Metro is still Windows 8's most controversial feature —survey

Published March 15, 2012 9:26pm

Metro, the new interface in Microsoft’s Windows 8, remains one of the most controversial features of the upcoming operating system, a tech site survey showed.

PC World said reactions by 2,963 PC World readers who installed Windows 8 Consumer Preview ranged from “fun” to Windows 8 being “the new Windows Vista.”

“Asked about their overall satisfaction with Windows 8, a majority, 52 percent, said they were satisfied. But when we asked if they would recommend the OS to a friend, 21.2 percent of respondents said they were highly unlikely to recommend it, and a little more than 50 percent chose responses on the bottom half of our 10-point scale,” it said.

When asked if they were satisfied with Metro, PC World noted the biggest block of respondents - 26.2 percent - chose “extremely dissatisfied.”

But it added an “almost equal” number - 23.2 percent - said they were “extremely satisfied.”

Microsoft had made Windows 8 Consumer Preview available for a free download.

The Metro interface is one of Windows 8’s new features, replacing the Start menu with a Start Screen filled with interactive tiles, some of which show live data.

It is the same user interface in the Windows Phone 7 OS and on the Xbox 360 console.

Praises, criticisms

Some respondents in the PC World survey praised the Metro interface as fun and innovative.

“It takes some getting used to, but once you’ve learned it, it is easier to use, faster, more intuitive, and easy to customize,” one respondent said. “It’s shaping up to be not only the most radically different Windows ever, but also the best. We aren’t in Kansas anymore, Toto,” said one.

Another said, “I am blown away. The PC just became fun to use again.”

But the critics said they hate the new user interface and the lack of a Start button.

“The OS feels like it was designed for the tablet, with the desktop PC as a complete afterthought. Windows 8 will be the new Windows Vista,” said one, referring to Vista as the version of Windows that had been widely disliked for its slowness.

Another critic likened Windows 8 to straddling the fence between being a touchscreen OS and a desktop OS - “and anyone who’s straddled a fence before knows it’s rather uncomfortable.”

Satisfaction ratings

The survey also showed that:

23.4 percent were somewhat satisfied with the Windows Store, compared to 10 percent somewhat dissatisfied.
23.9 percent were somewhat satisfied with the Mail, Calendar and People apps compared to 14.7 percent who were somewhat dissatisfied.
29 percent were satisfied with Internet Explorer 10 while 11.6 percent were somewhat dissatisfied.
29.7 percent were satisfied and 29.5 percent were extremely satisfied with Windows Explorer compared to 8.2 percent somewhat dissatisfied and 6.2 percent extremely dissatisfied.
25.7 percent were extremely satisfied while 17.1 percent were somewhat satisfied with Windows 8’s restart and restore capabilities, compared to 6.8 percent somewhat dissatisfied and 6.7 percent extremely dissatisfied.

In terms of overall satisfaction, 27.8 percent said they were somewhat satisfied, 24.2 percent said they were extremely satisfied, 12.7 percent said they were neither satisfied nor dissatisfied, while 19.1 percent said they were somewhat dissatisfied and 15.4 percent said they were extremely dissatisfied.

Common complaints

Some of the most common complaints against Metro from the survey respondents include:

The transition from the new interface to the traditional desktop environment is awkward.
Metro apps mostly display full-screen, wasting valuable screen real estate.
There’s no simple and obvious way to shut down Metro apps.
Even a task as basic as shutting down your PC is obscure and takes too many steps.

“It’s like working on two different systems, like one native OS and a virtual PC, “ one respondent said. “If Microsoft had tried to adapt the Metro interface to the desktop and Explorer, it would have been great.”

“It took me 10 minutes just to figure out how to turn the damn computer off,” another said.

“The disconnect between Desktop and Metro is … awkward. It’s odd having to deal with two window and task management metaphors,” another preview user said.

Speed

But the survey showed the respondents were generally positive about the speed of Windows 8.

About 45 percent said the speed was the same (as the previous OS on their device), but another 40 percent reported that their device felt faster with Windows 8.

Only 9.4 percent said the new OS seemed slower, PC World said.

“I love the speed of startup and shutdown,” one survey respondent said. “It also uses less RAM than Windows 7.”

A majority of survey respondents were positive about Internet Explorer 10, and the new version of Windows Explorer.

Windows Explorer now includes the controversial Ribbon interface from recent versions of Microsoft Office but the ribbon in Explorer tends to hide itself when it’s not needed.

“The Ribbon on the top of folders is awesome,” one respondent said. — TJD, GMA News

Tags: microsoft, microsoftwindows