[accesscomp] Dan's Tip on Windows 10

From: "Robert Acosta" <boacosta@xxxxxxxxxxx>
To: "Bob Acosta" <boacosta@xxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Thu, 11 Jun 2015 08:36:27 -0700

Things to ponder:

If you were scared half to death twice, would you be 3/4 dead or 100% dead?

If the cops arrest a mime, do they tell him he has the right to remain
silent?

Fact of the day:

Neil Armstrong stepped onto the moon with his left foot first.

Charlie Chaplin once took part in a Charlie Chaplin look-alike contest in a
theater in San Francisco. He lost.

The "G" in "G-Spot" stands for Gräfenberg, a German-born doctor who studied
female sexual physiology.

Submitted by Jennifer Dunn - Pensacola, Florida

There are people who can actually see, smell and physically taste music.
This is an example of a phenomenon known as synesthesia. Synesthetes report
seeing symphonies in spectacular colors, smelling Beethoven, and tasting
Chopin.

Windows 10, Heres what Microsoft should have done instead

* By David Cardinal <http://www.extremetech.com/author/dcardinal> on
June 9 2015 from the
* Extreme Tech Staff
* 'Document source Link:
*
*
http://www.extremetech.com/computing/207780-windows-10-heres-what-microsoft-
should-have-done-instead?mailing_id=1276983
<http://www.extremetech.com/computing/207780-windows-10-heres-what-microsoft
-should-have-done-instead?mailing_id=1276983&mailing=ExtremeTech&mailingID=F
98C71CE61AECF34AC8B64A964276FEA>
&mailing=ExtremeTech&mailingID=F98C71CE61AECF34AC8B64A964276FEA
*

·

· Windows 10 is a well-meaning effort by Microsoft to mollify
Windows 8 haters and coax Windows 7 loyalists to upgrade all while
stubbornly sticking to its goal of a single OS for every possible platform.
And by framing the problem that way, Microsoft has given itself a nearly
impossible task.

· To the companys credit, each new build lurches closer to being
usable, although with new bugs every time, it is difficult to evaluate how
smooth the final release version will be. Best case: It may earn the
grudging acceptance of Windows 7 users who refuse to move to Windows 8. And
part of that acceptance will come not from sudden enthusiasm for a new way
of interacting with the desktop, but from a desire to take advantage of the
clear core benefits Windows 10 provides in performance, security,
administration, and memory usage over Windows 7 and even Windows 8.

· So why is it so hard to convince users to move to a brand-new,
free, feature-packed, more efficient OS
<http://www.extremetech.com/computing/205320-microsoft-windows-10-will-be-th
e-last-version-of-windows> ?

·
http://www.extremetech.com/computing/205320-microsoft-windows-10-will-be-the
-last-version-of-windows

·

· Apple does it all the time. Simply put, because Microsoft didnt
build Windows 8 or Windows 10 <http://www.extremetech.com/tag/windows-10>
for Windows users. It built them to further its own business strategy of
using the power of the once-ubiquitous Windows platform to extend its
dominance into the rapidly growing mobile space. The result is an OS whose
features are now flipping and flopping with each new build as Microsoft
tries to fix problems of its own creation.

· Imagine how good a desktop OS Windows 10 could have been

· What if instead, after realizing what a terrible mistake Windows 8
was, Microsoft had made the truly brave decision to come clean and change
its strategy? If Windows 10 had been designed from the beginning to be the
best possible desktop OS, and the thousands of developer years spent trying
to make it everything to everyone were instead spent providing services and
applications for the mobile OS platforms people actually want? If in tandem
Microsoft was willing to let go of its sub-3% market share in mobile, it
could also have spent the cash it used to buy Nokia to build out its
cross-platform services offerings instead. We could have had a really
excellent desktop OS worth paying for
<http://www.extremetech.com/computing/201601-microsoft-desperately-wants-you
-to-move-to-windows-10>

·
http://www.extremetech.com/computing/201601-microsoft-desperately-wants-you-
to-move-to-windows-10

·

· and great integration with the leading mobile platforms.

· Certainly Microsoft has woken up to providing competitive versions
of its applications on Android and iOS. But imagine how much further along
it would have been if it had put real work into the effort starting years
ago. Perhaps we wouldnt have to use third-party utilities to sync our
information between Google and Outlook, for example. Or OneNote might have
supported syncing on Android during the first several years it was
available, instead of only recently. Pick any Microsoft desktop technology
you access from your iOS or Android device and you can come up with a list
of features that would make it much more useful.

·
<http://www.extremetech.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/Windows-10s-new-Start
-menu-is-a-mash-up-of-the-Windows-7-version-and-the-Modern-UI-it-has-somethi
ng-for-everone-but-may-not-please-anyone.jpg> Windows 10's new Start menu is
a mash up of the Windows 7 version and the Modern UI -- it has something for
everone, but may not please anyone

· Its not like there isnt anything to fix in Windows

· Anyone who thinks Microsoft didnt focus on desktop users as it
evolved Windows 8 and 10 because its desktop OS has no need for
improvement hasnt spent enough time wrestling with the inscrutable hex
error codes from Windows Update, or debugging driver version mismatches, or
finding information theyre sure is somewhere on their disk. While Windows
10 isnt final, judging by the builds so far, all of those problems are
still there. Even support for high-resolution displays is still spotty.
Windows 10 adds some new Zoom options, but there is still no serious
scalable-font solution that works across the full range of possible
displays.

· As a good example of how this alternate direction would have
worked, lets look at the Control Panel. No one doubts that it is an old,
crufty system for managing a computer. A desktop-focused OS project would
have overhauled it completely while preserving its functionality. Instead,
Microsoft seems determined to replace it in bits and pieces with new
touch-friendly settings that arent much more intuitive, and that become
even more frustrating when you need to go back to the old system for pieces
that are still missing. Windows 10 is supposed to address this problem, but
were less than two months from shipment and Settings are still far from
being either intuitive or finished.

· Tablet mode and Continuum are also inventions seeking to solve a
problem Microsoft has invented for itself. For the few of us who actually
own and use a Surface Tablet mode, its sort of a good thing. (I love that I
can both taken written notes and run Outlook on my SP3, but with the
addition of desktop apps to Android, Im not sure how many others will see
the need to spend that kind of money for basic productivity.) Its good
because it is better than Windows 8, where often the touch keyboard wouldnt
pop up when needed, and icons could be hard to finger.

· Its still only sort of good, though, because its confusing and
forces the user to have one more thing to think about. Somehow iPads and
Android tablets seem to easily survive the addition of a keyboard without
the need for an entire special OS mode. Like many of the other new features
in Windows 10, it seems like a throw it against the wall and hope it
sticks attempt to solve a user pain point not a from-the-ground-up
technology architected to support the broad range of devices that can now
run Windows.

·
<http://www.extremetech.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/The-new-Settings-UI-i
s-certainly-prettier-than-the-old-Control-Panel-but-is-not-as-complete-at-le
ast-so-far.png> The new Settings UI is certainly prettier than the old
Control Panel but is not as complete -- at least so far

· Windows 10 internals are actually pretty impressive

· There is a lot to like about Windows 10 in addition to having
the best kernel Windows has ever had. Edge (aka Spartan) is promising
(although it too is only a prototype version, and certainly could have been
shipped separately). Cortana might be useful, but is so limited and buggy in
the current builds that it is hard to tell. If it doesnt get sorted out by
July, Microsoft risks taking yet another step backwards in desktop search
functionality, which would be a shame. Virtual desktops are a nice feature,
although hardly groundbreaking.

· The included apps are certainly way ahead of the ones Microsoft
shipped with Windows 8, but Microsoft has had many excellent desktop apps
over the years including the now-dead Windows Media Center
<http://www.extremetech.com/computing/207518-windows-media-center-is-dead-he
re-are-the-best-alternatives> , LiveWriter, and MovieMaker. It is the
companys own fault that it feels the need to start over time and again. On
the tablet side, if Microsoft is serious about usability, it should be
providing a better touch keyboard one that includes swipe-through typing,
for example. I also wish the company had finally fixed Windows Update.
Mobile users wont put up with the way it works now they are spoiled by
seamless OTAs from Apple and even many Android vendors.

· Perhaps the ultimate warning sign about Windows 10 for me is that
for many, its positioning is summed up as being no worse than the
six-year-old Windows 7, while adding support for tablets and phones. That
sounds pretty silly, but maybe not far from the truth. I run a Windows 7
desktop for some of my business-critical applications right next to a couple
of Windows 8.1 machines and a couple of Windows 10 machines. I dont really
feel any less productive when Im on the Windows 7 machine, and I cant
imagine that Ill upgrade it to Windows 10 and risk something breaking.

· Tablets are certainly a different story. Ive already put Windows
10 on almost all my Windows tablets, and suspect most of the small number of
Windows tablet users will also. Unfortunately for Microsoft, Windows tablets
are a relatively small market, and may never become mainstream.

· Laptops are the most interesting case. While each version of
Windows adds new power management features, that may not be enough to get
laptop users to upgrade. For example, Microsoft keeps changing the WiFi
settings interface, and for many of us, the new version is lame compared to
the more powerful one that preceded it. Engineering laptops
<http://www.extremetech.com/computing/175393-best-laptops-for-engineers-when
-work-requires-a-real-workstation> still ship primarily with Windows 7, and
I dont see anything about Windows 10 changing that. Mainstream laptops will
get dragged along onto Windows 10 because of the Microsoft marketing
machine, but I dont know how many current laptop users will bother to take
advantage of the free upgrade. No doubt that is part of why Microsoft is
inflicting its Windows 10 adware on the already confusing Windows Update
process.

· At this point the die is cast, and well need to live with
whatever we get on July 29th or stay put and hope the little
Get-Windows-10 nagware goes away.

·

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"I rejoice in following your statutes as one rejoices in grate

riches.

I meditate on your precepts and consider your ways.

I delight in your decrees;

I will not neglect your word."

Psalm 119:16:

Robert Acosta, President

Helping Hands for the Blind

(818) 998-0044

www.helpinghands4theblind.org

[accesscomp] Dan's Tip on Windows 10

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