Aching Brain

I downloaded the release version of Vista today via my work MSDN account and my first impressions were:

Hmm. I can’t quite focus on the text on this screen. Either my hangover is really, really bad or I need to get my eyes tested.

Oh, wait, it’s just ClearType.

Aside from that, I’m amazed at how complicated they’ve made everything. For example, when downloading files through IE7, you now have a “Downloads” folder in your home directory. Can you get to this via the start menu? No. Is it a sub-folder of your Documents folder? No. What’s wrong with just putting them on the Desktop? Isn’t it what it’s there for - files you are currently working on and/or might not want to keep?

The Windows Explorer seems to have become a maze of semi-coherent short cuts and file system abstractions - see the address bar for what I mean. Even the Control Panel has succumbed to this mess. It seems they’ve sat around a table and gone “What are the most popular things people do with the Control Panel” and made shortcuts to them all, rather than organising the different areas in a logical manner in the first place.

And then there’s the whole off button thing.

Never mind the hundreds of pop ups “This program wants to do this” “Do you know this program?” “Do you want to let this program do this?” “Are you sure you want to let this program do this?”. And the really obnoxious one that greys out your entire screen and puts the dialogue box right in the middle. “LOOK AT ME”, it screams. “FUCK OFF”, I think.

And what happened to the File/Edit/etc menus? It took me a good twenty minutes to work out how to show hidden files and folders. In the end I had to ask Google for the answer.

Ugh. Maybe I’m just getting old, but does it really have to be this way?.

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