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Subject:RE: When User Interfaces Attack From:<Brian -dot- Henderson -at- mitchell1 -dot- com> To:<techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com> Date:Wed, 12 Mar 2014 18:05:37 +0000
I should clarify, for the sake of this thread, that my displeasure with recent "advances" in the Windows UI stems not from a general unease with change but Microsoft's decision to remove abilities to customize and change how its OpSys' behave.
Win2k was the last time a user was able to easily alter a vast array of behaviors. For instance, you could call-up file-types and assign as many abilities to any type as you could come up with. Since Win 7 you can change "Open With", and that's about it. There are probably ways to make some of the changes I'd like, but my point is that they are "hidden" (if they even exist), and clearly they're hidden to discourage users from making changes.
Another infuriating "advance" is the absence of control over (what's left of) the Start button. Up until XP I have always ridiculously customized the way things were displayed under the Start button. I could organize everything I needed to get-to right there. Now I have put stuff on the Desktop, or organize the top levels of the File Manager -- neither of which are anywhere near as convenient as what I used to be able to do.
I understand what MS is doing. Most people do not want to do the sort of under-the-hood things I enjoy. What I don't understand is why they feel it's necessary to remove so many user controls. Why can't they leave them for people like me, and overlay the "simple view" for everyone else?
Believe me, I'm the last person who'd have a problem with change (in general). I almost literally "live" in the future. My favorite category of music is "Music I've Never Heard Before". And I can't wait to discover new...anything.
Microsoft has pretty much killed any fun I had "playing" with my computers. Win 7 (I use Win 8.1 here at work) will be the last Microsoft purchase I make. I'm now getting back some of that fun with Linux.
-Brian
-----Original Message----- From: Shawn
Nice list. Thanks for sharing Craig.
It is comforting to learn that I am not alone about many of these, without
merit, changes for the sake of change.
The default loss of scroll bars in OSx is one of the most infuriating ones
for me. I don't use them very often so I have enough trouble navigating
around a Mac... trying, in vain, to translate my knowledge of Ubuntu's and
Windows 7 OS UI knowledge.
I think it is fair that sometimes change is good but our own stubbornness
prevents us from accepting these changes and admitting the change is an
improvement. For instance, I absolutely detest the Windows 8 UI but others
love it. Brian commented that any UI change after Windows 2000 was
unnecessary but I think the Windows 7 UI was a huge improvement (uh... once
you add in some 3rd party modifiers like http://www.classicshell.net/ to
bring back the folder size in File Explorer). Finally, I know many may
disagree, but the Apple iPhone has gone through a steady stream of UI
improvements since iOS 4.
Most of the time, UI 'improvements' are highly subjective.
On Tue, Mar 11, 2014 at 8:59 AM, Cardimon, Craig <ccardimon -at- m-s-g -dot- com>wrote:
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