"Never mind the fact that the iPod turned the entire music industry on its head. Never mind the fact that most successful notebooks today resemble designs first popularized by Apple. Never mind the fact that the blueprint of the modern day smartphone remains the original iPhone. Never mind the fact that competitors are scrambling wildly to copy the success and design of the iPad. Forget all of these things, because when it comes to Apple, the 'what have you done for me lately?' mentality reigns supreme."
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Member since:2005-06-29
That's been almost exactly my experience with it, and I've mastered some of the most esoteric and backwards interfaces out there under GNU/Linux and other OSes. I got the basics of navigating Metro and the slightly tweaked classic desktop, but anything beyond web browsing seems to be purposely hidden. Using a keyboard and mouse in Metro feels like using a Nintendo WiiMote to navigate Windows 7: Inaccurate, slow, painful, and confusing.
And I get what Microsoft is trying to do, but they are trying too hard and too soon. I realized something else about Metro: It's almost as if it's designed to eventually work with a Kinect device for input. A lot of the touch-friendly gestures would work well with such a device, to the point that I wonder if they actually used it during development (in parallel to the version of Metro that's on the Xbox 360).
Of course, as far as I know the Kinect isn't fully supported on Windows 8 yet; RT doesn't support it at all and there are only basic drivers for 8. Perhaps they realized what kind of monstrosity they had built and scrapped those plans, assuming they even had them to start with. I guess we'll never know.
Member since:2007-11-11
Bite your tongue! They still can't get Kinect to work right with games, I can just imagine what it would be like as a PC interface! /moves hand to save work/ "Oh you want me to delete and shutdown? Okay"...nooooooo!
And everyone can see what "MSFT is trying to do" they are trying to turn Windows into a cellphone so the users will "get used to it" and buy their overpriced WinPhones and WinRT tablets...which they just had to cut orders in half on because nobody is gonna pay more than an iPad or Kindle for something with no apps and lousy software support..sigh.
If they don't get Ballmer out of the big chair soon I could easily see MSFT becoming another RIM, a once great company that only has legacy customers and even they are looking at exit strategies. The sad part is if they would ape IBM instead of Apple they'd be doing great, they could backport the appstore to Win 7 and focus on selling features and support contracts to supplement their OS sales but Ballmer just can't see past Cupertino and that is gonna be what runs the company into the ground.
Member since:2005-10-19
Totally agree.
It took me absolutely ages just to figure out how to shut down my god damned PC in Windows 8.
It's now a game I play with guests on my media PC. I see how long it takes each of them to figure it out. Most just give up.
In case you're wondering, you have to hover you mouse over the right side of the screen, click a totally inappropriate cog icon (which is the universal icon for settings), and then find the icon amongst five other down the bottom of the side bar.
And this is just one of many such bizarre UI decisions in Win8. It really seems like they came up with this stuff while under the influence.
Member since:2006-02-15
Member since:2005-08-18
Man, that was absolutely hilarious.
So, the Xbox One disaster continues. Microsoft's policy for dealing with the used games market has reportedly leaked - and it's a clear and direct attack to destroy the used games market. Prices for used games will be set at the retail value of a new game, and retailers have to hook into Microsoft's computer systems and comply with Microsoft's terms and conditions.At an event earlier today, Microsoft unveiled the next Xbox - the third model, but confusingly named Xbox One. The big focus was TV, integrated Kinect, and all the other stuff we all expected to be forced down our throats. I think it took them 25 minutes to actually come to what should be the core of the story: gaming. Nothing groundbreaking in the gaming department, except for how Microsoft intends to handle the used games market and borrowing games from friends: pay up, buddy!
The day has finally come! Jolla has finally announced the launch device for its Sailfish operating system - and by god this is a looker. It's decidedly different from other phones out there, but it has good specifications and carries a relatively reasonably price tag - EUR 399, and it's up for pre-order today, shipping in the fourth quarter of this year.
Why does Google get so much credit in the technology industry? Why, despite the company's many obvious failings, do many geeks and enthusiasts still hold a somewhat positive view on the all-knowing technology giant? A specific talk at Google I/O this week provides the answer.
OSNews is a sponsor of this year's O'Reilly OSCON in Portland, Oregon, USA. A lucky OSNews reader will win a free three-day pass, including two tutorials days. To win the pass, post a comment on this story saying something about Open Source Software or OSCON. We'll pick a winner at random next week. If you don't have an OSNews account, you may email us your entry. Part of the conference is the 9th annual Open Source Awards, and today the 16th is the deadline for nominations. If you'd like to nominate an outstanding open source contributor, do it here. Read on for more information about OSCON. Update: The 20% discount code for OSNews readers is "OSN."
"Windows is indeed slower than other operating systems in many scenarios, and the gap is worsening." That's one way to start an insider explanation of why Windows' performance isn't up to snuff. Written by someone who actually contributes code to the Windows NT kernel, the comment on Hacker News, later deleted but reposted with permission on Marc Bevand's blog, paints a very dreary picture of the state of Windows development. The root issue? Think of how Linux is developed, and you'll know the answer.
This is one of those news items that's fun to write, fun to read, fun to comment on, and where no one will be able to say anything unkind. It's all just one big ball of awesome fluffiness. TuneTracker, the BeOS radio automation software, has just released something very special: TuneTracker System 5, the first version designed entirely and specifically for Haiku. In fact, it actually includes Haiku in the software package. Better yet, TuneTracker also unveiled several system-in-a-box products - which have Haiku and TuneTracker pre-installed.
Exactly twenty years ago, a document was published that played a huge role in establishing the web as we know it today. Twenty years later, and this simple and straightforward document is proof of an irrefutable fact: while closed technologies can change markets, open technologies can change the world.Oh multitasking. That staple of computing that got thrown out the window with many modern smartphones. We got some rudimentary thing in its place - but even as multitasking on phone and tablets improves, its user-visible side remains cumbersome. Windows 8 has a neat implementation, and now it's time Android follows in it footsteps.They're here! Whether that excites you or not remains to be seen, but the Galaxy S4, which will most likely become the best selling Android smartphone of the year by a huge margin, has been reviewed by all the major sites, and there's lots of interesting conclusions in there - although I think most of you will get the gist.
Member since:
2007-11-11
Nobody minds if MSFT innovates, what they mind is when MSFT puts out a BROKEN interface.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WTYet-qf1jo
Watch the video, here is a guy that writes TECH ARTICLES and has written about multiple OSes and even HE can't find what should be simple tools that everybody will need, simple things like "how to make a restore disc" and "How do i close metro Apps" because MSFT doesn't explain anything or give ANY context for the user to learn the new UI, which leads to frustration.
I had a PC running win 8 at the shop for nearly 7 months for users to try and I can tell you he is NOT alone, none of my users could figure out how to do squat without using one of the other PCs to Google what to do which when you need a Win 7 PC just so you can Google how to use the Win 8 PC? I'm sorry but that isn't innovation, that is just broken.
I've been using PCs since the VIC 20, I'm always up for trying and learning new OSes, but after a month of Win 8 I wanted to pull my hair out. its so obviously built for touch that it hurts. "Well what is wrong with that?" most will ask. Simple less than 2% of the PCs on the planet are touch and that isn't gonna change anytime soon and using a trackpad with it is just agony, it can't decide whether you are swiping or moving so half the time you'll get one, half the time the other, the whole OS feels random and out of control.