MJF: I don't know ... I only see this as good news. i've gotten so much e-mail about this this week from people begging me ... ' […]
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MJF: I don't know ... I only see this as good news. i've gotten so much e-mail about this this week from people begging me ... 'oh, can you do anything to make this happen, this would be so awesome.' Listen, I want to read one note that I got from from a guy, because he admits he's not a power user, but he's a very experienced Windows user. He says:
'I am not a computer professional, I'm a highly experienced user. In my youth, I learned to fly three different jets: an F-4, an F-111, and an EF-111. I know my way around technology. But Microsoft made this too hard.'
PT: Yikes ... I can fly a plane, I cannot use Windows 8.
MJF: ... but I can't get used to the Charms, and ...
PT: That's incredible.
MJF: And, you know, that's the kind of mail I've been getting. I have 600 comments on this article, and some of them are from design purists who say Microsoft should not capitulate, they should just make people do this, and this is the right thing ... they did the right thing. And then the rest of them are like, 'please bring this back, please please, we really need this!' So it'll be interesting to see if this comes to pass.
LL: Heh, 'design purists' or 'design fascists'?
PT: Yeah, there is a subtle distinction between 'purist' and 'fascist'.
LL: I'm surprised that there would be that kind of reaction from people like, 'this is a terrible idea.' It just surprises me.
PT: The dumbest thing about this, though, is ... all they had to do was do this in the first place. And like I said, it didn't have to be obvious, it didn't even need to be a UI switch ... people like Mary Jo and I, we could have written our little tips about how you can bring back the old UI, and everyone would have been happy. It's amazing that they didn't do this ...