The Windows “One Experience”, Is It?

So is the Windows “One Experience” a move forward or backwards?  After a serious look at the new computers, tablets and phones powered my Microsofts single minded operating system, I have to wonder if Gates needs to pull a jobs, and take over the helm again.

Steve Ballmer has clearly been a better choice for Microsoft that Gil Emilio was for Apple, but it might be time to rethink the plan.  By the way, I still own my Microsoft Stock.

So what is going on at Microsoft? 

Starting at the little end, I looked a the windows phones.  iOs 7 on the iPhone 4 was a deal killer.    My Windows 7 desktop PC died, and my wife's died about a week later.  Like any good writer, I went on vacation for inspiration.

The phones with the windows OS were great.  The Nokia with the 41 Mega pixel camera was a little odd shaped, but it did take some great photos.  The tile interface is pretty cool and the apps are great.   I could get used to the one view update on the tiles.

Moving up the totem pole I looked at several windows tablets.  I do like them much better than the Apple iPad even though I already had three iPads.  The tile interface again the winner.   Within minutes of picking it up, I was able to get it to do everything I wanted it to do, and that I use my iPad for.  As a home controller and interface this is a clear winner.  It even solved my issues with missing text messages on my cell while at home.  

Since going to iOS 7 on the iPads, I can’t leave my home controller running like a smart photo display.  For the first time since buying any Apple product, I need to ask for help.  That just isn’t happening, it violates rule number 5 which is “Buy no technology that requires support.”

I should probably put some of this into perspective.  I am on my 5th "smart house".  This one is quite a bit simpler than the fourth house and still way cooler and smarter than homes one through three.  In the past I spent as much as $9,000 for touch screen control of my home lighting and audio/video systems.  Now the iPad or Windows Tablet can do a better job for much less money.  Maestro by ReQuest is probably the best looking interface for any system period.

At this point Microsoft was on a roll, and we were creating a huge list.  By the way, I have the advantage of living near an Apple Store, Sony Store and Microsoft Store which are all in the same mall for technology shopping at its best (and most confusing).

Next was the Xbox 360.  During the review we started looking at the capability of the upcoming Xbox One.  The only feature it didn’t have was an HDMI extender, but the salesperson showed me two that work well, so I could hide my devices out of site.  Problem solved.  Microsoft still rolling.

The list was growing and I was eager to wait for an Xbox One so it was on to the desktops.  For years I have been running dual screens and multiple apps.  Most of the time running training or educational videos on one screen while working or writing on the other.  The first question I asked was, “Can I add a second screen?”

The salesperson was perplexed for the first time, and the answer appeared to be “no”.  The next question was attempting to use the screen to multi task and layer the windows, now called tiles.

After 15 minutes I gave up.  Sorry Mr. Balmer, rule number 5 is violated.  I can’t do what I want to do without help, and by the way, I have rule number 5 because only once in the last 25 years has anyone from any tech support ever been able to find the answer before I could.  Yes that was a Microsoft Engineer from Dallas and he was sharp.  

Since that day I have been watching to see if Microsoft figured it out, and so far I don’t see it.  Apple on the other hand with iOS 7 put just the right amount of multi-tasking in mobile while keeping the desktop environment practical, comfortable and very multi task friendly.  Then I discovered Parallels.  Left Screen Windows, Right Screen Mac.

The score right now:       

Apple - two iPhone 5’s, three iPad’s, two Mac Mini’s

Microsoft - One Copy of Windows Running on Parallels.

On the horizon, a 4K TV and a PS4?  Or a Sharp Aquos Quatron and Xbox One?  

Living With Windows 8, Is It The New Coke of The PC World?

Our office computers are now pushing four.  In business computer land that is an unheard of age.  Weekly crashes and blue screens have been the norm.  Clearly the hardware can’t keep up.  

After a week of looking around, we ended up in the Microsoft store and started to really like the idea of Windows 8 and the instant information on the home screen using “tiles”.  Maybe it should be called Windows Tiles Instead of Windows 8.

Eventually, we were convinced to buy a Windows 7 PC and upgrade to Windows 8 Pro with Media Center.

The initial installation to Windows 8 was the easiest upgrade I had ever done.  Literally just insert DVD , click three agree boxes and off it went.  The PC was a brand new HP AIO with a 23” screen.  The plan was to get a serial adapter and then use a second 22” HP screen we already had.

Not one single glitch or hardware error during the upgrade. Everything appeared to work perfectly.

Setting up email with Windows Live Mail was pretty straight forward.  It did ask if our server was POP or IMAP and then when we chose POP a window appeared that says “Windows Live Mail Does Not Support POP, Please contact your provider for IMAP”.  Why not just say that on the previous screen?  

After setting up the initial screen “Tiles” on Windows 8, we really liked the ability to see a snapshot of your world on one screen.  This is the perfect solution for a kitchen tablet, or shared family PC that isn’t used for work.  Much better than the small screen iPad and since the tiles updated, you always have the latest information, at least that is the idea.  With HP AIO computers starting at just $799 for the touchscreen models, it makes sense to have a 20” tablet in the kitchen for controlling lights and easily reading recipes.

This is also the failing of Windows 8.  Windows 8 might just become the catalyst of change in our office, and not one that Steve Ballmer is going to be happy with. 

Knowing there were major changes to the thought process and operation of Windows 8, I let a lot of things go in my two initial articles about Windows 8.  I assumed the problems I was having were simple user errors and I would learn how to do it right later.

Wrong.

After setting up Mail, the next thing I wanted to set up was our server access.  It took a while but I found a help file article to map network drives.  The “Desktop” tile quickly became my tile of choice.   I couldn’t “Map” any of our music or photo folders on the server to the “libraries” on the PC as I could in Windows 7.  While I was going back and forth between the “desktop” and the “home” screens I noticed the weather wasn’t doing what I expected.

With our old PC’s we had several “gadgets” on the right side displaying time and weather in several cities.  Calling Tony at Renew Services in Indianapolis during a major snowstorm would just be a waste of time.  I set the tile up to monitor five different cities.  Instead it only showed New York, New York weather.  New York wasn’t one of my five choice.

I got sidetracked here and tried the weather channel ap and the weather bug ap, and neither of them would display more than one city.  I expected it to rotate through the cities so in 45 seconds or so I would get to see all of the information.  That didn’t happen.

Since I had a pretty big screen I tried to load several tiles.  Windows 8 wouldn’t let me load the same tile twice.  I could only see the weather in one city without clicking the tile.  WeatherBug said they were working on a fix.  

Back to drive mapping.  In Windows 7 it was a two step process of mapping a drive and then adding the folders in the drive to the library.  In iTunes it was worse.  Again I assumed Apple wants me to buy their toys.

In Windows 8 it can’t be done easily.  At least no way that I found.  Next of course was mapping the photos drive so we would have easy access to them for creating customer websites.   This is where the big problems started.  I still haven’t found media center, even though we bought “Windows 8 Pro with Media Center”.  What we found were tiled versions of pieces of media center, that wouldn’t allow mapping of our server for media access.  I tried the XBox music interface, and no luck there either.

Finally it was time to simply work.  We tried to Upload the latest non-cloud based versions of Office and Expression Web.  We also tried to set up mail.  POP is no longer supported.  

Using iMap we were able to get Windows Live Mail to work.  We couldn’t get mail to tile though, only “fence post”.  I say fence post because it takes a full vertical slice of your screen.  Instead of a 3x3 tile or “window” that can hide behind a word document, mail is displayed as a 3” wide vertical stripe on the screen.  

Even in “desktop” mode, the fence post was all I could figure out.  We couldn’t open a document, two browsers and an email window or tile on one desktop to do basic research and write copy for a web page.  Microsoft has trained us to work this way for 20 years, Apple and UNIX followed suit.  Tiles or “Windows” overlapping on a screen are how most business computers are operated.  It is how screen manufacturers sell bigger screens.

Much of Windows 8 is designed around working in "the cloud".  While I see the "cloud" as a great tool, it is also a scary bet for business.  When there are 4 major accounting software packages, and all the data is on your computers, if your vendors goes under, your company keeps running until you get new software and migrate the data.  With over thirty "cloud" based accounting systems charging monthly fees, what happens when they shut down and your accounting goes with it?  I want my business software on my servers in my office with no service fees.  The cloud is a great backup or mirror service for my data, but not a primary source.

Also I am too cheap to spend $14 every flight to connect.  Why not get all of my email while sitting in the airport on free WiFi and respond while flying, then sync up when I land.  Do we really need to be that connected?

Enough about my thoughts on the cloud.  Eight hours after the box was opened and Windows 8 loaded, we decided that Windows 8 isn’t ready for business.  It was the New Coke of Operating Systems.  We attempted to go back to Windows 7 using the DVD we created in the beginning and the PC failed.  It turns out Window 8 installs easily because it eliminates your ability to go back.  The only way to return to Windows 7 is some command prompt work, formatting hard drives and reloading from a complete set of Windows 7 OEM discs according to the phone support people at HP.  Back in the box it went, and back to the store.

As Apple narrows the price gap with $599 Mac Mini’s packing all the power of a desktop, Microsoft has reason to be concerned.  Apple didn’t make iOS separate from OS X because it was cheaper.  They did it because it is what people need to maximize the devices they have.

As an alternative to Apple OSX for the home, Windows 8 is a great information center.  As a tablet interface, Windows 8 is the best available.  As a phone interface.  Same.  As a PC in a work environment, it hands the keys to Apple, which is where I am going today.  Tomorrow, the Mac Mini will be the first Apple desktop in my office ever.  

Mobile might be growing in leaps and bounds, but desktops still are the foundation of the machine that mobile is built on.  Windows 8 isn’t a foundation, OS X is becoming one quickly.