. gif

03/04/2013 / posted in OperatingSystems, Software / No Comments

Dear Microsoft,
Why the fuck do I have to install 3rd party software, just to see a gif move?

My thoughts on Windows 8

26/03/2013 / posted in OperatingSystems, Software, Technology / No Comments
Since the recently leaked Version of Windows Blue brought up the Windows 8 debate once more, here is what I think.

Some common questions, answered from my view:

Windows 8 sucks!
That is not a Question, but a narrow minded, awfully generalizing, opinion.
I would agree if you say that Windows 8 looks ugly.

Why do they force this Modern UI stuff on us?
They don’t really force it on us. It is there when your install your system, yes, but so is the IE. I have been using Windows 8 since it was released (and even tested the developer preview). I was able to install all Modern UI applications except the store without any problems or following limitations.
Therefore: If you don’t like it, don’t use it.
Another reason why they are doing all this is that the Windows user interface did not change much since Windows 95. It is time to move on and if they don’t force this movement, it will never happen.

Why do you use Windows 8? Windows 7 was awesome!
Compared to Windows XP or vista, yes Windows 7 is awesome. Compared to Windows 8, it just feels slow and dated.
Windows 8 brought various improvements:
  • It boots up a lot faster though the usage of a hybrid standby mode.
  • Starting applications using the start-menu search was unnecessary slow in Windows 7, this is fixed now.
  • The list of autostart software was moved from the MSConfig to the task manager. (People kept breaking the config while trying stuff there.)
  • The explorer GUI got cleaned up through the usage of ribbons. (I do not really like ribbons, but they hide a lot of pointless options here.)
  • There is finally a nicely designed copy/move file dialog. More like this please!
  • They finally built in a virtual disk drive for mounting images which is convenient.
  • The built in anti-virus system may stop some idiots from destroying their system.
There must be something you don’t like about Windows 8!
Yup. Of course. Like mentioned before, I think that the design is really ugly, but that is just my opinion.
I would like it to be a lot more customizable. Windows was never really customizable by default, but mostly, the designs were acceptable for the time.
I don’t understand why the few Modern UI applications I actually started took so long to do so. I tested on a system with a core i5 and an SSD, but still, they start slower then Visual Studio.

Have you tried it on a tablet or on a phone?
For a few minutes, yes. I tried an RT tablet at an electronics store and really would not recommend getting one. It felt slow and had nothing to offer that the competing platforms did not already do better.
I also tried it on a smartphone and found it to be a really well done system there. It only lacks some applications that I really want to have, therefore I will stay away from it until they catch up.

It feels OK with something like start8 or classic Shell.
Go away. Please consider never using a computer again. You are not up to it.

Final thoughts:
Overall, Windows 8 is OK. It is fast and stable and delivers some nice features. Still, the Modern UI stuff feels unfinished and kind of stuffed on top, rather then well integrated.

UI

25/02/2013 / posted in Technology / No Comments

Why is it that everyone feels like they should build their own fancy user interface for industrial Windows software?

Using interface kits or even build them completely on your own is a very big chance of producing hard to find errors and creating a bad user experience.

The Windows system standard is no beauty, that is for sure, but it is functional and clear. Use it!

Another thing about those design kit is that it increases the size of your installer and therefore creates bigger downloads. Nobody wants to download a 50MB setup for a hard to use software when they could get a 10MB setup for a simple designed software that uses the known standard UI.

Best of the best!

20/02/2013 / posted in Security, Technology / No Comments

Somebody hacked Apple… using a Java-exploit… an exploit that already has been patched.

Every sane person would now think “Hey, at least we will finally get this patch!”, but nope. Apple is now rolling out a ‘security patch’ that does nothing but to disable the Java-browser-plugin.

Games for linux.

19/02/2013 / posted in Games, Technology / No Comments

Almost forgot, steam for Linux now got an official release version.

Showing images from webhosts in C#

12/02/2013 / posted in Technology / No Comments

I just discovered that it is really easy to display remote images with C# .NET using a PictureBox control.

 

A simple pictureBox1.LoadAsync(“http://www.myhost.org/mypicture.jpg”); does the trick. It even fires progress events, allowing you to make a nice progress indicator.

More game for Linux!

29/01/2013 / posted in Games, Technology / No Comments

After Half Life came to Steam for Linux, now there is a port of Counter Strike available. It is very likely that ports of other Half Life mods like Day of Defeat will follow.

Captain Tepco

28/01/2013 / posted in Technology / No Comments

Tepco found a way to get rid of their contaminated water! They will dump it into the pacific ocean.

They are not even able to filter the tritium out of it, but that does not stop this environment giant!

Path of Exile open beta started

24/01/2013 / posted in Games / No Comments

Go check it out -> link it is worth it!

Upgrade now!

21/01/2013 / posted in Technology / No Comments

The Windows 8 upgrade offer from Microsoft (upgrade for 30$) will expire on the 31. of January. From there on Windows 8 pro will be priced at 199,99$ (279,99€ in Germany !!).

Therefore, if you haven’t by now, upgrade immediately, if not sooner.

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