Fixing Windows 8 - Microsoft begins to see reality

Surprise, guess what Microsoft is doing?  Updating Windows 8.1 this spring.  And one of the things they are going to be doing is making the User Interface (UI) more efficient with a keyboard and mouse.  So, it looks as though they are going to be fixing another one of Window's 8's mistakes.  Believe me, it was a mistake.  Eleven months ago when I got my newest laptop I was only slightly enthused to see it came with Windows 8.  Now, don't get me wrong, I like Microsoft, but sometimes those pudding heads running the show just don't think.  It's like they put their heads together and come up with one uniformed thought which goes something like this:  We're so big and powerful we can do what want.  What are the Consumers going to do, dump all of their PC's and buy IMACS?"  So, eleven months ago when I powered up my new laptop and saw Windows I was the OS I groaned.  Feeling that I'd probably been stuck with something I wasn't going to like but was going to have to make do with, I watch the cute, little tutorial videos.  To my dismay they were all about touch screens.  Someone should have told those shit heads at Microsoft that my newly purchased, and fairly expense laptop, did not come with a touch screen.  I don't know which jelly brain in their corporate offices made the decision to crap on those of us who use and mouse and keyboard, but he made it.

The update announcement, which was confirmed yesterday by some voice at Microsoft, had been leaked earlier.  In that leak I was surprised to see Microsoft was claiming that 40% of all devices with Windows 8 installed were touch screen enabled.  When I saw that percentage all I could do was shake my head.  They were going to screw over the majority of PC and laptop owners (60%) to satisfy a minority.  So, their real target customer was those owners of tablets and smart phones, no doubt because a bunch of pudding heads put their noggins together and decided that PC's and laptops are going the way of the dinosaur.  Another bit of bullshit thinking.  We owners of PC's and laptops do not go out and buy a brand new one every two years the way phone owners and tablet owners do. We use ours for working, rather then playing, and as a result can hold on to them for 7 or 8 years.  And if you're really computer savvy you just upgrade your aging computer.  It's a lot less expense to add more memory or increase your RAM then it is to buy a new computer.  Only a fool would buy a new computer if you can snap in a new video or sound card for a fraction of the money.  But those pinheads don't think that way.  If you're not constantly buying the latest laptop or PC then those devices must be dying off.  What horseshit.

One of the funniest things about reading the link above is that the horse's ass who released it makes a comment which goes something like this:  we don't want all of our touch screen users to think we're forgetting about them.  Hey, dumbshit, you crapped on a majority just to try and increase your market share among a minority.  Who the hell did you forget in the first place?  Maybe they still don't see the whole picture.

Bill Gates Returns (almost)

Bill Gates is returning to Microsoft - albeit in an advisory mode, or... something like that.  When I heard that all I could do was wonder what took him so long.  Face it, 2013 was not a banner year for the corporation, in fact it seemed as though every month or so someone with Executive Status was shooting themselves in the foot.  I'm sure Mr. Gates was not at all pleased.  Take Windows.  That's his baby.  He was responsible for an operating system which was unbelievably popular because it worked well.  Windows 8 was loathed by many, including me.  It had been pre-installed on a newly purchased laptop.  I wrote about it back then.  Why someone would create an OS designed more for touch screens then anything else was something I just could not comprehend.  You can use a tablet to view reports, verify information, and send email... oh, and putz around on, but you can't use it for data entry.  Try writing a report on one and you'll realize how time expensive it is.  Windows 8 was so unpopular they tried to do an update and they cursed us with 8.1, which turns out to be just as crappy.  I'd heard it was turning so many Lenovo tablets into expensive paperweights they stopped installing it. I don't know who the pudding brains were who thought Windows 8 and 8.1 were good ideas, but I do suspect they are now working in the mail room.

Almost back in the saddle again

Then there was the Xbox One, which was going down like the Titanic until Microsoft started caving in.  This was really a WTF moment in history.  They forgot that the Xbox was designed for video games.  What Microsoft did, in fact, was drop a shit bomb on gamers and try to turn the Xbox into a "Media Center."  They did this because they made too many assumptions about the Kinect.  You see, they sold a shit load, and as a result some jelly brain at Microsoft thought just about every family room in America had a Kinect attached to an Xbox.  What this jelly brain didn't realize was that he was, in actuality, having a brain fart.  You see, a lot of those Kinects they sold were in kid's bedrooms.  I'm not a kid and I bought one, not so I could do the Zumba, but rather to yell commands while playing Skyrim and Mass Effect 3.  The issues kept rolling out and Microsoft started backpedaling because they had no other choice and that made them look dumb as bricks.

I think Bill Gates is coming back, even in a limited capacity, because in 2013 Microsoft failed in a big way.  They failed to understand the needs of their customer base, and not just their needs, often their basic requirements.  To be a successful corporation in today's world you need to fulfill your customer's expectations.  You need to keep your base happy, because they will turn on you in the blink of an eye and the whole world will know how much they disapprove.

Microsoft - attack of the Jello Brains

I was looking through the news on MSNBC and saw one of their staff tech writers had an article about the upcoming Windows 8.1.  Not to my surprise he was fairly positive about the new Windows 8.1 which Microsoft is rolling out, first as a beta version on 6/26 to certain users, and then later in October to everybody who happens to have been cursed with Windows 8.  At that time there were 79 comments, the vast majority being negative.  Did you expect anything else?  Quite a number echoed my own lament, that Microsoft would have developed and OS geared for tablets and phones.  The author, himself, echoed what seems to be Microsoft's stand that PC's and laptops are on their way out and that hand held devices are on their way to ruling the Internet.  Horseshit.  That being said, I wonder if he wrote his article on a tablet, or better yet, his phone.  One has to wonder if he sat there with his new HTC and, using that little keyboard, wrote his lengthy article.  If he didn't he's a phony (bad pun). 

Bad news for the modern man

If he wrote it on a laptop or PC he's a Jello brain.  I suspect that as an individual who get's paid by MSNBC he has to be pro horse shit to get a paycheck.  As such, his propaganda isn't supposed to really ameliorate the complaints, just satisfy the higher up Jello brains at Microsoft who dropped a turd in computerland.  While it might be okay to view a spreadsheet on a tablet, or even phone, all of the data entry involved requires a keyboard.  I used to work in accounting, I know.  Even though I may make some notes on my tablet, most of my writing is done on either an Imac or a laptop.  Right now I'm using a laptop with Windows 8 and while I can access blogger through the Start screen, I don't.  I skip that Start screen, geared for a touch screen, and go right to the desktop.  The Jello brains at Microsoft chose to ignore the workhorse, the PC and laptop, and aimed straight for the tablet and phone.  What Jello brains they be.  Convenience for some is inconvenient for others.  With so many customers, one can only wonder why they would choose to turn their backs on so many.  

Xbox 720, will it be dicked up by the pudding heads at Microsoft?

Since I have an Xbox 360, I received a special email from Xbox to watch the reveal of the new Xbox 720 on May 21.  I'm off work that day so I put it on my calendar.  Should be interesting.  There has been so much hokey pokey info being leaked about the game system, no one is really sure what to expect.  Now and then I will just do a search to see what turds are being dropped on the unsuspecting public, each and every one being dubbed 'official,' or 'from a reliable source.'  The Internet is littered with photos of controllers and consoles which may look a bit on the nifty side but fail logically.  Here's one:

I'll admit the keyboard is neat, but why the screen?  If I buy one, it's going to be attached to my 60" flat screen.  You know?  The one with the amazing sound system?  And are those arm rests on either side? Hhmmm, I guess that's for when you chose to lie on the floor to play your game, or stream your movie, or watch your video.  Maybe Microsoft just wants you to be comfortable.

Actually, what will really be interesting, is how the Xbox 720 is going to tie into the re-release of Windows 8.1, because they are both linked together.  Face it, Windows 8 is an unmitigated disaster, and don't think Microsoft isn't learning a very expensive lesson.  You can change the OS anyway you like, just as long as you remember the customers.  Don't give them something geared towards a product they don't own, like a tablet or phone with Windows 8 installed.  Like I said in an earlier post, there are a lot of pudding heads at Microsoft.  Supposedly 8.1 will provide fixes for the complaints that have been shrieking around the Internet, one of them being the disappearance of the "START" button.  My big complaint is that every time I move my mouse from left to right the Charms pop up and the system pauses, waiting for me to select one.  Yo, pudding heads at Microsoft, it's a mouse, not a finger!  I can't take it off of the screen.  The pudding head who came up with that concept needs to be canned.  The problem was too many pudding heads were not thinking about what the consumer has right now on their desk, or in their hand.  No, they were thinking about what is supposedly coming down the line.  How stupid can you be?

There are pudding heads at Microsoft!

For those of you who didn't know, not too long ago Microsoft came out with a new product they called Windows 8.  I'd heard about it but not experienced the joy until I purchased a Samsung laptop (mostly for gaming) and discovered the pre-installed OS was Windows 8.  Five seconds after playing with it I realized there were some really high level pudding heads at Microsoft.  They have foisted an operating system on the public which is primarily designed for tablets and phones, not for laptops or PC's.  On a tablet or phone, a single swipe will scroll your apps either to the left or to the right, on a laptop you need to use your arrow keys to get to the desired app.  If you use your mouse and it strays to close to the right hand side your "charms" pop up, and then you have to wait for them to disappear to continue. You need to corner you mouse in the lower left hand corner to get to your actual desktop,  which is where I do most of my games are loaded.  You would have thought some pudding head at Microsoft would have realized most small businesses are not going to want their associates dicking around with a bunch of apps.  No, they want their associates working.

I read where one of the pudding brains at Microsoft was touting the fact that 100 millions licenses for Windows 8 had been sold.  She did not say there were that many satisfied customers, in fact customer sat did not even enter the news release.  However, if you do a search, there are vast numbers who are not happy.  Quite a number are running Windows 7 instead of the new OS and I suspect it's all because of the new Start screen.  I'm sure there were not be nearly the number of complaints if it were effective on desktops and laptops instead of being a massive waste of time.  How bad is the problem?  I understand that a number of the pudding brains at Microsoft have decided to pool their intelligence, the end result being a major patch which is supposed to be released in September.

Microsoft should have approached Windows 8 from two different angles since they do have two disparate customers, those who mainly use PC's and laptops, and those who use tablets and phones.  While some of us may have both of these product lines, the OS on each group needs to be different.   Instead they chose to lump them altogether and ended up with this fiasco that will probably, in the long run cost them more then they even vaguely anticipated.  It's time for the pudding heads at Microsoft to put on their thinking caps.