A couple of big issues are similar to the ones that keep Microsoft Office the dominant office package, familiarity and compatibility.

 

Yep, up until the latest Office where someone at MS threw familiarity and compatibility out the window... As an heavy Excel user for 15 years I can tell you that in my office there has been nothing but swearing since the latest Office was installed.

I've stayed with Office 2010 ... it's not the best UI (User Interface - hides key elements that should never be hidden). What Microsoft seem to lack is innovation and they simply just don't know how to build human interfaces. Here are some good examples of poor UI design:

• The classic X to close a window button right next to the Maximize window button ... how many times have you closed a window when you meant to maximize it? The button separation is just a few pixels wide forcing a level of accuracy on the human ... when working quickly it's common to just miss the button you want. A better design would be to put the close button up top right and the minimize/maximize on the left ... and yet, this flawed design has remained over the decades.
  
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• Windows 7/Vista borders are just way too wide using up a lot of screen real estate for no functional reason ... a border size handle doesn't need to have very thick window borders to activate so I really don't under the reasoning. Plus the window has a drop shadow in addition which helps clearly delineate a border.
  
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• Windows 7 explorer (file explorer not internet explorer) has a repeated section in the Navigation pane that basically duplicates "some" directories that are under your C drive (i.e. Downloads, Libraries - documents) but calls them something slight different "Documents" and "My Documents" and "Public Documents" where "My Documents" is really C:\Users\Rob\My Documents but Libraries \ Documents and Public Documents are hidden different locations ... this is done under the assumption that your typical home PC will have multiple people logging into it under different user accounts. This is NOT the typical scenario for home computers ... there should be an option in Windows 7 that lets one setup the OS for one and only one user and focus the UI for that specific user and not provide directory confusion (and solve all the craziness around "Administrator" accounts that causes endless installation headaches, especially with FSX).
  
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• Windows 8 Metro UI fails on many fronts, from not knowing what is clickable and what is not to not knowing what to do at all -- this forces a user to move their mouse or finger around hunting for the right thing to click/tap. Worse yet, if a flat button (they aren't really buttons) is not enabled their is little visual clue to indicate it's state, you just "press harder" thinking the touch sensitivity isn't working. Windows 8 metro feels more like a puzzle game of "can you figure it out and remember what you just did" rather than a UI that's supposed to improve human interaction and efficiency.
  
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• Windows 8 having two modes of UI isn't a good thing, the overhead to maintain two VERY different UI's in a single product (OS) only adds code bloat, lots and lots of code bloat and resource hogs. A user is going to pick one UI and not constantly switch back and forth between desktop (classic mode) and Metro ... so as an end result there is a huge chunk of UI resources (read RAM consumption) that will never be used once the choice is made.
  
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• And the obvious UI issue is that Windows 8 Metro should really be called Window 8 ... you really can't have multiple windows open in Windows 8 metro (I think it's now renamed to "Modern UI")
  

I could go on and on and on about UI design problems from Microsoft, but it would just take too much time and now I must get back to coding.

 

Am I the only one wondering why this thread is being monitored?

 

I must admit, I'm a little puzzled.

 

Rob

Hello

Metro otherwise known as "Modern UI", a modern UI that can't have multiple windows open

You could not make it up!

 

 

That's progress for you

That's progress for you

 

I wish I could get that type of monetary compensation for NOT knowing what I'm doing. You would think someone earning 7 digit+ income would have a little better understanding of user interface by now.

It's over simplifying the situation though, since each version provides backward compatibility. Small bits of change come each time. Win7 lost my reliable folder view of icons on the desktop, Win8 replaced that with the tile page which I find efficient as I group icons together that work on specific tasks.

On the news today. Microsoft have to pay a fine to EU for 561m Euros.

It´s about being forced to use Microsoft Explorer.

On the news today. Microsoft have to pay a fine to EU for 561m Euros.

It´s about being forced to use Microsoft Explorer.

Well, we need the money

It's over simplifying the situation though, since each version provides backward compatibility. Small bits of change come each time. Win7 lost my reliable folder view of icons on the desktop, Win8 replaced that with the tile page which I find efficient as I group icons together that work on specific tasks.

Steve, I'd rather spend my time actually using my computer to do - work - than spend it trying to figure out a new and totally alien UI...

 

...of course, this is coming from one of the last people in the universe to switch from DOS to Windows v3.1... :LMAO:

heeehee, well I don't think it's totally alien though, at least once you worked out what each corner does.

 

...actually my productivity has improved, slightly, and the tile screen keeps the mess down, I'm sure we'll all get used to it...

I'm sure we'll all get used to it...

 

Hello

I doubt it will be around for long enough for most PC users to get used to it.

The Uptake rate is worse than for Vista at @ 2% despite being available for more platforms.

Here in the UK since 8 was released 99% of PC's built and shipped have W7 installed.

 

From my own point of view the fact that PMDG, Eaglesoft and Goflight do not recommend it means it is not a viable sim platform even if you disregard the ongoing joystick issues.

Goflight do not have any plans to support it going forward stating that it is basically a tablet OS that they have no interest in.

Ok Forbes announces update to richest people. Bill Gates net worth is 67 Billion dollars. B for BILLION.

 

Come on Bill Gates. You pioneered Flight Simulator in your prime and are a fan. You can spare a few 20 million dollars for further development. :lol: Heck if i had that kind of dough I wouldnt think twice to put that up for a hobby i love. Its a drop in the bucket. Then again I would probably buy a real level D simulator instead.

 

Now being a hardware guy, and my lack of programming expertise itself, and alot of you guys loving it, why is it we are seeing plugins for 64bit x-plane to convert existing x-plane products, but that this would be an unthinkable task if FSX/P3D were to ever go 64bit thus losing all our existing add ons. Is this because FSX underlying code is so much older as in parts assembly language and x-plane is alot more robust? It seems XPX is alot easier to convert. LM appears having the conversion a goal but is long term, so must be viable as opposed to just building a new platform from the ground up.

I'm sure we'll all get used to it...

 

And there lies the problem. If one goes about building a new interface, it has to be intuitive and solve problems ... if Microsoft are hoping people will "get used to it" then they've lost the battle before it's even started. Win8 is neither intuitive nor does it solve any problem's carried over from Win7.

 

You lost me on how Tile pages make Windows 8 more productive? Unless it's a Windows 8 targeted application those tiles are just like regular Win7 desktop shortcuts. And the Tile "interactivity" is basically the same as Aero in Win7 when moving your cursor over an active/running application in the taskbar area only bigger. Also curious on seeing how "live tiles" work on rogue web sites or web sites that have been hacked ... will it lock up your computer like what used to happen with MS Messenger when it started running live ads and folks CPU would suddenly spike to 100% usage. The last thing I want on my desktop would be "live tiles" running in the background while I'm running FSX, video editing, 3D rendering, etc. etc.

 

But only being able to see (effectively) one application running at a time is definitely NOT a productivity enhancer for me. In Windows 7, I usually have about 4-5 Windows open at the same time across two monitors ... in the "Modern UI" of Windows 8 I would have to navigate to each app (since only one is shown and it's always full screen), then remember what it is I needed to see in that app, then navigate back to my other app ... in Win7 I just turn my head and look and get the info I need and continue working. I honestly don't see how Win8 is more efficient?

 

From my own point of view the fact that PMDG, Eaglesoft and Goflight do not recommend it means it is not a viable sim platform even if you disregard the ongoing joystick issues.

 

One more reason to avoid Windows 8. I have to keep a Windows 8 partition going, but it's really just for testing compatibility of some of my projects, I would NEVER use Win8 for day to day activity as it's just not efficient.

Win8 is no big deal, you just get a new program with your regular UI running that I think is maybe perhaps not so much "better" than the old start button program, but it's OK and not caused me any issues. Some software houses are worried about old products since lots of addons have been written incorrectly for windows, and issues arising from problems such as having to run as admin is of their doing.

...But only being able to see (effectively) one application running at a time...

 

I can see all my apps running, as they did on Win7, Tile apps serve a different purpose. I'm more efficient now and would not go back to Win7, I'm weird and different though. :blink:

I can see all my apps running, as they did on Win7 ... I'm more efficient now and would not go back to Win7, I'm weird and different though.

 

Can you share how you are accomplishing this in Metro/Modern UI mode? Took me a while to figure out how to just get a smaller and quirky 2nd window to display while in the Modern UI mode ... and it was not very useful when I did finally figure it out.

 

But getting 4 or 5 running applicaiton windows open and readable and interactive I thought was impossible in Win8 modern UI mode? I could ONLY accomplish this when in Win8 desktop mode ... which is pretty much the same as Win7.

 

The File Explorer in Win8 is horrible, it's basically the same "look" as Office 2013 with a huge tool bar region using up a ton of screen real estate ... which is completely the opposite of Win8 "modern UI" mode where they do their best to hide everything. What they needed to remove in Win7 file explorer (the favorites and libraries) because it's duplicating what can be found under "Computer", they've kept?

 

And then there is the difficult task of knowing what apps are currenlty running in Win8 Modern UI mode and consuming CPU/RAM. Again, better switch back to Win8 desktop mode if you want to know/manage your apps.

 

Glad it works for you and I don't think you are weird because you like Win8 ... to each his or her own. But I'm still not seeing the efficiency aspect if one uses the Modern UI mode. Sure, one can switch back to Win8 desktop mode to get that efficiency back since it is almost the same as Win7 ... but that's a hard sell for $189.

 

As other vendors have done, my company has recommended to all our clients they NOT move to Windows 8 ... we'll support it, but we don't recommend it. Fortunately none of our clients (several thousand of them) have wanted to move to Win8.