Microsoft's Sleazy Tactics: What Windows Users Need to Know

[William White]

There's no reason to pay 10x times as much for a Mac. Don't like windows? Go Linux.

there are plenty of reasons.

what you mean is that YOU have no reason

 

[William White]

I'm afraid that's what's happening when everything gets dumbed down too much.

/end ranty post

Consumer products should be dumbed down - I don't want to waste my life figuring out how to get a machine to do a task that it is desinged to do.

If granny cannot switch on a computer, plug in a camera, print a photo, and skype the grandkids without having to ask how to do it, then the interface is badly designed.

 

[Student100]

there are plenty of reasons.

what you mean is that YOU have no reason

There's still no reason to pay more for less functionality.

Consumer products should be dumbed down - I don't want to waste my life figuring out how to get a machine to do a task that it is desinged to do.

If granny cannot switch on a computer, plug in a camera, print a photo, and skype the grandkids without having to ask how to do it, then the interface is badly designed.

Dumb downed consumer products have led to our throw away culture. If it took a bit of knowledge to operate something it's much easier to repair by the end user because you're forced to learn how to operate something/are able to collect data and do fault isolation easier.

I'm sure granny would still need help if she never operated a computer before. The learning curve between windows and the mac OS isn't that steep.

 

[William White]

There's still no reason to pay more for less functionality.

you don't get it do you?

some people PREFER the functionality of a mac
some people PREFER the functionality of a pcthere are MANY reasons for this, too many, and too tedious to explain to you.

Be happy with what you have got, and stop whinging that others prefer different products.

 

[Student100]

you don't get it do you?

some people PREFER the functionality of a mac
some people PREFER the functionality of a pcthere are MANY reasons for this, too many, and too tedious to explain to you.

Be happy with what you have got, and stop whinging that others prefer different products.

Seriously? Did you feel attacked or threatened by my post?

You didn't actually respond to my points.

 

[William White]

If it took a bit of knowledge to operate something it's much easier to repair by the end user because you're forced to learn how to operate something/are able to collect data and do fault isolation easier..

I don't know how old you are, but that is NOT true.

I remember when I first started to drive. A second hand car cost a few hundred quid. I spent weekends in scrap yards looking for master cylinders, fuel pumps and radiators and weekends fitting the damn things to keep me on the road. By the time the car had done 100,000 miles it was on its knees.

I can't fix my car. It's guaranteed for 6 years against all mechanical problems. It works. I don't want to spend my life learning how to fix the engine. I want it to get me from A-B without breaking down.

Those crappy days of terrible technology are far behind us thank god.

 

[Student100]

I don't know how old you are, but that is NOT true.

I remember when I first started to drive. A second hand car cost a few hundred quid. I spent weekends in scrap yards looking for master cylinders, fuel pumps and radiators and weekends fitting the damn things to keep me on the road. By the time the car had done 100,000 miles it was on its knees.

I can't fix my car. It's guaranteed for 6 years against all mechanical problems. It works. I don't want to spend my life learning how to fix the engine. I want it to get me from A-B without breaking down.

Those crappy days of terrible technology are far behind us thank god.

Having a service plan makes your technology better? I remember when we designed systems for use by the DoD. The idea was to make it "user friendly" and locked down to a point where they'd need to get a field support contract. Great for the company, piss poor for national security since the soldiers who were supposed to "fix" our equipment, couldn't.

Technology wasn't any better, it was a step back.

 

[William White]

Seriously? Did you feel attacked or threatened by my post?

You didn't actually respond to my points.

Why? I don't care what machine you use; any more than I care what clothes you wear.

its just rather pathetic: the PC/MAC debate has been going for 25 odd years, and its the SAME argument.

You come across as somebody that has not once come across this argument before (amazingly because the net is full of them) so you ask the same boring old questions that have been answered a million times before elsewhere.

 

[Student100]

Why? I don't care what machine you use; any more than I care what clothes you wear.

its just rather pathetic: the PC/MAC debate has been going for 25 odd years, and its the SAME argument.

You come across as somebody that has not once come across this argument before (amazingly because the net is full of them) so you ask the same boring old questions that have been answered a million times before elsewhere.

This makes no sense, if my post was wrong we could talk about it in a logical friendly way. Your post doesn't do that and contributed nothing. This post is also another hand wavy, I'm right cause I said so post.

 

[William White]

Having a service plan makes your technology better?

Are you being deliberately stupid?

I don't get given a guarantee because I will need it. I get a guarantee because the vendor knows I will not need it.If you make a car that is likely break down within the first 5 years of service; and be on the scrap heap before 100,000 miles, would you guarantee it and pick up the tab for repairs?

 

[William White]

This makes no sense, if my post was wrong we could talk about it in a logical friendly way. Your post doesn't do that and contributed nothing. This post is also another hand wavy, I'm right cause I said so post.

You are asking the same tedious questions that have been answered a million times before.

there is no right and wrong - you use the machine that is best for you.

 

[Ryan_m_b]

Perhaps it's time to drop this line of conversation. Opinions are getting heated and at the end of the day it just boils down to some people wanting a tonne of functionality on their devices and other people wanting less.

Feel free to consider this the friendly warning.

 

[JorisL]

Consumer products should be dumbed down - I don't want to waste my life figuring out how to get a machine to do a task that it is desinged to do.

If granny cannot switch on a computer, plug in a camera, print a photo, and skype the grandkids without having to ask how to do it, then the interface is badly designed.

But granny has to ask grandson to help her out most of the time.
Indeed what a great interface design...

I see the point you and the others are trying to make, but truth be told I don't know of any technology that works this well.
Take facebook, we all agree it's easy to get started on right?

I haven't had the need to create a page but the other day I accidentally saw a small link where it said you could. (don't even remember where)
What if granny wants to make a page for her favourite crochet club? You can be (almost) sure she has to ask for help.

And that's in my opinion why we need at least some learning curve, always.
Its easier to find out about simple stuff than hitting a wall and having to search what you want for the first time.

I would compare it to using the official documentation for programming language X.
You cannot hope to learn the language by reading the docs, reading those requires getting used to. The same holds for all technology albeit to a lesser extent in general.

Other than that I agree with Ryan_m_b and would like to add that we are mostly at a point where both parties have their view of things.
These views are highly subjective in my opinion. So I'll excuse myself from this circular discussion (I will keep reading though)