Must be my hater week, I guess.
Last year, when CompUSA was shutting down all its local stores (it's nearly 100% online only these days), they were selling stuff off at some pretty deep discounts. Current software was going for 40% or more off, so it made sense to pick up Windows Vista at that time. I wasn't in any great hurry to upgrade, but knew eventually we would and I wasn't going to see any discounts like that any time soon. (Hell, they're still selling full installs of XP for nearly $200. I got the Vista upgrade for less than that.)
So when I was rebuilding my PC a few months ago, I figured 'what the hell' and installed Vista. (AND XP. I may be brave, but I'm not dumb.) Shouldn't be too surprising to find that I'm still using XP for the vast majority of what I do, but I do mess around in Vista occasionally. Besides, Vista's the only way to get DirectX 10 graphics, and Bioshock DOES look incredible in Vista.
But DirectX 10 graphics are hardly worth the upgrade (especially when they come bundled with a 10% DECREASE in performance, across the board, for PC games. What the hell is up with that?) So, in no particular order, some of the things I find really annoying about Microsoft's new OS…
First off, there's AERO, Vista's all new 3D desktop. I'm not exactly sure what I expected when I heard that, if your system can support it, you get access to a 3D desktop environment. I guess I assumed there'd be some depth to the display and that you'd be able to 'stack' items saved to the desktop. Not entirely sure what purpose that would serve, but I'm pretty sure it would be more useful than what you do end up with.
As far as I can tell, the extent of the 3D desktop is this 'entirely' new way of 'alt-tabbing' through your open windows… hit the Windows key (instead of the alt key) and as you tab through your open windows, they angle and stack in the middle of your desktop so you can see each one as you rotate through them to select the one you want. What makes it so 'cool' and 3D and all is that the windows are displayed at an ANGLE! (You get nearly the same visual representation when you alt tab now, but the windows are face on and flat. How XP is THAT!).
Oh, and there is one other effect that's apparently part of AERO. You can set the opacity of your window title bar so that you can see what's underneath them. I'm so glad I bought a DX10 graphics card and 2 gigs of memory to support that feature.
Next up are the desktop icons, which is really what set me off on this rant. I usually run my monitors at fairly high resolutions, and end up with some fairly small icons, liberally scattered all over the desktop. But when I log into Vista, at ostensibly the same resolution, I'm confronted with these massive 'for the visually impaired' desktop icons, with no viable way to adjust their size! I finally found a way to access the old Advanced appearance options control panel, but I seem to only be able to affect the spacing of the icons and font sizes, because no matter how small I set the Desktop Icons dimensions, I still have these bloated things floating all over my wicked-cool 3D desktop.
Then there are the toolbars in Windows Explorer. Microsoft has been accused of trying to copy the Mac interface with Vista, and all I can say to Microsoft is, if this is true, then f'ing STOP IT! I use a PC because I like the way it operates, and I don't need something dumbed down to the 'ease of use' standard that seems to drive everything Mac. (My problem with Macs can be summed up in the Macintosh mouse. The primary tool you use for interfacing with your computer is the mouse, and Mac insists on crippling you and that interface with its one-button mouse. The mouse I use on my PC has 8 or 9 buttons, and I use most of them. I don't want or need things simplified down to one button… I need tools that help me do what I need to do in the most efficient way possible. And a one-button mouse ain't the answer to that. It has become my metaphor for everything I dislike about Macs.)
Wow, what a digression! Back to my original rant…
Now, where was I? Oh yeah, toolbars. I customize my computer's working environment every chance I get. And one of the things I do most frequently is adjust the toolbars in whatever application I'm working in. I'll add whatever buttons I use most frequently, get rid of the ones I never find a need for and try to put everything I can as close to where I need it as I can get it. For instance, one of the commands I use all the time is "copy to" or "move to". Select that command and a dialogue box opens to let you browse to the place you want to drop the file you're copying and moving, without having to open a new window or scroll away from the folder you're currently working in. Apparently, I'm seriously in the minority when it comes to this, since the toolbars in Windows Explorer are customization free. (And don't even get me started on the abomination that is the Office 2007 Ribbon! What the hell were they smoking when they came up with that moronic idea?) Like the idea of that "copy to" command? Forget it. You can't customize the toolbars in Visa, you can't find buttons for this command… hell, I can't even find it on the file or right click menus. Back to doing it the 'simple' way, even if it does entail more work/time/scrolling. Guess we've gotta keep things simple for the huddled masses still frightened by that hulking PC over in the corner.
And finally, there's Security. More to the point, there's the User Account Protection (UAP) system. I thought Apple was exaggerating things to be funny when, in one of there Justin Long "I'm a Mac" commercials, they had a security drone standing next to PC stopping PC from replying to any question Mac asked. Little did I know that this is almost EXACTLY what the UAP system does! Try to install a program, or update a plug-in… oops, you've got to click through a half-dozen security warnings first. Try to change the properties on the wrong file or, god forbid, move an item in your start menu, and you get the same rash of pop-up security prompts. And god help you if you hit a website that has flash ads or some other web content that places anything on your computer. Yes, I know this is probably exactly what this UAP is supposed to be watching out for, but when I end up switching the damn thing off, or simply running IE in Administrator mode to stop the annoying pop-ups and inevitable delays while I'm WAITING for the damn pop-ups, well it seems like it just may be more useless than not having anything at all. if Microsoft is trying to mirror Apple in it's user interface, it's approach to user security is pure, old-school, "beat it with a sledgehammer till it succumbs, Microsoft. Sadly, the only thing succumbing is my patience with Microsoft's ham-handed security settings. (Too bad I hadn't seen this blog post from a couple of years ago prior to installing Vista. At least I'd have known what to expect. And I'm gratified/amused to find that he reaches the same conclusion about the real purpose of Vista's UAP—as a CYA attempt by Microsoft to head off those complaints about malware and viruses trashing Vista systems.)
Needless to say, I've got issues with Vista. Sadly, I don't see any way around any of them. Tweaks and adjustments from Microsoft in its myriad patches and Service Packs are hardly likely to address any of the items annoying me now, so I'm just going to have to get used to them. But I don't have to like them.
Maybe it is time to look at that shiny new Mac at the local Apple store. I hear the blue pill goes down nice and easy.
June 2
Just as an aside… apparently there IS a way to change the size of your desktop icons. And it's ludicrously simple… much simpler than actualy finding out HOW to do it turned out to be.
Last year, when CompUSA was shutting down all its local stores (it's nearly 100% online only these days), they were selling stuff off at some pretty deep discounts. Current software was going for 40% or more off, so it made sense to pick up Windows Vista at that time. I wasn't in any great hurry to upgrade, but knew eventually we would and I wasn't going to see any discounts like that any time soon. (Hell, they're still selling full installs of XP for nearly $200. I got the Vista upgrade for less than that.)
So when I was rebuilding my PC a few months ago, I figured 'what the hell' and installed Vista. (AND XP. I may be brave, but I'm not dumb.) Shouldn't be too surprising to find that I'm still using XP for the vast majority of what I do, but I do mess around in Vista occasionally. Besides, Vista's the only way to get DirectX 10 graphics, and Bioshock DOES look incredible in Vista.
But DirectX 10 graphics are hardly worth the upgrade (especially when they come bundled with a 10% DECREASE in performance, across the board, for PC games. What the hell is up with that?) So, in no particular order, some of the things I find really annoying about Microsoft's new OS…
First off, there's AERO, Vista's all new 3D desktop. I'm not exactly sure what I expected when I heard that, if your system can support it, you get access to a 3D desktop environment. I guess I assumed there'd be some depth to the display and that you'd be able to 'stack' items saved to the desktop. Not entirely sure what purpose that would serve, but I'm pretty sure it would be more useful than what you do end up with.
As far as I can tell, the extent of the 3D desktop is this 'entirely' new way of 'alt-tabbing' through your open windows… hit the Windows key (instead of the alt key) and as you tab through your open windows, they angle and stack in the middle of your desktop so you can see each one as you rotate through them to select the one you want. What makes it so 'cool' and 3D and all is that the windows are displayed at an ANGLE! (You get nearly the same visual representation when you alt tab now, but the windows are face on and flat. How XP is THAT!).
Oh, and there is one other effect that's apparently part of AERO. You can set the opacity of your window title bar so that you can see what's underneath them. I'm so glad I bought a DX10 graphics card and 2 gigs of memory to support that feature.
Next up are the desktop icons, which is really what set me off on this rant. I usually run my monitors at fairly high resolutions, and end up with some fairly small icons, liberally scattered all over the desktop. But when I log into Vista, at ostensibly the same resolution, I'm confronted with these massive 'for the visually impaired' desktop icons, with no viable way to adjust their size! I finally found a way to access the old Advanced appearance options control panel, but I seem to only be able to affect the spacing of the icons and font sizes, because no matter how small I set the Desktop Icons dimensions, I still have these bloated things floating all over my wicked-cool 3D desktop.
Then there are the toolbars in Windows Explorer. Microsoft has been accused of trying to copy the Mac interface with Vista, and all I can say to Microsoft is, if this is true, then f'ing STOP IT! I use a PC because I like the way it operates, and I don't need something dumbed down to the 'ease of use' standard that seems to drive everything Mac. (My problem with Macs can be summed up in the Macintosh mouse. The primary tool you use for interfacing with your computer is the mouse, and Mac insists on crippling you and that interface with its one-button mouse. The mouse I use on my PC has 8 or 9 buttons, and I use most of them. I don't want or need things simplified down to one button… I need tools that help me do what I need to do in the most efficient way possible. And a one-button mouse ain't the answer to that. It has become my metaphor for everything I dislike about Macs.)
Wow, what a digression! Back to my original rant…
Now, where was I? Oh yeah, toolbars. I customize my computer's working environment every chance I get. And one of the things I do most frequently is adjust the toolbars in whatever application I'm working in. I'll add whatever buttons I use most frequently, get rid of the ones I never find a need for and try to put everything I can as close to where I need it as I can get it. For instance, one of the commands I use all the time is "copy to" or "move to". Select that command and a dialogue box opens to let you browse to the place you want to drop the file you're copying and moving, without having to open a new window or scroll away from the folder you're currently working in. Apparently, I'm seriously in the minority when it comes to this, since the toolbars in Windows Explorer are customization free. (And don't even get me started on the abomination that is the Office 2007 Ribbon! What the hell were they smoking when they came up with that moronic idea?) Like the idea of that "copy to" command? Forget it. You can't customize the toolbars in Visa, you can't find buttons for this command… hell, I can't even find it on the file or right click menus. Back to doing it the 'simple' way, even if it does entail more work/time/scrolling. Guess we've gotta keep things simple for the huddled masses still frightened by that hulking PC over in the corner.
And finally, there's Security. More to the point, there's the User Account Protection (UAP) system. I thought Apple was exaggerating things to be funny when, in one of there Justin Long "I'm a Mac" commercials, they had a security drone standing next to PC stopping PC from replying to any question Mac asked. Little did I know that this is almost EXACTLY what the UAP system does! Try to install a program, or update a plug-in… oops, you've got to click through a half-dozen security warnings first. Try to change the properties on the wrong file or, god forbid, move an item in your start menu, and you get the same rash of pop-up security prompts. And god help you if you hit a website that has flash ads or some other web content that places anything on your computer. Yes, I know this is probably exactly what this UAP is supposed to be watching out for, but when I end up switching the damn thing off, or simply running IE in Administrator mode to stop the annoying pop-ups and inevitable delays while I'm WAITING for the damn pop-ups, well it seems like it just may be more useless than not having anything at all. if Microsoft is trying to mirror Apple in it's user interface, it's approach to user security is pure, old-school, "beat it with a sledgehammer till it succumbs, Microsoft. Sadly, the only thing succumbing is my patience with Microsoft's ham-handed security settings. (Too bad I hadn't seen this blog post from a couple of years ago prior to installing Vista. At least I'd have known what to expect. And I'm gratified/amused to find that he reaches the same conclusion about the real purpose of Vista's UAP—as a CYA attempt by Microsoft to head off those complaints about malware and viruses trashing Vista systems.)
Needless to say, I've got issues with Vista. Sadly, I don't see any way around any of them. Tweaks and adjustments from Microsoft in its myriad patches and Service Packs are hardly likely to address any of the items annoying me now, so I'm just going to have to get used to them. But I don't have to like them.
Maybe it is time to look at that shiny new Mac at the local Apple store. I hear the blue pill goes down nice and easy.
June 2
Just as an aside… apparently there IS a way to change the size of your desktop icons. And it's ludicrously simple… much simpler than actualy finding out HOW to do it turned out to be.
Comments