Are we simply smarter or are Win 8 reviewers...

[Jazmac]

...simply too lazy to learn. What I getting at is too many so-called bloggers refer to Windows 8 as having a STEEP learning curve, difficult to navigate, can't find the controls and on and on. Sure there is a learning curve, but computers have ALWAYS had a learning curve. From Windows 95 to Windows 7, from Apple IIe to OSX Mountain Lion, there was always a new and different way to navigate and Windows 8 is no different.

I will be the first to admit, Windows 8 was different and I live in this stuff. It took about 2 weeks to get my arms around it but now its about discovery of new stuff. Basic navigation is now a no-brainer.

You'd think that since many of these reviewers test tons of android phones and are wet in the panties about how "customizable" they are, would have to have some basic technical intelligence going for them. You'd think they would be eager to learn about new technologies, that is, if they were technically honest. NOT.
But when it comes to Windows 8, it is an OS that is largely Windows 7 that does more but to these bloggers its like there isn't one complete brain cell among the lot of em.

So I'm asking what's up with these Windows 8 reviewers? Are they simply catering to the least informed and most brain dead among us? Are they themselves brain dead and can't learn? Or are they simply haters.

/end rant

 

[jimski]

Well stated. At 56, you can call me an old dog. But I am loving Windows 8. I mostly skipped over Vista and Win 7, so coming from strictly XP this is real culture shock. Took 2 days to get used to the new OS, and now I am simply tweaking my learning with new discoveries and practicing all the shortcuts. IMHO, coming from Win 7 would be a minor transition. I really don't understand what these critics are talking about.

New desktop, new Surface RT, updated Notebook and Office desktop on Friday. Gonna be a great day!

Sent from my Lumia 900 using Board Express Pro

 

[vp710]

You know the same people said the iPad would be a failure, was just an oversized iPhone and sounded like an female hygiene Apple product... :dry

 

[Reflexx]

My son is 4. We checked out Windows 8 at Best Buy last weekend. He was navigating with no problems. I explained it to him for less than a minute. He just watched me make a few swipes.

 

[brmiller1976]

The same reviewers hated the original Mac because of its "newfangled mouse" and recommended people stick with the C64 instead.

Then they hated the Windows 95 interface, which blew up the old user convention. Where was the Program Manager?!? Where is Winsock?!?

Then they hated Windows XP, for its "Fisher Price UI."

They despise change (unless it comes with a polished aluminum Apple and a $1500 price premium).

 

[SnailUK]

I'm sure they have a point. Almost everything has moved.

For the average user, thats probably not an issue, but for a power user, i'm sure its frustrating at first, not being able to find stuff.

I can only imagine how difficult it will be for someone in IT support, who knows every single function of a PC, yet all of a sudden, can't find them.

But by the same measure, i'm sure there are just as many good features, that will make the same peoples lives easier.

 

[mmacleodbrown]

Same here, you tube vids, online blogs etc took me through the learning curve and Im loving it, it has such a fresh feel to it. Im still at halfway house though as I have arranged my most common apps in metro so I can get to them by pressing the Win key, but I also have shortcuts on my desktop which is a bit retro and I need to find a more elegant way to do it...

 

[rockstarzzz]

I'm sure they have a point. Almost everything has moved.

For the average user, thats probably not an issue, but for a power user, i'm sure its frustrating at first, not being able to find stuff.

I can only imagine how difficult it will be for someone in IT support, who knows every single function of a PC, yet all of a sudden, can't find them.

But by the same measure, i'm sure there are just as many good features, that will make the same peoples lives easier.

I would be ashamed to call myself a power user if not finding a start button frustrates me. Or finding control panel without using brain by just starting to type "C.O.N.T.R.... " on the tiles hub will automagically show me CONTROL PANEL in the list of apps!

 

[theefman]

It's just the typical MS hatred shining brightly, this was just such a golden opportunity to bash MS and most of them took it. If you want to read an adult review go to anandtech and see how it's done. Much more informative than the typical hack job by sites like the verge (puke).

@jimski: old fart! Tee hee!

And forgot to say, yes we are smarter. Do you really have to ask?

 

[Covfam]

My wife and i were at best buy the other day to return her ipad 3 (the ipad 4 announcement came a week after us getting her ipad3) and our local best buy had this big old display table with windows 8 pc's with touch screen monitor (hp) older windows 7.5 phones, printed documentation on the windows platform and even told us to come back in november they will have a workshop for windows 8 on one day windows phone 8 another and wndows 8 rt on another. during that time this woman was showing my wife how to use the windows 8 HP all in one desktop my wife fell in love with the metro interface and we sent a half hour at that hp computer and she declared that thats her new computer OS!

 

[anotherhawkeye]

It could be that you are all drinking the kool aid. Also check if you are wearing the rise colored glasses.

In my experience, If a lot of reviewers say something, it probably applies to the masses.

 

[txaggies07]

Some people are just stubborn a$$es (especially tech reviewers). For a Windows 7 power user, just treat metro as a start menu, not a totally new UI. Instead of the start menu taking up the bottom left corner of the screen, it full screens (and can play apps in it). That is the only difference. I spend almost my entire day without ever seeing the metro UI if I am working. When I do want the metro UI, it is nice to have and I enjoy it.

 

[txaggies07]

It could be that you are all drinking the kool aid. Also check if you are wearing the rise colored glasses.

In my experience, If a lot of reviewers say something, it probably applies to the masses.

I think is going to be one of those instances where real people like it and only tech reviewers complain.

 

[sconrad308]

I've been using the RTM for about 2 months now and there wasn't really any learning curve to it for me, but I know I'm smarter than most of those reviewers.

But I took my laptop to my mom & dad's a few weeks ago and taught both of them how to use it and they liked it. My dad loves the live tile for the weather. Especially since I have my weather on it and his both pinned to the start screen. They were able to navigate it without much of an issue and liked how other apps just automatically started the desktop when needed.

This OS is not hard nor does it have a "steep learning curve", it is different, but not difficult. I love the live tiles and having info right at my fingertips. I pretty well only use the people hub for my facebook stuff, and love having it all in one place.

 

[Kebero]

For the average user, thats probably not an issue, but for a power user, i'm sure its frustrating at first, not being able to find stuff.

I can only imagine how difficult it will be for someone in IT support, who knows every single function of a PC, yet all of a sudden, can't find them

As a power user and someone who works in IT support, both of those arguments are red herrings. First and foremost, I think the term "power user" has been completely misapplied in the past several months, if not longer. Typically, a power user would be either someone not in the IT department that would be part of the focus groups for testing new roll-outs ahead of general release, or a user that was familiar with enhancing productivity through the use of hot keys, command line tools, scripts, macros, etc. These days, anyone who uses more than one monitor is, for some odd reason, called a power user. Someone who really knows Windows - the command structure, especially - isn't going to care if there's no visible shutdown menu, because they'll just bring up the run command and enter "shutdown /s /t 0" or "shutdown /r /t 0" for a shutdown or a reboot. They know that ctrl+shift+esc brings up the task manager, etc. And they probably just hit the Windows key to bring up the start menu/start screen. As far as IT support goes, if someone in support doesn't know how to hit F1 for help, there's a real problem.

 

[Reflexx]

I think it's actually that "power users" and tech bloggers often just think everyone else is dumb. With power users who work in IT, it's kind of understandable because they deal with simple issues all day. Mainly from people who don't really want to learn anything.

But tech bloggers often have the "I figured it out, but you'd have trouble" air about them. So they speak as if consumers are dumb as bricks.

Most people can learn to navigate Windows 8 by touch after a minute or two of teaching.

Navigating by mouse can be learned quickly too, but it's not as intuitive with Windows 8. It can get a little annoying. So a touch enabled peripheral would be preferable.

One thing that surprised me at Best Buy is that I didn't see a line of touch enabled monitors for sale. The only touch monitors were part of all-in-one PCs. A touch monitor definitely makes Windows 8 ten times more fun.

 

[gsquared]

As a power user and someone who works in IT support, both of those arguments are red herrings. First and foremost, I think the term "power user" has been completely misapplied in the past several months, if not longer. Typically, a power user would be either someone not in the IT department that would be part of the focus groups for testing new roll-outs ahead of general release, or a user that was familiar with enhancing productivity through the use of hot keys, command line tools, scripts, macros, etc. These days, anyone who uses more than one monitor is, for some odd reason, called a power user. Someone who really knows Windows - the command structure, especially - isn't going to care if there's no visible shutdown menu, because they'll just bring up the run command and enter "shutdown /s /t 0" or "shutdown /r /t 0" for a shutdown or a reboot. They know that ctrl+shift+esc brings up the task manager, etc. And they probably just hit the Windows key to bring up the start menu/start screen. As far as IT support goes, if someone in support doesn't know how to hit F1 for help, there's a real problem.

I agree. The term "Power User" is way overused. Its even made its way down to mobile devices. For the life of me I cannot figure out what the Android fans that consider themselves "Power Users" mean by that.

 

[Kebero]

For the life of me I cannot figure out what the Android fans that consider themselves "Power Users" mean by that.

I think it's the ones who root their phones, etc. This, I find particularly ironic, since a Linux power user would never, and I mean never run their system under root. One of the first thing you do with a Linux system is disable root logon (except for some implementations of ESXi).

 

[shingi_70]

I played with Windows 8 last week for the first time and it took about 10 minutes to get used to the new stuff. Maybe a few more to undertand the charms bar settings being for all applications.

Also helped an older guy go through it and he picked it up pretty quickly.

Sent from my T-Mobile G2 using Tapatalk 2

 

[Heron_Kusanagi]

We aren't smarter. We just see things from a different perspective. That's why Windows 8 is easy for us, but hard for them.