"Zootal" <nospam@spam.zootal.nospam.com> wrote in message
news:Xns9D0267A83F900nospamspamzootalnosp@216.196.97.131...
> I've been a programmer for twenty years, and yes, the current computer
> generation is pretty clueless. Back in the good old days, a programmer
> had to know how to configure drivers via config.sys to use upper memory,
> and as little as possible. We had to know memory managers,
> config.sys/autoexec.bat settings, etc. etc. etc. We had to understand
> some computer science basics, algorithms, data structures, programming
> principles, etc. Kids today are friggin' clueless. c# has dumbed down
> programming to an all new dismal level. Give a "programmer" a computer
> but take away the mouse and they don't know what to do. I can't believe
> how dependent kids today are on guis and menus when there are still
> consoles out there that do the same thing faster.
>
> However - when XP came out, it was absolutely wonderful. We were soo
> sick and tired of Win98 crashing everytime you passed gas. Win2000 back
> then wasn't much better, especially if you got out of the narrow range
> of approved hardware and software. XP came out and for the first time
> ever, we had an OS that actually worked and was stable.
>
> Vista was like WinME - wtf do we need it for? Why should we waste money
> on it? Now we have Windows 7, and not only do we ask what do we need it
> for, we find that Microsoft has *forced* gui changes on us that we
> didn't ask for and don't want. For 15 years we have been using the
> Win95/98 gui style and it works fine. We didn't want or need new gui
> styles, we just wanted more stability and compatibility and oh yeah fix
> all of the security holes if you can. Instead they change gui styles and
> move things around and in general make it harder to use. I'm one of
> these howlers - I hate what Microsoft did to Windows 7.
>
> How would you like it if car makers changed the positions of gas and
> brake pedals? Reversed the way the steering wheel works? Turned the
> drivers seat sideways? Yet microsoft has done stupid things like that to
> Windows 7. So of course you get howlers and complainers whining about
> Windows 7. It's not ignorance, it's outrage at having new gui styles
> forced down our throats.
While you make some interesting points about a newer generation of computer
users you also don't seem to take into account what is really happening with
user interfaces. You are a mechanic who can fix cars, prefers a manual
transmissions, and a tri fold maps. The new automobiles have automatic
transmissions, GPS navigation, sophisticated power systems, auto parking
modes, back up cameras etc etc. Why would you expect computers to follow a
different path? New GUI's with touch and voice control and anything else
that will ultimately allow computer illiterate novices to accomplish tasks
are the future of personal computing. The basic windows interface has
pretty much remained unchanged since Win95 days...how long do you really
expect that to continue. Ford no longer makes the Model T.
You mention that no one wanted a newly updated GUI but I think that sales
statistics for the Windows 7 will prove you wrong on that point because
there is still very little that can't be done with Windows XP.
