Another user interface expert doesn’t like Windows 8, says users are “thrown under the bus”

October 24, 2012 10 Email article | Print article

Had enough Windows 8 hate to digest? Too bad, ’cause here comes more.

Jakob Nielsen, a user interface expert at Nielsen Norman Group who has been working with user interfaces for years, conducted a test with people on Windows 8. What did he find? He found people have “a lot of struggles” with Windows 8, especially when switching between Windows 8′s traditional desktop mode and the Start screen. This lead Nielsen to proclaim:

I just think when it comes to the traditional customer base, the office computer user, they’re essentially being thrown under the bus.

Nielsen feels Windows 8 is fine for tablets but not traditional desktops and laptop. You know, something dotTech has said a few times now. Go figure.

[via BGR, Computerworld | image via Wikipedia]

10 Comments »

  1. carl October 24, 2012 at 2:59 AM (comment permalink) -

    I agree, been testing it in virtual box..and for desktops windows 7 wins hands down

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  2. Tom October 24, 2012 at 5:32 AM (comment permalink) -

    Can we all agree to throw the phrase, “thrown under the bus”, under the bus. How overused is this. Bury it along with “out of the box”, “new paradigm” and so many others.

    I could mention Windows bashing too. It’s now our national sport. Those that can’t bash those who can (and do). Very stale and unbecoming.

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  3. Rob (Down Under) October 24, 2012 at 5:48 AM (comment permalink) -

    Have never used ‘thrown under the bus’. Perhaps it is not used in Australia ?
    However if I ever came across people who blindly accepted all the arrogant changes MS have been increasingly foisting upon us, I reckon they should be ‘thrown under a bus’.

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  4. Mags October 24, 2012 at 6:24 AM (comment permalink) -

    “I just think when it comes to the traditional customer base, the office computer user, they’re essentially being thrown under the bus.”

    While I never used the term “thrown under the bus” that is, more or less, exactly what I have been saying all along re desktops and laptops.

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  5. ds5929 October 24, 2012 at 6:35 AM (comment permalink) -

    I have and will use the phrase, and would suggest that it is MS that will find itself on the pavement when enterprise users pass on this idiocy. Can only hope that personal users do the same. Otherwise there’s gonna be one hell of a line at the return counter at the local big-box stores. Guess MS’s feeling is that every generation should have a WindowsME of it’s very own. Kinda amusing watching the 3rd party software developers racing to market programs that strive to make it actually, ya know,workable as a desktop machine OS.

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  6. Goldenbarstewart October 24, 2012 at 6:40 AM (comment permalink) -

    Change is always hard to accept, especially for the feint of heart who do not wish to put any effort into mastering something new. Personally I think the Windows 8 interface is quite amazing and beautiful. If one simply presses the ‘Windows’ key, a more familiar interface becomes visible. Suck it up, friend, don’t discourage innovation. Congratulations to MS for taking up the challenge – I predict that when the general population becomes familiar with Win8, it will be widely accepted as a breakthrough.

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  7. Mike October 24, 2012 at 8:50 AM (comment permalink) -

    Will I switch to Win8? Likely, no–Win7 (and even XP) are doing me just fine.

    But is it a fine enough interface? I’m sure it is–it just will take users a small amount of time to adjust to it, just as with any new software.

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  8. KMHamm October 24, 2012 at 8:59 AM (comment permalink) -

    Seems like every OTHER Windows version is decent. XP was Ok, Vista…? Not so much. Windows 7? Ok enough. 8? No idea yet. I am SO tired of learning curves!!! But then, that’s the “new normal”. (Also SO tired of that phrase!)

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  9. Ed October 24, 2012 at 4:37 PM (comment permalink) -

    Do you think Microsoft will finally get the hint tomorrow when they release 8 and sales are in the crapper?

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  10. LouisMarinier October 24, 2012 at 11:41 PM (comment permalink) -

    Indeed, Win 7 is far superior, and for some cases, even Win XP Pro SP3 (as I’m running on my Asus eePC Netbook) is still superior to all of them. Problem is, as always : When you buy a new PC / Laptop at your local PC shop, they’re sellling it with Windows pre-installed, and it’s usually take it or leave it (and no real option to leave it, as all retailers do the same thing). And no price for guessing which version of Windows will in future be the pre-installed version …. and that willl be the numbers MS will throw around. Unless of course you build your own PC, and install your own preferred Windows version

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