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This may be a bit facetious but it seems like Windows 8 might have been the biggest beta testing project ever. But on a serious note I'm glad they're focusing

This may be a bit facetious but it seems like Windows 8 might have been the biggest beta testing project ever. But on a serious note I'm glad they're focusing on improving usability.

deleted 13y ago
[deleted]
mscrivo 13y ago
I don't understand why people keeping getting up in arms about Windows releases, it's like they keep forgetting their M.O. Microsoft's releases have always been like this, release something that changes things drastically (either under the hood or visually), and often breaks things or makes people mad because they don't like change. Then spend an enormous amount of time refining it in a subsequent release until everyone wonders how they ever used the old version. Frankly, I like their release style and wish more companies would follow suit. It allows them innovate on a predictable schedule, while giving those people who hate change, plenty of time for it to sink in and come around. I must say that I am not a fan of metro on the desktop either after using Windows 8 since release, but I knew the refinements would come and these changes are making it look great and finally are starting to show where they set their sights from the start. Looking forward to using windows 8.1 on a haswell based ultrabook with touch.
- lucian1900 13y ago
  It's because it costs money. Few things people pay for are so utterly broken every other year.
- ricw 13y ago
  Just because Microsoft releases have been like this, doesn't mean they should! Having users up in arms is a bad sign. It means you have managed change badly. Others do this much better, incrementally and in bits that are manageable by users. Its something Microsoft fundamentally doesn't understand. Completely unlike Amazon, Google or Apple. When is the last time they released something where people were up in arms?! Even with drastic changes such as in Android 4! Microsoft just doesn't care about its users. But it should!
  - freehunter 13y ago
    If they've always been like this, shouldn't people expect it by now?
- revscat 13y ago
  It has nothing to do with hating change -- which is a pretty condescending thing to say -- but rather with disagreeing with the UI decisions made. By and large the reaction to Metro has been negative for numerous reasons, the important part being that these objections are reasonable. Such grandiose shifts also smack of hubris: "Users be damned, we know what's best for them! Apple did it! So can we!" The problem with this is that Microsoft has always suffered a lack of holding design up to primary importance, and this is again the case here. Enjoying OS X Snow Leopard on my rMBP where I have zero issues with the OS getting in the way of my daily activities. Had to deal with Win7 and then -- briefly -- Win8 for the first few months of this year, and I was positively floored by how much the OS got in the way of doing things. I am skeptical that simply making refinements will fix what appears to be a fundamental problem.
- smrtinsert 13y ago
  Seriously. One of my first lessons from Microsoft was don't adopt within the first year.
Samuel_Michon 13y ago
“seems like Windows 8 might have been the biggest beta testing project ever” Gmail, Facebook, iCloud and Siri have way more users than Windows 8 does. The last two are in their entirety beta products. The first two have introduced major changes that didn’t turn out great. Even when Google rolls out a new version of Gmail in phases, it easily covers more users than Windows 8 (which has about 60 million users).
- orf 13y ago
  Largest doesn't always mean largest user base. I'm sure a lot more money, people and other resources went into Windows 8 than the re-skinning of Gmail.
  - Samuel_Michon 13y ago
    Daigoba66 wasn’t talking about the product itself, but the stage of beta testing. How many people it took to program the software has nothing to do with the beta testing effort. If it takes 10,000 programmers to build an app, but afterwards they only let 10 users beta test it, that’s not a big beta testing project. However, if you build an app alone and then have 1 million people beta test it, then that’s a big beta testing project.

This may be a bit facetious but it seems like Windows 8 might have been the biggest beta testing project ever. But on a serious note I'm glad they're focusing on improving usability.

deleted 13y ago

[deleted]

mscrivo 13y ago

I don't understand why people keeping getting up in arms about Windows releases, it's like they keep forgetting their M.O. Microsoft's releases have always been like this, release something that changes things drastically (either under the hood or visually), and often breaks things or makes people mad because they don't like change. Then spend an enormous amount of time refining it in a subsequent release until everyone wonders how they ever used the old version. Frankly, I like their release style and wish more companies would follow suit. It allows them innovate on a predictable schedule, while giving those people who hate change, plenty of time for it to sink in and come around. I must say that I am not a fan of metro on the desktop either after using Windows 8 since release, but I knew the refinements would come and these changes are making it look great and finally are starting to show where they set their sights from the start. Looking forward to using windows 8.1 on a haswell based ultrabook with touch.

lucian1900 13y ago
It's because it costs money. Few things people pay for are so utterly broken every other year.
ricw 13y ago
Just because Microsoft releases have been like this, doesn't mean they should! Having users up in arms is a bad sign. It means you have managed change badly. Others do this much better, incrementally and in bits that are manageable by users. Its something Microsoft fundamentally doesn't understand. Completely unlike Amazon, Google or Apple. When is the last time they released something where people were up in arms?! Even with drastic changes such as in Android 4! Microsoft just doesn't care about its users. But it should!
- freehunter 13y ago
  If they've always been like this, shouldn't people expect it by now?
revscat 13y ago
It has nothing to do with hating change -- which is a pretty condescending thing to say -- but rather with disagreeing with the UI decisions made. By and large the reaction to Metro has been negative for numerous reasons, the important part being that these objections are reasonable. Such grandiose shifts also smack of hubris: "Users be damned, we know what's best for them! Apple did it! So can we!" The problem with this is that Microsoft has always suffered a lack of holding design up to primary importance, and this is again the case here. Enjoying OS X Snow Leopard on my rMBP where I have zero issues with the OS getting in the way of my daily activities. Had to deal with Win7 and then -- briefly -- Win8 for the first few months of this year, and I was positively floored by how much the OS got in the way of doing things. I am skeptical that simply making refinements will fix what appears to be a fundamental problem.
smrtinsert 13y ago
Seriously. One of my first lessons from Microsoft was don't adopt within the first year.

Samuel_Michon 13y ago

“seems like Windows 8 might have been the biggest beta testing project ever” Gmail, Facebook, iCloud and Siri have way more users than Windows 8 does. The last two are in their entirety beta products. The first two have introduced major changes that didn’t turn out great. Even when Google rolls out a new version of Gmail in phases, it easily covers more users than Windows 8 (which has about 60 million users).

orf 13y ago
Largest doesn't always mean largest user base. I'm sure a lot more money, people and other resources went into Windows 8 than the re-skinning of Gmail.
- Samuel_Michon 13y ago
  Daigoba66 wasn’t talking about the product itself, but the stage of beta testing. How many people it took to program the software has nothing to do with the beta testing effort. If it takes 10,000 programmers to build an app, but afterwards they only let 10 users beta test it, that’s not a big beta testing project. However, if you build an app alone and then have 1 million people beta test it, then that’s a big beta testing project.