How-To Geek

Since everyone is talking about Windows 8 and the problems that it has let me address some issues from the disability stand point. I will list these out one at a time with minimum confusing.

1. The obvious, most people who are disabled are on a limited income and can't afford a touch screen computer unless they are going through a government programs.
2. people with disabilities have a hard time as it is to be trained on a different OS much less a different way to get around on it by touch some won't because of not being able physically to raise a finger or a hand to operate the computer by touch with out a 3rd party software vendor stepping in.

I could go on and on but we all know that Microsoft is betting the farm on Windows 8 and from where i am sitting they will loose a hell of a lot more than a farm. The next thing that we will hear is Microsoft going to the whitehouse and asking for a government loan to put them back in the black. Comments are welcome but i will not be switching to Win 8 just on the merits that i stated above.

Thank you,

John Meeks

Pity there hasn't been more response.

I wasn't lamenting on your lack of response (especially since I really wasn't expecting one). My comment was addressing the lack of response from others. Surely we aren't the only ones with handicaps here that could be affected by Win 8. My feeling is Win 8 will be a partial success--people will either love it or hate it, according to their needs--but, overall, it will be another Vista and Win 9 (or whatever they will call it) will be a response to peoples objections to Win 8., similar to what Win 7 was to Vista. What's going to hurt M$ is their trend toward abandoning heavy users who need multiple windows, accurate, rapid input, data storage space, etc. Granted, tablets are going to become more popular for the casual computer user who only emails, lightly surfs the internet (unlike me who often has a half a dozen or more windows and/or tabs open at a time when researching something), reads books, listens to music, and generally just plays with it. Serious photo editing, word processing, spread sheets, CAD (especially 3D), music notation (no way I could do that on a tablet or a touch screen), anything that is RAM and storage intensive, etc. simply cannot be done well on a tablet or touch screen. Tablets will never replace laptops and PCs for serious computing and gaming, leastwise not in my lifetime.

Their trend toward cloud computing is, at best, premature because not everyone has 24/7 access to a broadband internet connection and/or cannot afford the bandwidth that would be required, assuming it's available. Their trend toward an Applelesque walled garden is curious (and could prove fatal) since that walled garden is what keeps most users from adopting Apple systems.

Sorry about your arthritis. I suspect mine is not as bad as yours but I still know how much fun Uncle Arthur can be. I had trouble getting to sleep last night because of arthritis pain and muscle cramps in my hands after a couple, three hours off and on with a Dremel tool yesterday (I'll be paying for that and the lack of sleep today).