“In this video I show my 66-year-old nan attempting to use Windows 8 Consumer Preview,” Ben Strange reports via YouTube.
“She has used a computer since April 2009, then she used Windows XP on my Compaq Presario 6000, Now she uses Windows 7,” Strange reports. “in this video I tried to give my nan no hints, Although I had to give her a few at times because she wasn’t going anywhere and it felt like she never was going to get anywhere.”
“She found it very difficult to use as it’s completely different to what she has ever used, when she upgraded to Windows 7 she found it very easy as Windows XP and Windows 7 look pretty similar,” Strange reports. “This shows how difficult and confusing Windows 8 will be…”
MacDailyNews Take: Ben, what your nan really needs is a Mac. Now, be a good grandson and help get one. And, get a Mac for yourself, too. You can both thank us later.
As we wrote over a year ago, about ten seconds after we first heard about Microsoft’s plans for Windows 8:
Our initial impression is that Microsoft, in trying to cram everything into Windows 8 in an attempt to be all things to all devices, will end up with an OS that’s a jack of all trades and a master of none (which, after all, ought to be Microsoft’s company motto).
We simply do not see the world clamoring for the UI of an iPod also-ran now ported to an iPhone wannabe that nobody’s buying to be blown up onto a PC display.
From what we’ve seen so far, Windows 8 strikes us as an unsavory combination of Windows Weight plus Windows Wait.
Not to mention that probably no one on earth knows how much or what kinds of residual legacy spaghetti code roils underneath it all (shudder)… People might as well get the Mac they always wanted… If Microsoft’s going to ask Windows sufferers to “learn a whole new computer” (and that’s exactly how they’ll look at it, regardless of how Microsoft pitches it), millions will simply say, “Time to get a Mac to match my iPod, iPhone, and iPad!”
As if they needed it: More good news for Apple.
Related articles:
Valve co-founder Newell: ‘Windows 8 is a catastrophe for everyone in the PC space’ – July 26, 2012
Ballmer: Uh, yeah, ‘Surface is just a design point,’ you know – July 10, 2012
Microsoft’s Buffoon, er… Ballmer throws down gauntlet against Apple – July 10, 2012
Microsoft reportedly dumps ‘VaporMg’ chassis, will use ‘VaporMg’ only as ‘surface treatment’ – July 9, 2012
Microsoft’s downfall: Inside the executive e-mails and cannibalistic culture that fueled Microsoft’s lost decade – July 7, 2012
HP said to dump Microsoft over Surface; to cozy up to Google Android for tablet efforts – July 2, 2012
Bad news for Microsoft’s iPad killer? – July 2, 2012
Dear Microsoft, Steve Balmer and Bill Gates: What is up with your obsession with keyboards? – June 28, 2012
Jason Schwarz: Top 10 reasons why Microsoft’s Surface is DOA – June 22, 2012
Why I love Microsoft’s vaporware Surface tablet – June 22, 2012
Microsoft’s Surface tablet said to be Wi-Fi only at launch; no 4G, no 3G, no 2G, not even 1G – June 22, 2012
Microsoft outsources Surface assembly to Pegatron; prices above $799 for Windows 8, above $599 for Windows RT expected – June 21, 2012
Acer founder: Microsoft will quit making tablets soon – June 21, 2012
Devastating video shows Microsoft’s Surface event aping Steve Jobs’ iPad unveiling (with video) – June 20, 2012
Thanks to Apple, Microsoft is doomed in the era of mobile computing – June 20, 2012
Why wouldn’t Microsoft let anyone touch its Surface tablets’ keyboard cover? – June 20, 2012
The cost of Microsoft’s Surface tablets – June 20, 2012
Apple’s revolutionary iPad vs. Microsoft’s anti-tablet ‘Surface’ – June 20, 2012
Microsoft’s Surface tablets provokes ‘sense of betrayal’ among Windows PC assemblers – June 20, 2012
Fox News: Copier Microsoft is doomed to fail with Surface tablet – June 19, 2012
Microsoft’s Surface tablet destined to be as successful as the Zune – June 19, 2012
Surface: Why Microsoft’s big mystery turns out to be a big mistake – June 19, 2012
Microsoft’s Suicide, er… ‘Surface’ – June 19, 2012
ZDNet Sr. Tech Editor Perlow: Microsoft’s Surface has catastrophe written all over it – June 19, 2012
Microsoft previews own ‘Surface’ tablet – June 18, 2012
Microsoft touts ‘major’ June 18 event said to showcase Windows RT tablets – June 15, 2012
ZDNet’s Kingsley-Hughes: Microsoft’s Windows 8 is an awful, horrible, painful design disaster – June 8, 2012
Analyst meets with big computer maker, finds ‘general lack of enthusiasm’ for Windows 8 – June 8, 2012
Dvorak: Windows 8 an unmitigated disaster; unusable and annoying; it makes your teeth itch – June 3, 2012
The Guardian: Microsoft’s Windows 8 is confusing as hell; an appalling user experience – March 5, 2012
More good news for Apple: Microsoft previews Windows 8 (with video) – June 1, 2011
OH so Windows 8 is a challenging puzzle!
Reminds me of Myst sorta.
lol too painful to even watch the whole thing! And so slow!
To summarize:
Microsoft by creating the Windows 8 tile interface for desktops and laptops truly screwed the pooch here. The gravity of this cannot be understated. I’m literally awestruck by their horrid misstep here. I mean, wow!
Apple has a halo effect. Microsoft has a circle of death.
This is like the sort of signage design we worked on in art college …circa 1982. Works in a very simplistic way but even the most basic expansion of the theme as the visual metaphors all intermingle becomes a totally confusing camouflage like pattern that becomes endlessly hard work and brain numbing. Not surprisingly this style of design faded very quickly … Until now anyway.
i think you have understated your case. This will make Vista look stellar!
It is like MYST.. the perfect analogy! Best laugh I had ALL WEEK.. Windows 8 being compared to the absolutely worst, pointless, boring game ever is spot on! I felt EXACTLY the same way. I remember insisting on my money back for MYST… but stores would not do that with software… so I ‘gifted’ it to someone, and then felt bad that I did. Myst….
Moving right along – Mountain Lion just works.
And I’m older than Dan’s gran.
Dan SB Ben, gran’s OK.
THE HORROR
the horror…
Metro Lash-Back here we come!
seriously, wtf has microsoft done to user-feedback? hello in there! blundering around trying to out-think the dumbass developer is soooo microsoft. the victims of WL8 are going to be out-to-kill. then watch microsoft charge major $$$ to victims for tech support. (0_o) 😯
BINGO!!!
Microsoft has build the entire industry on “support”. PC hardware doesn’t make any money. Money comes from warranties that never get cashed in, and frequent calls to technical support. Multiple that by millions and you see MS’s death grip on this model. It’s sad.
Apple puts the USER FIRST.
Mr. Balmer, can you imagine if you stepped into your new car and only the steering wheel was in the same place?
“Our initial impression is that Microsoft, in trying to cram everything into Windows 8 in an attempt to be all things to all devices”
Hey! It’s Copeland, only this time for Windows!
** Did I go too far back with my Apple reference??
Are you serious? Copland was supposed to look like that mess? Thank goodness that it never went anywhere or Apple would be just a memory in the grand scheme of things.
I am bored now. Got to the fish cartoon and I am done. I think this kid isn’t in grandma’s will and more. Bring grandma a Mac and maybe she will put you back in.
People who use Windows deserve what they get.
Windows 8…the Rubik’s cube of computing.
Prozac and sedatives sales will go through the roof after windows 8 launches.
“…It’s hidden so you can’t find it… Kind of a mystery… Close to where you are now… keep going to the right then… further… keep going… move it around a bit… but up and down… you’re not right on the edge… it’s along there somewhere… You’ll have to keep the computer on forever then… I’ll shut it down… Oh I can’t even do it now… It’s along there somewhere…”
THIS IS USER ABUSE. Plain and simple. FU Microsoft. I hope this kills you.
And PLEASE:
Nobody call me to help them figure out this POS MS nightmare. Get a Mac, THEN call me. I don’t want your money. You won’t get my sympathy. Just free yourself from hell, THEN we’ll talk. OK?
Oh and: FU Microsoft.
aka FUMS
I’ll give it 2 FUMS up!
oh, that’s good! Really really good. And so early in the week, too.
I’m pretty tech savy, can find my way around OSX, Windows and Linux. I installed Win8 preview in a VM yesterday. It was so confusing. I couldn’t figure out how to shut it down so I just shut it down from within the VM. I know exactly how she felt. You cannot fathom how horrid this is on the desktop until you’ve actually tried it. I predict there will be a plethora of tech support jobs so maybe that will cancel out the hit the economy will take from lost productivity when this limps out of the gate.
I predict that no one will install Windows 8. I use Win XP in my Parallels VM precisely because I don’t care how to figure out how to do stuff in Windows 7.
Don’t you press the start button to quit windows?
Note the iPhone charging on the desktop!
Nan should have taken the time to read all of the 5,000 word+ posts Microsoft has graced its users with on their Windows 8 blog. Had she only put the time in to appreciate all the study that went into Win 8, she wouldn’t be so feeble when faced with actually using it.
/s
LOL!
Haha!
And imagine all the people who will load Win 8, boot it up, and then, after hours of smacking their heads against the wall, say, “Oh, I guess I’d better go on the Microsoft website, and maybe they’ll have pointers there for using Windows 8. … Hmmm. … what? … uuhhh … How the H___ do I get on the internet?! … (more head smacking here) …
You have to pass the bill before you can read it to find what’s in it. I’ll bet Nancy Peelousy would get Windows 8 right away – NOT!
You should read the support pages (246) about Mountain Lion. The good reviews are buried by the I can’t AirPlay with my two year old MBP, iMac, Mac. Can reviews be posted by people who didn’t but ML? Like MS employees?
I think ML is a great release but there are some issues.
Fingers crossed for 10.8.1!
Two things are know:
1) 66 year old people (and everyone else) are NOT stupid and don’t like to be made to feel stupid.
2) business professionals do not have time to deal with bs.
And one more thing, 95% of the stuff on an iPhone/iPad is absolutely intuitive requiring no manual, guessing or studying. You just do what you want to do.
My Nan takes a dump with Windows 8. It all ends up in the toilet anyway. That’s where crap belongs.
Won’t someone please think of the trees!
The amount of pulp that will be required to fill the incredible demand for paper Win 8 User Manuals and Win 8 For Dummies books, will completely wipe out the world’s last remaining forests.
Just the tiles constantly updating was distracting! Maybe for people with ADD this will be a big hit!! Its way to busy. It would be like having message center always visible in the middle of your screen and updating every second with new content!
It does appear to be a pig with lipstick! Sorry to the pig for that reference…
So what’s with the Compaq name? They couldn’t use the dictionary to see how impresario was spelled? WTF is a “presario” anyway? Something like that weenie waver outfit “Fendi” not knowing how to spell “effendi?”
How about:
Compaq US – Presario Notebook and Laptop PCs, Desktop …
http://www.compaq.com/
Compaq offerings include Presario notebook and laptop PCs, desktops, and computer accessories.
Compaq Presario Desktop PCs
I think you missed the dripping sarcasm in Jesse’s post. It probably had to do with the stupid names that lame outfits come up with, i.e. “presario” is from “impresario” (look it up) and they can trademark the word.
it wasn’t dripping, but I’ll give Jesse misting.
I flushed winders down a deep, dark toilet bowl four years ago and have never looked back. AND, won’t. The Redmond Clown Collective can jump up and down, wave banners and throw wild press lie-fests, grope demo-dollies at every trade show on earth or even throw Bomber off a skyscraper in Delhi… Meh….
What they have devolved into is junk packaged as something else. They have devalued their decades-old relationships with people and companies all over the world. That blade cuts both ways… They’re on a steep slope to oblivion.
Remember Microsoft’s short-lived marketing effort designed to show how great Windows Vista was, in which user interaction with the OS was dubbed “the Mojave experiment?”
I dub Windows 8 “the Enigma experiment.”
So basically just logging into windows 8 is like trying to find the G-spot. FUMS, indeed!
If I gave that POS to my wife to use, divorce papers would be the least of my worries! How in the world could anyone come with something so asinine?
is this an Apple commercial? it should be… along with the introduction of the surface tablet
Loving Mountain Lion.
However, i applaud Microsoft (possibly for the first time ever). They haven’t copied Apple. They have actually tried to do something on their own and superficially I think it looks quite nice.
I have no idea how it is to use and no intention trying to find out that said.
Tim – go back to sleep.
We need a Like button here. 😛
I like their strategy. I like it a lot.
OS X is very logically designed and organized.
A menu bar that is consistent across applications, both in position and organization.
A dock along the bottom (or sides) that is consistent and user-customizable.
An ever-progressive move towards simplification of windows to accomplish the same task. Fewer windows through good UI and workflow design.
It still blows my mind how many “windows” are needed to accomplish some tasks on Windows. Windows 8 is trying to fix this by eliminating windows entirely. Isn’t that just the most ironic thing ever?
I can’t imagine why the login icon on Windows 8 is such a tiny, little white thing that gives not a clue as to what it does.