3 ms·

Backwards compatibility is one of the selling points. Another is the UI, which has remained basically the same since Windows 95. They learned that lesson when t

by D13Fd 5y ago

Backwards compatibility is one of the selling points. Another is the UI, which has remained basically the same since Windows 95. They learned that lesson when they changed it for Windows 8, and immediately changed it back.

swiley 5y ago
It really hasn't stayed the same. I stopped using it on my computers at windows xp (and windows 98 was the last version I spent any real time in) so the changes in newer versions of Windows are a lot more obvious (and confusing) to me. Here are just a few of the bigger ones: The control panel has moved around a few times since then (and is way harder to find, I have to use the search feature to get to it) and now they have some windows RT replacement that I have no idea how to navigate. The user home folder (and even C:\) is harder to find now. Everything pushes you to use "one drive" which has non intuitive synchronization/corruption/compatibility/path behavior. The start menu is completely different and has ads now. I have no fucking idea how user creation works anymore but I think it's tied to some online service. Linux has had a far more consistent UI. Xterm hasn't changed (as far as I can tell) since the version I had on my laptop when I was 12. Neither has FVWM (although they stopped calling it "FVWM2.") Bash has "deprecated" aliases but they still work. I guess GNOME has iterated on its shell a few times but it's not like Microsoft hasn't screwed around with explorer. Also caja is still there and behaves the same (does anyone actually use GNOME unironically anyway?) Office has changed even more dramatically (which makes me wonder why people still stick with it, at this point libre office writer has fewer UI changes from word 98 than Microsoft word.) If you want an example of "UI doesn't change much over half a century" look at coreutils. They make changes but people really freak out when they do because there's little difference between the UI and what is essentially an ad-hoc API.
- D13Fd 5y ago
  I'm talking about the UI for corporate users, who don't use the control panel. They want a start menu that works, a bar along the bottom to get their apps, close/min/max buttons in the same place, a clock that shows the calendar when you click it, etc.

by D13Fd 5y ago

swiley 5y ago

It really hasn't stayed the same. I stopped using it on my computers at windows xp (and windows 98 was the last version I spent any real time in) so the changes in newer versions of Windows are a lot more obvious (and confusing) to me. Here are just a few of the bigger ones: The control panel has moved around a few times since then (and is way harder to find, I have to use the search feature to get to it) and now they have some windows RT replacement that I have no idea how to navigate. The user home folder (and even C:\) is harder to find now. Everything pushes you to use "one drive" which has non intuitive synchronization/corruption/compatibility/path behavior. The start menu is completely different and has ads now. I have no fucking idea how user creation works anymore but I think it's tied to some online service. Linux has had a far more consistent UI. Xterm hasn't changed (as far as I can tell) since the version I had on my laptop when I was 12. Neither has FVWM (although they stopped calling it "FVWM2.") Bash has "deprecated" aliases but they still work. I guess GNOME has iterated on its shell a few times but it's not like Microsoft hasn't screwed around with explorer. Also caja is still there and behaves the same (does anyone actually use GNOME unironically anyway?) Office has changed even more dramatically (which makes me wonder why people still stick with it, at this point libre office writer has fewer UI changes from word 98 than Microsoft word.) If you want an example of "UI doesn't change much over half a century" look at coreutils. They make changes but people really freak out when they do because there's little difference between the UI and what is essentially an ad-hoc API.

D13Fd 5y ago
I'm talking about the UI for corporate users, who don't use the control panel. They want a start menu that works, a bar along the bottom to get their apps, close/min/max buttons in the same place, a clock that shows the calendar when you click it, etc.