On Wed, Jun 6, 2012 at 10:59 PM, Greg Keogh <g...@mira.net> wrote: > Chaps,**** > > ** ** > > Andrew and Stephen, if you have become productive on Win8, then I am > tempted to pay you for tutorials. Do have a specific example of familiar > daily tasks that work in some superior way? What’s this “pinning” you like, > can I try it?**** > > **** > > I hadn’t thought about the corporate training side issues. Lord knows how > this will be rolled out in big companies The mind boggles at getting the > carbon blobs from sector 7G to upgrade and get back to work.**** > > ** ** > > As a programmer mostly on web and desktop for the moment I’m really > worried about conventions and standards. For decades I’ve had UI guidelines > and conventions about usability and how apps should look and feel and not > frighten users. Then WPF came along and everything went rubbery. Now Win8 > has come along and everything is melting jelly. How the hell am I supposed > to write an app that runs nicely in Win8? Are there any guidelines? > Multi-OS targeting issues!? These and a zillion other on-the-ground > questions about writing real-world apps now. >
Quite interesting questions, especially Multi-os targeting. > **** > > ** ** > > I’m am utterly bewildered where Microsoft is going both artistically and > practically. Perhaps I will be less irritable and confused if someone could > explain in clear developer’s geeky technical practical terms why Win8 looks > like it does and how I am supposed to respond to it. Any links anyone?**** > > ** > It looks like an OS for toddlers. > ** > > The list of points that Ian posted are quite sharp. I also wondered why > apps are full screen (on my bloody great screen), where the app menus > /options/etc and close buttons are. All of the familiar paradigms that are > arguably necessary in software have vanished or moved. I mean, every app > needs “options” of some sort, and needs to be closed (unless I’ve woken up > in the 23rd century and everything has changed utterly). I eventually > managed to join my Domain somehow, but why demand a Live login up front? > Alt+anykey or other weird keystrokes will do something random (like 1980s > word processors). Moving the mouse around is like exploring in a maze. > Hitting Windows key flips between completely different modes, like I’m > running two totally different operating systems at once.**** > > ** ** > > Overall, I’m bewildered and angry at being reduced to a bumbling > incompetent despite 35 years experience on dozens of platforms, it’s like > the designers of Win8 had bets on who could invent to most > counter-intuitive tricks and traps possible to obfuscate everything as a > gargantuan practical joke (like the Office ribbon). I’m also angry as a > developer because I have no clear direction now about what to learn or what > to use for Win8 (if it matters!). The future of Windows software > development has become really muddy.**** > > ** ** > > As Homer Simpson said, “it’s my first day”, so perhaps by next week I’ll > be struck by a techno-epiphany and apologise for what I’ve said.**** > > ** ** > > Greg**** > > ** ** > > P.S. My favourite example of Win8 bafflement is trying to figure out how > to shut the damn thing down. I leave that as an exercise for the reader.** > ** > Kill the VM it's running in. Noone will run it on a real machine. -- Meski http://courteous.ly/aAOZcv "Going to Starbucks for coffee is like going to prison for sex. Sure, you'll get it, but it's going to be rough" - Adam Hills
