Posts by MysteryGuy

> So, given that this garbage algorithm made it through a round,..

From the sounds of it, the weakness came about because a 'different' area of mathematics was unexpectedly discovered to be able to attack the area that the problems used by the algorithm are based on.

I'm not a mathematician, but it sounds like the maths involved in both areas are quite advanced.

So not really 'garbage' as much as an unexpected discovery rendering it unsuitable.

Re: Really Stupid

> ...it's delusional designers keep trying to unify two very different tools.

I thought the Windows 7 interface (while nowhere near perfect) did a much better job of satisfying both types of users.

Production workers could get their stuff done and so could more 'consumption' oriented users.

Then Windows 8 came along and decided we should all have a version of a phone interface instead...

Re: "It is almost as if the company does not test things properly... "

Who has time for proper testing?

If they took the time to test things then they wouldn't be able to pump out (broken) updates as quickly...

Oh wait...

>Then there will be:

>

>USB with knobs on...

Thinking back to cars from the days of my youth, I would expect USB with racing stripes or flames painted on the hood/fenders...

Re: Hmmmm

> I never seem to have problems with these updates... what am I doing wrong?

I've had the opposite experience where something almost always got broken on update.

It got to where I would curse whenever I suddenly got the 'We're about to make windows better' chirpy pop-up announcing that it was about to (very likely) ruin my day...

Re: To be honest

> But that was learned ages ago, so it probably isn't true anymore, or something.

It seems to me that the new UI's being pushed for PC use these days are usually less usable than what they replace.

It seems that the theory is that just because something is 'old' it is somehow automatically in need of being replaced with something 'new'.

Using the same logic, I guess we need to find a new way of steering cars. That steering wheel thingy has been around for too long now.... :-)

Re: The more they push

"I'm altering the deal. Pray that I don't alter it any further"

And then there's the 'Robot Chicken' version :-)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WpE_xMRiCLE

Re: A big year of shame for Windows...

> Windows10=8.2

Windows 10 has made me think something I never thought I would... That I like Windows 8.1 better (than 10).

After playing with both Windows 8.1 and Windows 10 (in Vms), I like 8.1 better (than 10) since it was possible to use classic shell and a custom theme to make it look more like Windows 7.

(It seems to me that Windows 8/10 are working hard to turn my desktop PC from a universal platform for work and gaming into one whose UI looks/works like a phone meant only for content consumption.... One that doesn't scale well on my 1920 x 1200 24 inch monitor.)

Windows 10 has worse spyware, more Metro (which I hate the look/functionality of), limited update control, the 1511/Threshold 2 version seems to have done in custom (non MS) themes, updates sometimes seem to magically delete things... Just to name a few of my least favorites..

All that being said, I still use and want the Windows 7 UI over any of them.

Re: Perhaps people have realised...

> More and more PCs are hybrid/tablets nowadays and that seems to be the way things

> are going and for these Windows 8.1 is just brilliant.

But there is still a need to do 'real' work, where tablets/hybrids aren't suitable to replace desktop productivity system. I think MS are sacrificing desktop usability in their rush to assume desktop PC's are no longer needed.

There are many reasons you might not like Windows 8, not just complaints about the start button... Overall I think Windows 8/10 is an inferior experience to Windows 7 for desktop productivity:

*) MS wants to move us all to a 'walled garden' (like Apple) where the users are more easily controlled. They control what can be sold, and then get a cut of it all.

*) I don't like the Metro 'dumbed' down graphics style from an aesthetics perspective. And wasn't MS recently complaining that the developers for App. store icons were using icons that were too 'non differentiating'? It seems to me that the whole Metro style is flat, boring, excess simplicity by its design..

*) The flat Metro style also seems to result in low information density, inferior usability panels.

*) Reduced privacy with the 'you should always be logged on to MS central' attitude. (The Windows 10 preview was incredulous that I wanted to log on locally... after I was able to find out how to do it in the first place...). But, I guess they're afraid if I'm not logged on constantly, how will I be buying their apps?

*) I don't want a 'touch' interface on my 24 inch monitor... If I don't want to touch my monitor, I also don't want to make 'touch gestures' with my mouse either.

It seems to me that the whole Windows 8/10 push is reinventing the wheel in an 'optimized only for mobile' way at the cost of Desktop usability.

Re: I put it on a desktop system

I also put 9926 on a Desktop VM to give it a try for the first time. As a Win-7 desktop user I was very disappointed. (I still think it's way worst than Windows 7, for multiple reasons).

First off, it's goes further in spreading the 'TIFKAM' graphics style. For desktop use, I hate the flat, lifeless style and I think it's less informationally dense.

As far as search goes,I don't want a combined 'search the Web and my local computer' when I usually want to search my local computer, and I have a Web browser when I want to search the web.

They really seem to be pushing hard to be 'Always logged on' (and presumably ready to buy more 'apps' from their store). I don't want to constantly send my search habits to MS ( or any of their friends), etc.

The start menu seems to lack many of the features I use in Win 7, Like the Fly-out menus to the right for Control Panel, etc.

Initially, I really didn't find anything that I would think of as an 'improvement' over Windows 7...

Re: Will it be an in-place upgrade?

> Oh yes it will, unless MS offer absolutely seamless, in-place upgrade and guaranteed

> backwards compatibility for applications.

MS has been having trouble not breaking things just for relatively simple 'security patches' lately.

Imagine how well things might go if relatively significant 'OS Upgrades' are automatically installed onto your system.

> They should run the heavy discount program the did at the start on Win8 again,

In my case, that still wouldn't be nearly good enough for me to want to use Windows 8 (at least at the moment).

I bought two of the 'cheap' $40.00 Win 8 upgrades when it came out on the odd chance that they would come to their senses some day. I still don't use them. I just continue using the Windows 7 I already have installed .

For me, effectivly 'free' still isn't good enough of a reason to make me want to 'upgrade' (since I would still view this as a downgrade for multiple reasons... )

Re: Any movement so far in migration has been to Windows 7 rather than 8 or 8.1

> I run Win 8.1 with Start8 on my desktop...

At last count, Microsofts plan for you was to kill off the old style programs and have you use only Metro apps in the future. That way, you're locked into the MS store, etc.

MS can stop 'throwbacks' like start8 from working whenever they want if they don't get TIFKAM uptake they want.

You might be happy with what I consider a downgrade in productivity for Desktop use (TIFKAM), but that's not a future I'm willingly buying into...

Re: Oh come on...

> . Don't like it, just use desktop apps and carry on.

Except that the real long-term plan for Windows 8 appears to be to get rid of the Desktop completely, and have an all TIFKAM all the time experience. We were supposed to only use the old UI as a transition aid in their plan.

With 8.1 they at least allow you to start in Desktop, but it doesn't seem to me like they have really given up on attempting to expunge the 'old' desktop over time... Hence the 'No Start menu' in 8.1.

I'm just saying 'No' to the whole thing...

Re: Is it just me?

> but instead of excitement I'm now facing dread each time MS release something.

I think for a while now theyt've passed their zenith, and most new 'improvements' seem to actually harm the usability rather than help it.

With WIndows 8, it seems more about craming the users into their "one OS to rule them all' idea than actually wanting (or even trying) to make desktop users more productive.

And I thought it was bad when they changed everything for the 'ribbon' interface...

Re: Scary and unbelievable

> You could always install a 4 year old OS if you want to live in the past...

I've been around long enough to see that new is not always better. Unfortunately, I've seen some programs get worse and worse with each new release as the company seems to have lost the plot, or gone off on a new plan that they alone think is a great idea, or added unneed bloat, etc.

Windows 8 seems like such a bad idea to me (for the desktop) that it makes me value the 'old' version. I dread ever being forced into using Windows 8.

Still not for me thanks

I just want to use the 'old' desktop interface on my desktop. (And even if I did have a 24 inch touch monitor I wouldn't think TIFKAM was a great way for me to work).

Windows 8.1 is closer, but still no cigar since they still try to suck you back into tile-land whether you want to go there or not (no real start menu, etc.).

Sure, if you work at it and use 3rd party apps you can do better at avoiding it, but why should I have to go through the effort for the privilege?

Re: I'll believe in a conspiracy...

> Seriously, why are you acting as if there is no desktop?

It's clear that the MS plan was (probably still is) to get rid of the desktop, and the future is supposed to be all TIFKAM all the time. The desktop was left as a 'courtesy' while everyone moved to TIFKAM (in their plan). TIFKAM is the main point of Windows 8, isn't it?

Even with 8.1 (after setting direct boot) you still don't have the real start-menu.

For me, all I want is the Desktop. It sounds like you're saying that with enough work I can get somewhat close to that experience once again with Windows 8.1.

Why should I pay money (and expend the effort) so that I can maybe get close to what I already have (and want) with Windows 7? Even then, how long until they deprecate the Desktop away?

Sorry, but for me to buy into Windows 8 I would want it to be enough 'better' to justify the pain and expense. When I went from XP to Windows 7 I said 'Yes, this is worth it. It's an improvement'. I had the exact opposite reaction to Windows 8. I would be paying to go backwards.

To me, no amount of 'under the hood' tweaking is worth the pain of 'desktop TIFKAM' and where MS wants to lead us with it.