I was told it was ugly, it was outdated, it wasn't carbon neutral. That Microsoft no longer supported it (irrelevant as I always have kept Automatic Updates turned off anyways), that its interface wasn't touch screen friendly, and that it was just generally dorky and a real buzzkill.
Linux still useful at raising my blood pressure, I thought I would gently upgrade to Windows 7.
8 seemed like a bad choice (backdoors, NSA, etc etc) and I am willing to bet there is something hideous hidden inside Windows 9 ...er I mean Windows 10. Microsoft is going to a lot of effort to get it installed as widely as possible, and I am not interested in finding out what flying monkeys are folded into that box of tricks.
Win7 is irritating enough to finally drive me permanently into Linux's sticky arms, and that is no mean feat, being a hardcore and scarred survivor of win98.
I want to open two Explorer windows at once. Punch the Explorer icon a second time.It just gives me the first window again. Huh. try Shift-click.
Oh look, there it is.
Arrange as 'Modified'
Why do I want see the contents of the sub-folders? I didn't ask for this.
Okay, find the zip file manually and open it. Highlight files, click 'Copy'
Oh great, a security warning. Stop holding my hand , Nanny.
Switch to the folder on my phone, Paste.
Wait,no Paste.
Did I close the zip window accidentally first? (Really liked the zip-file integration in WinXP guys, it was great right up to the deferred clipboard X-Windows shit)
Nope, window still open. No paste.
Hmmm.
Try to copy-paste to desktop.
Works fine.
Okay, who thought this was a good UI decision?
Oh look,a magic area on the screen that causes all my windows to vanish. Very clever. Windows+D still works, too. Try this: Hover over the magic zone, let the desktop appear. Windows+D to get your windows back: they will reappear and then get overridden again! I was hoping this would go on for a while, but the OS immediately sulks and allows the keyboard to control the situation.
I love* the semi-transparent handlebars, especially with porn on the desktop.
I love the way alt+tab switching includes the desktop, but wait! its not just the desktop, it also toggles the desktop's opposite. What would you call that, the ceiling.?
I love the way you can hover over the windows stack on the toolbar and have the little preview panes come up. I also love the way that it will switch the preview you hover over to the top of the stack, but if you don't click it, bury it again the instant you try to do something.
Useful feature that, I could use it for porn at the office I guess.
I love the way I am an Administrator, but when I try to do something like copy a file to C:\, it stops to warn me that I will need to show my administrator credentials, and then goes ahead and allows me to do the action without proving anything. Same thing with accessing other Users folders. Just have to sit and wait while it gains 'Access' to the files, and then allows me to do whatever my little heart pleases. Why the delays and foolishness?
I am given literally 308 different 'Sort-By' options for a folder of images.
Three-Hundred-and-Eight.
If that is not enough, I can also 'Group', 'Sort' and 'Arrange' icons, each with overlapping options.
I can use the option 'Date Modified' with all three, for instance.
Sort -> Date Modified + Ascending gives me the functionality I want, but Arrange by -> Date Modified and Group -> Date Modified do not...but each do slightly different things!
And if I change 'Arrange By', 'Group By' vanishes!
Oooh! My windows react to the display edges.
Nope! Its my mouse pointer.
Nope! Its my mouse pointer being released when in contact with the display border! It maximizes my window for me! So useful!
Nope! It only maximizes at the top,it half-sizes on the left or right. Is this some kind of leftover swipe screen bullshit?
Why?
Why anything?
All is madness here.
If I am going to be fucked around by a UI this much, why aren't I using Linux and a windows manager of my choice?
Oh wait, I remember. Because my software tools and UI habits are built around a decade of using WinXP, that is why.
TL;DR...
Now is this is just another screed of Nerd Rage, the whining of some spoilt tech head because the paint color changed on his favorite toy -- or is it? A OS is a tool. The more you use a tool, the more skilled you grow with it. Changing a tool means relearning some skills. What is applicable to handling a wrench is not totally applicable to handling a chisel.
Energy invested in learning how to use a tool is a cost levied against what you want to do with it.
I can format a document using Emacs or Word. Emacs is going to take me a lot longer....I don't have much skill with it. If I need to get some paperwork done right now...
I could complain about a lot of Emacs features, but to be honest, the software is older than I am, and hundreds of thousands of people have invested millions of hours of time in learning how to use it skillfully and effectively. I'm not going to mock that investment, but I am not likely going to learn how to use Emacs. Its a old program, with a huge userbase. Like Photoshop or Autocad, its interface was developed before there was any real standards (Is there any now?), and it's modes and quirks are now just part of it, like a wrench with a familiar handle.
This is good and acceptable, but Windows 7 is not a old piece of software: it is (relatively)brand new. And if adopting it means I have to spend time redeveloping new habits, it is just not that likely I am going to waste that time unless I really have to.
And if I have to make a big break from everything I have learned before...well, sorry, Microsoft, but Linux is mature.
And free.
And mostly seems to be free of Big Brother-itis.
And oh yeah, it happens to have some pretty good window managers that are awfully close to Windows Explorer.
I understand that the UI changes are largely business decisions; the Board wants a uniform UI across the PC - tablet - smartphone spectrum, that touchscreens are superhot this decade, and the user information farming is needed to bring on the Singularity** I can't blame the executive decisions for what may or may not bring in millions of dollars for the company.
It is a cold, business transaction, in a 'money talks' world. So, so is this:
I have used MS DOS 5.00, 6.22, Windows 3.11, Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows Me (shudder), Windows XP Home and Pro, and now, finally Windows 7.
Over all, I have expended a fair amount of time in building skills, and I have accomplished a lot on the frameworks these Operating Systems have provided.
But I don't need to keep expending that time, and for a reason I would never have expected, it is time to move on. Switching to Linux will mean a fresh learning curve, which is the same price I will have to pay if I start using Windows 7. With Linux, hopefully I won't have to keep paying the piper, and who knows what new tools I'll pick up along the way?
* For the purpose of this document, 'love' is aliased to 'I really fucking hate this annoying trick'**Probably the Stross CASE NIGHTMARE GREEN kind.
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