As a flip-side to Ed Bott’s “Six Vista annoyances fixed in Windows 7” I thought I’d play Devil’s Advocate and offer up what I think are a selection of potentially new annoyances that Windows 7 introduces. 1 - Revamped Taskbar and Start Menu are far from perfect My take on the Taskbar and Start Menu is that it’s going to be one of those things that people either love or hate. Like any major change in the user interface it is bound to attract automatic criticism, but given that it is undoubtedly flawed. The new revamped taskbar is visually very interesting (and certainly a lot easier to use at higher screen resolutions that the Vista or XP taskbar), but it tries to do too much and as such comes across as kludgey and counter-intuitive. One failure is that it’s hard to tell the difference between apps that are running and shortcuts that have been pinned to the taskbar. 2 - Goodbye Classic theme If you never really bonded with the Vista look and preferred to use the Classic look, then Windows 7 isn’t for you because the Classic theme is gone. OK, there is a Classic theme, but it’s basically the new Start Menu with a new skin and nothing like the classic Classic theme. 3 - Ribbon UI make a patchy appearance The Ribbon UI in Office 2007 was one of those love it or hate it changes. Well, whether you loved it or hated it, the Ribbon now makes an appearance in Windows 7 on Paint and WordPad. If you like the Ribbon, great, you get to play with it in a few apps, while not in others. If you hate the Ribbon, well, tough, you’re stuck with it in these apps. 4 - For some users, Windows 7 will mean more time spent setting up Gone are applications such as Windows Mail, Windows Messenger, Movie Maker and so on. Anyone wanting apps of this sort will need to download then via Windows Live Essentials. Problem is, one person’s trash is another person’s treasure and if you use these apps Windows 7 means having to download and set up the apps that you need. 5 - Search is odd Why is it that when I search for say “Note” from the Start Menu I get Sticky Notes above Notepad? I’ve noticed countless such examples of strange behavior from the search system. Either it’s not been fully refined yet, or there’s some strange logic at work there. 6 - Jump Lists are messy Jump Lists is a new feature that Microsoft claims will give the user access to tasks related to specific applications. Depending on the applications, you get a different set of options in the Jump List, and that’s a problem because there little consistency to what you can expect from a Jump List to make them useful. source: blogs.zdnet.com
As i said on another post somewhere today, "one mans drink, is another mans poison." i really like Windows 7, and would say its easily the best OS i have used. 1.Re the taskbar - the only issue for me is that apps dissapear from the start menu list when pinned to the taskbar, and tbh i can live with it. It is still iin testing so things might chage yet, its still only at beta stage. 2.i like the bells and whistles of AERO, so no probs with the classic theme issue. 3.I have been using Office 2007 for about a year, so no problem with the ribbon in paint or wordpad. i admit that it took me a while to get to like Office 2007, and there were a few uninstallations along the way, but having decided to give it a long term shot, i have grown to like it. 4. I use outlook 2007, so no need for Windows mail, i dont use movie maker, and i have most of the important .exe's i have downloaded saved to an external hard drive, so it is just a case of double clicking for messenger. 5. "sticky notes above notepad." with the greatest respect you really are splitting hairs there. i could perhaps see your point if notepad did not come up in the search at all. It is early yet, and as you say, maybe "its not been fully refined yet." 6. not had any real experience of note re the jump lists, so cant really comment until i do, but perhaps this is another feature to be refined. All in, my experiences of Windows 7 so far have been very positive, all my applications make the transition, with daemon tools/alcohol 120% being the exception. I use PowerISO instead, and it does what i need it to do. I like the whole concept of change/progress, and enjoy trying to work things out for myself on new stuff, but this isn't really a radical change of direction with windows 7, certainly not in the way that Vista to XP was anyway. There are some changes, and virtually all the change are pleasant IMO, and i really like the new AERO features, like shake, and peekbut you are never going to "please all the people, all of the time."
I agree 100% with LuKa. I have not found 1 think in Windows 7 that I do not like. My only annoyance is the time it takes from me pressing Control-Alt-Delete and entering my username and password (my machine is on a domain, and the GPO clears the last user name at logon), and a few apps that are not fully compatible with the new Aero APIs so it keeps dropping transparency.
Form build 6801 on I have been 100% happy with Win7 - only issue - cannot get Epson 4180 scanner to work. I think the author of that blog just wanted to see an article with his name on it.
The writer of that blog has been reading Paul Thurrott or vice versa, as its almost word for word what Pauls complaining about. Anyway, heres my take on some of these 'annoyances' 1 - Revamped Taskbar and Start Menu are far from perfect Neither were they in Win95/98/2K or Vista. 2 - Goodbye Classic theme I can't remember the last time a saw the Classic theme on a 'PC' (thats a Desktop not a Server) whether XP or Vista. 3 - Ribbon UI make a patchy appearance I don't a problem with the ribbon GUI itself, but it makes a mess of the OS. One program has the ribbon GUI the next has the standard GUI. 4 - For some users, Windows 7 will mean more time spent setting up This is a non starter for most people, as they buy their PC's already setup from major OEM's. Even those that do look into the system don't go to far, just look at the posts in this forum and see the lengths people will go to, to avoid re-installing the OS. The real problem here is for IT Pros. Things that used to take a few minutes to fix, now take ages. Because you HAVE to follow the 'Noobie Routes' to fix problems. 5 - Search is odd Have you seen some the hits you can get from Google... 6 - Jump Lists are messy Iys not just the Jump Menus. see 3 above.
I haven't downloaded the beta yet, but from what I'm seeing in screenshots, aren't jump lists very similar to right clicking any of the icons in the notification area near the clock in vista/xp?
@vistadude, Yeah, its basically the same. Except some of the options change depending on how you use the system, and most give you the option to open the most recent files you had open in that program. Any bets on how many divorces thats gonna cause.
If you use notepad frequent, it will be on top eventually, or you can always type note, then press the down arrow key once and hit enter
1 - Revamped Taskbar and Start Menu are far from perfect One failure is that it’s hard to tell the difference between apps that are running and shortcuts that have been pinned to the taskbar. - The quick launch bar was there for a reason. Everything I need is there with vista and XP. No need to think does it launch new app or open existing one... I prefer the old task bar over the new one. 2 - Goodbye Classic theme Couldn't care less 3 - Ribbon UI make a patchy appearance Like how many people use wordpad or paint? Well I sometimes use paint with screenshots but that doesnt require toolbar buttons. Also I like Office 2007 ribbons so no biggie for me. 4 - For some users, Windows 7 will mean more time spent setting up I usually remove movie maker etc from my instal cd/DVD anyways so... 5 - Search is odd I rarely use search 6 - Jump Lists are messy Haven't used 7 enough yet to have opinion about jump lists