6 ms·

Why Windows 8 Scares Me -- and Should Scare You Too

27 points by pwpwp 14y ago

pwpwp 14y ago
TL;DR: --Windows 8 is not Windows, it's a new operating system with Windows 7 compatibility tacked onto it. --Although Windows 8 looks pretty and is great for tablet-style content consumption, I question its benefits for traditional PC productivity tasks. --Big OS transitions like this one traditionally cause users to reconsider their OS decision and potentially switch to something else. --Microsoft has worsened the risk that people will migrate away from Windows 8, by disabling some key features of Windows 7, and mishandling the consumer "preview" program. --However, people won't necessarily abandon Windows because it's not clear if they have a good alternative to it. --Apple could provide the best alternative if it chooses to. This might be Apple's best chance ever to stick a fork in Windows. --If Windows 8 is even moderately successful, it could weaken Google and the big web services companies. The trend toward bundling web services into the OS is potentially very disruptive to the web community, and they should be quite worried about it. --If you're a PC app developer, you should probably hold off on Metro because it's not clear how quickly its user base will grow.
- dfxm12 14y ago
  Is it bad that none of these things really scare me?
  - zeeed 14y ago
    Coming up next in this article series: Why I am avoiding articles with headlines that end in "and you should, too" and why you should, too.
    - michaelcampbell 14y ago
      Or, "Why I Am Avoiding Articles That Start With 'Why'". It seems these are the new "10 Ways/Reasons/Thoughts/etc. on...".
eslachance 14y ago
I'm fairly certain this has been said before, but... What if Apple officially supported installing Mac OS X on a regular PC? I mean, it's already possible to do this ("hackintosh" or "OSx86"), but it requires some mucking around... if Apple added support for popular non-mac hardware and just let people buy and install it on any machine, wouldn't that become serious competition to Windows? Because let's face it, a lot of people that stay away from Macintosh do so because of the price of the hardware... Edit: Well that settles it for me, then. Thanks for the replies :)
- jordanlev 14y ago
  I don't think there is any reason for Apple to do this. They make their money from hardware, not software. In years/decades past, people could make the argument that growing their market share by supporting PCs might somehow make them more profitable in the long run... but these days I think it's quite obvious they are doing just fine on the profitability front.
- jakejake 14y ago
  They used to license the OS and there were "clones" available. We has some at school, they were fairly ugly looking desktop cases. That was one of the first things Steve Jobs cancelled when he returned to the company. Things have changes quite a lot with iTunes and the app store, but Apple did make their money as a hardware vendor, allowing them to practically give away the OS. Obviously it worked because they have so much money they don't know what to do with it!
- bunderbunder 14y ago
  Apple's boutique image would evaporate and its fabulously high profit margins would plummet precipitously, and the share price would be dragged down with them. We could argue endlessly about whether it would work or not, and how it might affect the industry. But it's not really realistic speculation. Regardless of whether it might work or not, it just wouldn't serve the interests of the company's owners or operators.
- pooriaazimi 14y ago
  It would ruin their business, and reduce Macintosh to a much inferior operating system. Their software is subsidized by their (seemingly more expensive) hardware.
moistgorilla 14y ago
If only Adobe and Autodesk supported linux I would make the full transition to Ubuntu. Ubuntu doesn't have the learning curve that Linux is known for anymore but still manages to let you have full control of your system when you need it. There are so many open source options that I don't think it's worth jumping through the hoops microsoft lays out anymore. Office tools aren't windows specific anymore because of software like Google docs and libreOffice. Gimp has all of the features of photoshop although a little less intuitive. Qt creator is an excellent replacement for visual studio for c++ developers. Unix command lines make life so much easier. For the average user that only browses the internet and uses microsoft office I really don't think there is a reason to stick to windows other than for autodesk and adobe applications. Thousands of dollars can be saved by people if they just switched to linux.
- jaybill 14y ago
  This is true so long as you don't count the latest version of Ubuntu. Unity is a train wreck because it makes the same set of false assumptions that Win 8 makes in terms there being one interface that will work for tablets, phones and PCs. A year ago I would have agreed that Ubuntu was poised to take up the slack that a lackluster Windows 8 launch would create. Now they just come off as another vendor trying to copy the success of the iPad. As a person who used Ubuntu as his primary desktop for development, I've had to move to another distro (Lubuntu) because Unity/Gnome 3 actively enrages me. I'm not saying that to be dramatic, either. Every time I've tried to use that thing I feel like I have to wash it off my hands. I realize that this might not be as big of a deal to a completely new computer user, but how many of those are really left? As an aside (and I don't mean this to start a flamewar) Gimp is not a suitable replacement for Photoshop. Gimp has all the same functions as photoshop (and some more, in fact) but that user interface is so bad that it's not really a viable replacement. Sure, there are plenty of people who disagree with me, but I think you'll find most of them are engineers and not people who work with images for a living. If you don't believe me, look at what happens when Adobe itself makes the slightest change to any of its products. Its user base is immediately infuriated and threatens to revolt. EDIT: Fixed typo.
  - freehunter 14y ago
cmvf51 14y ago
A long winded article that basically calls at issue Microsoft risk taking changes with Windows 8. I think OP would be happy if Windows 8, was just Windows 7.5 - change is scary.
jsz0 14y ago
For almost every release of Windows it seems Microsoft has arbitrarily moved important and commonly used features around. Windows 8 is a larger visual overhaul but really not a huge departure from the typical musical chair sort of changes you always get with Windows releases. People will probably just be confused for a while, get used to the new system, and Windows 9 will change it again somehow. That's how it's always been so it doesn't concern me. My guess is most people will just randomly click on things until they get back to a semi-familar Windows desktop. They will remember the steps required to get back there. Metro and all these other things will just be another annoying thing that pops up when the computer starts.
- herval 14y ago
  Windows' general look and feel disn't change much since Win 95, actually - one exception being the "settings" (preferences? Control panel?) menu, which changed every time. Win8 kinda changes the entire look and feel (although, just like the control panel, there is a fallback) (fun fact: I ALWAYS click "switch back to the classic view" whenever I get to a windows machine)

27 points by pwpwp 14y ago

pwpwp 14y ago

TL;DR: --Windows 8 is not Windows, it's a new operating system with Windows 7 compatibility tacked onto it. --Although Windows 8 looks pretty and is great for tablet-style content consumption, I question its benefits for traditional PC productivity tasks. --Big OS transitions like this one traditionally cause users to reconsider their OS decision and potentially switch to something else. --Microsoft has worsened the risk that people will migrate away from Windows 8, by disabling some key features of Windows 7, and mishandling the consumer "preview" program. --However, people won't necessarily abandon Windows because it's not clear if they have a good alternative to it. --Apple could provide the best alternative if it chooses to. This might be Apple's best chance ever to stick a fork in Windows. --If Windows 8 is even moderately successful, it could weaken Google and the big web services companies. The trend toward bundling web services into the OS is potentially very disruptive to the web community, and they should be quite worried about it. --If you're a PC app developer, you should probably hold off on Metro because it's not clear how quickly its user base will grow.

dfxm12 14y ago
Is it bad that none of these things really scare me?
- zeeed 14y ago
  Coming up next in this article series: Why I am avoiding articles with headlines that end in "and you should, too" and why you should, too.
  - michaelcampbell 14y ago
    Or, "Why I Am Avoiding Articles That Start With 'Why'". It seems these are the new "10 Ways/Reasons/Thoughts/etc. on...".

eslachance 14y ago

I'm fairly certain this has been said before, but... What if Apple officially supported installing Mac OS X on a regular PC? I mean, it's already possible to do this ("hackintosh" or "OSx86"), but it requires some mucking around... if Apple added support for popular non-mac hardware and just let people buy and install it on any machine, wouldn't that become serious competition to Windows? Because let's face it, a lot of people that stay away from Macintosh do so because of the price of the hardware... Edit: Well that settles it for me, then. Thanks for the replies :)

jordanlev 14y ago
I don't think there is any reason for Apple to do this. They make their money from hardware, not software. In years/decades past, people could make the argument that growing their market share by supporting PCs might somehow make them more profitable in the long run... but these days I think it's quite obvious they are doing just fine on the profitability front.
jakejake 14y ago
They used to license the OS and there were "clones" available. We has some at school, they were fairly ugly looking desktop cases. That was one of the first things Steve Jobs cancelled when he returned to the company. Things have changes quite a lot with iTunes and the app store, but Apple did make their money as a hardware vendor, allowing them to practically give away the OS. Obviously it worked because they have so much money they don't know what to do with it!
bunderbunder 14y ago
Apple's boutique image would evaporate and its fabulously high profit margins would plummet precipitously, and the share price would be dragged down with them. We could argue endlessly about whether it would work or not, and how it might affect the industry. But it's not really realistic speculation. Regardless of whether it might work or not, it just wouldn't serve the interests of the company's owners or operators.
pooriaazimi 14y ago
It would ruin their business, and reduce Macintosh to a much inferior operating system. Their software is subsidized by their (seemingly more expensive) hardware.

moistgorilla 14y ago

If only Adobe and Autodesk supported linux I would make the full transition to Ubuntu. Ubuntu doesn't have the learning curve that Linux is known for anymore but still manages to let you have full control of your system when you need it. There are so many open source options that I don't think it's worth jumping through the hoops microsoft lays out anymore. Office tools aren't windows specific anymore because of software like Google docs and libreOffice. Gimp has all of the features of photoshop although a little less intuitive. Qt creator is an excellent replacement for visual studio for c++ developers. Unix command lines make life so much easier. For the average user that only browses the internet and uses microsoft office I really don't think there is a reason to stick to windows other than for autodesk and adobe applications. Thousands of dollars can be saved by people if they just switched to linux.

jaybill 14y ago
This is true so long as you don't count the latest version of Ubuntu. Unity is a train wreck because it makes the same set of false assumptions that Win 8 makes in terms there being one interface that will work for tablets, phones and PCs. A year ago I would have agreed that Ubuntu was poised to take up the slack that a lackluster Windows 8 launch would create. Now they just come off as another vendor trying to copy the success of the iPad. As a person who used Ubuntu as his primary desktop for development, I've had to move to another distro (Lubuntu) because Unity/Gnome 3 actively enrages me. I'm not saying that to be dramatic, either. Every time I've tried to use that thing I feel like I have to wash it off my hands. I realize that this might not be as big of a deal to a completely new computer user, but how many of those are really left? As an aside (and I don't mean this to start a flamewar) Gimp is not a suitable replacement for Photoshop. Gimp has all the same functions as photoshop (and some more, in fact) but that user interface is so bad that it's not really a viable replacement. Sure, there are plenty of people who disagree with me, but I think you'll find most of them are engineers and not people who work with images for a living. If you don't believe me, look at what happens when Adobe itself makes the slightest change to any of its products. Its user base is immediately infuriated and threatens to revolt. EDIT: Fixed typo.
- freehunter 14y ago

cmvf51 14y ago

A long winded article that basically calls at issue Microsoft risk taking changes with Windows 8. I think OP would be happy if Windows 8, was just Windows 7.5 - change is scary.

jsz0 14y ago

For almost every release of Windows it seems Microsoft has arbitrarily moved important and commonly used features around. Windows 8 is a larger visual overhaul but really not a huge departure from the typical musical chair sort of changes you always get with Windows releases. People will probably just be confused for a while, get used to the new system, and Windows 9 will change it again somehow. That's how it's always been so it doesn't concern me. My guess is most people will just randomly click on things until they get back to a semi-familar Windows desktop. They will remember the steps required to get back there. Metro and all these other things will just be another annoying thing that pops up when the computer starts.

herval 14y ago
Windows' general look and feel disn't change much since Win 95, actually - one exception being the "settings" (preferences? Control panel?) menu, which changed every time. Win8 kinda changes the entire look and feel (although, just like the control panel, there is a fallback) (fun fact: I ALWAYS click "switch back to the classic view" whenever I get to a windows machine)