Sam Gentile created the following grim, awesome and downright hilarious rant on some of the Vista pain we all are currently facing. My hat is off...
Lets join voices, for vocal we are and try to put outside pressure on some of the MS marketing trolls. Contrary to conventional wisdom there IS a lot of clever folks with a clear perception of how things are and how they should be within MS - they unfortunately have problems occasionally, to get high enough up in the food chain to get things underway. But fasten seatbelts, stop or, if you like, start smoking and enjoy....Sam Gentile : Wanted: A Windows Edition for Power and Professional Users:
Scott asks, 'Wouldn't it be great if there were an edition of Windows with all of the stupid features turned off?' Yes, it would and it must happen soon. I've spent the week and with my new Alienware and Vista Ultimate and I am frustrated well beyond words. So, I'll use Scott's words:
I just want an operating system that knows that I'm not an idiot; that I've never gotten a virus; that I've never propagated a worm; that I don't believe that storing passwords and previous form entries is a smart thing to do; that I do like to see file extensions; that I'm aware that information is sent to the Internet when I fill out a form; and that the natural flow of a web app often means that I occasionally transition from http to https; that I don't care for clutter on my desktop - not even the trash can; that user account controls should automatically elevate without me having to adjust Local Security Policy; that I move my laptop to the other end of my workbench with the lid closed and I don't expect it to go to sleep just because I'm traveling ten feet, and a myriad of other behaviors that need to be adjusted before a Windows b ox is actually useful for a professional.
All of the above! I have never gotten a virus and a worm in 26 years of computing. The biggest thing wrong with Windows is the stupid dialogs ("endless onslaught of inconsequential modal dialogs that succeed only in desensitize the user to the small number of modal dialogs that might actually deserve some user attention") asking if I really want to do something. I'm not a fracking idiot! Every time I see one of these I yell out, "No I'm fracking kidding!" WTF? If I delete something or I choose something, I MEANT it, I'm not joking. Even turning off all the prompts in the OS, using tweaking tools to get rid of the balloons, and depper tweaking ((This is just some of what I had to do), a lot of my week getting the Alienware to where I wanted it with Vista was an exercise in wanting to track down the Windows developers that put this shit down the throats of people that actually know how to use a computer. For the record, I started with Windows 1.0 in 1982 and I was using VAX VMS before then. I don't need my hand held and all the idiotic settings:
* Never, ever ask me if I wanted to do something. Assume I'm not kidding
* Reversing Hiding file extensions for a developer or non-idiot is a GIVEN. I want to see ALL of my files always and forever. Don't waste my time reversing tons of these Grand-Ma settings
* UAC in Vista is BROKEN. I will never run it. Don't put up a meaningless dialog. If you want to create a really secure OS, do what the MAC does and ONLY ask when its really a root/Admin operation and ask me for an admin account
* Least Privilege is a GOOD Thing BUT The whole security thing is so overblown anyway by a bunch of paranoid people. Sure there are threats but put it in perspective for cripes sake. If you are a teenager who connects to all the spaces that are full of viruses and worms, that's one thing. If you have used a computer for 25 years as an Administrator you ALREADY know what to do to avoid viruses and worms. As I said, not one EVER. And I will run ALWAYS as Administrator (On Windows) because I know what I am doing and mostly because UAC is a faulty implementation of Least Privilege. I do run Least Privilege on Mac OS/X
* Stop telling me my web page is being redirected. I could give a ...
* Ah I aware that I am sending information the Internet...Hello! That's why I pressed the button
* Vista Team: YOU horribly broke network functionality and copying files. Copying files between directories is BROKEN so bad, that I had to go in and mess with a lot of settings (This is just some of what I had to do) and it still takes MINUTES to copy files to a machine right next to me as well as ON THE LOCAL MACHINE!!
* Stop wasting my processing cycles during a copy or move by trying to obtain each of the file's pictures to display cute crap in Vista such that my 2 GB file copy takes nearly 10 minutes. It says 7 Hours and 15 minutes by the way to copy ONE file. Grow up
And don't bother telling me about some U version of Linux/Unix crap. I was through with Unix in the 80's. I don't waste my time with an OS with commands named after Cats, Dogs, Biffs, Muffies and we learned in the 1980's that GUI's were actually a good thing. Look at how well the Mac OS/X does it over Unix. I never see if until I want to! Just make a version of Windows for NON-IDIOTS!! POWER-USERS!!
Update: Just to get it up front, I have run both KDE and Gnome for years so don't suggest Linux to me. As I answered in my comments, "Yah, yah, yah but they have crappy UIs based on XWindows which I worked on in the 1980's at Digital and they have 30 different flavors of bland. I don't want to get into a religous debate about Linux vs. Windows as I said. I just want the Windows team to realize what they are doing and fix it: Offer a power-user or real Pro Edition. My business is and always will be Windows as its 93% of the market."
Update2: I've changed the title from "Non-Idiots" to "Power and Pro Users." I did think about this reflecting badly and away from the main points but I left it for dramatic effect. It is not my intention to call non-power users idiots but to point out the immense fustrations a skilled Windows user has to put up with because Microsoft does not design for us in either their OS's or their tools. I am not changing this because of a PC issue.
