What Desktop OS do you primarily use?

[Zelig]

It's a matter of personal UI preference. I just do not enjoy the windows 8 user experience on a desktop, while windows 7 feels like a smooth relaxing ride. My choice is clear.

That's irrational unless you just really like transparency effects, more than actual features and usability. The Windows 8 desktop is a clear superset of the Windows 7 desktop.

I.. need to use my computer exactly the way you use yours. Yeah, that makes sense!

No, there are plenty of ways to use it, clicking on the start menu/screen is a) not effective (you have a keyboard, use it) and b) not something that most people do with any regularity anyway. (Telemetry data shows that people rarely use the start menu, since you can pin apps to the taskbar and just click on them there.)


Nearly all the complaints about Windows 8 amount to simply whinging about change. Mac OS X, iOS 7, Firefox Australis, the Office Ribbon, Ubuntu Unity - they all had loads of people complaining on release, regardless of any objective merits.

 

[Iranon]

If you're mousing around on either of them it's a terribly subpar experience and you need to stop doing it wrong. Either of them is much worse than Quicksilver.

For most of the things you may want to do, using a mouse is a terribly subpar experience and you need to stop doing it wrong. If a keyboard isn't better, chances are you need a graphics tablet

Mainstream GUIs accommodate all sorts of bad habits the average computer acquired over time. They aren't meant for users who want to do it right, those are the vanishing minority.

 

[Zelig]

For most of the things you may want to do, using a mouse is a terribly subpar experience and you need to stop doing it wrong. If a keyboard isn't better, chances are you need a graphics tablet

Mainstream GUIs accommodate all sorts of bad habits the average computer acquired over time. They aren't meant for users who want to do it right, those are the vanishing minority.

Well I'd probably say "a lot" rather than "most", but I don't disagree with the sentiment. (Qwerty is awful and everyone should stop using it ASAP.)

I just can't consider it a bad thing to make some of the worst bad habits marginally worse while encouraging some of the easiest better habits.

 

[warpus]

That's irrational unless you just really like transparency effects, more than actual features and usability. The Windows 8 desktop is a clear superset of the Windows 7 desktop.

I design UI for a living. I do not enjoy the windows 8 UI experience compared to the windows 7 UI experience. I would say I'm pretty qualified to hold that personal opinion about a product I use.

It is not about change. It is not about using the start menu to click around. It's just a subpar user experience and I do not prefer it. I don't like it. I stick to things that I like.

But of course I'm just whining and using everything wrong.

 

[Zelig]

I design UI for a living. I do not enjoy the windows 8 UI experience compared to the windows 7 UI experience. I would say I'm pretty qualified to hold that personal opinion about a product I use.

It is not about change. It is not about using the start menu to click around. It's just a subpar user experience and I do not prefer it. I don't like it. I stick to things that I like.

But of course I'm just whining and using everything wrong.

Lots of people design UI for a living. I've been paid for it, but try to avoid the work since it's pretty boring. Now I mostly let others do it and then just point out all their mistakes that need fixing.

"I just don't like it" but not being able to point to any specific problem really doesn't leave me much conclusion other than that you "just don't like it" because you don't like change, just like Firefox Australis, iOS7, Unity, etc. have all also received from "people who design UI for a living".

I totally get how Win8 could be unappealing at first - when I first started using it, it gave me a general feeling of unease, the same as I feel when I'm using any new OS and don't have a good idea in my head of "where everything fits". I suspect MS missed this (or deemed they could dismiss it as a short-term problem) because their new user UX testing is focused on casual users who never have a cohesive idea in their mind of how an OS works. On the other hand their dogfooding mostly targets advanced users at MS who are fully aware of changes and how they work even before they start using the new product.

Kind of like this six year-old answer about a ribbon UI question: https://ux.stackexchange.com/questi...-great-from-a-usability-perspective/8256#8256

It's easy to test on casual users (there's a never-ending supply) and advanced users (any of your employees) but it's tough to test on middle users (since you've got a pretty limited amount of testing you can do per user before they become too advanced for the same tests you're running).

 

[Mr.WorldWide]

This is a poll thread, I find this continued debating the merits or lack thereof of any mentioned OS irrelevant to the topic at hand.

And a bit boring.

 

[warpus]

"I just don't like it" but not being able to point to any specific problem really doesn't leave me much conclusion other than that you "just don't like it" because you don't like change, just like Firefox Australis, iOS7, Unity, etc. have all also received from "people who design UI for a living".

Dude, I just don't like the windows 8 UI experience as much as what windows 7 offers me. In my opinion it's far inferior, unless I was on a tablet, in which case I would probably prefer it.

I'm not going to get into a huge discussion with you about why I think it's inferior. To me it just is. That's why I use windows 7. That's what the question was. That's the end of it.

You prefer windows 8. That's great. You don't have to assume that since I prefer windows 7 that means that I'm "Using it wrong". That makes you look like an ass.

 

[Zelig]

Dude, I just don't like the windows 8 UI experience as much as what windows 7 offers me. In my opinion it's far inferior, unless I was on a tablet, in which case I would probably prefer it.

I'm not going to get into a huge discussion with you about why I think it's inferior. To me it just is. That's why I use windows 7. That's what the question was. That's the end of it.

I'm trying to help you.

You prefer windows 8. That's great. You don't have to assume that since I prefer windows 7 that means that I'm "Using it wrong". That makes you look like an ass.

That's not an assertion I made. My claim was only regarding the start menu/screen. Since Vista, if you mouse-navigate through it rather than typing, you are using it in an objectively inferior manner.

And as I've mentioned before, telemetry data shows that clicking through the start menu is not a common use case. People launch their commonly used programs via the taskbar.

 

[warpus]

I'm trying to help you.

I don't need any help. I said why I use said OS and why.

You're trying to convince me that I'm wrong, but it's not a matter of being wrong. I know what I like and I know that I prefer windows 7 over windows 8 when it comes to the UI.

You use it the way you use it and that's great, stick to windows 8 if you prefer it. I'm going to stick to windows 7, because in my professional opinion windows 8 has an inferior user interface user experience.

That's not an assertion I made. My claim was only regarding the start menu/screen. Since Vista, if you mouse-navigate through it rather than typing, you are using it in an objectively inferior manner.

I don't use the start menu that way.

You're assuming all sorts of things about my point, likely based on some sort of argument you've had in the past with other people who don't like Windows 8. I'm not a part of that argument, so you don't have to continue it here.

 

[Zelig]

I don't need any help. I said why I use said OS and why.

You're trying to convince me that I'm wrong, but it's not a matter of being wrong. I know what I like and I know that I prefer windows 7 over windows 8 when it comes to the UI.

You use it the way you use it and that's great, stick to windows 8 if you prefer it. I'm going to stick to windows 7, because in my professional opinion windows 8 has an inferior user interface user experience.

Well if you're not interested in learning or discussing anything about desktop OS's, presumably you'd stop responding.

I don't use the start menu that way.

You're assuming all sorts of things about my point, likely based on some sort of argument you've had in the past with other people who don't like Windows 8. I'm not a part of that argument, so you don't have to continue it here.

So maybe you should have led with "I don't use it like that" and enumerated other reasons that the start screen might be a problem.

 

[Iranon]

Now if was just possible to satisfy our shallow-but-all-important GUI preferences by editing a simple human-readable text file...

 

[Zelig]

Now if was just possible to satisfy our shallow-but-all-important GUI preferences by editing a simple human-readable text file...

Eh, I dunno, text file configs work really well for some stuff (snapraid off the top of my head, which I was just editing before this post), but for other stuff...

 

[warpus]

Well if you're not interested in learning or discussing anything about desktop OS's, presumably you'd stop responding.

I don't mind discussing OS's, I just don't want to get into elaborate discussions about user interface design paradigms.

I know what you're trying to do. You're trying to dig down to the exact reason why I prefer windows 7 over windows 8. Then you want to tell me why I'm wrong and why I should be doing it your way.

I don't really care to be drawn into a headache-inducing exchange like that at all, I'm just here to state which desktop OS I use and why, I'm not here to write essays about UI design theory and/or defend my choice of one OS over another.

I just don't have the time or energy Yet I'm here, because I'm curious to see what other people are using and why.

 

[Zelig]

No, I want to personally use the best available options, and be able to recommend those to others, I don't particularly care what you use or if you're doing stuff the wrong way.

If you can show how Windows 7 is better in some way I'm missing, then I can switch to it and recommend it to others.

I'd also be really interested in a Linux distro with awesome UI design, for the same reasons.

 

[Iranon]

@ Zelig: Well, Xorg is a little deeper than most people WANT to dig, so they're probably cross because something went pear-shaped rather than cross because they had to trudge through a text file.

It wouldn't get better from being in a typical GUI and having to figure out whether we want "options", "preferences" or the "basic" subcategory of "advanced". With search-based stuff throwing up multiple variations of "Make your Xorg xorg Xorgs" and "Make your Xorg easier to use" (why isn't it by default?).



I was thinking of something a little closer to the user - Window Manager + assorted stuff rather than Xorg itself.
"I liked feature X in GUI Y, stealing and improving on it required about 3 lines in my configuration file" instead of hunting down buggy third-party extensions or living without it.

A shame these went out of style even on Linux/BSD, having "awesome UI design" implemented in one of these would be the best of both worlds.
Won't happen though. No self-respecting designer wants to realise their visions by editing plaintext files any peon could change on a whim. Most users have neither ability nor inclination to produce something good for the general public - "works for me" is enough.

 

[warpus]

No, I want to personally use the best available options, and be able to recommend those to others, I don't particularly care what you use or if you're doing stuff the wrong way.

"The best option available" and "the best UI experience" aren't necessarily the same thing. In this case, for me, it isn't, as again I find the windows 8 user experience far inferior than what windows 7 offers, while windows 8 itself has more impressive technology running under the hood that I should be using if I wanted the better overall OS.

Do you get it?

If you can show how Windows 7 is better in some way I'm missing, then I can switch to it and recommend it to others.

I'm not interested in a bit by bit back and forth here and that's exactly what would happen if I started listing "points" that show why I prefer it's UI more.

If someone asks you which pizza you prefer, pepperoni or deluxe, do you ask them exactly why they prefer it, so that you can either adjust your ways or try to convince the guy that he's eating pizza wrong? No, you go with the pizza that works for you and don't go out of your way to tell people that what they're doing is the "wrong way".

"You're not enjoying windows 8? Must be using it wrong." << That doesn't exactly invite someone to participate with you in a discussion about anything.

 

[Zelig]

"The best option available" and "the best UI experience" aren't necessarily the same thing. In this case, for me, it isn't, as again I find the windows 8 user experience far inferior than what windows 7 offers, while windows 8 itself has more impressive technology running under the hood that I should be using if I wanted the better overall OS.

Do you get it?

Nope, maybe you should specify some reasoning behind your conclusions?

I'm not interested in a bit by bit back and forth here and that's exactly what would happen if I started listing "points" that show why I prefer it's UI more.

If someone asks you which pizza you prefer, pepperoni or deluxe, do you ask them exactly why they prefer it, so that you can either adjust your ways or try to convince the guy that he's eating pizza wrong? No, you go with the pizza that works for you and don't go out of your way to tell people that what they're doing is the "wrong way".

"You're not enjoying windows 8? Must be using it wrong." << That doesn't exactly invite someone to participate with you in a discussion about anything.

If there's a thread about pizza I'll gladly give advice on tasty pizzas and how people could improve their pizzas and would welcome the same in kind.

If someone eats a pizza by blending it with ice to form a pizza slurry, I'm reasonably going to suggest it's a pretty sub-optimal way of eating it unless they're either someone who I know to be an authority on tasty food, or they give a compelling argument on why pizza slushies are tasty. If I've previously tried pizza slushies and determined them to be sub-par, it's going to take an especially compelling argument.

 

[warpus]

Our exchange so far can be summarized as such:

Warpus: "I don't like mushrooms on my pizza, it doesn't taste good to me"
Zelig: "Maybe you eat pizza wrong"
Warpus: "No, I just prefer pepperoni"
Zelig: "You need to explain to me everything behind your decision"
Warpus: "No, go away, who gives a crap"

 

[Zelig]

Our exchange so far can be summarized as such:

Warpus: "I don't like mushrooms on my pizza, it doesn't taste good to me"
Zelig: "Maybe you eat pizza wrong"

I already explained this:

That's not an assertion I made. My claim was only regarding the start menu/screen. Since Vista, if you mouse-navigate through it rather than typing, you are using it in an objectively inferior manner.

And as I've mentioned before, telemetry data shows that clicking through the start menu is not a common use case. People launch their commonly used programs via the taskbar.

I would characterize the exchange more like this:

Warpus: "I don't like mushrooms on my pizza, it doesn't taste good to me"
Zelig: "If you're stuffing the mushrooms up your nose (which is a reasonable thing to confirm, since I've found that most people who don't like pizzas with mushrooms are in fact stuffing the mushrooms up their noses) you're doing it wrong."
Warpus: "No, I don't like pizza with mushrooms"
Zelig: "What's wrong with mushrooms?"
Warpus: "No, go away, who gives a crap"


Furthermore, I'd content that if someone doesn't like mushrooms (or pretty much any basic ingredient), they're doing food wrong. Studies show that you can train yourself to enjoy foods, and avoiding food because of temporarily not enjoying the taste is simply sacrificing on the number of tasty foods you could be enjoying.

 

[warpus]

Here's the thing. I just came here to say what OS I use and I snuck in a comment about the one that came in preinstalled on my laptop and how I did not enjoy the user experience.

Then you strolled in on a horse, with assumptions in hand, announced that I'm doing it wrong, and started setting up a table for a formal debate.. In the middle of a busy road where other people are trying to get by. I'm just trying to not be a jerk and to not mess up this thread with more useless back and forth. I wouldn't be against doing it elsewhere, like a dedicated thread, but I probably just don't have time for it either. You think you're right, that's great, about what specifically I'm not sure, but I'll go on using things the way I have been using them. If it can be done more effectively, then I'm all ears, but I'm definitely not stuffing mushrooms up my nose and you are a fool to believe that, so the whole premise of this discussion is absurd and in a way I think you have taken me for a spin.

And if that's what happened here, then I commend you, but otherwise I'm leaving.