Topic: Bloomberg News Columnist Technogeek Says NO to Windows 8

There are a couple of things I take issue with in his article.

Of course, it is an “opinion” column. And, in that case, any reader should take his view as just that; opinion, and not technically studied and proofed fact. In other words, he could easily get the wrong end of the stick … and point the finger at the wrong person.

Then, more than an hour into the effort, the Pavilion’s hardware-diagnostic program prevented a required restart of Windows until I manually intervened.

This may, or may not, be the fault of Microsoft. What if the Pavilion’s software was doing something that it shouldn’t really be doing, or was buggy? Unlike the Apple ecosystem, Microsoft’s OS is a lot more open to things happening on it; the Pavilion software may have been operating sub-optimally, and caused a problem.

… which others without said software may not have had. Is this Microsoft’s problem? Of course, we don’t know, but come on Rich, let’s not point the blame at Microsoft just for the hell of it.

Finally, upgrade complete, I rebooted into the new Windows 8 Start screen. I was greeted with its colorful tiles — and an error message that read “.Net 3.5 Client Profile Runtime has stopped working.” When I tried to summon Microsoft’s online help service for a solution, I discovered my PC no longer had Internet access, thanks to an incompatibility with the version of Symantec (SYMC)’s Norton Firewall software I was using. (Most of my other existing programs, though, seemed to run fine with the new operating system.)

Interesting. Rich was upgrading, which means Windows 8 checks for compatibility. I would be very surprised if Windows 8 had not warned him to uninstall Symantec if it was incompatible. It warned my wife for things like simple USB 3 drivers, and iTunes (which is actually compatible, I guess it must have a hook or process that the Windows 8 installer is unsure about?). Of course, I can’t know for certain, but did Rich actually uninstall any software that the installer wasn’t sure about? He didn’t mention so anywhere; this seems like quite an exclusion, considering how common it is for Windows 8 to recommend removing certain pieces of software, including common applications! And if he didn’t, he wasn’t playing the game straight.

may find themselves needing to memorize keyboard shortcuts for many common tasks, a throwback to earlier days of computing.

Rich’s “throwback” terminology clearly implies that he believes keyboard shortcuts were something that was useful many years ago. Actually, each version of Windows has increasingly added shortcuts, and Windows 8 is no exception. “Power” users (the people that actually are most adept at computers) typically use many keyboard shortcuts. Of course, it shouldn’t be required, my issue here is merely Rich’s implication of an older system, when in actual fact it’s alive and well in many circles, and not a “throwback” in any sense of the word.

And missing from the desktop is the familiar button that would allow you to shut down or restart the PC.

This shows ignorance for how modern computers are intended to function. They are made to sleep, standby, and so on. They are not meant to be restarted or shut down except when necessary, which is not often. This includes (a well-updated) Vista, 7 and even more so, 8. Even XP was often stable for long periods of time. I have only recently got myself out of the habit of shutting down; in the end, it wasn’t because “it’s better for the computer”, I realised. It was because it’s what I’ve been doing my whole life, and I’m merely comfortable with it.

Rich clearly hasn’t realised that he isn’t meant to shut it off, or restart it, unless the machine requires it for an update. Even hibernation, which does not draw power, is more intended to be used than shut down. So they aren’t “missing”. They have been moved away from common use, because you aren’t meant to commonly use them. .. and the physical power button on computers still works fine. I have to admit, I stopped clicking shut down when I could just press my physical power button, honestly!

Further, there’s no option to boot directly into the desktop environment, or restore the Start menu.

This is only a small one, and he’s right for the most part; included in Windows, there isn’t. There’s a reason; it’s because the desktop actually IS meant to be a second part, and not the “main screen”. It’s down to taste whether this is fine or not. I haven’t made up my mind yet, and for all the positivty I feel for Windows 8, I could easily decide I’d rather have the desktop load first.

What he hasn’t bothered trying to find out (or at the very least mentioning), especially for reader’s sakes (in case they feel the same as him) is that there is software available to perform this for him, if he really can’t move forward and needs to stick with his older, familiar way of using computers.

The rest of what he says does echo many people’s feelings, from what I can tell. The disparity between “two worlds” as I’ve seen it referred to elsewhere, the two IE versions both being there, that the interface is designed more for tablets (regardless of what Microsoft says). He makes good points, but some of his bias is blatant, and he clearly has no time to accustom to a new environment.

… so if he isn’t willing to give it time, why did he upgrade? I wouldn’t move from an older version of DAW software to a newer one, if I wasn’t ready to accept that there are going to be changes, sometimes major…

Anyway, there’s my take on the parts that I disagree with. I found his “test” to be pretty inconclusive, not thorough, and uninformed. Of course, his experience and thoughts may reflect many basic users’ as well. It’s not so much that he’s wrong; it’s that he’s got that typical lack of patience that is so common in the I.T. world (from users who the I.T. staff support, or at least try to).

Windows 8 is still, sadly, a mixed bag.

I typically find reviews, by people who are more adept with whatever they’re reviewing, to be more useful when making decisions on any purchases or the like. People’s rushed opinions like this can make you avoid things that may work great for you, or make you jump eagerly into things that might shatter you. I’d take the view from someone who did a couple of weeks of solid usage over someone who did a couple of hours of installing and experimenting any day.

I am personally going to give up the start menu as a test for a bit and see how I like it.

I will find out afterwards, whether I can do without, or not. Honestly, I think I’m one of those users who does without it most of the time now. I pinned most used apps to the bottom, and I often just press start button and type. So I almost never navigate the menu.

And if I hadn’t stubbornly renamed all of my English links in start menu to Japanese, I would never go to start menu, I would always type. Sadly, I’m still not accustomed to typing Japanese fast enough or remembering my re-pronunciation of those link names to make it quicker to type. When I install Win8 and swap, I am likely to leave them as English; I’ve ceased the drive to learn Japanese now, and don’t need to convert everything on my system that I can to it. 😛

I think those start menu replacers could be useful to some, but I’d recommend anyone try and see if they can’t get used to the new style first. If not, well, there’s solutions available. The one I knew of was Stardock’s one; mostly because they’ve been around for ages customising many Windows series (for skinning and custom window handling modifications, and more). I think they even had applications for Windows 9x!!!

Anyway, I’ve read a range of coverage on Win8 and it’s just all sensationalist across the board. I won’t know how I truly feel by reading other people’s words (sometimes I can, but not with this controversial release). Que sera sera (without the accents), or something.

I can certainly relate to what you say with most of that post, and I’m not sure how I got past those feelings. My first impression was extremely negative haha.

Anyway, so-called “Windows 9” is apparently code-named Windows Blue, and it looks like tiles and the new way of doing things is staying.

http://www.theverge.com/2012/11/28/3693368/windows-blue-update-low-cost

With that said, you might not have meant Windows Blue, which looks to retain the Windows 8 moniker, but rather the real successor. But with yearly updates as they seem intent on moving to (similar to Apple), it may be a lot longer off than the few years that Vista, 7 and 8 got people a little more accustomed to. And by then, I suspect that many concepts about computing will have changed if not by a little, then by a fair amount, and even more “innovation” will be included in Windows 9.

Well, that’s my prediction, but no one will truly know until it’s much closer to the time. I’m not sure what I hope for yet, honestly.

I can definitely understand your concern, and what you say. Being a tech enthusiast, it’s a little more difficult to relate personally, however. As it turns out, my Windows installation is on a separate partition (a virtual hard disk, I guess, in case you aren’t already aware of the term). Honestly, I probably set it up this way for the very reason you mention: So I can wipe Windows if I reinstall it or something goes wrong, without affecting other data!

I think some of your concerns won’t really fruit to the degree that you are concerned about, but I can definitely agree that some of these things might occur. I don’t think the Windows 8 upgrade has really caused the turmoil in as widespread manner as some people believe or state; in the end, Windows 8 is incredibly compatible with Windows 7, because is using the same kernel in essence (upgraded of course, but the same basic structure and programming), same driver structures … so on and so forth.

Windows 7 caused quite a few issues after Vista honestly, despite its meaning to be compatible with Vista drivers. I actually was one of the people that had issues with my USB sound device (Tascam US-144 – I regret that purchase now!), AND my USB network device!! I couldn’t use the internet without plugging in ethernet cables for around 2-4 weeks, before the driver issue was sorted out. This was at the release of Windows 7! And I was furious, but after it was fixed, I got over it pretty fast.

Windows 8 has drawn so much attention that it becomes easy to believe many more users are having issues than they actually are. On the flip side, Windows 8 upgrade (as in no wiping of drives) is meant to be more accessible and usable than ever, and thus, they’ve pushed users in that direction more, which … I think will cause more problems. I’d be willing to bet well over 50% of users who have done it, however, have not had any more than minor issues, if any at all, which means that the majority do not have problems.

I agree the percentage should be higher, but it’s easier said than done.

Anyway, I’m getting side-tracked. I think the point of more frequent updates is similar to the OS X way of doing things. This means the changes between versions won’t vary as much as they would, say, between Vista and 7, or 7 and 8 (or especially XP and Vista!). The chances of, as you say, waking up and finding your host is broken I think would be pretty minimal. However, Windows 8 (and any Windows so far, really) also allows users to put off doing automatic updates. If you were to do that for a bit until Windows 8 insisted, by that time any host being actively developed should’ve overcome any problems that may have have been caused, and then the updates, along with host updates, should be fine to install.

I don’t see this as particularly different (though to be sure it IS more extreme) than current ways of doing things. Currently, as you have admitted doing yourself, people tweak their workstations for DAWs. That I’m sure will continue. A common one is not to update automatically, isn’t it? Some security patches or other thiings have caused software issues in the past as well, so tweakers for particular computing purposes often try to mitigate these effects by disabling or toning down such settings. I imagine this would remain the same in Windows 8 – but, of course, Microsoft are going to be pushing updates harder. They wouldn’t need to do this, if their userbase on previous systems hadn’t been so unwilling to patch their systems in the first place, and helped spread a lot of the botnets and viruses we have floating on the internet these days.

Another point is legacy software; what if something breaks compatibility with software that is no longer being updated? I don’t see this as a real problem either (though it would frustrate me a lot if it happened to me, regardless). People who want to use older software, in all cases, eventually need to use the old OS it was programmed for, or an emulator of sorts. This will always happen, and really can’t be helped unless we freeze everything.

Ok, so, I’ve … kind of lost being direct and concise here. In short, I think circumstances will do as you are afraid of, but won’t affect the vast majority of people. You can never have 100% success rate, especially not as Microsoft allow such a wide ecosystem of hardware and software on their systems. That’s one benefit of Apple; they control compatible and supported hardware and software much more tightly, reducing such strains quite considerably. Despite this, they still have problems with legacy software too (the Mountain Lion update caused considerable upset, especially in the small business sector, as it dropped support for something I’ve forgotten the name of).

For DAW work and cautiously using a computer, I would recommend the same I would’ve for the last decade; disable auto update and allow them through when you want instead. Windows 8 will eventually insist on it, unlike previous OSes, but you can delay it for a bit, after which, updated hosts should fix issues.

Another point: If this sort of thing happened, who really should the finger be pointed at? Microsoft gets a lot of pointed fingers, often deservedly, but sometimes not. Their software is just as solid, if not more so, than a lot of software developers out there, some of whom only patch their software ever couple of years. If Microsoft finds a bug (a BUG, not a feature) and fixes it, and it causes issue with a piece of software which is reluctantly then updated months later, causing massive disruption, who is to blame for that? Microsoft often gets the blame because they “changed” something, but then why did the software rely on something that was a bug, I wonder?

Anyway this post is half thinking out loud, sorry. Your concerns need to constantly be presented by the community though, to keep software developers (Microsoft and everyone else) on their toes and make sure they do as well as they can to avoid issues.

I would be pretty surprised if you woke up one day after an update (like a security patch, not like Blue) and found your software to no longer work. I’d be surprised if updates like Blue did that as well; but those updates are more like major patches that would be paid for I believe, in the end, like Apple’s updates. Like getting a DAW host for all 1.x versions, but then needing to pay for the ugprade to all 2.x versions, current and future.

I’ll try to be way more consise in future!