How Real People Will Use Windows 8
Chris PirilloCited 4× on HN, 2012-2014
1.9M views · 14 years ago · commentary · news
Chris Pirillo has his father try Windows 8 for the first time to see how ordinary users cope with the new interface.
Cited critically, as evidence that Windows 8 would frustrate ordinary users, especially without a start button.
23:41Windows 8: The Animated Evaluation
blogphilofilms
645K views • 13 years ago
10:01MIX08 Microsoft Office 2007: The Story of the Ribbon (1 of 10)
creativecrewchannel
32K views • 17 years ago
1:30:32MIX08 Microsoft Office 2007: The Story of the Ribbon
zoobean
3K views • 10 years ago
1:17:21The GUI should be better. A lot better.
Accursed Farms
397K views • 6 years ago
1:14:16Upgrading From Windows 1.0 to Windows 8 On Actual Hardware
Jacob Aaronson
7.3M views • 13 years ago
5:51Susan Kare explains Macintosh UI ergonomics on the Computer Chronicles (1984)
erg0steur
51K views • 6 years ago
8:27TEENS REACT TO WINDOWS 95
REACT
15.3M views • 10 years ago
43:30Are we stuck with the same Desktop UX forever? | Ubuntu Summit 25.10
Canonical Ubuntu
509K views • 11 months ago
17:10Xerox Star User Interface: An overview
ACM SIGCHI
20K views • 5 years ago
6:35Looking Glass
Vinko
232K views • 20 years ago
3:13interactive ui in minority report
ysnimkim
520K views • 18 years ago
1:03Microsoft Windows 1.0 with Steve Ballmer (1986)
Rezende
950K views • 20 years ago
1:04:47Don't Make Me Click
Google TechTalks
73K views • 18 years ago
16:09Windows "SUCKS": How I'd Fix it by a retired Microsoft Windows engineer
Dave's Garage
578K views • 1 year ago
2:20:15The Final Demonstration of the Xerox 'Star' computer
Computer History Museum
22K views • 13 years ago
24:30Bill Atkinson: Polaroids showing the Evolution of the Lisa GUI
Computer History Museum
13K views • 1 year ago
35:07NeXTSTEP Release 3: A Demonstration with Steve Jobs
Joseph Spiros
184K views • 6 years ago
49:39NeWS: A Networked and Extensible Window System, lecture by James Gosling
Computer History Museum
5K views • 10 years ago
40:12Immediate-Mode Graphical User Interfaces - 2005
Casey Muratori
150K views • 10 years ago
14:10Lotus Improv for NeXT 1990
Thierry Hubert
4K views • 8 years ago
4 comments from Hacker News
This WAS predicted by many users and blogs prior to the release of Windows 8. Criticisms started a year prior to the official release of Windows 8, with the consumer preview version. Here's one of the videos. ▶ this video This article was written shortly after the release but it does one of the best jobs of explaining how poor the usability of the OS is. link
Yeah, I was shocked by the "dad" test: ▶ this video And when Gabe talked about 8, I winced: link But watching a few "tips" / "best of new features" videos for 8.1... I start to feel a little left out. Just type to search. Re-engineered file copying. Hot corners make it seem like someone at least skimmed an article on Fitt's Law. And, ooh, Win + Print Screen? Just make the screenshot a file. Yeah, should have been fixed back in 95. So, er, maybe they got a few things right? I haven't upgraded yet, but... the dissonance is mounting.
Tried using it in a virtual machine, but was an endlessly frustrating experience in Windows 8 (Metro) UI. It's like going from an iPhone to a Blackberry -- you want to touch the screen, but can't. Be prepared to be your family's help desk if they're buying a new machine: ▶ this video
They didn't need to take away the start button, and it's going frustrate a lot of users. See: ▶ this video I've been running the preview in a VM, and getting back to the launcher frustrated me so much I had to install a small utility made by Stardock that makes a fake start button that takes you to the launcher: link . I'm a Mac guy, but my job requires me to be in Windows half the time. I hope they take a hint from Stardock and that video and put the start button back in.