People's reactions to Surface?

[sashlon]

Apple's advantage over Microsoft is that Apple understands most people are technology IDIOTS and designs their products for them. Microsoft assumes people have some small bit of technical understanding, which is a mistake.

I kind of agree with this. That said, I'd rather use the OS made for smart people

 

[ZachBui]

Apple's advantage over Microsoft is that Apple understands most people are technology IDIOTS and designs their products for them. Microsoft assumes people have some small bit of technical understanding, which is a mistake.

nice insight =)

 

[CrippsCorner]

I agree to an extent as well... the problem is most people are technology idiots, so Apple gets the buyers. Hell my girlfriend is good at Photoshop & Illustrator etc. but I'm showing her a new feature on her iPad nearly every time I see her.

She found the Surface kinda frustrating at first because of hot corners and stuff, but I'm teaching her! Slowly.

 

[Nuspieds]

Apple's advantage over Microsoft is that Apple understands most people are technology IDIOTS and designs their products for them. Microsoft assumes people have some small bit of technical understanding, which is a mistake.

I understand what you're saying, but I wouldn't characterize it as a "Microsoft" "mistake" (yes, both words intentionally quoted separately). Why? Because the PC industry was built on technology standards that allowed multiple vendors to implement a single solution, giving consumers choice. We, the PC consumers, as a society, have therefore always been accustomed to and enjoyed choosing whatever solution we want for our PC configurations (hardware and software). Moreover, this has encouraged competition, lowered prices, increased innovation, etc., etc., etc. Choice, choice, choice and even more choices when it comes to the PC industry and we love it!

So this is what I meant by not "Microsoft" per se because it's the entire Intel-based PC industry, period, not just MS. That's how the industry has always operated and we have consumed, which is why I don't consider it a "mistake", because the industry itself likes it that way and consumers have always overwhelmingly accepted it.

But what has been one of the dire consequences, though? Upgrade nightmare! We have all sorts of drivers and incompatibilities because of all our unique types of PCs and internal/external cards/adapters and chips! And worries are not just because of an OS upgrade, but even software/drivers as well! After each major Windows OS upgrade, only after about a month's usage and all is still running well do I finally feel confident that the OS works for me. That's because after a month's usage, I'm pretty convinced that I've used all the software and done all the things I used to do in the past.

As opposed to the proprietary Apple architecture, the PC industry has always been about a tremendous amount of heterogeneous moving parts (hardware and software). Until enough players drop out/merge and the landscape then starts to simplify and look more like Apple's, then this complexity will continue, no matter how much Modern UI ("lipstick") you put on the PC ("pig").

UPDATE: So after finishing this post and continuing on to the other forums, I then stumbled on this post. First, I certainly am not criticizing the OP, but this is a perfect example proving my point on how the PC community loves to configure and do what they want! Never in my wildest dreams would I have thought I would see such a post, let alone the actual attempts that were made to get the results the OP wanted! I'm totally amazed! Wow! Again, I'm definitely not criticizing the OP; rather, just pointing out the extreme to which the PC community has been accustomed to choice and customization. Unfortunately, however, there are consequences.

 

[CrippsCorner]

That's true and it's why many people have a problem with Apple. But locking down the software does have its advantages as well... as you say there about driver issues etc.

iOS is great because it doesn't have these issues, whereas Android is very fragmented. You never know quite what version you're going to be running etc. I used to like mucking around a lot with Windows 95/98/XP but I've kinda lost some interest in that now personally.