page 18 2014 TECHNOLOGY TODAY LINCOLN DAILY NEWS.com September 30, 2014
What we can probably expect in the
next version of Microsoft Windows
Every other version of Microsoft Windows is either a
dud or is hated. Windows 8 is both: Hated and a dud.
Windows 8.1 made this OS almost tolerable. The
major sticking points:
1.
The movement away from mouse and
keyboard control to the touch screen.
2.
The movement from neat, clean, managed
desktop screens to desktops with every
icon on the computer cluttering up the
screen.
3.
The absence of the start button which was
our focal point since windows 3.1.
Other problems with Windows 8 have plagued
Microsoft in every version: “Let’s move everything
around and label everything differently and make
everything behave differently. All the users will love
it!” Well, users don’t love it. There is a significant
relearning process every time a new version of
windows comes out with no real payoff; there are
really no new embedded applications or features.
So to sum up the windows 8 flop: they made us give
up Windows XP which worked, we knew how to use it
and where everything was and they moved everything
around and took away the start button, to replace it
with a cluttered screen of ugly icons which we have
to memorize to know how to get to our software and
features.
If the pattern of the past holds, (we hated Windows
ME, loved Windows XP, hated Windows Vista, sorta-
loved Windows 7, despised Windows 8) we should
like and appreciate Windows 9.
So, what should Windows 9 be like?
The thing we can count on in Windows 9 is the
continued reliance on the touch screen. This will
influence the look, the feel, and the behavior of Win
9. Windows 9 will be a cross-device operating system
just like Windows 8. You will see Windows 9 on
the Windows phone, Windows tablet, and Windows
computer. All three devices will rely at least in part on
input from a touch screen.
In Windows 8, the touch screen has only one cool use:
flipping through digital pictures. If the touch screen is
to become integral with computing, it needs to become
as useful and cool to use as the touch screen was
in the movie “Minority Report” where Tom Cruise
used a huge touch screen to review and manipulate
data, flipping this and pushing that. The touch screen
needs to be more than a Neanderthal tool for choosing
applications and thumbing through photos.
Windows 8.1 brought back the Start Button but it
wasn’t anything like what we were accustomed to in
a start button from any past versions. It was modern,
stylized, and uses tiles for touch-screen ability.
Windows 9 will likely be hybridized and give you
back the start button in both a modern style and a
classic Windows 7 approach and you can toggle the
look and feel that you want. Losing the Start Button
lost users and made them long for Macintoshes.
Malware-proofing
Windows 9 needs to go where Macintosh has been
most successful and integrate Malware defense and
protection. The biggest reason Windows users left in
droves and went to Macintosh was because they
were less likely to get infected on that platform.
Continued
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