[ad_1]
I actually waited a day to write this column hoping that the new Microsoft Windows would be worth writing about. But all I see with this product is a re-arrangement of deck chairs of the HMS Microsoft.
The biggest joke about this is the moniker Windows 10 itself. I imagine a meeting at Microsoft where all the executives were gathered around strategizing the rollout of Windows 9 when someone came up with this idea.
“Yes. There is really nothing to this product. It’s Windows 8.2. Another bunch of fixes for
all the complainers out there who fail to realize that Windows Phone is our model for
everything.”
“You’re right, Windows Phone rules. It’s so great. Everything should be modelled
after it.”
“Besides, this is what we did with Windows 8 and 8.1. We’ve been making it more desktop
friendly since the beginning. Isn’t this just another fix? At least with the change from Windows
Vista to Windows 7 there was more significance than this. The Windows Phone guys are so slow-moving they haven’t given us anything new to add.”
“So true! I have an idea. Instead of calling it Windows 9, we will call it Windows 10. Then it
will look two upgrades removed from 8.1!! The idiot users will be bamboozled for sure.”
“This is genius!”
“Yes. Here, here! Pip-pip. Jolly-ho! Windows 10 it is.”
Thus, what should be yet another simple maintenance fix for the miserable
Windows 8 is now dubbed Windows 10. Oh brother.
Even funnier: the idea was actually an April Fools joke in 2013(Opens in a new window).
I laughed out loud when USAToday reported that when asked about the Windows 10 name, Microsoft exec Terry Myerson replied that “when you see the product in its fullness I think you
will agree with us that it is a more appropriate name.”
What does that even mean? A more appropriate name? So you use the product and say to
yourself, “Oh my God, I cannot even think of this as Windows 9. It’s Windows 10 for sure!”
This sort of comment by Myerson is simply contemptuous. Are we all fools? If he said, “we called it
10 because we liked it better” or “we are simply superstitious about number nine…and blame it on the
Beatles,” then it would be okay by me.
But they used 10 because it’s a more appropriate name? Title bars are back, resizing is
back, Start menu is back, multiple desktops are re-introduced. If Microsoft wanted to give the new Windows
an “appropriate” name it should be Windows 6. In fact, the most appropriate name should be Windows
Bleh.
That said, the good news is that, as usual, Microsoft is releasing a free preview (aka beta) to
developers and anyone with an extra machine who wants to try out the product knowing there are
no guarantees or expectation of stability. Putting these OS’s in the wild gets most of the bugs out.
That’s why Microsoft never experiences messes like that recently created by iOS 8.
The problem with these previews is that Microsoft pays zero attention to usability complaints.
The company made up its mind about the dumbest aspect of Windows 8 and paid no attention to the
carping because it knows best.
The great Windows product will be the one that is previewed and redesigned by the public on the
fly; with Microsoft changing things because the computer-using public made its collective wisdom
known.
Until that day arrives, I expect no surprises—or anything cool—from this Windows Bleh, or the next
Windows Bleh, which will undoubtedly be called Windows 20.
For more, check out PCMag’s First Look at Microsoft’s Windows 10.
[ad_2]
Source link : https://www.pcmag.com/opinions/the-anti-climax-known-as-windows-10