

Five ways to skip Windows 8 - tanglesome
http://www.zdnet.com/five-ways-to-skip-windows-8-7000001753/

======
jobu
Microsoft spent many years on WinCE before learning that a mobile UI should be
different than a desktop UI. I wonder how long it will take them to learn that
a desktop UI should be different than a mobile UI.

It's not that windows 8 is terrible - I actually like using it on the tablet
they gave out at the build conference, but it's very difficult to use with a
normal computer (i.e keyboard and mouse).

~~~
ditoa
Honestly I don't really see how it is _hard_ to use on a desktop/laptop? Sure
it is different and a little bit odd at first but basically all they have
changed is the start menu, something which I hardly ever use these days. The
80% of applications I use are pinned to the taskbar, the other 20% I did have
pinned to the start menu but on Windows 8 I just have them "pinned" on the
start screen. Not hugely different.

The whole Metro thing I have kept away from as I have no real need for "full
screen apps". It is a little annoying that it is pushed into your face now and
then but with the RTM it is possible to load to the desktop rather than the
start screen which, while only a small change, is very helpful at making the
upgrade to Windows 8 less jarring than it was in the previews we had before.

~~~
pbz
They're forcing touch paradigms, like seeking screen edges with the mouse
since you can't swipe, essential a workaround, onto desktop environments. With
previous mobile versions they were forcing the mouse paradigm where touch
would've worked better. If you as a tech person find it odd and need time to
adjust then you have to multiply that many times for the average user, and all
this without any benefit to a desktop user.

~~~
bztzt
Is using the edges and corners of the screen not a mouse paradigm? Isn't the
Fitts's Law value of the edges and corners one of the classic tricks of mouse
UI design?

~~~
pbz
Having to take the mouse to an area of the screen that doesn't have any UI
clues that something may happen is not a mouse paradigm. If I show you a
window that doesn't have the red X in the top right corner, would you still
take the mouse there and click anyway or would you not even bother?

~~~
bztzt
It's not particularly a touch paradigm either. It's simply a "new" convention
introduced by Windows 8. FWIW, moving to the mouse to the corners or edges to
trigger "invisible" actions isn't unprecedented, for example that's how you
show an auto-hidden taskbar (ok, so there's like a 1-pixel edge visible) or
show tabs in a fullscreen IE in Windows, and Mac OS X has a "hot corner"
feature that has you set actions for the corners.

------
bionicbrian
Or . . . "A List of 5 Things That Are Not Windows 8". Kind of a weird
"article". ?

~~~
ditoa
Agreed the article is pointless. They basically say stick with your current
version of Windows, switch to Linux or switch to Mac or go totally crazy and
switch to "the cloud" (Chromebook) or buy a tablet. Wow genius needed to write
this article!

~~~
dangrossman
This kind of stuff is always published on Sundays. The good journalism has to
wait for weekdays: when office traffic, the news room being fully staffed, and
new news to write about all intersect.

------
madoublet
So, basically, a guy who really likes Linux dislikes Windows 8. He is a guy
with an agenda, I get that. But, I am pretty sure he completely made this up:
"Now, though even some of Microsoft strongest fans are beginning to back off
from praising Windows 8." I have heard nothing but excitement from the
Microsoft community about Windows 8 and the Surface. Honestly, I didn't read
past that statement. This guy is a hack.

~~~
s_henry_paulson
My thoughts exactly.

He says that Surface will be priced in the range that everyone was expecting,
then follows up with that he thinks it will be "dead before it hits the
market".

Dead? Based on what? That it's priced the way everyone was expecting?

It's a pretty transparent agenda if you're making wild claims without even
attempting to back them up.

------
siger
"Many users don't like it, vendors don't like it, and developers don't like
it."

I would love to know how he came to the conclusion that developers don't like
it. I'm building a Metro app in JS with VS 2012 and couldn't be happier. What
is there to complain about when the preview OS, the SDK and the IDE are free?
The level of documentation already available (incl. the sample projects) is
also impressive.

~~~
pbz
I'm a developer and I don't like it. It's like a house that makes you go
through the bathroom to get to the living room, that has the light switches
hidden, and one room is decorated by IKEA while another is stuck in the
seventies. Sure the AC is better and the beds are comfy, but there are so many
oddities that while I could live in it, I wouldn't like it.

------
exacube
This article is kind of BS. It refers to another article by the same author
([http://www.zdnet.com/blog/open-source/five-reasons-why-
windo...](http://www.zdnet.com/blog/open-source/five-reasons-why-
windows-8-will-be-dead-on-arrival/10275)) on why windows 8 sucks, which
doesn't even make fair points.

The problem is that too many people evaluate Windows 8 as being solely Metro,
even though you can use it just like you would Windows 7 and pretty much avoid
Metro. The fact of the matter is that Windows 8 (as a Desktop) is snappier and
more featureful than 7.

This article seems like it was written by a non-power user attempting Windows
8 in an hour, not someone who has been "working with Windows 8 for months,"
whatever that means.

