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Microsoft Windows Chief Steven Sinofsky Out Following Windows 8 and Surface Launches
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Windows 8 is the forced marriage of two incompatible partnerstouchscreen interface and pointing device interface. It's not headed anywhere, except the realisation that it doesn't work very well.
There's a reason Microsoft is stubbornly clinging to this idea that one device, and one operating system, can serve both functions, but it has nothing to do with usability. It's about business and marketshare.
Apple and producers of Android tablets have been riding the tablet train that left without Microsoft a few years ago, as a chubby Microsoft runs behind along the tracks. It could take 15 years for Microsoft to claw back that kind of head-start, or they may never do it at all.
So Microsoft is looking at what they do haveon a nearby road, their PC bus is way out ahead of everyone. Their plan: drive the bus up onto the railway tracks, and lo-and-behold, they're out in front again! See it's a bus AND a train! All I can say is, enjoy the bumpy ride folks!
There's a reason Microsoft is stubbornly clinging to this idea that one device, and one operating system, can serve both functions, but it has nothing to do with usability. It's about business and marketshare.
Apple and producers of Android tablets have been riding the tablet train that left without Microsoft a few years ago, as a chubby Microsoft runs behind along the tracks. It could take 15 years for Microsoft to claw back that kind of head-start, or they may never do it at all.
So Microsoft is looking at what they do haveon a nearby road, their PC bus is way out ahead of everyone. Their plan: drive the bus up onto the railway tracks, and lo-and-behold, they're out in front again! See it's a bus AND a train! All I can say is, enjoy the bumpy ride folks!
Windows 8 is the forced marriage of two incompatible partnerstouchscreen interface and pointing device interface. It's not headed anywhere, except the realisation that it doesn't work very well.
There's a reason Microsoft is stubbornly clinging to this idea that one device, and one operating system, can serve both functions, but it has nothing to do with usability. It's about business and marketshare.
Apple and producers of Android tablets have been riding the tablet train that left without Microsoft a few years ago, as a chubby Microsoft runs behind along the tracks. It could take 15 years for Microsoft to claw back that kind of head-start, or they may never do it at all.
So Microsoft is looking at what they do haveon a nearby road, their PC bus is way out ahead of everyone. Their plan: drive the bus up onto the railway tracks, and lo-and-behold, they're out in front again! See it's a bus AND a train! All I can say is, enjoy the bumpy ride folks!
No, touchscreen and mouse and keyboard interfaces CAN be compatible, it's just that Microsoft hasn't figured it out.
Safe Mode
This will sometimes boot you into safemode....?????
I've tried this on three PC's (okay two and a virtual machine) I haven't got into repair options yet.
The only way I can force it is to power off the machine while running then it might boot into automatic repair mode which takes between 10 and 25 minutes before it bring up a menu.
I can be repairing between 5 and 20 PC's a day. This will add many hours of work for no good reason.
Just like the Windows 8 Desktop it's change for no reason.
This will sometimes boot you into safemode....?????
I've tried this on three PC's (okay two and a virtual machine) I haven't got into repair options yet.
The only way I can force it is to power off the machine while running then it might boot into automatic repair mode which takes between 10 and 25 minutes before it bring up a menu.
I can be repairing between 5 and 20 PC's a day. This will add many hours of work for no good reason.
Just like the Windows 8 Desktop it's change for no reason.
This doesn't require you to read the book, but people are doing daft things and expect it to behave in exactly the same way as Windows 7, so maybe they ought to read a book on the basics to avoid asking such basic questions.
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The real question is...Why are you on a MacRumors forum, defending Steve Balmer? Talk about a lost cause. For twenty years I used Windows at work, and when I came home I breathed a sigh of relief and booted up my Mac. Windows has improved over the years I'll give you that much. It had good ease of use with XP. It's been all down hill from there. Win 7 isn't too bad, but still why use a second rate O/S when you don't have to?
No, the real question is what I asked. I hear a lot of people saying Ballmer should go, but when I ask people to explain why, they can't.
Julie Larson-Green is taking over his position, and I get to interview her tomorrow!
Will there be any opportunity to view the interview?
Windows 8 is a souped up Windows 7 with an optional interface for start functionality. Once people get used to the interface they won't look back. I hated it for the first 2 hours of use, after that I just keep getting these very satisfactory hits of features and integration I absolutely love.
To judge it I think you need to look back in 6 months time and see what people think, it's way too early to establish a "fail" as you put it.
If the criteria for a "fail" is early adopters having issues, then surely by the same token iOS 6 has failed? So come on be realistic any new product needs time to bed in and for consumers to digest.
I just inserted my USB stick
and 25 minutes, what are you running it on a ZX81? Takes less than 2 minutes on my 3 year old PC.
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Windows 8 is this year's Vista. At least it may do well on Tablet sales. But on the desktop/laptop people are hating it.
You repair Windows 8 from inside the Metro control panel. You have two buttons under general that wipes everything back to a fresh install, and one that does the same, but attempts to keep your settings and programs.
If you want to reboot into safe mode, you do that under advanced startup, located in general at the very bottom. The reason they changed it from the usual F8 is because when you're on a UEFI equipped computer, there isn't a pause after post anymore, and thus doesn't give you enough time to hit the key. Kinda sucks for older BIOS PCs, though.
Why?
1) You can still go back to the shell with original start button. It just hasn't been advertised very well.
2) I haven't heard of a single crash yet on Win8.
According to Steve Jobs' biography, Jobs had a name for people that act that way. Lets see, was it clown or ****head...?
Oh yeah! ****head, definitely ****head...
I think personally Windows 8 is not the best windows ever. But it has god and bad points in my opinion.
Good:
- New and fresh UI. Some love it, others hate it. I like it. But I feel it is very touch screen oriented. Makes little sense on a desktop.
- Not being Samesung and cloning/stealing others ideas.
- Feels like a magic trackpad like multitouch device could be really optimised for this OS. I say it's a good thing cause it's potential the OS has. This is for non-touch screen computers of cause.
Bad:
- Feels like MS is really blurring the line between desktop and touch screen device OS. I still believe you need to optimise fully the OS for each device class. Sure have the best of both worlds in each but still optimise. I don't think MS has done this optimisation.
- People new to the windows world would be confused with the 2 kinds of UI. Yes there are still people who have not used windows before. Mostly hard core Mac fans who are trying MS for the first time I guess.
- Advertising in metro programs. Yes a little is fine but lots of it to me is bad.
Not good or bad:
- Whether MS are willing to admit it or not. This OS shows a slight willingness to admit that one day desktop computers in their current form will not be used by the majority of users for the majority of basic tasks. And to me this OS is taking a step into this brave new mobile touch screen world. Is the world ready for this? I don't know. But I do believe the world does not like change but if it's forced upon them they very soon make do and learn to use the change very well.
- Windows Metro UI. For me still needs a lot of work. But as a basic desktop/finder/whatever it works well. Well, it works well in theory. Just being able to clink on a box to get to what's important in your life is great. The content that matters to you is right in your face. No more start button mess to access what you want. I think that's great. The other side of the coin
- People believe Metro should be fully customisable. And I believe they are wrong. I treat it like iOS in a way. It's not there to be pretty (though it's not too bad in the looks department for me). It's there to get you to the content you want fast.
Good:
- New and fresh UI. Some love it, others hate it. I like it. But I feel it is very touch screen oriented. Makes little sense on a desktop.
- Not being Samesung and cloning/stealing others ideas.
- Feels like a magic trackpad like multitouch device could be really optimised for this OS. I say it's a good thing cause it's potential the OS has. This is for non-touch screen computers of cause.
Bad:
- Feels like MS is really blurring the line between desktop and touch screen device OS. I still believe you need to optimise fully the OS for each device class. Sure have the best of both worlds in each but still optimise. I don't think MS has done this optimisation.
- People new to the windows world would be confused with the 2 kinds of UI. Yes there are still people who have not used windows before. Mostly hard core Mac fans who are trying MS for the first time I guess.
- Advertising in metro programs. Yes a little is fine but lots of it to me is bad.
Not good or bad:
- Whether MS are willing to admit it or not. This OS shows a slight willingness to admit that one day desktop computers in their current form will not be used by the majority of users for the majority of basic tasks. And to me this OS is taking a step into this brave new mobile touch screen world. Is the world ready for this? I don't know. But I do believe the world does not like change but if it's forced upon them they very soon make do and learn to use the change very well.
- Windows Metro UI. For me still needs a lot of work. But as a basic desktop/finder/whatever it works well. Well, it works well in theory. Just being able to clink on a box to get to what's important in your life is great. The content that matters to you is right in your face. No more start button mess to access what you want. I think that's great. The other side of the coin
- People believe Metro should be fully customisable. And I believe they are wrong. I treat it like iOS in a way. It's not there to be pretty (though it's not too bad in the looks department for me). It's there to get you to the content you want fast.
Then you have never used it.
Its just as good a GUI as windows 7 and for a lot/most of users better. (and yes for some worse but thats always the case with any release)
use it before commenting on it.
Apple would do well if they could hire Steven Sinofsky to run iOS now that Forstall has been forced out.
Jony Ives is a brilliant HARDWARE designer, but that's an entirely different game than software and UI design requiring perhaps even an OPPOSITE skill-set and intuition.
It's very possible and perhaps advantageous to place the value of form over function in Apple hardware PRECISELY because all the functionality comes from the SOFTWARE.
Basically with the iPhone and iPad, other than the "Home" button, all the user functionality is on the touch-screen. That allows Ives to go ape-s*** on form given that there really isn't any function that he needs to adhere to.
Yes, allowances need to be made for placement of the cameras and the speaker(s) and volume buttons and what not, but those are rather minor considerations and have little affect on Ives' designs.
In software, however, it's entirely the opposite. Form MUST follow function. Without function, software is entirely useless. It's nice to look pretty, but meaningless when an app doesn't function well or serve its purpose.
That's the inherent problem with having Ives be in-charge of UI for iOS. The priorities won't be correct and whether the design will be stunning is debatable as well.
The "look-and-feel" of hardware is so different from software we might as well be comparing astrology with astrophysics.
In hardware, it's about how a product looks and feels IN YOUR HANDS. It's about the weight and the balance and the materials and the ergonomics. These are things with which there is no doubt Ives is among the very best in the world.
In software, the UI is ENTIRELY visual. There is no "feel" in your hands, no "weight" of the software, no "balance" on your palms, no "brushed aluminium" to fun your fingers over.
In fact all of Ives' best abilities are underutilized or ignored when designing software, and yet any previously unknown weaknesses with purely visual design and balancing form with function will now materialize.
Sinofsky, however, KNOWS how to design software and operating systems. He ran the Windows division starting from the launch of Windows 7, the best and best-selling OS that Microsoft has ever released. He oversaw the development of Windows 8, which is seen by many as a truly ground-breaking OS that is superior to iOS 6 in many ways including its snap screen feature, live tiles, settings and options customization WITHIN the app, actual file system and a far more sophisticated and superior default web browser.
In simple terms, Sinofsky PAWNS Forstall.
And Sinofsky told Steve Ballmer he was an IDIOT. What else needs to be said?
I'm sure Google is already making a huge play for Sinofsky. If Tim Cook wants to live up to Steve Jobs, to plug up the hole sinking Apple instead of trying to point Apple in the right direction, he would use all his strength and ability to do everything in his power in making a play for Sinofsky too.
Jony Ives is a brilliant HARDWARE designer, but that's an entirely different game than software and UI design requiring perhaps even an OPPOSITE skill-set and intuition.
It's very possible and perhaps advantageous to place the value of form over function in Apple hardware PRECISELY because all the functionality comes from the SOFTWARE.
Basically with the iPhone and iPad, other than the "Home" button, all the user functionality is on the touch-screen. That allows Ives to go ape-s*** on form given that there really isn't any function that he needs to adhere to.
Yes, allowances need to be made for placement of the cameras and the speaker(s) and volume buttons and what not, but those are rather minor considerations and have little affect on Ives' designs.
In software, however, it's entirely the opposite. Form MUST follow function. Without function, software is entirely useless. It's nice to look pretty, but meaningless when an app doesn't function well or serve its purpose.
That's the inherent problem with having Ives be in-charge of UI for iOS. The priorities won't be correct and whether the design will be stunning is debatable as well.
The "look-and-feel" of hardware is so different from software we might as well be comparing astrology with astrophysics.
In hardware, it's about how a product looks and feels IN YOUR HANDS. It's about the weight and the balance and the materials and the ergonomics. These are things with which there is no doubt Ives is among the very best in the world.
In software, the UI is ENTIRELY visual. There is no "feel" in your hands, no "weight" of the software, no "balance" on your palms, no "brushed aluminium" to fun your fingers over.
In fact all of Ives' best abilities are underutilized or ignored when designing software, and yet any previously unknown weaknesses with purely visual design and balancing form with function will now materialize.
Sinofsky, however, KNOWS how to design software and operating systems. He ran the Windows division starting from the launch of Windows 7, the best and best-selling OS that Microsoft has ever released. He oversaw the development of Windows 8, which is seen by many as a truly ground-breaking OS that is superior to iOS 6 in many ways including its snap screen feature, live tiles, settings and options customization WITHIN the app, actual file system and a far more sophisticated and superior default web browser.
In simple terms, Sinofsky PAWNS Forstall.
And Sinofsky told Steve Ballmer he was an IDIOT. What else needs to be said?
I'm sure Google is already making a huge play for Sinofsky. If Tim Cook wants to live up to Steve Jobs, to plug up the hole sinking Apple instead of trying to point Apple in the right direction, he would use all his strength and ability to do everything in his power in making a play for Sinofsky too.
^^
Steven Sinofsky at Apple? Good god no. The last thing Apple needs is another egomaniac who thinks he should be running the company.
And if average Joe's here who are most likely not software engineers or UI/UX designers can have good ideas about how OSX, iOS, iTunes, App Store, etc. should look and function I'm sur someone who has a design degree and has been designing for 20+ years might have some good ideas too.
Steven Sinofsky at Apple? Good god no. The last thing Apple needs is another egomaniac who thinks he should be running the company.
And if average Joe's here who are most likely not software engineers or UI/UX designers can have good ideas about how OSX, iOS, iTunes, App Store, etc. should look and function I'm sur someone who has a design degree and has been designing for 20+ years might have some good ideas too.
Y'see, if you'd said at the start that you wanted an actual file system then I could have stopped reading your post a whole lot sooner.
Ive is not a geek, and that is precisely why he should be in charge of UI design.
Julie Larson-Green is taking over his position, and I get to interview her tomorrow!
Now she's looking for a job too? Microsoft, tough crowd...
p)