Disappointing usability Jakob Nielsen is a well-known usability expert who recently tested Windows 8 on regular desktops and Surface.
quote:
Summary:
Hidden features, reduced discoverability, cognitive overhead from dual environments, and reduced power from a single-window UI and low information density.
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 dellsweigExtreme AerobaticsPremium,MVM
join:2003-12-10
Campbell Hall, NY
kudos:1
 ·Vonage
| reply to howardfine
Re: Win8 - Disappointing usability Excellent read
A close friend bought a new laptop last week with Win8 on it. She is an experienced windows user.
Her assessment completely matched the drunk woman review
»www.youtube.com/watch?v=4cMVKW-f···embedded
She read this article and is taking it with her to Best Buy when she returns her new laptop. She is not sure what she is going to do but may be swayed to Apple......
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Nothin' left to do but smile smile smile  |
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| reply to howardfine
Good Post Howard!
Dave |
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 mozerdLight Will Pierce The DarknessPremium,MVM
join:2004-04-23
Nepean, ON | reply to howardfine
Baloney, Baloney, Baloney and more Baloney. |
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Mele20Premium
join:2001-06-05
Hilo, HI
kudos:4 | reply to howardfine
I have never used multiple windows in 14 years. I HATE that...too distracting so I guess I like that Win 8 doesn't have them. I have no idea how you would even go about having multiple windows open at the same time. I use a 19" LCD at 5:4 ratio. It is perfect but how would I do multiple windows on it? That is for movie watching monitors and I don't watch movies on a computer so I don't have a wide screen monitor, thus, no distracting multiple windows.
I couldn't relate to anything in that article except the accidental mouse gestures that very frequently bring up a GIGANTIC, and I mean Gigantic clock and that obscure my vertical scroll bar in my browser with a big fat black vertical bar and that horrible Trinkets, oh, charms crap(insulting name ...obviously only for very low IQ folks...trinkets, charms...come ON....geez....).
I couldn't relate to anything else because why in God's name would I ever use Metro...garish colors that hurt my eyes and absolute crap with animated garbage that I can't stop the animation and gives a migraine headache (I have all animation turned off permanently on the Desktop except for Metro...Microsoft has never heard of migraine triggers I guess). But that article was about Metro...you have to totally ignore Metro unless you like going insane.. Stay on desktop ALWAYS and desktop in Win 8 is pretty good.
But I will probably either exercise my downgrade rights to Win 7 Pro or return this computer to Dell if Dell gets prissy about my downgrade rights.
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When governments fear people, there is liberty. When the people fear the government, there is tyranny. Thomas Jefferson |
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dellsweigExtreme AerobaticsPremium,MVM
join:2003-12-10
Campbell Hall, NY
kudos:1 Reviews:
·Vonage
| reply to mozerd
said by mozerd:Baloney, Baloney, Baloney and more Baloney.
Huh?? I am looking at my windows 8 (vm) right now and agree COMPLETLY with this assessment...... I had to switch to a windows 7 VM to write this response!!!
I cannot imagine trying to teach my 80 year old parents how to use this or to support the 20 or so friends and family members who I support with remote help on their PC's..
I also cannnot imagine this ever seeing the light of day in the enterprise
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Nothin' left to do but smile smile smile |
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Reviews:
 ·Cogeco Cable
| reply to howardfine
Interesting read and I agree with much of what he writes. If Windows had a more homogeneous experience between itself and third party applications, some of what he wrote would not be accurate. If everyone used Windows 8 RT with Microsoft Office 2013 on Surface, the criticisms might not be so apt. Unfortunately there is an interface discrepancy between Microsoft's Metro applications and everything else.
I still chuckle that Microsoft went from Start | Shutdown to swipe | settings | power | shutdown. Usability indeed! |
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 MichailPremium
join:2000-08-02
Boynton Beach, FL
kudos:1 | reply to howardfine
I feel like I could have written that. I've made some complaints here before on some of his points.
The information density is something that has also bothered me. Similar apps on my little iPhone have much better use than they do on the Windows 8 desktop. As a developer I've always designed my apps to take advantage of as much resolution, or as little, that the user is willing to give me.
IMHO, Microsoft has gone overboard with the "simple". This goes for much of what they are producing these days. And I'm generally a fan of simple -- when it doesn't come at the cost of functionality. |
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| reply to dellsweig
said by dellsweig:Excellent read A close friend bought a new laptop last week with Win8 on it. She is an experienced windows user. Her assessment completely matched the drunk woman review (youtube clip) read this article and is taking it with her to Best Buy when she returns her new laptop. She is not sure what she is going to do but may be swayed to Apple...... Makes sense to me - the Windows 8 UI is horrible from a usability perspective. Garish colors, over the top huge fonts, a dual environment that look nothing like each other. It's a really BAD paradigm that is not good or easy to use.
Take live tiles. Sounds great but what happens when you want to see what you missed? Oops, you can't scroll that. What happens if you don't want to be distracted by things scrolling (think Facebook updates), oops, can't disable that.
I did notice a lot of PC laptop returns at Best Buy the other day. Hopefully consumers are realizing that this new Windows is really really bad.
I would suggest a Mac to your friend. Not the cheapest but competitive and the OS is actually easy to use and IMHO you can be more productive on OS X than Windows (any version). |
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dellsweigExtreme AerobaticsPremium,MVM
join:2003-12-10
Campbell Hall, NY
kudos:1 Reviews:
·Vonage
1 edit | said by itguy05:Makes sense to me - the Windows 8 UI is horrible from a usability perspective. Garish colors, over the top huge fonts, a dual environment that look nothing like each other. It's a really BAD paradigm that is not good or easy to use.
Take live tiles. Sounds great but what happens when you want to see what you missed? Oops, you can't scroll that. What happens if you don't want to be distracted by things scrolling (think Facebook updates), oops, can't disable that.
I did notice a lot of PC laptop returns at Best Buy the other day. Hopefully consumers are realizing that this new Windows is really really bad.
I would suggest a Mac to your friend. Not the cheapest but competitive and the OS is actually easy to use and IMHO you can be more productive on OS X than Windows (any version).
Just heard back from my friend - she said there were at least 6 pther returns being handled by the BB sales folks for windows 8 laptops. Once she got done with the return the sale guy told her they are getting close to 60% ( 6 out of 10 are coming back BECAUSE of windows 8) returns on windows 8.
She ended up with a MacBook Air - good choice. The best buy guy set it all up for her.....
It isnt just Best Buy..
»www.engadget.com/2012/11/19/wind···es-OEMs/
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Nothin' left to do but smile smile smile |
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 HFB1217The WizardPremium,ExMod 2000-01
join:2000-06-26
Camelot
kudos:2 | reply to howardfine
Excellent Article and it puts into words exactly what I felt but was unable to put my finger upon it. Sort of like what Windows 8 does to the usability quotient!
One thing I like though is Spell Check on the Fly it was well past over do.
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*****aka The WIZARD *****A Founding member of Seti BBR Team Starfire*** |
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 La LunaSurvived AshrafulPremium
join:2001-07-12
Warwick, NY
kudos:3 | reply to howardfine
Re: Win8 - Disappointing usability I don't have Windows 8, so I can't speak from personal experience, but from all I've read, it seems to me that a LOT of people just don't give themselves the chance or the time to learn such a different OS. Returning computers after just a week is just giving up too quickly, IMO. It's no secret that Windows 8 was going to be incredibly different from previous OS's, so I don't know why people are surprised by this, and then bitch and complain about it. This is what happens when the masses want zero learning curve. Too much trouble to learn something new. I remember when XP was released, people freaked out about that too.
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The Alien in the White House
19,994 DEADLY TERROR ATTACKS SINCE 9/11 |
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| reply to La Luna
Re: Win8 - Disappointing usability It's not simply that 8 is something new to learn. That's not the problem. It's poorly designed. And to top it off, it forces something on desktop and laptop users (Metro) that is totally inappropriate for non touch machines. I can't believe how many people keep trying to defend something that's sure to go down in flames... But that's life in the computing world I guess... |
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 GooberPremium
join:2000-12-17
Naperville, IL
kudos:5
 ·Dish Network
| We have no touch devices at home other than for a couple of Android tablets. Yet we seem to do just fine with Windows 8, including my 10, 13 and 15 year old kids.
If you're implying that we're geniuses, then yes, why we certainly are. At least compared to the other people I'm reading about in these forums.
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Awesome. More handouts, food stamps, welfare and entitlements to come. I'm so proud. |
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 KilroyPremium,MVM
join:2002-11-21
Ann Arbor, MI
1 edit | reply to Anon
+1
Most of the complaints that I've seen about Windows 8 are it is different and I don't like it. Sorry, that is progress. Adapt or die. I was drug kicking and screaming into Windows, way back in the DOS days. Then what happened was you could get a program for DOS or $10 more for the Windows version with 1,000 fonts, more features, and so on. Since Windows 3 I've bought the latest version on release day along with a new drive to install. Being in IT I have to know the latest, I don't have to like it. Windows 8 takes a little adjustment to get used to, but there aren't any major defects with it. This is Microsoft's every other tock release and it is very different, visually, from the previous version, but underneath it is pretty much the same.
What I'm seeing is that Microsoft wants to head in the Apple direction. They are making hardware, software, and have an app store. I don't think it is the right direction, being that they are so late to the game. Obviously someone sold the idea that we need to have a unified OS that applies to phones, tablets, and computers. I think you lose too much on the computer side to make the look and feel the same as the lower powered devices.
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“Progress isn't made by early risers. It's made by lazy men trying to find easier ways to do something.” ¯ Robert A. Heinlein |
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