My bloviated meandering follows what MCBastos graced us with on
9/28/2011 4:28 PM:
Interviewed by CNN on 28/09/2011 13:40, Sailfish told the world:
My bloviated meandering follows what David Wilkinson graced us with on
9/28/2011 5:35 AM:
It seems that Windows 8 will have an entirely new mode of operation
called Metro (alongside the traditional desktop). Although primarily
targeted to tablets using touch, Metro will also be available using
mouse/keyboard on regular desktops and laptops.
Metro apps are sand-boxed and are written in a new runtime called WinRT,
using C++, C#, VB.NET or Javascript.
The developer preview already has a plugin-free Metro version of IE 10,
and they seem to be working on Live Mail also.
So where does this leave SeaMonkey/FireFox/Thunderbird? Is Mozilla just
going to concede the Metro experience to Microsoft?
Unless Microsoft seriously changes their Win8 design from what I've seen
on the Dev release, I predict they will be as successful with it as they
were with Kin/Win Phone 7/Vista.
I personally wouldn't worry about it until they produce something that
looks innovative and gives people a reason to consider it.
I think that's the wrong attitude to take...
First, you have to take into account that the reason people rejected
Vista was not design -- most people had no serious problems with the
design. Even the annoying UAC prompts weren't the real problem. The
problem was the horrid performance in 2006-era machines -- I remember
seeing new computers sold with Vista and *512 Mb* of RAM, barely enough
to boot it (in ten or fifteen minutes, that is). Windows 7 is not
actually THAT much better resource-wise (it is a bit better, though),
but by 2009, the standard computer was powerful enough to deal with it
comfortably. The MS people are not that stupid; they will make sure this
time around that Windows 8 is able to run adequately on available
computers -- not that hard a task, considering that a dual-core, 4Gb RAM
is a reasonable assumption now, and a quad-core one might be it in one
year. And they are aiming for low-powered form-factors too, which should
keep the kernel guys from going too wild with resource consumption --
even if the "Windows 8 tablet" is a bust, this effort should keep the
desktop version from growing too fat.
I disagree, somewhat. I'll grant you that part of the problem was
under-resourced machines but, even there, that was a Microsoft-inflicted
error. They knew of it yet still decided it was better for the bottom
line to allow the new bloated Vista to be installed on these machines.
I was part of the Vista RC1 testing community and my rig at the time was
more than powerful enough to handle its load but the problems associated
with UAC were legend and other features, even then. The new Explorer
search system was (and still is) a overly complex POS. So much so that,
even today, I use a 3rd party search program to reliably and quickly
find what I'm looking for. Mind you, this was already a couple of years
after it started initial beta testing. I exercised RC1 for several
months, diligently reporting problems and searching for ways around
them, mostly to no avail. After a few months, I ended testing it because
it was just too tedious to continue and politely informed them of my
itemized issues and my dismay of how something that had been in testing
this long could have so many obvious everyday usage problems associated
with it. I neglected to participate in the RC2 drop and, in the hope
that they finally fixed the problems, was an early adopter when it came
out. Imagine my disbelief when I discovered that all of the tedious
problems were still there. I finally bit the bullet and accepted that I
could no longer be productive and ended up disabling UAC altogether.
That, and with another Explorer search utility, allowed me to get along.
Now, I'm pretty savvy on Windows and know tips/tricks on how to get
around many of the new obstacles that Vista threw at me. Most aren't,
and I suspect it was that word-of-mouth that contributed heavily to its
low acceptance and horrid perception.
Second, you may dislike it (and there's plenty to dislike), but Windows
still dominates on desktop and notebook computers, by a very large
margin. Computer makers are actually glad to see a new version of
Windows -- particularly one like 8, which features very big a piece of
hardware people don't have yet -- because it gives them something to
sell: "New computer! With Touchscreen and Windows 8!" So, unless there
is a very strong consumer resistance, they WILL bundle Windows 8 with
new computers by default.
I'm not a Microsoft-hater. In fact, I pre-ordered Win7 and, while I
still believe it should have been a Vista SP maintenance release
instead, I'm quite pleased with it (I still rely on my handy 3rd party
search tool, though.) I also have Office 2010 and, after some getting
used to, have come to appreciate the ribbon toolbar styles. I'm one who
wants Microsoft to succeed, only because I enjoy new technology and a
competitive environment. Win8 desktop, at least at this time, is not a
step forward but a big step backwards. Even the "Metro" stuff is dated
and unimaginative from what I played with. Now, they have time to
correct this but I've lost all faith that they have the folks at the top
that can cause this to happen.
So, by early 2013 there will be quite a lot of Windows 8 machines
around. How many, it's hard to say. But many. And not having anything to
offer to those people strikes me as a Very Bad Idea. Well, existing apps
should work fine in Classic mode -- but not offering anything for Metro
is likely to make the Mozilla stable of products look hopelessly dated.
Macs are moving to touchscreen interface too; eventually, someone will
add that to Linux. It's not just a Windows problem.
Firefox desktop will still work with Win8 desktop but I believe the OP
was more concerned about the WinPhone7/tablet "Metro" UI/UX. Unless
Microsoft can start capturing a meaningful market share with the
existing WinPhone7 (which even Ballmer admitted recently that acceptance
has been dismal) then there is no reason to expect this to change with
Win8, imo.
The better question to ask is, "How viable is to adapt
Firefox/Thunderbird/Seamonkey to Metro/Lion?" Perhaps starting from the
existing UIs, designed for point-and-click WIMP interfaces, is the wrong
approach. Oh, they will run fine in "Classic" mode, but the idea is
having a version for the touchscreen interface. The work being done in
the tablet version of Firefox might be illuminating -- it might be
easier to use the Fennec tablet UI as a starting point for Windows
Metro/Mac Lion than the existing WIMP UI.
Win8 is a closed system. Apple can get away with it because of their
ability to inspire with the hardware and software design. Android is
open and is now selling more smartphones/tablets than even Apple, let
alone WinPhone7. Why should Mozilla put anything more than a meager
effort into Win8?
Followup to mozilla.general.
--
Sailfish - Netscape Champion
Netscape/Mozilla Tips: http://www.ufaq.org/ , http://ilias.ca/
Rare Mozilla Stuff: https://www.projectit.com/
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