Samsung Exec Bashes Windows 8

[gunbust3r]

Hi I'm Samsung and we slam 90% of our marketing into getting consumers to purchase a $799 Android Phablet. Then we wonder why they don't have any money left to buy another PC running Windows 8.

 

[heatlesssun]

However it still doesn't advance anything or offer a single tangible benefit to those not using a touch screen. It never has..it never will.

Sure it does. Improved task bar for multiple monitors, simplified file backup and disaster recovery tools, can boost performance on older systems. particularly those running Vista, etc. And while I know many people avoid Metro apps I use a number of them on the desktop and get a lot of information from live tiles and the ease of sharing files and applications between my desktop and tablets benefits both form factors.

 

[Flyboat]

Window 8 is a good operating system, so is window 7. There is little benefit for customer to upgrade.

 

[daglesj]

You know, it is funny. In my previous job I handled technology training for hundreds of employees. I left said job because I was tired of it and wanted to do something different. During my time there however, I put Win 8 while it was in beta in front of countless people. I never once tried to make their opinion for them or told them how I felt about it. I simply told them this was new direction of windows, and asked them to bang around on it and give me feedback on how it felt. Not a Single person ever said a single positive thing. These were all average users, not one of them a power user.

Well I guess maybe I'm better at training than you were? I was the mobile workforce trainer for a large bluechip firm for several years so got the science down pat. Taking complete novices who had never used a modem or a laptop to fully trained mobile warriors.

I would never consider moving a customer to a new OS and hardware without giving them a 20 minute run through at least. I did it with NT, XP, Vista and 7 so 8 is no different

Mostly 20 mins is all that's needed to get folks up to speed. Just leaving folks dead with any OS be it OSX/Linux etc. after they have sat on XP for 10 years is just dumb. And yes chances are you'll get a negative reaction.

Back last summer I tried an experiment I left a few folks with a Windows 8 laptop cold. No intro just left them with it. Yes when I came back an hour later none of them were very happy. I then tried a second group but this time I gave them a quick demo of how it worked (about 10 mins) and then left them with it.

The result? They all liked it. Hmmm surprise surprise! Once I showed the first group what I showed the second they were more positive too.

All I can say is that my experience of running 8 out to normal folks has been good. IT Training isn't all about technical skills, it's about people skills and letting folks feel confident and relaxed with you. Getting the concepts across and making sure they all keep up and understand.

No tears and no ranting. Some folks just want to make life difficult for themselves I guess.

 

[CreepyUncleGoogle]

Regardless of why it isn't selling well, the bottom line is that Samsung isn't making sales which hurts their business. For whatever the reasons are that people cite, if Windows 8 isn't helping generate demand for computers then companies that depend on a successful OS launch from Microsoft to keep sales going are going to make noise about it. However, they're as much at fault for depending on another company to contribute to demand as Microsoft is for doing whatever it is they are or aren't doing to make their OS an appealing purchase.

 

[Dekoth-E-]

Sure it does. Improved task bar for multiple monitors, simplified file backup and disaster recovery tools, can boost performance on older systems. particularly those running Vista, etc. And while I know many people avoid Metro apps I use a number of them on the desktop and get a lot of information from live tiles and the ease of sharing files and applications between my desktop and tablets benefits both form factors.

Given I was strictly talking about the interface..nothing you mentioned there has any bearing on my argument. I am well aware of the under the hood improvements in win 8 as minor as they are.

Well I guess maybe I'm better at training than you were? I was the mobile workforce trainer for a large bluechip firm for several years so got the science down pat. Taking complete novices who had never used a modem or a laptop to fully trained mobile warriors.

I would never consider moving a customer to a new OS and hardware without giving them a 20 minute run through at least. I did it with NT, XP, Vista and 7 so 8 is no different

Mostly 20 mins is all that's needed to get folks up to speed. Just leaving folks dead with any OS be it OSX/Linux etc. after they have sat on XP for 10 years is just dumb. And yes chances are you'll get a negative reaction.

Back last summer I tried an experiment I left a few folks with a Windows 8 laptop cold. No intro just left them with it. Yes when I came back an hour later none of them were very happy. I then tried a second group but this time I gave them a quick demo of how it worked (about 10 mins) and then left them with it.

The result? They all liked it. Hmmm surprise surprise! Once I showed the first group what I showed the second they were more positive too.

All I can say is that my experience of running 8 out to normal folks has been good. IT Training isn't all about technical skills, it's about people skills and letting folks feel confident and relaxed with you. Getting the concepts across and making sure they all keep up and understand.

No tears and no ranting. Some folks just want to make life difficult for themselves I guess.

Nice veiled insult there..Not going to bother arguing with you. I didn't have to train people how to do basic things from XP to Vista and to 7. The fact that It is forced to train people on basic computer operation from 7 to 8 pretty much sums up how inexplicably stupid the ui is.

 

[heatlesssun]

Given I was strictly talking about the interface..nothing you mentioned there has any bearing on my argument. I am well aware of the under the hood improvements in win 8 as minor as they are.

The task bar isn't what I would call an under the hood improvement and is sort of big deal, at least I think it is for people that run lots of apps across multiple monitors, which you'd think is impossible with what some people say about Windows 8.

And again, I use Metro apps and live tiles on the desktop. It can add to the desktop experience for content consumption, presentation and entertainment apps that work naturally full screen.

 

[heatlesssun]

The fact that It is forced to train people on basic computer operation from 7 to 8 pretty much sums up how inexplicably stupid the ui is.

Well if one had never seen Windows in the last 30 years they might need a little training. Four hot corners with the mouse, four edge swipes with touch, right click for app bar, drag from the top to the sides to snap or down to close the app. It's not like we're talking about extensive training for at least a lot of people.

 

[Red Falcon]

It's because it IS the previous vista/7 system, with a junky GUI on top...to fool people it's not the same...

It's not the same, the front-end sucks, and the back-end sucks even worse.
7 should have had a SP2 for all of the little additions that 8 brought, but instead, we got a half-ass tablet OS.

Every single person I've talked to despises and hates Win 8, even more so than I do!

 

[Godmachine]

It's not the same, the front-end sucks, and the back-end sucks even worse.
7 should have had a SP2 for all of the little additions that 8 brought, but instead, we got a half-ass tablet OS.

Every single person I've talked to despises and hates Win 8, even more so than I do!

I actually and recently gave Windows 8 another shot. I tried the RT and hated it but I got a free copy (friend gets software for free all the time as he works at Geeksquad) and I know that Windows 8 has virtually the same storage features as Windows Home Server did (before it was axed) so I figured I would give it a shot.

After I added a start menu button and installed what I wanted , I actually began to like it more. The Metro UI is still pointless for 99 percent of the desktop user base who do not have touchscreens , it clearly is a massive oversight by Microsoft without question. However as I began to use it more I got use to it. Its actually a nice little centralized place for quick and easy access to software. Once I hooked into all my accounts (FB , Twitter and so on) I got even more comfortable with it. Its still like using an elephant to carry a piece of straw in terms of overall grace with its big windows of constantly streaming information but I got use to it.

The one biggest benefit from Windows 8 that is worth while for me is the feature where if you have a UEFI BIOS and a video card that supports the quick boot , you can boot inside of 2 seconds. You can push the power button and BAM you are in Windows 8 , its spoiled me beyond belief and if the next version of Windows doesn't feature this I'm going to be fucking pissed.

So while I didn't pay for Windows 8 , I would recommend it only to the enthusiast. I would NOT recommend it to a basic email/web or meat and potatoes kind of desktop user as its just not for them. It is however an ambitious OS departure for Microsoft but in the wrong direction. I don't think it deserves all the flak it gets to a degree but I also think that Microsoft has a short window (pun intended) to recover from this experience and better be pushing hard for Windows 9 so that 8 is a distant memory for frustrated users and manufacturers alike.

 

[heatlesssun]

I would NOT recommend it to a basic email/web or meat and potatoes kind of desktop user as its just not for them.

I've upgraded several friends and family members that use Windows this way like my wife and after spending about 10 minutes going over the new UI with them and even explaining that there's been a lot of complaints about the new UI they've been fine with 8.

I did sell old pen and touch capable convertible laptop to one of them that needs to run Microsoft Office for work. She also has an iPad and just loves the touchscreen. Everyone else had non-touch hardware but that hasn't caused them any trouble.

Obviously there's a lot of controversy about the new UI and obviously Microsoft will have to address this. I don't see a Metro off switch as anything more than a short term palliative that would placate some, but that's a market that's not growing and a 20 UI isn't going to do much spur growth.

 

[CreepyUncleGoogle]

Windows 8 isn't horrible, but I've gotten rather poor feedback from average people about its usage and the changes. No, no one has rolled back to Windows 7, but I do know of two people who have returned computers to retail stores after purchase. One decided to continue using an older Windows Vista PC and the other purchased an Apple laptop. A few others are continuing to use it with UI modifications like Start 8, but none seems overly happy with the change, even months after the fact.

Outside of family and friends, the organization for which I work has, after extensive testing, invalidated Windows 8 for a few reasons. One was the user interface, but it wasn't the only compulsion. IE10 doesn't interoperate with an internal web-based product without leveraging virtualization which is both cumbersome and only necessary if the new OS is deployed. Our performance testing seems to indicate that Windows 8's only significant advantage is faster system startup which isn't really important or relevant given the always-on nature of our machines and very marginal additional wait times. Costs basically, aren't worth the returns since there don't appear to be productivity benefits offered by the OS.

Personally, I don't have any issues with it and use it on a non-touch desktop and laptop without modifications. There are aspects of it that bother me such as integration with SkyDrive, Live Tiles that I've mostly removed, and an App Store that has little software that interests me. None of those are deal breakers since they aren't mandatory functions. I think my only gripes with current Microsoft products are with Office 201x and not so much Windows 8. I'm more comfortable with Ubuntu, OSX, and 7. I miss the fact that functions had visual context in other operating systems that 8 is missing (invisible charms, gesture functions that invoke undesired apps, etc.) but I can live with it.

 

[Dekoth-E-]

The task bar isn't what I would call an under the hood improvement and is sort of big deal, at least I think it is for people that run lots of apps across multiple monitors, which you'd think is impossible with what some people say about Windows 8.

And again, I use Metro apps and live tiles on the desktop. It can add to the desktop experience for content consumption, presentation and entertainment apps that work naturally full screen.

Your ability to dance around the topic is truly amazing. The task bar might be a big deal to you, but to most it isn't. Nor is it what I am even talking about..again. Glad you like the live tiles, however most don't. That is the core problem with 8. It has an in your face UI that is completely unnecessary and unwanted by most. Want to know what I have on my desktop? Nothing..not a single damn thing. I have a background that I change when I want to look at something different. Metro or modern UI is a cluttered mess that offers zero benefits. You can like it all you want, but the adoption rate and backlash it is getting prove who is the minority here.

Well if one had never seen Windows in the last 30 years they might need a little training. Four hot corners with the mouse, four edge swipes with touch, right click for app bar, drag from the top to the sides to snap or down to close the app. It's not like we're talking about extensive training for at least a lot of people.

Yes because All of us have been using the 4 corners of the desktop to perform various tasks for the past 30 years on windows...Oh wait....

 

[heatlesssun]

Your ability to dance around the topic is truly amazing. The task bar might be a big deal to you, but to most it isn't.

Fair enough, most probably don't use Windows with multiple monitors.

Nor is it what I am even talking about..again. Glad you like the live tiles, however most don't. That is the core problem with 8. It has an in your face UI that is completely unnecessary and unwanted by most. Want to know what I have on my desktop? Nothing..not a single damn thing. I have a background that I change when I want to look at something different. Metro or modern UI is a cluttered mess that offers zero benefits. You can like it all you want, but the adoption rate and backlash it is getting prove who is the minority here.

I don't have any icons on my desktop either, which has nothing to do with the Start Screen which can be clean or cluttered as one wants. Also I don't understand why Windows 8 opponents feel the need to speak for most people. Even if Windows 8 had the same old UI, why would that make it sell faster? Many just got to 7 and then they're going to go to 8 because of better desktop experience while more and more people are moving away from desktops?

I use Windows 8 without keyboards and mice all of the time, I use it with keyboards and mice all of the time as well. To me it's Windows, the device it's running on and the input methods irrelevant so long as the device has the capability to drive the task needed.

If conventional desktops and laptops and keyboard and mouse only driven computing is the future of Windows then Windows 8 is obviously not the right approach. If the future of Windows is truly everywhere on any device then 8 is makes a lot of sense.

Yes because All of us have been using the 4 corners of the desktop to perform various tasks for the past 30 years on windows...Oh wait....

The point was that there is always a learning curve for something that's new to an individual. Start Button, Start Menu, people had to pick those up as well.

 

[Revdarian]

After I added a start menu button and installed what I wanted , I actually began to like it more. The Metro UI is still pointless for 99 percent of the desktop user base who do not have touchscreens , it clearly is a massive oversight by Microsoft without question. However as I began to use it more I got use to it. Its actually a nice little centralized place for quick and easy access to software. Once I hooked into all my accounts (FB , Twitter and so on) I got even more comfortable with it. Its still like using an elephant to carry a piece of straw in terms of overall grace with its big windows of constantly streaming information but I got use to it.

The one biggest benefit from Windows 8 that is worth while for me is the feature where if you have a UEFI BIOS and a video card that supports the quick boot , you can boot inside of 2 seconds. You can push the power button and BAM you are in Windows 8 , its spoiled me beyond belief and if the next version of Windows doesn't feature this I'm going to be fucking pissed.

Agreed entirely on the first, which is why i keep saying that they need to add the option to choose for desktop users, and dunno if you have tried it with laptops that use touchpads, but it treats them as touchscreens and that is just wrong, feeling wise.

The faster boot i couldn't notice because my Asrock mobo had already an Instant Boot configuration thanks to some hibernate settings, where only the first boot was really of normal speed, and everyone after was pretty much Instant.