http://www.osnews.com/story/16909/For_Vista_Testers_It_s_All_in_the_Family Exploring the Future of Computing en-us Copyright 2001-2013, David Adams adam+nospam@osnews.com Fri, 24 May 2013 18:51:00 GMT http://www.osnews.com/images/osnews.gif http://www.osnews.com http://www.osnews.com/thread?200422 http://www.osnews.com/thread?200422 Although they didn't want the families/households to try Windows XY, but other things like XBOX or the Media Center thing.

I think it's a rather good idea to have this approach on usability testing, additionally. Microsoft has enough money to afford it, too.

But I wonder how much they really learn from it. I don't see many key usability features in Windows (Not that all of them were present in "the competition") Wed, 10 Jan 2007 16:45:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Ford Prefect) Comments http://www.osnews.com/thread?200432 http://www.osnews.com/thread?200432 "...Microsoft selected 50 families from around the world and watched, in a reality TV kind of way, how they interacted with Vista..."

I imagine it looked a lot like Survivor. And in the end, it was Vista that got kicked off the island. Wed, 10 Jan 2007 17:32:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (brewmastre) Comments http://www.osnews.com/thread?200444 http://www.osnews.com/thread?200444 Now if MS could fix the ICS colour bug.

This OS is turning out a very solid release. Wed, 10 Jan 2007 18:13:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (ronaldst) Comments http://www.osnews.com/thread?200451 http://www.osnews.com/thread?200451 50 did not switch to OSX, KDE or GTK.

Those 50 used the PC as a door stop.

.V Wed, 10 Jan 2007 18:39:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (netsql) Comments http://www.osnews.com/thread?200461 http://www.osnews.com/thread?200461 If you're wondering whether 50 families is really enough, read this article:

http://www.useit.com/alertbox/20000319.html Wed, 10 Jan 2007 19:01:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (r3m0t) Comments http://www.osnews.com/thread?200475 http://www.osnews.com/thread?200475 I imagine it looked a lot like Survivor. And in the end, it was Vista that got kicked off the island

That was f**king great man, made me laugh. *thumbs up* Wed, 10 Jan 2007 19:44:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Bit_Rapist) Comments http://www.osnews.com/thread?200477 http://www.osnews.com/thread?200477 stupid moronic approach as expected from MS ... (yes i dont like MS and vista but this is clearly new age trandy bull campaign. Wed, 10 Jan 2007 19:46:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (dmc_dtc) Comments http://www.osnews.com/thread?200491 http://www.osnews.com/thread?200491 The problem is that MS is testing in a way that's biased toward their business model which is to sell more boxes where they and their partners can maintain dominance over the hardware makers. What I'm starting to learn is that I prefer the idea of software portability more than a "ball and chain" style of device integration. For simple photo scrapbooks, I actually prefer the Kodak picture stations where I don't have to buy, install, or learn anything, and can find one at any Walmart or Target. I also like the idea of multisession DVD's or USB key running GNU/Linux or whatever OS (should it matter?) which have the potential to run from any kiosk located anywhere perhaps without the need for a hard drive.

MS basically have reinvented the idiot box in living digital. The data-rape that Win-V boxes enable stand to benefit the collector(s) far more than the consumer. Win-V boxes in the home figure to provide many of the same functions traditionally enabled by discrete analog devices except that Win-V might be twice as expensive and half as reliable. Wed, 10 Jan 2007 20:48:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Donny_S) Comments http://www.osnews.com/thread?200500 http://www.osnews.com/thread?200500 What's the bug? Wed, 10 Jan 2007 21:24:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (tomcat) Comments http://www.osnews.com/thread?200522 http://www.osnews.com/thread?200522 Bet they monitored the biggest PEBKAC's ever. Wed, 10 Jan 2007 22:32:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (perkyone) Comments http://www.osnews.com/thread?200525 http://www.osnews.com/thread?200525 What I'm starting to learn is that I prefer the idea of software portability more than a "ball and chain" style of device integration. For simple photo scrapbooks, I actually prefer the Kodak picture stations where I don't have to buy, install, or learn anything, and can find one at any Walmart or Target. I also like the idea of multisession DVD's or USB key running GNU/Linux or whatever OS (should it matter?) which have the potential to run from any kiosk located anywhere perhaps without the need for a hard drive

How are those examples of "software portability"? They're highly-integrated software/hardware scenarios. Who cares whether they're using GNU/Linux or Windows. Either way, the device integration is part and parcel of the vertical kiosk deployment.

Win-V boxes in the home figure to provide many of the same functions traditionally enabled by discrete analog devices except that Win-V might be twice as expensive and half as reliable.

Twice as expensive and half as reliable? Based on what evidence? Wed, 10 Jan 2007 22:38:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (tomcat) Comments http://www.osnews.com/thread?200534 http://www.osnews.com/thread?200534 @tomcat

When in Windows Photo Gallery, the photos look fine in thumbnail mode. But when I open one to look at it, the white gets blue. I looked at the Vista forums, others have reported similar problem but their images get yellower. It's got something to do with their monitors colour profiles.

I don't get the problem in Irfanview. Only in Windows Photo Gallery and Fax and Preview. Wed, 10 Jan 2007 23:29:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (ronaldst) Comments http://www.osnews.com/thread?200575 http://www.osnews.com/thread?200575 that just proves MS is making Windows for losers who know not much about computers! Thu, 11 Jan 2007 01:10:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (zhulien) Comments http://www.osnews.com/thread?200683 http://www.osnews.com/thread?200683 Twice as expensive and half as reliable? Based on what evidence?

Well at least twice as expensive. HOME Linux installs typically cost £0 (that's $0 btw.) Installing Windows XP costs either from around £70 ($119 Walmart) OR whatever the cost of an OEM licence is. I make that £70/£0 (divide by zero which tends to infinity.)

Half as reliable? I run Ubuntu Linux in VMWare on Windows. It has never crashed / been insecure / been unreliable (either system or apps) for me.
The host Windows OS however has (been surprisingly stable but) crashed on a number of occasions. So again, technically, for me, Windows is infinitely less stable than Linux. Thu, 11 Jan 2007 08:14:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (stestagg) Comments http://www.osnews.com/thread?200744 http://www.osnews.com/thread?200744 But I suppose we'll just go on testing our nerdish interfaces on other nerds (if at all), and telling confused newbies to RTFM.

Ho Hum... Thu, 11 Jan 2007 17:42:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Cutterman) Comments