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Windows Software Ugly, Boring & Uninspired
Posted by
Zonk
on Sun Jul 03, 2005 04:32 PM
from the i-didn't-say-it dept.
from the i-didn't-say-it dept.
An anonymous reader writes "CPU magazine has written a very straight-to-the-point editorial on the lack of quality and innovation in software for the mainstream OS. They compare it to the Mac, which is found in a much different light. Where has all the innovation gone?" From the article: "There's too much coal and not enough diamonds within the sphere of downloads. The greatest pieces of software are plagued by unintelligent design, and very few rise to the level of ubiquity. Windows users don't have a strong sense of belonging; there's no user community rallying around the platform. We use the computer, certainly, or is the computer using us?"
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Garbage (Score:5, Insightful)
There isn't one of them that gives you functionality that your browser doesn't already afford. Sure, they're pretty, but what's going to happen is that as people amass more and more of these widgets, the dashboard becomes cluttered and slow (it already is painfully slow on my MDD 1.25GHz G4, and that's just with the stock widgets, with the default set active only). Then there's going to be the question as to how to organize them all... the faux dock at the bottom is already insufficient. I know, let's stick a menu in there! Great idea!
Why not call it the Widgets Menu? And when you choose a widget from the menu, up comes the widget! Just like if you had chosen a bookmark from the Bookmarks menu from your favorite browser: up comes the web page containing the info you sought!
Or, we could create a page of little Widgets links, and then the user could click on the link and up pops the widget! Just as if it were a web page full of links, each leading to a separate page with different and useful functionality!
So my question is, why not just use the browser? IT ALREADY DOES THESE THINGS!
Not as pretty? Find a web page that has a decent designer/artist behind it. Between CSS and the GiMP, there's no excuse for ugly web pages anymore.
If you want to throw stones, throw them at a target that deserves to get hit: the Desktop Metaphor. Menus and windows with scrollbars and dialog boxes and lions and tigers and bears. The same constraints that Windows suffers under are also felt by Mac OS X, Gnome and KDE users too.
The branding has nothing to do with it.
BTW, Chris Pirillo, the guy who wrote this, he's the one who couldn't make the cut as a TechTV ScreenSaver, isn't that right?
Re:Garbage (Score:5, Funny)
1. Windows = Yugo (w/Automatic Transmission and Power Steering)
2. Mac OS X = DeLorean
3. GNOME = Kit Car
4. KDE = Yugo (w/Manual Transmission and Manual Steering + DeLorean cardboard facade option)
That about sums up the state of GUIs in this day and age. Let the flames begin!
Parent
Re:Garbage (Score:5, Informative)
Secondly, I guess I could have been clearer, but I'm talking about the browser together with the stock desk-accessories that ALL of these OS's have... calculator, notepad. And games too.
Want to know the 5-day forecast for the week? Well, of course your browser is already open, so you're not waiting for it to load. And of course you've already bookmarked the exact place where that forecast is available, so basically, you're clicking on a link.
So let me rephrase that...
Want to know the 5-day forcecast for the week? Click on a link.
Given that you're only loading the page for that one link, and not potentially dozens of pages like you are when activating Dashboard, it's much faster.
Parent
Re:Garbage (Score:5, Interesting)
Want to work on your report? Why wait for your word processor to load when you can just press F12 and it's RIGHT THERE!
What if you want to watch a movie? Just press F12 and there's your movie player! Wow!
Dashboard is only a way to keep applications loaded in memory and display a certain subset of them at a keypress, this is absolutely nothing new. So I want to do a quick calculation, I hit the shortcut key I bound to my calculator and there it is. When I'm done with it I close it and it doesn't suck up memory. I see absolutely no value in keeping these applications running all the time when you're barely ever using them and could just pull them up on demand anyway.
The original author of this article seems bored by his functional applications. That's ok, some people like flash over functionality.
I've used OS X a fair bit and didn't see anything that I was particularly impressed by. It sure looks nice, but I'm not more productive or happy with it than any other platform.
Parent
Re:Garbage (Score:5, Informative)
No, I included expressly because I think it's a big feature. Yet again you insist that I somehow know very little about OS X and FreeBSD? I think that to make such a baseless remark demonstrates that it is you who knows very little about computers in general. Very little.
The Steve Capps' Finder delivered with the original 128K Mac *still* blows away today's Finder in terms of elegance, responsiveness and overall usability. Moreover, I see no difference between today's Finder and WIndows Explorer, except for this odd example you give us which really has nothing to do with anything. BTW, I've never had the need for force-quit Windows Explorer. You really want to call that a feature?
We were talking about GUI's, otherwise I'd give you that one.
Talking about GUI's, remember? And there is a lot of shit you can get for free on Windows. I will admit though that the free DVD Player is nice.
That has no end of bugs to it. No thanks.
That I have to download again and reinstall anyways to get it working with GNU readline. Again, no thanks.
Eh? I've found exactly the opposite IFF we're talking about networking the same machines. Different machines, all platforms have quirks, even Samba under Linux.
Click on Services. Click on the Service you want to start. Done.
Already mentioned this, and it still isn't GUI-related.
When I need fast graphics rendering, it's when I play games (ohmigod, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to bring up the GAMES you can play on Windows and not on Mac, whatever was I thinking? :) )
Is getting rather old by now. Personally I think GNOME looks the best of all of them, but then, I am a minimalist. Plus, GNOME let's me make any window fullscreen. Steve Jobs will die before allowing that to happen under Aqua.
You know it's funny, I saved this message of yours to disk, and I'm STILL hearing the disk grind away in the background.
NetInfo. ooops. (and you say I don't know what I'm talking about?)
If only that were the case. Besides, many of the preferences you're describing are located in a single folder on Windows here too. I'd call this a tie.
I prefer *nix over Windows in this regard too, but it's a preference only, one that derives from FreeBSD (remember, when you said I don't understand OS X?), and one that ultimately is of little consequence to the end-user in any event, who is simply happy to find their file in the folder where they left it the previous day.
I'm sure you could, but as we've seen, you haven't really addressed the subject of the thread. You've offered no example of where Mac OS X outshines Windows
Parent
Give Microsoft a Chance! (Score:5, Funny)
Windows... (Score:5, Insightful)
Monopolies are strange that way.
Re:Windows... (Score:5, Interesting)
No, you're exactly right. The functionality of windows has been essentially static since Win95 and ugly, grey, square windows look equally bad no matter what numbers the "About Windows..." box contains.
Now, the problem with looking at the changes between NT->2k->XP is that, well, for the most part you can't look at the changes. Other than a green "start" button, what's the difference in terms of *user experience*? Where's the innovation? I can't find it.
Spotlight, Automator, Rendevous, (and yes, even Widgets) IMO all work to make the user more productive. Apple changes their OS every year. Sometimes for the better, occasionally for the worse ("two steps forward, one step back") but at least they're making progress and trying new ideas.
Microsoft is simply hung up on locking people into their technology and making it too expensive/difficult to transition away. Proof? How 'bout
Anyone still doubt? Well, then, did you hear about that beautiful, innovative new technology in Microsoft's latest OS release that makes users much more productive? Yeah, neither did I. The big stories out of Redmond mostly concern what *isn't* going to be in Longhorn.
Sorry, fanboys, but Windows innovation isn't.
Disagree? Feel free to list MSFT's post Win95 innovations that improve the user experience right here ___________________________________.
Parent
Re:Windows... (Score:5, Funny)
From 95 to XP? Man, you obviously haven't used 95 in quite awhile.
- Can now view and kill programs and processes
- Can have multiple user accounts with actual security
- Has a web browser built in
- Plug and Play is no longer "plug and pray"
- You can now re-organize the start menu
- there's a sidebar that shows you more information while browsing in explorer
- You can "stop" what you're doing, let someone else log on for a second, and then go right back to what you were doing
- The system tray now auto-hides itself, with each icon individually able to be "shown" or "hidden"
Yes, a lot of the changes are things that UNIX had before DOS or MAC has ages ago. So what? They're significant changes, and if you can't see them then you're really just trying not to.Parent
Re:Windows... (Score:5, Insightful)
I don't need two machines or a dual-boot Windows/Linux box. I have my pretty, useful, friendly desktop (fully media-capable too, in a way that linux simply never has been) and if I want my unix-y goodness, I just pop up a terminal. Life is beautiful!
Parent
Just an idea, but (Score:5, Insightful)
Think about it, who do you think of when you think of a mac user? Granted, there are many out there, but when I think of a hardcore mac user I think of somebody who is into designing music, movies, graphics editing, etc. They are designed to cater to a group of people who are more creative and right brained.
How about your average PC user? Picture an office cubicle. You'r accountant, lawyer, and doctor all use a PC.
Let us never forget that pretty software does not automatically mean functional software, and please God let us never make well structured code and functionality less of a priority than UI "prettyness".
Re:Just an idea, but (Score:5, Interesting)
A friend of my once said that OSX is the 21st century Sun workstation.
Maybe I just think that because I dig having a unix box that can also run microsoft word at the same time.
Parent
Re:Just an idea, but (Score:5, Interesting)
Really? I work for a huge company known for its big iron and most popular unix operating system and a silly coffee-related programming language and a CEO that has been ranked at the bottom of several CEO lists in terms of performance the last few years.
And do you know what most of the developers and engineers I know around here have with them? Their PowerBook.
Parent
Just wait, it'll come to Linux too. (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Just wait, it'll come to Linux too. (Score:5, Interesting)
While this contributes to the problem, there are a ton of of ugly apps for *nix (can't speak for Mac since I don't own one). There are a lot of apps that don't even have GUIs, and are also very hard to use on the command line (cdrecord, for example). These apps are still very useful and work very well, they're just ugly in the sense that you can't "just use" them. You need to specify tons of switches, spending time reading the man page, or they require a front-end application that builds the switches for you.
You imply that a skilled developer == someone who is good at developing interfaces, while really, it's a totally different skill set. You can tell when programmers design web pages, and think that because they know HTML, CSS, javascript and photoshop very well, that they're incredibly talented graphic designers.
I think that when (not if) a high quality and easy to learn development platform for Linux comes along, we'll start to see mountains of shit for it, too.
I think you're right here too. Making it easier to develop apps will mean that more developers will come in, and they probably will also lack basic design skills, which means you get more ugly AND poorly-written code. Just don't confuse the issue and think that it's only unskilled developers that write ugly interfaces.
Parent
Re:Just wait, it'll come to Linux too. (Score:5, Informative)
I'm sure I don't know what you mean. Have you even heard of Xcode [apple.com]? It's like Visual Basic, except it's free, a little more intuitive (to me, at least), and it can import make files like they were project files.
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Marketshare, Quality, and Economic Viability (Score:5, Interesting)
The result is that only the most dedicated and talented Mac developers survive whereas any idiot with a C-compiler can create a PC software title and be assured of some sales (just convince 1-in-10,000 PC users to spend $29 and you gross $600k per year). Given the huge market-share disparity, Mac software must be 30X as good as PC software to survive in its small marketplace. (OK, its a bit more complicated due to dilution by competing vendors, but I'm sure its much harder on the Mac side to attract an economically viable user-base for software package.)
Shell Integration (Score:5, Insightful)
And don't even get started on annoying popups and those freaking MS Office icons like the paperclip guy. [whattofix.com]
To me, a big part of design is noticability: if I take my time to notice it, it's getting in the way of the work I want to do.
-Shudder- (Score:5, Insightful)
That's a feature, not a bug. I HATE the "belonging" aspect of the Mac community. I just want to own the freaking hammer, I don't want to join a hammer cult.
Re:-Shudder- (Score:5, Funny)
*raises hand*
I need a life.
Parent
Windows rants: boring, ugly, uninspired (Score:5, Insightful)
The twin barbs of his attack: Dashboard (which has already been discussed to death; let's just say that as many people hate it as love it) and an application called "Comic Life", which this grizzled veteran of computing (look at the picture) thinks "is likely to drive even the most die-hard Windows user to switch to OS X." Yeah: I'm gonna dump my whole platform to make my digital pictures cuter. Uh-huh. I'm surprised he didn't sneak a 'BSOD' joke into his rant or spell Windows with 'BL' or a dollar sign.
One mark in his favor: clearly, he is an expert in boring and uninspired. A lame blog post about Windows software sucking? Wow. Next.
who is this nerd? (Score:5, Insightful)
That is one of the dumbest things I have read all week. Normal folks use computers as a means to an end. Just because the author gets a hardon over extraneous features and eye candy that add nothing to productivity, and is apparently thirteen and in need of being part of a group, doesn't mean the rest of us give a flying shit.
Re:Mac isn't boring and uninteresting?! (Score:5, Insightful)
That's like complaining that the Federation ships in Star Trek are oppressively minimalistic in interior design. These are things which people actually prefer. There's nothing Orwellian about it. It's why New York City is so much easier to navigate than Atlanta, why ancient Rome looks so sane, why the Spaniards were blown away when they saw Tenochtitlan. These things were all planned. The Windows and Linux interfaces show the effects of suburban sprawl, OSX doesn't allow it.
The Apple interface is just as Orwellian as the Google interface. The reason you don't get this with Windows is that Windows has always used a half-assed copy of whatever Apple's doing with its interface. Unix grew up with interfaces that you had to just deal with, and Linux is in constant flux between feature creep and slimming down.
Parent
Re:It's a tool, not a piece of art (Score:5, Insightful)
Not at all. 'intuitive' and 'consistent' makes things easy to use, 'inspired' and 'exciting' makes people want to use them. All these factors contribute to productivity.
Parent
Re:It's a tool, not a piece of art (Score:5, Interesting)
When I flew to Cuba, I rode on a Soviet jet, something called a Yakolev YAK-42D. It felt like something from the 1950s. I later learned it was a 1950s design that they only got around to making circa 1981.
A Soviet product is just what you want. If a Soviet plane takes off, flies for a time and lands successfully, it has done its job. There's no need to make the flying experience pleasant. Flying is for those evil bourgeois chaps who can afford to fly anyway, and there's no reason in the world to coddle them.
On-seat power outlets for your laptop? Forget it.
Seatback TV screens? Not even close.
Comfy leather seats? Those are decadant luxuries of the West, don't you know.
Well, I'm sorry.
I'm a decadant, luxury-loving product of the West. I like my Mercedes-Benz automobile, because it was carefully and thoughtfully designed. And I love my PowerMac G5 and PoweBook for the same reason. Carefully and thoughtfully and elegantly designed products are a good in and of themselves; millions of iPod users sense this even if they don't quite realize why.
Maybe a factory punch press isn't something you can design this way, although perhaps that's because nobody's even tried. In any event, we are not working in a factory, and when we work on computers all day, our comfort is essential. If the more creative software vendors realize this is most true on the Mac, and cater to it, it simply means I've chosen the right platform.
The one designed for people like me.
You can have your gloomy gus Windows 2000 interface, as long as you don't make me use it.
D
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