Discussion on:

10 MORE technologies that are just plain broken

You say its an inefficient use of space and lame. Really? Have you actually used a windows phone? I would say that the design is actually very efficient and far better than the mess that you can create on an android phone. Windows 8 on a touch device is fantastically easy to use as well. Whether it is suited to mouse and keyboard is another matter...

nice one, but for me a phone (no matter if it has Android or Windows Mobile installed) is designed to....ringing and answering calls

Yes yes, your new shiny phone is very pretty. The issue is being forced to use the Windows 8 touch interface on Desktop devices which may or may not include touch screens. On touch devices or even touch laptops, sure. On upright displays and work production systems.. we'll have to see how that plays out in practice still.

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No, I've used a Windows phone and gave it back for exactly the reasons he suggests. I've done the same with Windows 8 on my laptop - installed, then uninstalled. The author of the article is correct. Windows 8 UI is broken by design. That's the reason that Windows 8 isn't selling and Windows Phone is still lagging behind Android and iPhone.

I've been using the "Modern UI" on my WP7.5 for just about two years now and like it better than both the iPhone and the Andriod. It's different and everyone I show it to remarks how fast it is compared to their phones.
As far as Windows 8 goes, it's different, but it has not caused me any issues yet. If you are running it on a desktop or laptop, then it will be easier to use with a scroll mouse. You can navigate the start screen and all list simply by rolling the wheel on you mouse, it's that easy.

What's more important? the data, or the interface that presents it?

Seems microsoft learnt nothing with their Windows XP MCE offering - where the UI would consume 75% of available real estate, leaving a corner for the actual media; to me, the Win 8 start "panel" feels the same way - and intrusive.

I've been using W8 since the first preview on both touch and desktop. So have my wife and daughter. It's different but it works very well and we all like it. I would like to see Office in the new interface; everything I've used in it has been an improvement once you get used to the various touch gestures. Remember W95 and getting the hang of that? It was far worse than W8.
Luddites beware.

It was easy to get the hang of, since I had already been using a Mac for years. (Of course, I had to break the habit of trying to use features that M$ didn't copy from A$$le...)

I installed the Win8 preview in a virtual machine, and I didn't care for it very much. But considering that I still customize my XP installs to classic, and Win7 installs to be as classic like as possible, I admit I am probably not the target consumer for M$. I use many different computers and I try to make my profiles on them as similar as possible. I am a creature of habit, and when I click the start button and see the "new XP" style start menu, I lose my train of thought. I put that puppy right back to classic!

Something I really liked with the classic Mac OS is that updates didn't remove features and functions, only added to them. I could integrate the new features and new shortcuts to make my computer more functional for me. They didn't just change the UI and say, "Use this! It's better!" (Well, now they do, but I don't buy A$$le anything any more. [cough] Galaxy Note running Android [cough])

My work computer is Windows7, and I like many of the UI features in 7, especially the windows snapping to the sides and top. I love that and use it constantly! I want to take the parts of the new UI and add them to the parts of the old UI I like, and have a custom UI that works for me. By eliminating the classic start menu in Win7, and eliminating the start menu completely in Win8, (and removing menus in Office,) M$ is annoying me to no end by taking my choices away and trying to make me do the same old thing in new and unfamiliar ways.

My computer! My choice! Do not dictate how I should set up my work environment. Give me all the options and let me decide what works best for me.

PS I would love to try a Surface or Windows Phone, but no one I know owns one, or has even seen one. Metro might work great on them, but at this rate, I will never know. M$ might as well be selling unicorns.

Steve Jobs and Bill Gates both copied their "windows paradigm" from Xerox PARC - it was part of the Star System there. The same paradigm was copied by MIT for Xwindows in UNIX.

design for Windows from Apple while doing some contract work for them way back when in the 1980s.

... MS, Atari, Commodore, PS (Personal System from IBM), Amiga 1000, all copied Apple (first Lisa and later Macintosh). (If you are old enough to remember). In fact the first usable OS MS sold was Windows 3.0 and 3.1 in 1993.
When the Lisa hitted the market in 1984 and Macintosh in the begining of 1985 there were not any Windows.
MS made at the last part of 1985 a graphical shell almost like the DOS-shell but resembling MACintosh that was called Windows 1.0, but only to apear in the scene like Commodore GEOs, Amiga 1000, Atari 520, etc.
In fact Amiga 1000 hitted the market before Windows 1.0 even when in Commodore they had to develop the hardware and the software.

I have used Windows phone, iPhone and Android. I really do not care for a Windows phone at all, and considering their market share, most feel the same way.

Sure you can make an iPhone or Android horrible too, but by in large that does not happen from the manufacturer.

Windows 8 on the desktop (no touch screen) is horrid! You can't treat a 23" screen the same way you treat a 4" screen, you just can't! And you certainly shouldn't!!!

The Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8 UIs are a superb exercise in UI design. I find them fast and productive, which is why I have installed W8 on all four of my machines, have a Surface and a WP8. Most of the complaints I've heard from people appear to be repeats of other opinions from people who haven't actually used it in anger.

Productivity is what W8 is all about.

In my experience, and according to everyone I have talked to productivity suffers with Windows 8. If you like Windows 8 on a phone and tablet, I can understand that (I don't, but that is personal preference). But Windows 8 on a desktop is a horrid experience. You can't treat a 23" monitor and full keyboard / mouse like you treat a small mobile device like a 4"phone (with no keyboard / mouse) or a 10" tablet (that may have a keyboard). They are different, have different uses, and require different interfaces.

When I am on a desktop I don't want to have to move my hands from the keyboard to the mouse, let alone to a screen. Maybe if the screen were embedded in my desk (and I got rid of the keyboard and mouse) it would be ok. But Windows 8 on the desktop causes all kinds of productivity problems. Testing in one environment I consult for has definitively proved that.

I agree that it would be horrible as a desktop and server (but great for anything with a touch screen)... but I guess we will see how popular windows 8 server will actually be

of a Windows operating system as Win 8 now, even when it gets wiped off a Dell etc to install Linux or Win 7.

...are that the screen should be about one metre from the eyes, when your job mainly involves computer use, to prevent eye strain.

Touch screens are not very helpful, even if your arms are a metre long.

I can't imagine using a computer with my screen one meter (approx. 39 inches) away from me. Maybe 24 to 28 inches (.6 to .7 meter) -- that is a more normal distance from a desktop screen. Of course your tablet and smartphone users are even closer to the screen! Talk about hard on the eyes ...

If you don't want to use "touch" on Windows 8, use your mouse. It works just as well. (Sometimes better.)

Further, just because metro interface is there doesn't mean you have to use it. I login in the mornings and spend my entire workday on the desktop. When I go home, I use "Metro" for non-work related stuff.

Windows 8 gives you the best of both worlds and you use the tools you want.

I agree that metro icons are too big on a 24"+ 1920x1080 screen but on a 11" to 14" notebook / tablet screen, it is perfect.

the Classic look and one with the touch-screen look and capability, and let the people decide which they want when they buy or install.

just beyond arm's length with the middle of the monitor set at the same level as your eyes - - to use a Win 8 screen you have to be a hand's width under arms length, and have to reach up all the time to use it as a touch screen device.

man oh man, Win 8 on desktop monitors is going to cause shoulder and sore arms issues that will make the old carpal tunnel and RSI issues seem like nothing.

Win 8 on phone or a tablet, OK, maybe on a notebook, but NEVER on a desktop monitor, it's asking for health issues and is no where as efficient as a mouse and keyboard on a menu driven system for general business work.

is with elderly newbies or visual impaired. One of my buddies that isn't able to see very well, can't wait to order his Samsung series 7 all-in-one with a 27" touch screen with Win8. My dearly departed mother was never able to master a mouse at all. I see where this is actually pretty common - we were TV and video game babies - we have brains wired differently than the previous generation.

Also, when I was working with children in the non-profit arena, we had great success using full sized desktop monitors with touch capability. This is a very narrow market of course.

I can see the advantage of that specific use and he should consider, very hard, to have a special desk or desk add on made with it installed at a30 to 45 degree angle from horizontal so he can work on it with the screen at or below his sternum so he doesn't get arm and shoulder issues lifting his arms to work the screen.

The touch screen is the desktop itself.

nt

I've never used a smartphone of any type (and I won't until data plans become a thing of the past), so I will not comment on the phone interfaces. Just from the comments here it is obvious they are a highly subjective topic. To each his own and all that.

What I will comment on is my desktop experience with Win8. On the good side, when you're in the desktop mode, Win8 is better than Win7 in many ways. If I could turn off the so-called "Modern" interface, I would probably switch, but MS won't let me go there. More's the pity..

Unfortunately the negatives far outweigh the pluses. As many have pointed out all over the web, the Modern interface is an inane choice for the desktop user. It is unintuitive and downright awkward. If you use a mix of desktop and Modern apps, you are forced to contend with that maddening switching back and forth. Makes me feel like one of my kids has the TV remote. Quite frankly, I would not use "Win8" and "productivity" in the same sentence unless it was in the negative. I bought Win8 Pro for $40 and I'm thinking I paid too much. At least it came with downgrade rights, so I'm looking at it like I got Win7 Pro for $40, which is a good deal.

When I was viewing some new laptops in Staples with Windows 8, the sales person demonstrated how it was possible to get rid of all the ugly blocks and use the start menu and desktop as normal. But you're saying that can't be turned off? I would be interested in hearing more on that.

Gets your start button back, and you can make it skip straight to the desktop on booting.
Customisable start menu.
Shut down and restart on the start screen and/or desktop.
Free.
http://classicshell.sourceforge.net/

Even without it (and why would you be without it?) you can put the desktop tile top left of your start screen and expend the huge effort and delay of hitting Enter or Return when you start up, to get to the desktop.

I really can't see what all the fuss, not to mention venom, is about with people's reaction to Win 8. If you don't like how it is 'out of the box' you can tweak it.

" If I could turn off the so-called "Modern" interface, I would probably switch, but MS won't let me go there. More's the pity.."

Its very easy and free. Just install Classic Shell for Windows 8 and voila ...

and having the live icons is distracting and bad for the productivity.
If at the begining the peolpe sees it ugly and not cool, in a few years how will the people see it like?

gug, if they had an easy way to adjust the icon sizes Win 8 may be usable for anything OTHER than a phone or a small tablet.

Therein lies the problem with the "hybrid" Windows-8 UI. It may be very well suited for touch-centric devices; but, it offer little or nothing over what is available in Windows-7 for mouse/keyboard centric laptops and desktops. As for the much touted speed in booting up, just how important is that after the initial start-up at the beginning of the office work day?

It's not exactly surprising that the author thinks the Windows 8 UI is lame, he's a long time "avid promoter/user of the Linux OS". That's like asking a long time Windows admin what they think of Mac or Linux.

Since when is a Windows using admin a "long time" admin?? Sorry, Windows is a Johnny-Come-Lately to the admin/server scene and a mighty poor contribution as well. Which is another point made by the author.

If the author were biased he would not have listed Gnome 3 (a linux desktop option). or LibreOffice (an alternative Open Source Office Suite that can run on Windows or Linux). Believe me I could easily come up with 20 things about Microsoft products that are just plain broken.

What is obvious, and not all that surprising, is that you are a Microsoft Fan Boi.

It may be fantastic for users of smartphones and tablets, but seriously we don't do the same things on a notebook or desktop with a true keyboard and mouse (or touchpad), and on large screeens for precise works, having to work with the finger to leave traces on the surface is really not fine.

On a large display it is also VERY unfriendly. We should always be given the choice for NOT using it, and even if finger apps don't necessarily need a keyboard or mouse all the time, we still want to use our keyboard and mouse (for example to type something to search, instead of sliding/scrolling a long list of panes to see what we want, and can select and find MUCH more rapidly by just typing a few characters.

I really HATE the new tiled menu. It is unnecessarily slow. I also HATE the Windows 8 Applications store that does not include ANY search option (even if we have a finger only interface, there should exist a search option that pops up a tile with a search form, where we can type some characters on a touch screen, or just with the keyboard, if we have one installed and connected, and a preference allows us to use it by default instead of on the touch screen).

And yes the new UI is just a waste of space : we want to be able display much more on a larger screen, this is NOT a smartphone ! The UI should then be adaptive to display more tiles at once, and more GUI feature without having to scroll many tiles on long distances (with a mouse, the current UI requires MUCH more moves)

For an excellent tiled interface, look at the Google app store for Chrome/Chromium or for Android. Or at the App store from Apple. Or at the App store for Firefox. But for Windows, this is really LAME.

Even if we have a desktop available, all what is in the tiled menu should be also available in a classic Start menu.

Beside this, I really like the new Task manager which is more informative and rich in new features (... and NOT based on the new tiled interface !). It fits perfectly on a desktop or notebook screen (but people using touch screens on tablets or smartphones won't like it, they should have another more usable application).

But DO I REALLY NEED Windows 8 for just the new Task manager on my desktop or notebook, or even with a tablet connected to a keyboard (including the Microsoft Space tablet) when I really hate this ugly tiled interface ? No. I want to be able to disable it completely.

Additionally the new tiled interface is horribly bogous : apps are constantly crashing, even the simplest ones like the Free card games like Freecell or the Deminor (which also require now to register an XBOX Games account !). As these games in this interface are extremely slow to start, and crashing constantly, this just demonstrates that the tiled interface is just completely untested.

Microsoft has completely forgotten to test this interface, both technically (they crash and we return to the menu instantly), or in their performance (they are DAMN SLOW to launch !!!), or in usability.

An horrible design is also the need to click in a small corner of the screen to activate a side menu. When you have multiple displays and the mouse going from one display to the other (such as a TV), it is difficult to position precisely on this corner : the menu does not appear. Even with a finger on a touch screen, the active corner area ir really small. It is also not intuitive at all as nothing indicates that this corner is active (even if there's MUCH space to display at least an icon on any desktop or notebook display which are designed now for supporting HDTV resolutions).

All this design is stupid. I'll keep Windows 7, and I really don't need Windows 8, not even on a tablet (Android tablets are perfectly usable and will support connecting an USB keyboard and mouse without problem, and being able to use it as much as possible if it's connected, instead of the virtual on-screen keyboard which takes an huge space on screen) ! May be Microsoft will improve Windows 8 on the tablets, but for now Windows 8 fits ONLY the small screens of smartphones and nothing else.

For this reason, I just won't name this OS "Windows 8" but I'll lay down the 8 digit into "Windows Infinity" with the intended meaning "Windows Unfinished" !!!

I'll wait for "Windows Neuf" ('neuf" in French means "new" or "freshly built" ; it also means "nine", i.e. Windows 9). This won't happen before 2015. I easily predict the same future for Windows 8, as what already happened to Windows 3.1 (we had to wait for Windows for Workgroup 3.11), then to Windows 95 (we had to wait for Windows 98, Windows 98SE was just a minor update), then to Wndows NT 3.x (we had to wait for Windows NT 4 or Windows 2000), then to Windows ME (we had to wait for Windows XP) then to Windows Vista (we had to wait for Windows 7).

Microsoft NEVER learns ! Every 2 major versions of Windows is a COMPLETE failure, but just an early (and overpriced) beta version of the next OS (that Microsoft wants you to pay again to upgrade ! Microsoft IS COMPLETELY UNABLE to produce a new OS every 3 years, it just sends a new "major" version just to finance the continued development of another OS 3 years later.

Don't trust Microsoft for its software lifetime plan, its real schedule is ONLY a new OS every 6 years (plus 1 year for the first major service pack). Don't buy anything from the intermediate OS (never complete enough to be used on a prodessional desktop or notebook, or by content creators, but only by disinformed people).

Most of this thread has been about the Modern UI (ne Metro), which is loved by some and hated by more, many of whom have never actually used Windows 8. I have intelligent but not computer-savvy clients who found Android more trouble to learn than it was worth and switched to Windows Phone, which they had no trouble with. Modern UI is a defensible platform for full screen apps. If it fails it will be due to developers of iOS and Android apps not expecting enough customers to justify supporting Windows, not because it's a bad platform.

What seems to be lost in the screaming about Windows 8 is Modern UI is an addition to Windows that takes nothing away. What's now called Desktop looks a lot like Windows 7 and runs almost all applications that run on 7 and Vista and many that run on XP and 2000. Desktop is not being deprecated, programs that run on it are being updated, and new programs are being created for it.

and that reduces productivity and annoys people to go through that crap when MS could simply have given you an option on which to start with like they did with XP or Classic desktop in Win XP.

I've found on Windows 7 I often hit Start and then type the name of an application in the Search programs and files field, which is no different from the Windows 8 Search charm. Yes, Microsoft could have made it an option, but not doing so is so minor that I'm amazed at the amount of vitriol blasted at so small a problem. Lots more time has been devoted to blasting this minor issue than it takes to download a third party Start button. It's time to move on.

an app on a daily basis, you're the only person I know who does it. Most just have a tiny, itty, bitty, little icon on the desktop they click on for stuff they use on a regular basis, for other stuff they don't use often they open the menu, and have it in one or two clicks.

The main bitch, from many, is it's a major change with NO option to let people slide in easy. It's also a direct charge at a consumer focused OS for hand held consumer devices with a total disregard for the corporate and productivity market and the general home user.

There's a clear difference between "broken" and "don't like" but this article simply mixes the two. It's also wrong to describe an obvious or intuitively "normal" condition of commercial affairs - competition between would-be suppliers - as a broken state. I don't think it's broken at all and has brought us wonders over the years, (Without Wintel would there be an internet? It's a bit like having telephony but no telephones I suppose? The internet could not have been hosted on IBM 360/370 technology; it needed the wildfire nature of the personal computer.)
Things that are "broken" that concern me are things like synchronisation between the various device types - PCs, Macs, Tablets and phones - that just isn't there. The inability of operating system software or programmes to look at what is already on the intended host device and sort themselves out acordingly at installation time. The determination of software writers to ask questions at instal time that for most people are just unanswerable. (How about "POP3, IMAP or Exchange?")
And then there's Microsoft Office and its inability to view Microsoft Documents. And that's been a problem through 2 or 3 product iterations now.
PS WTF is GNOME?

If you don't know what GNOME is you have you really shouldn't compare UI's since you have yet to experience GNOME. You probably haven't touched KDE, XFCE, or CDE for that matter. Try them all. Then you'll understand why he says that windows 8 UI is broken. Also he only talks about Windows 8 UI not the other Windows platforms. Your defence of windows is admirable but you really need to read.

Good synchronisation technology does exist... it's called Google.. My phone, mac, windows pc's all share the same data and use SSO. The API allows complete access to your data from any point. Take a look at the google API for gmail, instant upload, social and OAuth. Very extensible, easy to use, and cross platform(available for all types of languages per platform) which gives you greater freedom of platform choice. Google renders the operating environment irrelevant.

Please note I am not talking about A specific google platform such as android, I am talking about googles cloud technology, services, and API.

"Things that are "broken" that concern me are things like synchronisation between the various device types..."
Interestingly, many years ago, when I first started using a Palm Tungsten device, synchronization with my desktop was truely plug and play- what was on my computer matched what was on my Palm, no matter which device had been updated. True, I was synchronizing a single device with a desktop, but this takes us back to one of the original Unix concepts- a program should do only one thing, but do it very well.
Operating systems, desktops, office suites, synchronizing applications- all are taking the Swiss Army Knife approach- you keep adding more and more "tools", none of which is really optimized for its intended purpose, until one winds up with a totally unwieldy and useless product.
With regards to printing, I have no problem adding new printers to my system using CUPS (drivers are built in to the kernel). I have solved the printer hardware reliability issue by switching from HP printers to Canon printers- Canon gives me 4-5 times the life between equipment failure as the equivalent HP models...

That is always the right one to take. UNIX is the KISS method for development.. it's like classes in a program... make it do one thing and avoid over complicating your class. I have ran into this where a class explodes into an unmaintainable MESS! you end up starting from scratch..

You cannot be serious. Windows ME was buggy as hell and an unfinished product that was simply unusable. You can certainly compare ME to Vista in that sense.
But Win8 is fast and works very well. The Metro UI itself is a matter of taste, but still, it does work. You don't like it, that's a different issue. It is not a broken technology. There is a difference between a broken and a frustrating technology. The latter will not affect users the same way as it will mostly be a matter of habits and usage. For example I personally think the Metro UI works very well in a dual-screen environment, so it suits me.

and talking about broken technologies, i couldn't send a comment from firefox, i had to use IE. Now THAT'S lame...

Couldn't send it where? Here to TR? I've used FF to reach TR for years and through multiple versions. Did you get any error messages?

Why do you even have IE? I deleted the iexplore.exe at the first chance I got... Plus your FF got to be broken, TE works really well with FF and Adblock plus.

because i need to be able to test on different browser. Like it or not, IE still has an important market share!
Mind you, i'm on FF 18, maybe that's why it doesnt work...

You mean the largest market share

...it's not like most people actually *chose* IE. Most don't realise there are choices, any more than with OSes.

My FF 17.0.1 just told me I'm completely up-to-date.

Are you using the Beta?

I notice they have beta 3 for version 18 now. Every once and a while either FF or my version of Chrome(Dragon) refuses to update and I have to download the new final release version(not candidate) from File Hippo's update checker - it has never let me down so far. I wonder what is wrong with the update channel at Mozilla? Just thinking out loud - sorry!

Just sayin'

And that relates to the whole X-platform issue.

Comment sent from FF.

IE, with properly kept updates and maintence, as with any of the browsers or O.S.'s is still the best functioning browser; reguardless, of how old the hardware technology. As a repair tech I have seen and used most browsers (not including win 8 or IE10 yet

according to the w3c statistics... google chrome leads the pack with a 1.2% margin over Internet Explorer.. not to mention it's faster, thread safe, and it's API is 100% more extensible the explorer. I won't even get into security.

On the web development side it's javascript console is fantastic.

The browser might be, but it slows the computer down to dog speeds.

You forgot ram wh0re

The Navy installs IE7 and Netscape Navigator, and you cannot update it or install different browsers. (And I had TR and ZDNet issues with IE7)
"You makes do with whats you got."

nt

I run into that now and then as well. It is definitely irritating. Typically one of my privacy add-ons is the culprit. Try disabling AdBlock, Ghostery, etc, and see which one, if any, lets it start working. When you figure out which one, either whitelist the site, give up on posting comments there, or use a different browser.

I found a while back, that "HHTPS Everywhere" blocks CNET.

However, I think the reason may have been the use of NoScript. If I temporarily accept all scripts, I can now send. It may also have been a clagged up Windows 7/64. Now upgraded to 8 and all connections working better.

While here - it seems strange to me that Jack thinks that some businesses can't afford MS Office. How much does an OEM Office cost compared to a $50,000 per year salary? Half of f all! It might be true in the developing world, but in most of those countries they get fake versions.

the best dag nabbed browser I've used bar none! Opens and loads pages like a FLASH! I'm finally seeing web work the way it was supposed to be.

I like Comodo's EULA better than Google's and it has some security enhancements as well.

If Office was the only thing that needed to be purchased; but at that cost (as well as the constant upgrades) to all of the other overhead costs, and that cost can make a great dent in your profit margin, (if any). And if you are an individual entrepeneur, add that cost to house payment, car payment, food for self and family, medical care and medical insurance for self and family, then bonding, hardware and upgrades, software (such as Visual Studio, SQL Server, Oracle, (although developer's licenses on these are much cheaper than production they add up,) ink/toner, pens, paper, envelopes, stamps, ISP, telephone, well you can see where this is going. Why pay for something every three years that only has a negative impact on your productivity. (Most common complaint about Office beginning with Office 2007; "I don't know how to do all the stuff I've been doing just fine for 10 years." In my case it took me three years to find the help button. And then I found it was useless if you did not have an internet connection.)

Firefox 17.0.1 on Linux and was easy and works well.
Sometimes the broken tech is in the mental programs of the person. Or maybe it is Windows the brokenone where it is installed the Firefox, or maybe ...

Do you have NoScript installed? That add-on is guaranteed to prevent you from rating comments OR commenting yourself, as there are several domains (5) in use on this site, and java script is running.

forces you to sit wrong and use your arms wrong to use it on a touch screen on the desktop. Take away the touch screen and you lose the entire incentive to use it at all.

ALL the apps running in the Metro interface are DAMN SLOW to start, and they crash constantly (and don't blame the hardware for failures in their drivers, this is plain wrong because apps running on the desktop do not crash, even the most complex ones with lots of graphic features).
Metro is horribly bogous ! You can't say it "works very well", this is plain wrong !

I cannot tell you how many times I sit here thinking... why on Earth is this computer not printing, why on Earth is this printer breaking again, why is it printing every page except the last one so I have to unplug it from power so it can reset its memory?!?!? Printing is older than I am but is still such a broken technology, at least in the work place.

It seems like over the past few years printers have gotten worse. They don't seem to last as long (remember the Laserjet 4/4+ series workhorse?)
I thought USB connections were supposed to "improve" printing? At least with parallel ports it didn't lose connection to the pc for no apparent reason. Yes the cables were thick but they did seem to be more reliable. I'm also tired of installing printer driver updates when it was working fine for a few months and then all of a sudden decides to stop printing/print odd characters/etc.

wrong time and the operating system not recognising it again. I have no issues with USB connected printer on Linux, and I've been using it since fifteen years.

Ernest, my (very old) WinXP box often loses either the All-in-one printer or the WiFi (admittedly the latter is more common) when I have too many hard drives plugged in copying too many files. I suspect it's either a memory issue or a USB power issue. It's never bothered me enough to find out which.
The fact that the box came with eight USB ports one of which is shared by four memory card reading drives would lead me to believe it's more than likely a power issue.
I know, I should buy a better box. I'm working on it.
[Edited to correct the spelling of Mr. Deadly's name. Sorry.]

previous owner claimed the USB no longer worked and had been going faulty for several months as it kept turning off on him after a few hours. I loaded Zorin OS Linux on it and have been using it for five weeks with the USB working perfectly all along. After two weeks I replaced the PS2 keyboard and mouse (yes, it's that old) with USB ones, never an issue.

The printer I have is an old Minolta colour laser which originally hooked up to Windows with a USB cable. Since then I've hooked it up to six different variants of Linux after I couldn't get Win XP drivers for it. Yes, it's that old too.

I suspect a lot of the issues with USB devices are not the hardware, but poor quality USB controls in the software or the the device drivers. I often have people telling me a certain USB device is now faulty, but it works perfectly when I hook it up to one of my Linux systems, regardless of the hardware age.

Mind you, if your Windows OS has controllers for earlier levels of USB I'd not be surprised to find it's having trouble working with later levels of USB devices or even recognising them.

I stuck with Windows because my employer liked it for reasons best known to themselves. I have loaded and used *nices on this and other boxen but only to play with and to learn from. Now I'm retired I could use any OS I like, even one of the weird ones, but I just can't summon up the will to bother fiddling with my present box any more. I might, someday, buy a better one.
And you're right, and it is a good suggestion, the drivers and controller-ware might be updateable. I might even think about that.
Thank you.

the fact that XP can only address so much memory space(32 bit). Just say'n.

That would explain why it happens [mostly] when running more than one copying/moving operation of many small and huge files. Keeping track of all the housekeeping junk Windows uses in the background can't be easy.
Yet another excuse for an upgrade. Thank you.

That happens not to be the case. I've had plenety of instances when the USB connection gets lost and the plug has to be removed and re-inserted.

and it will often have problems detecting some devices if they're just unplugged and re-plugged in without going through the full removal process.

Laser cheapie printer. I have it USB to a print server in my wifi gateway device; and I never have any problems with it. As for all these All-in-one printers, I was amazed they got them to work at all. HP has really gone down hill though! I don't think they know how to write a driver anymore.

I just installed one o a new Windows 7 64bit laptop last week.

Now if I could just summon up the initiative to find the documentation so I can change the device language settings from German back to English

printing can be fixed - it just takes money. People think "good" printing should be free because Windows and UNIX include "printing" at no charge

and yes, I do work for a company that sells print management solutions

Not even on the subject of network printing or print management, if I have a device connected to my PC and properly installed it should work. And every disc should have a "Drivers Only" install option instaed of multiple programs which must be installed in order to get the drivers installed just so I can print a document.

Office compatibility is an issue because of competition, and the fact that different offerings want to give new features and capabilities, that don't necessarily breed interoperability. Also your comments on Windows 8 lack any actual logic aside from regurgitating generally non-insightful cynicism that is rampant on the topic already. Your solution to single sign-on is to give up?

Please don't ever bother to submit an application to me.

Microsoft has chosen for YEARS to make their file formats proprietary (even after claiming that they were open). Microsoft's changing the interface every couple of years is just insane. Our office still uses Word Perfect because every file all the way back to Word Perfect 5 can be opened and edited by any version of Word Perfect (Currently 15). The interface hasn't changed that much either, though features are routinely added.

As for Windows 8, I have yet to find a single person that likes it (in person). The fact that you are required to get a Windows Live account to do anything tells it all. The interface is clearly designed for a small touch screen not a large multi monitor setup with Multitasking users.

Microsoft instead of embracing what PC's have to offer over tablets is driving people to tablets. And why not, if you are going to be stuck with a tablet interface on a computer save the bucks and use a tablet for everything.

With your attitude who would want to submit an application to you?

Is Word Perfect still being sold ?

Owned by Corel. The latest Office Suite sells for a couple of hundred dollars USA.
There's a website, findable using www.dogpile.com or www.mamma.com or your favourite search engine. [Other Search Engines Are Available.]

great things with video software too - I think they will be a contender again( I hope - because MS needs the competition)

I think the writer must be having a bad day. For example I find Gnome 3 not bad at all, and easier to deal with than the current state of Win 8, but that one will certainly be improved too.
I agree that solid-state drives are better, but until they become more byte-price competitive, I will stick with mechanical ones.
All technologies can be improved, and will eventually be replaced by something better or cheaper. What's new?

So far as I know, the magnetic domains in HD's are permanent, or as near as makes no difference. Once stored, data resides there forever. SSD's, as I understand it, decay. The charges used to store bits die away and the bits are lost. Data on SSD's is temporary.
Or am I out of date with the current state of the art?
I know the mechanics of HD's don't last forever if they are used, but the data doesn't decay if they are taken offline. Is that right?

I don't know but with hard drives that are going bad, they make noise. That is my only fear about SSDs, along with their cost.
PATA Drives seem to last. I had some WD 30gb and 40gb that can still run.

I have some pre-2000 13GB drives [physically huge and power-hungry] which I think have dead files on them. They haven't been accessed for at least five years, probably longer. I'm off to see if they still work.
More later...
[Edit later] : Well, *that* was a great success, he says with bitter sarcasm. It seems I don't have a computer old enough to install the drivers for the drives. The company that made them has told Microsoft that updated drivers are unlikely.
Even the wife's MacBook doesn't recognise the drive.
They worked fine with WinME but XP and W7 dislike ancient machinery.
I suppose I *could* play more, fiddle with compatibility modes, even boot a WinME VM, but the effort far exceeds the reward.
Maybe when I get the new machine?

If critical tracks go bad on the platter, you can end up losing everything - sometimes without warning.