Windows 8 user interface ripped apart by Nielsen Norman Group

Oo, whee, I bet if Narcissus had himself one of them thar Sur-facey tablet thingys, he wouldn't have set around staring at his own reflection in a puddle. Now you can take your puddle with you!

Face it...(pun intended), it too easy to get caught if you carry a genuine mirror around with you, and it's less of a PITA than unbolting the door to your microwave. (Which is unlikely to fit in your backpack anyway).

Window 8 rules, for narcissists and catatonics alike....!

So the Apps in Metro (the reason MS made Win8) all suck, but Win8 is rocking?

http://www.nngroup.com/

Try out the website. If that's his idea of UI / UX, I don't want that...

"The group invited 12 experienced PC users to try out Windows 8 on the new Surface RT tablet as well as a traditional computer. Sure the sample group was small but regardless, he was able to draw some pretty telling conclusions based on the users? feedback."

What did these users do for a living? Were they just experienced PC users that they got off the street or IT professionals? Depending on how experienced these people are, this could be a very one sided study.

In reality the only people that matter right now are people off the street that buy Windows 8 devices and so far from what I hear people who have them like them. I don't trust most bloggers, or analysts because I don't think they can be non-bias.

Right. And your 5-year-old knows so much about productivity and real computer use. To him it just looks colorful and moves in interesting ways. Not a good recommendation, but thanks.

Let's face it, some people like Windows 8 however based on various feedback that I have seen, most people prerfer Windows 7. I believe this is because most people are used to Windows 7, run it on a desktop or non-touch device and it is very solid OS. Enter Windows 8 with it's dual modes that doesn't add up for most people. I love how other people say, if you just add Start 8, don't use Metro and stay on the desktop it's great. So if you convert to Windows 7 style it's great? In any event to each his/her own, pick and choose what works for you.

I work at a networking help desk. I was just remoted into a Windows 8 machine yesterday and Server 2012 the day before. I have never wanted to kick a computer before, until yesterday. Do you have any idea how difficult it can be to explain to the end user who needs help turning his computer, why he no longer has a start button? Or better yet, explain to him what the Metro Interface even is?

Microsoft made a big mistake with Windows 8. They should have utilized windows 7 more into windows 8. Make the metro interface an "OPTION" and not an integral part of the OS. That way, you keep the best of Windows 7 and if you want to use their new Metro style, you could turn it on if you so choose.

Windows 8, while cool in some regards, just made the life of guys in my industry absolutely miserable.

I think the words you're looking for are "Microsoft bob" running on a radioshack Tandy ugly.

JUST STOP......I think EVERYBODY need's to take a step back...breath In.....breath out...O.K.
Now...If you're not happy with win 8 don't use It, or buy It.
The bad men from Microsoft aren't going to come to you're house and force you to Install and use Win 8, Win 7 Isn't going to magically uninstall Itself, just keep using the OS you're happy with and we can wait for Win 9.

But really, don' you think that if enough people encourage M$ by saying nice things about Win 8, and buying it, that might embolden M$ to make Windows 9 even worse?.

I'm in the exact same boat. I have 3 x24" monitors and I often have 8+ programs running from Visual Studio, Sql Server, Filezilla, Virtual Machines, Remote Desktop, Photoshop, Outlook, Training Videos, multiple copies of Word/Excel, IM, etc. ...and as much as I'm trying to like Win8, it's a productivity killer. I tried very hard to use it for a couple of weeks, then had to go back to Win7 since my productivity fell off a cliff.

It scared me when all the "on stage" demos always showed them flipping through a picture-book and showing me how nice it was for looking at family photos, and that I "could even see the weather" on the side (inside, I went "uh-oh"). I love the fast boot and better networking, but that's not enough to endure 4 or 5 clicks to what used to be 1 or 2, and then for their apps to go full screen on my 24" monitor? (it's like going from a power user to Dora the Explorer, and yes,...that is why the 5 year old kids are 'fine' with it.)

I don't know why they are shunning people who need to be productive all day/night, and are throwing us off the bus for people who like to turn on TV, watch a movie, and look at digital picture frames. Microsoft has been so shocked at Apples sales that it's throwing its "cash-cow" user-base under the train for "new-blood" that it'll never find. Microsoft, you'll never be Apple, so stop trying, and use your strengths in the productivity world, not the picture-book world. (Apple will never be the platform of power users, yes there are a few, but that's not Apples market).

Well apple fanboys just like shiny, pretty gadgets with icons so going by you, Windows 8 has just as much a chance with hits colorful looks and moves as apple has.

Well, like the iPhone ad says. "if you don't have an iPhone, then you don't have an iPhone".

M$, seeking the same universal appeal, should yank a page from the Apple playbook, and talk down to their new target demo, in the same condescending manner. To wit: "if you don't run Windows 8, then you're not running Windows 8".

So now, what to call the Microsoft equivalent of "iSumers". Wait, I have it. "m$heep" That'll wake up the alligator on their shirts and bring out their wallets won't it? Meh, I suppose time will tell.

The M$ is getting old, apple is the new evil empire who gauges and sues everyone they can. apple makes Microsoft seem like a teddy bear. apple is the one who was seeking the universal appeal that Windows has, and they did with idevices (or what we normal people like to call them, rectangles with icons). Microsoft is just trying to compete. apple is like scientology, you give them your money every time they ask for it (which is when a new shiny rectangle with icons comes out). I so can't wait until Samsung starts making phones with flexible screens. apple will wish they never bit the hand that feeds them. I'm hoping this phone is a Windows Phone...but if its an Android that would be ok too. As long as it takes away from apple I'll have a smile on my face.

Right, and I'm going to stop using that acronym on your say so, this very minute.

Try and avoid sweeping generalizations, and metaphorical pronouncements such as, "Apple is the evil empire". Apple is simply a corporation, and as such, it isn't the only game in town, to the end of good or evil.

But granted given the choice between M$ and Apple, Apple is the "eviler" of the 2.

Do you ever feel like a rat in a maze, running from one poisoned food tray to another. You probably should.

See look, I know how to write in metaphor too....

What exactly do you mean by gauges? "Gouges" seems like it would fit, but I've taken Thanksgiving Day off from mind reading.

Always good to be checked up on by "we normal people". I like to call "normal people","those of us who can't stand being alone" so we give a huge chunk of our paycheck to a telecom to be named later".

The sad thing is, when you have a patent on a "rectangle with icons", there's almost no limit to the amount of blood that one of Apple's corporate, iTicks" can suck because of it.

Or dear, more metaphor...

Exactly. Consumers are not 'yes' men. They buy a product that interest them and if it turns out to be horrible after a long tradition of buying products from some business then consumers should be obligated to voice their opinion of both like and dislike otherwise Win9 is going to be just as much a mess as Win8 is for many people.

And let's be real about Microsoft here. They have had a habit now of pushing products onto customers & businesses despite criticism against the products as not suitable.

Case in point, google Destructoid - I am officially done with the Kinect.

apple is a company, but they seem to be doing whatever it takes to get rid of the competition. Before it was the mac vs PC commercials, now its suing others. apple some how gets these very general patents, patents that no company should get. The latest page turn patent has been used for years and even has some public domain usage to it. The problem with this is now that apple is patenting everything under the sun no matter if its a logical patent or not, so now every company is doing the same thing so they can get ready in case apple comes along and tries to nuke them. This is not the way the patent system was made. You don't patent a green icon with a phone on it, or a page turn, or rectangular objects with icons. You patent things that are hard to recreate, that if someone wants to figure it out they have to reverse engineer it. apple goes to far and its because they're scared, they want to be a monopoly because if they're not they might become second or third place. It doesn't matter if they're making billions upon billions of dollars, its not enough and if they keep getting away with it, it could hurt technology. Also apple tends not to want to share. I think they went into the patent agreement with HTC out of fear because they see the EU and others are getting angry. If apple had their way they'd bankrupt HTC, ban all Android OS gadgets and then they'd probably go after who ever is second place after that.

Back in the day when Microsoft was doing questionable things I was against them. I was actually looking to make a mac clone and wanted to get away from Microsoft. Now Microsoft (because the government got on their ***) is playing nice. This is something that has to happen to apple, they need some sense knocked into them. Until that happens I'm banning apple, and I know they don't care because they have so many blind followers. A lot of them even say they know apple is doing wrong but they still buy they're stuff. apple will never learn unless they are made to learn.

captaincranky, you seem to not think what apple is doing is wrong and that's your right to think that way. Just keep your crazy away from me.

You actually don't know me, have an extremely truncated grip on reading comprehension, or you simply wouldn't say that.

You're preaching to the choir, pity you can't her the singing.

Why would anybody that implies that Apple's corporate lawyers are iTicks, (that's a euphemism for "blood suckers"), be considered to be on "Apple's side?

People buy what they want. A lot of people didn't like Vista so it didn't sell well. The only company I think can twist peoples minds into buy their stuff is apple. If people don't like Windows 8 they won't buy tablets or computers with Windows 8 on them, then Microsoft will figure out what they did wrong and fix it in Windows 9.

People say that every other Windows version sucks. That may be true, but in every other Windows version they try and test things out. ME didn't do well, it sucked but it was the first OS to try out the restore points. People didn't like Vista, but Vista was the first to add UAC which people didn't like but they fixed in Windows 7. Windows 8 is totally different with a new start menu. Should they have giving people on non-touch PC's the choice to login to desktop mode and have a start menu? Maybe...maybe not. I understand both sides. Windows 8 isn't a bad OS, you just have to get use to it. Its a different way of thinking and yes I do fear that they may take away the desktop all together. There is an advantage to having the desktop over the tiled start menu, but there are ways to get around those disadvantages. Will Microsoft figure it out? I hope so...I think so.

U'm, I'd say they absolutely should have given that choice. Cause you know what I want to do most of all with my new OS. That would be smearing my greasy fingers all over a $1000.00 touch enabled 27" or so inch IPS monitor.

Touch tablets are far from new, but save forRedbox kiosks and phones, they aren't terribly practical. Graphic artists have been using touch enabled tablets in conjunction with Photoshop nigh on a decade. And they make sense in that context, despite still having a keyboard and mouse at the ready. I'm not exactly why you just can't use the "Speed dial" function" in Opera for the news & weather crapplications in Metro.

Call me when the bugs are thoroughly out of voice rec, not before.