Well, I bit the bullet and upgraded to Office 2013 and Windows 8 Professional with my new laptop. I am now at the point where I am giving serious consideration to turning the new laptop into a Frisbee or making the move back to Office 2010 and Windows 7. At this point, I am not sure which of the ideas will win out. I would hate to hold Samsung® accountable for the absolute awful interface supplied with Windows 8®.
My grandchildren could have designed a more professional looking interface and they range in ages from 3 to 10 years old. For some reason and I am not sure why, Microsoft seems to enjoy creating products that look like they were designed for the people who don’t use the products for work.
Where in the world would they get the idea that an ugly interface translates into taking market share away from Open Office, Google’ office productivity products or any of the other choices out there in cyberspace. Here are the things that would make a both products to work with.
- Create a standard menu bar for the bottom of the Windows 8 screen. The box interface that is standard with Windows 8 is so dumb that it is hard to believe MS expects business people to use it. It is only because of enterprising individuals in cyberspace that I have the ability to configure a proper quick access menu. Thank you so much whoever you are.
- Put the exit button back on the file menu. Where did it go, it is still in the code. I checked. In general, if the command is available to be put on a tool bar, it is available to the software developers. It is now on my personal toolbar but I should not have to add it manually to a toolbar that most individuals don’t know how to configure it.
- Get the CAPITAL letters off the ribbon menu. Didn’t anyone tell you that it is rude to use all caps when communicating with someone? Who are you shouting at? If it is me, I don’t appreciate it. If it is the world, what did they do to deserve it.
- Go back to clear delineation for parts of the screen. I really liked the framed part of the screen that showed specifically where things started and ended. Instead, what I have is a screen that looks poorly thought out and poorly designed. In particular, MS Project®, a product that I use daily, is suffering from a seriously poor interface design. It has some neat functions but most of our customers already dislike the tool. The new interface isn’t going to make it any easier to convince them to use it.
- Access to the MS cloud. Not happening any time soon. If major banks can be scammed, what is MS going to do to ensure that my data is safe. Besides, I work on client confidential projects and it is a violation of a Non-disclosure Agreement to put client confidential information out there in cyberspace. I have yet to see a security document that can ensure me with absolute certainty that the MS cloud is inviolate. To be fair, MS isn’t alone. I wouldn’t use any of the other options for long-term storage either. I have been an IT professional in a previous life this trend will end when people realize that their data isn’t as secure as promised.
I better stop now. I have a list of about 40 things that would make things better including a technique from Apple that would expedite transitioning the applications from an old machine to a new one. I still have 10 more applications, 13 printers, and 11 network connections to install.
Whether it is the cell phone, Facebook®, Twitter®, Microsoft®, Google®, or Apple®, it is life as we now know it as part of the Borg Collective.
