The GUI should be better. A lot better.

Erasmus Roterodamnsus

Erasmus Roterodamnsus

Well-known member
That's right. 100% fully subtitled, from beginning to end, made from scratch. But that's not all.

I've added positioning to the video, because of the many important visual/textual elements at the bottom of the video, so nothing gets obscured.

Because they are stylized, they need to be uploaded in a particular, but straightforward manner to work correctly:

  1. Upload the .ytt subtitle on the video page
  2. Touch nothing. As soon as it's uploaded, press publish. YouTube Studio 100% supports stylized subtitles, but cannot edit them without breaking them.
  3. Check the video for confirmation. If the Idiocracy clip at 1:35 is in yellow, it's working as intended.


And that's it. These subtitles took some time to complete (YouTube thinking Ross was speaking Vietnamese didn't help), but they're finally ready. And as always, feel free to give any feedback you have on them.

If you want more on the how, why and what on subtitle stylization on YouTube, check out my "Alternate subtitle formats?" post on the forums. It's about choosing the correct file format for the job, and not overwriting it once you upload it to YouTube.

TheGUIshouldBeBetterSubtitles.zip

 

Attachments

Last edited by a moderator:
I believe somebody tried to modifying the subtitles, either through YouTube Studio or a text editor, because the positioning and color are broken now. Because of the subtitle's formatting, you cannot externally fix them without the specialized software—they're not like an SRT.

If there's an error someone would like to be corrected, tell me, and I will do it manually on my end. Otherwise, re-uploading verbatim and hitting publish without touching them on YouTube Studio will fix the problem.

 
I gave corrections to @danielsangeosome months ago

Here they are:
0:26 - Ross is saying `is` rather than "it's" (or, I thought so, but daniel disagreed)

0:52 - Lead us to GUI enlightenment...

0:56 - The 2nd that is not being said

Sorry about that!

 
Here is the corrected version. In the future, please contact me if you wish to correct a specialty formatted subtitle. You can read more about this in the readme.txt of the original .zip file:

"This transcript may contain additional formatting that can get lost if overwritten."
Click to expand...


Code: 
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</s><s p="2"> the internet is the long tail, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="5089" d="2269" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> which means everybody </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> has specific interests </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="7358" d="1801" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> that won't appeal to most people, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="9159" d="3904" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> but for the people who </s><s p="3">are </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> interested, it really delivers. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="13063" d="3637" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> So on that note, this was </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> originally going to be a quick video </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="16700" d="2336" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> showing my desktop at this point in time, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="19036" d="3470" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> since it’s a little exotic and not </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> what most people are used to. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="22506" d="2069" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> But this started rapidly escalating, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="24575" d="3904" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> and is now a minor </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> existential crisis for me instead. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="28479" d="4170" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> So, now I’m upset, and maybe </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> I can make you upset too. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="32649" d="3371" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> I think this video’s going </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> to be for two basic camps: </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="36020" d="2936" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> First, if you have any interest in the GUI, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="38956" d="2702" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> you know, the graphic user interface, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="41658" d="1535" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> stick around. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="43193" d="4171" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> I have loads for you in this video, </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> and I’ll be impressed if anyone out there </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="47364" d="2403" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> is familiar with everything </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> I’m gonna show you. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="49767" d="5238" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> In fact, I’d say there’s a possibility </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> this will lead us to GUI enlightenment. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="55005" d="4304" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Probably not though, I’m only giving that </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> about a 5% chance of happening, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="59309" d="2336" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> but that's good enough </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> for me to make the video. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="61645" d="2169" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> And the other camp is just stalkers, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="63814" d="3770" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> because I’m gonna show a bunch </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> of my desktop, my files, and so on. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="67584" d="2069" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> You’ll see what a mess everything is. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="69653" d="2936" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> In fact, this video is probably </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> gonna be a mess too. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="72589" d="3237" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> I have a dozen thoughts </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> coming at me all at once on this, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="75826" d="2336" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> so I may jump around all over the place, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="78162" d="3069" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> but I think it'll all </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> make sense by the end. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="81231" d="1669" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> And just to make things worse, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="82900" d="3803" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> I am not an expert on pretty </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> much anything in this video. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="86703" d="1802" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> But that's exactly the issue! </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="88505" d="1936" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> As a non-expert, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="90441" d="5271" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> I'm seeing way, </s><s p="3">way</s><s p="2"> too many problems that </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> I wouldn't be if everything was going well. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="95712" d="4338" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="4"> Now, I'm no botanist, but I do know that </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="4"> if you put water on plants, they grow. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="100050" d="2669" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Yeah, that's about where </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> I'm coming from here. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="102719" d="1502" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> So let's kick this thing off. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="104221" d="2169" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Here is my desktop: </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="106390" d="1234" wp="2" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Ta-da! </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="107624" d="2470" wp="2" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Yeah, I'm on Windows 7 right now. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="110094" d="1401" wp="2" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Isn't it obvious? </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="111495" d="3670" wp="2" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> See, I have my taskbar, </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> system tray hidden here, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="115165" d="5873" wp="2" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> my sort of Start menu, a Run bar, </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> some shortcuts to programs I use a lot… </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="121038" d="2736" wp="2" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Now, I said I'm not an </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> expert, and I mean it. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="123774" d="4204" wp="2" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> This is not the perfect desktop </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> that I've polished up for the video. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="127978" d="2369" wp="2" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> No, I'm just showing this as is, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="130347" d="4037" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> and it's more like Frankenstein's monster </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> that's been beaten repeatedly. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="134384" d="5773" wp="3" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> I've been using a custom GUI like this </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> since maybe 2002, sometime around then? </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="140157" d="4438" wp="3" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Now, thanks to dumb luck, I took </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> screenshots at various points in time, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="144595" d="3203" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> so you can see what my desktop </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> used to look like in the past. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="147798" d="1768" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> This first batch is the only time </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="149566" d="3637" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> I attempted to go all out to make </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> some sort of coherent theme. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="153203" d="2870" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> So I was actually trying </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> to showcase this one. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="156073" d="3236" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Yeah, for this part, I can hit a hotkey </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> and make all open windows </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="159309" d="2570" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> line up vertically or horizontally. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="161879" d="1334" wp="3" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> I can still do that now. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="163213" d="701" wp="3" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> [pop] </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="163914" d="2102" wp="3" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> And this was in 2002! </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="166016" d="1468" wp="3" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Oh, and before I get too far, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="167484" d="4038" wp="3" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> what you're seeing right now </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> isn't actually how my desktop looks. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="171522" d="1701" wp="3" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> I'm recording this at 1080, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="173223" d="3837" wp="3" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> but I'm normally running it at </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> 1440 resolution these days, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="177060" d="3537" wp="3" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> so if everything looks </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> a little oversized, that's why. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="180597" d="4738" wp="4" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="3"> This</s><s p="2"> is what it looks like proportionally, </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> even though this isn't great. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="185335" d="6207" wp="4" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> See, on Windows 7, if you scale the images </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> much past 125%, they'll start blurring. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="191542" d="5572" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> My current GUI was </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> originally </s><s p="3">designed</s><s p="2"> for 1152×864. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="197114" d="3136" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Yeah, been a while since </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> I ran at that resolution. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="200250" d="4805" wp="5" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> And what's happened is I've just slowly </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> modified it since, and have gotten lazier. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="205055" d="1435" wp="5" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> But back to the past. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="206490" d="3570" wp="5" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> In the past, I just wanted my </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> desktop to look as cool as possible </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="210060" d="1435" wp="5" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> and still be functional. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="211495" d="1468" wp="5" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Yeah, you can see for a while </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="212963" d="3604" wp="5" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> I was just copying </s><s p="3">System Shock 2</s><s p="2">'s </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> interface to an extent. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="216567" d="3503" wp="5" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> After that, my taste shifted and I just </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> wanted something a little more toned-down </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="220070" d="3237" wp="3" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> that I wouldn't mind </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> staring at, day in, day out. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="223307" d="2535" wp="2" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Even then, none of these </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> themes were my true vision, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="225842" d="2303" wp="2" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> since the software would often fight me. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="228145" d="3203" wp="5" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Yeah, see, look at that. </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> You can see it in the screenshot. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="231348" d="4338" wp="5" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Plus, with the GUI, I've never </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> known 100% what I've wanted. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="235686" d="1635" wp="5" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> In fact, I still don't. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="237321" d="4004" wp="5" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> What I'll hope you'll see here is that I </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> was </s><s p="3">trying</s><s p="2"> to make something better. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="241325" d="3737" wp="5" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> I'm still not an expert, but out of </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> years of meddling with things, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="245062" d="3436" wp="5" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> I think I've at least </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> discovered some GUI truths. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="248498" d="1268" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> So here's the first one: </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="249766" d="3871" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Your GUI should look nice enough </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> so that you never really get sick of it. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="253637" d="2402" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> A lot of you have seen </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="3"> Groundhog Day</s><s p="2">, right? </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="256039" d="2937" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Where the protagonist </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> relives the same day forever? </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="258976" d="4371" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> When we think of the GUI, we should be </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> thinking of what Phil is gonna use here. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="263347" d="4304" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Whatever we pick, he is stuck with, </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> so it better be good. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="267651" d="2869" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Now, that said, that's going to be </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> different for every person, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="270520" d="1869" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> which brings me to another truth: </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="272389" d="2703" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> There's no perfect GUI for everyone. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="275092" d="2269" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Everyone has different </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> tastes and requirements </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="277361" d="1835" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> for what they use a computer for. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="279196" d="3570" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> However, there </s><s p="3">are</s><s p="2"> lots of things </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> you can do with the GUI </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="282766" d="3804" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> that are </s><s p="3">ideal</s><s p="2"> for the majority of people. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="286570" d="2269" wp="5" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> There are many things </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> you can experiment with </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="288839" d="3870" wp="5" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> and measure statistically from </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> users when it comes to the GUI. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="292709" d="1302" wp="5" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> More on that later. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="294011" d="3403" wp="5" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> But yeah, if you're someone who </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> works on the computer for your job, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="297414" d="2903" wp="5" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> or just simply spends </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> a lot of time on one, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="300317" d="5105" wp="5" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> the GUI is what you're going to be </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> staring at for a large portion of your life, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="305422" d="3203" wp="5" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> so shouldn't that be the </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> nicest experience possible? </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="308625" d="2636" wp="5" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Smooth and just easy on the eyes, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="311261" d="2970" wp="5" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> to make your time just </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> that much more pleasant? </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="314231" d="934" wp="5" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> No. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="315165" d="2302" wp="5" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> No, no, no, no, no. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="317467" d="1669" wp="5" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Not if you're on Windows! </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="319136" d="2969" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> You can roll around in the </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> trash like everybody else! </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="322105" d="5339" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Compared to what we could be doing, </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> Windows is such garbage! </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="327444" d="2836" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> And yes, I'm mostly going </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> to focus on Windows here, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="330280" d="3337" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> because it has the lion's share </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> of the desktop market. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="333617" d="4504" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> But if you're on another OS, </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> don't worry, I'm coming for you too! </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="338121" d="2937" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> The entire industry is guilty! </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="341058" d="2602" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="3"> None are without sin! </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="343660" d="1969" wp="5" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> But yeah, Windows. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="345629" d="1568" wp="5" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Let's get straight to it. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="347197" d="1335" wp="5" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Windows is ugly. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="348532" d="2335" wp="5" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Pick any version of it, I don't care. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="350867" d="3370" wp="5" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Now, to be fair, it's not </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> god-awful hideous, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="354237" d="3037" wp="5" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> but that's not the same </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> thing as "good," is it? </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="357274" d="5172" wp="5" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> I think Windows is in solid </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> four out of ten territory for its GUIs. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="362446" d="4638" wp="5" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> They get the job done, but they're </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> not pleasant to use or look at. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="367084" d="4604" wp="5" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Now this part is subjective—in other </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> words, I personally think it's ugly, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="371688" d="4304" wp="5" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> but maybe you're a freak and think </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> the Windows OS is a work of beauty. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="375992" d="2036" wp="5" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Not a problem! </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="378028" d="3136" wp="5" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> It still sucks, and I'll </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> prove it in other ways. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="381164" d="2169" wp="5" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> But Windows, let's have a quick tour: </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="383333" d="2870" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Everything before Windows 95 </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> I'm skipping over, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="386203" d="3003" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> because that's not really </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> the model being used now. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="389206" d="1735" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> But Windows 95: </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="390941" d="4504" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Okay, not beautiful, but it was the '90s, </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> I guess this worked for the time. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="395445" d="3337" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Windows 98: mostly more of the same. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="398782" d="2336" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Windows ME and 2000: </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="401118" d="3803" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Those two are very different </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> under the hood, but visually, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="404921" d="4672" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> I kind of want to say these are the </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> best GUIs Microsoft has come up with. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="409593" d="2502" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Again, I'm not calling them good, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="412095" d="3671" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> but I don't find myself </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> immediately hating how they look. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="415766" d="1468" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> That takes longer. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="417234" d="4704" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Windows XP: also known </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> as the Fisher-Price interface. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="421938" d="2536" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> This is just ugly in my eyes. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="424474" d="2970" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Yes, you can tweak it to look </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> more like Classic Windows, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="427444" d="2736" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> but this was the default </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> theme everybody saw. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="430180" d="5706" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Microsoft was worth around 250 billion </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> in 2001 and this is what they came up with. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="435886" d="2068" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Fine, let's keep going. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="437954" d="1168" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Vista: </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="439122" d="3837" wp="4" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Eh, this glass and transparency </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> stuff isn't my thing. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="442959" d="4305" wp="4" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> I think it's visually distracting, </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> and the red button clashes visually. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="447264" d="4204" wp="6" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> It's not as loud as XP, </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> but I still think it's ugly. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="451468" d="1601" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Windows 7: </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="453069" d="4872" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Well, everything I just said </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> about Vista still applies, so... </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="457941" d="1401" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Windows 8: </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="459342" d="1102" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Uh... </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="460444" d="3403" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Okay, we're thinking outside the box now. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="463847" d="2269" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> But assuming you turn that crap off, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="466116" d="4104" wp="5" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> eh, better I guess, </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> still not impressing me. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="470220" d="2069" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> And Windows 10: </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="472289" d="1701" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> still not digging it. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="473990" d="3771" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Too much white, and still feels </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> like an identity crisis to me. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="477761" d="3637" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> And if we turn on the dark theme, </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> then too much black. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="481398" d="4171" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> All right, and now Microsoft </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> is worth one </s><s p="3">trillion</s><s p="2"> dollars. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="485569" d="1167" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Jesus. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="486736" d="4839" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> And this is their best of the best </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> GUI on their flagship product, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="491575" d="4004" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> with 25 years of experience </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> since Windows 95. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="495579" d="1268" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Okay... </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="496847" d="3069" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> And that's my review </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> of the Windows GUI. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="499916" d="2069" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Just a giant blah. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="501985" d="1201" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="4"> Blah! </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="503186" d="3871" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Now of course, you don't have to </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> stick with the default Windows look. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="507057" d="4304" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> It also allows the bare </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> minimum of visual customization. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="511361" d="1235" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="3"> Wow. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="512596" d="1234" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> [claps] </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="513830" d="2336" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> We can change the colors, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="516166" d="3470" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> put the taskbar on </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> different sides of the screen, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="519636" d="2502" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> maybe a few other things? </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="522138" d="1502" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> It's </s><s p="3">pathetic</s><s p="2">. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="523640" d="3871" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> The level of customization </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> on Windows is </s><s p="3">pathetic</s><s p="2">. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="527511" d="1735" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Now that's not the end of the story, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="529246" d="4137" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> because there are a lot of third-party </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> programs to work with, but ah... </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="533383" d="1268" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> I'll get to the those. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="534651" d="2369" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Yeah, this is probably </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> going to be a long video. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="537020" d="2336" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> A long video for the long tail. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="539356" d="3870" wp="5" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Okay, let's go back to my custom GUI, </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> I'll give you a quick tour here. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="543226" d="2336" wp="5" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> I guess, first, let's talk </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> about the desktop. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="545562" d="2736" wp="5" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Yeah, notice how </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> there are no icons on it? </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="548298" d="1835" wp="5" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Yeah, that's because that's ugly. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="550133" d="1902" wp="5" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> I mean, if you have a great wallpaper, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="552035" d="2469" wp="5" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> why would you want to </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> clutter it up with shortcuts </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="554504" d="3637" wp="5" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> you're not using 99% of the time? </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="558141" d="4171" wp="5" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> I mean, you run them, then you're done. </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> They don't need to stay there. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="562312" d="4371" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> This wasn't a big deal in 95, because </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> everything was clunky back then. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="566683" d="2703" wp="5" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Now, in 2020? </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="569386" d="4337" wp="5" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> This is an eyesore and an </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> embarrassment this still exists! </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="573723" d="2903" wp="5" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> There are dozens </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> of better ways to do this. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="576626" d="2569" wp="5" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> In fact, that brings up another truth: </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="579195" d="4071" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> The GUI should get out of the </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> way when you don't need it. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="583266" d="5205" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> You want your attention focused on what's </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> important, which is usually your programs. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="588471" d="5005" wp="7" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> I mean, that's the point of an </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> operating system: to run your programs. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="593476" d="3304" wp="7" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> It should be like a butler </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> that's ready at a moment's notice, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="596780" d="2536" wp="7" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> and disappears when you </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> don't need them anymore. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="601451" d="1768" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Yeah, like that. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="603219" d="1202" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Perfect. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="604421" d="2269" wp="5" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> But I do need desktop shortcuts, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="606690" d="3169" wp="5" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> because I probably have a couple </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> hundred programs total. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="609859" d="2970" wp="5" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> So here's how I handle it, </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> which may not be the best way, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="612829" d="2169" wp="5" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> but it's better than the default. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="614998" d="4738" wp="5" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> I right click anywhere on the desktop, </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> boom, boom, boom, anywhere, and bam: </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="619736" d="2202" wp="5" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> There are all the desktop shortcuts. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="621938" d="3671" wp="5" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Again, I want to emphasize I'm </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> not putting really well organized. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="625609" d="3570" wp="5" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> This is just random junk I have </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> installed on here at the moment. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="629179" d="2736" wp="5" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> That's really a trend </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> for me on my computer. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="631915" d="3170" wp="5" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> It feels like I'm constantly </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> battling the forces of chaos, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="635085" d="3537" wp="5" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> and I don't think I'm </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> winning, but I'm trying. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="638622" d="2435" wp="5" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> That might be why I can </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> relate to </s><s p="3">Warhammer</s><s p="2">. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="641057" d="1502" wp="5" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="5"> Waugh! </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="642559" d="3336" wp="5" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Anyway, this is also my </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> equivalent of the Start menu. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="645895" d="1936" wp="5" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> I can throw whatever I want here. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="647831" d="3670" wp="5" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Besides the desktop, I also have </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> folders "Surface" and "Core," </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="651501" d="2836" wp="5" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> since I was imagining my </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> computer like a planet. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="654337" d="2836" wp="8" ws="2"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> "Surface" is where any </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> new programs are installed, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="657173" d="3337" wp="8" ws="2"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> but "Core" is a bunch of programs </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> I knew I wanted installed </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="660510" d="4738" wp="8" ws="2"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> at the time I set this up, </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> which was a few years ago. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="665248" d="2569" wp="8" ws="2"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Some still hold up, </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> some are outdated, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="667817" d="3404" wp="8" ws="2"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> but this just helps me from </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> being even more overwhelmed. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="671221" d="3437" wp="8" ws="2"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Otherwise, the crap I'd have to </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> sift through would be twice as big. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="674658" d="3370" wp="5" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Now I know some of you are going to </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> tell me to use something like Launchy </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="678028" d="3136" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> or Cortana, and just type </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> the name of my program. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="681164" d="1101" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Much faster! </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="682265" d="1835" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Well, I'll expand on that later, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="684100" d="3404" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> but what if I don't know the </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> name of the program I want? </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="687504" d="2302" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> I do a lot of different </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> things with my computer. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="689806" d="3136" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Sometimes I have a specific function </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> I'm looking for software to, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="692942" d="3671" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> and I have to test multiple shareware </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> programs until I find what I need. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="696613" d="1802" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Or maybe it's just something I want, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="698415" d="3236" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> but I haven't used in a long time </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> and I forgot the name of it. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="701651" d="3203" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> I've forgotten the name of </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> MotionPerfect multiple times before, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="704854" d="2002" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> even though that's becoming obsolete, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="706856" d="3170" wp="5" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> and I should probably switch </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> over to Butterflow instead, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="710026" d="2336" wp="5" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> even though I started </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> having errors with that, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="712362" d="3170" wp="5" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> even though I didn't used to, </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> but that's probably on my end. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="715532" d="2135" wp="5" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Forces of chaos, guys. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="717667" d="2703" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Or "PrimeSense," what the hell is that? </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="720370" d="3870" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Oh, that's related to capture </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> drivers for the Kinect. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="724240" d="4205" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> See, I don't keep all this stuff in </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> my head, I need it listed like this. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="728445" d="1401" wp="9" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Okay, before I move on, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="729846" d="3904" wp="9" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> I guess I should explain how I was able </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> to just tear out the Start menu, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="733750" d="3603" wp="9" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> the system tray, the taskbar, and so on. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="737353" d="2970" wp="5" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> I mean, okay, I have the system tray </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> in about the same place, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="740323" d="1735" wp="5" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> but I could put it anywhere! </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="742058" d="1168" wp="5" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Anywhere! </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="743226" d="1201" wp="5" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Plus, it's hidden. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="744427" d="3003" wp="5" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> It never comes up </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> unless I click on this spot. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="747430" d="2636" wp="5" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Well, it's multiple </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> programs doing all this </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="750066" d="3604" wp="5" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> but the glue holding it together </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> is a program called LiteStep. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="753670" d="2769" wp="5" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> This is a shell replacement for Windows. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="756439" d="4338" wp="5" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> What that means is all the inner workings </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> of the operating system are still the same— </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="760777" d="1768" wp="5" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> it's all Windows code; </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="762545" d="5206" wp="5" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> the shell is a program on top of that </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> that displays </s><s p="3">part</s><s p="2"> of your GUI. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="767751" d="1868" wp="5" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Normally, that's Explorer. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="769619" d="4037" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Yeah, you know, the Windows </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> File Explorer you use to browse files? </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="773656" d="2336" wp="5" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Yeah, that's your shell also. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="775992" d="4705" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> So LiteStep was created as a </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> replacement to Explorer for the GUI. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="780697" d="4137" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> It was inspired by AfterStep, </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> which was inspired by NextStep, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="784834" d="2636" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> which was inspired by step steps. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="787470" d="4538" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Now, LiteStep does not replace the </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> way regular Windows look or function, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="792008" d="4805" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> but it does replace the taskbar, </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> system tray, Start menu, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="796813" d="2069" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> and other miscellaneous things. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="798882" d="4437" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> It's also crazy customizable </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> and supports hundreds of modules </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="803319" d="3804" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> that can handle different aspects </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> of the desktop in different ways. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="807123" d="3504" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> It's also had hundreds, </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> if not thousands of themes for it </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="810627" d="2169" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> that can get really imaginative. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="812796" d="2802" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> And it's also really user-hostile, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="815598" d="4972" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> and uses giant configuration files whose </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> complexity borders on programming. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="820570" d="4504" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Also, things go wrong, and sometimes </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> there's nothing you can do about it. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="825074" d="4205" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Changing from XP to Windows 7 </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> was a minor nightmare for me, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="829279" d="2369" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> and honestly, I've never fully recovered. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="831648" d="2335" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> That's because that </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> broke so many plugins, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="833983" d="3304" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> and there wasn't always </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> a fix or alternatives. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="837287" d="2502" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> I don't know what to say about LiteStep. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="839789" d="3303" wp="9" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> It lets you do so much more </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> than default Windows, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="843092" d="3571" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> but at the same time, </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> it's really abusive to the user! </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="846663" d="2302" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Though, that's kind of not its fault, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="848965" d="3303" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> since Windows is the one </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> actually breaking things. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="852268" d="801" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Ahhh—! </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="853069" d="1535" wp="10" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> The taskbar! </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="854604" d="3737" wp="10" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Okay, here's an example of an </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> objective shortcoming of Windows. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="858341" d="4471" wp="2" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> I'm using the program Nexus Dock here, </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> though ObjectDock behaves similarly. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="862812" d="4338" wp="11" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Although with Nexus, I can close programs </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> by middle-clicking; that's handy. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="867150" d="2836" wp="11" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> In both, you can customize the icons. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="869986" d="4071" wp="2" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Yeah, I have the web browser set up </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> to look like Netscape, because why not? </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="874057" d="2602" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> I kind of miss that starfield animation. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="876659" d="1202" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> That was good. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="877861" d="4604" wp="12" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Also, I'm using what I think is the GNOME </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> icon to represent the File Explorer. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="882465" d="4171" wp="12" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> I just got sick of the same icons, </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> and a giant foot seemed appropriate. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="886636" d="2703" wp="12" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Anyway, onto objective shortcomings. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="889339" d="3537" wp="12" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Say you have a bunch of programs open </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> and you want to pick one out immediately, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="892876" d="2068" wp="12" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> but you're not sure which is which. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="894944" d="4104" wp="12" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Well, on the Classic taskbar, </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> that looks ugly, and it's a problem. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="899048" d="3938" wp="12" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> And here's something Windows can't do, </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> and even LiteStep can't do. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="902986" d="2002" wp="12" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> If you hover over the task, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="904988" d="4404" wp="12" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="3"> eventually</s><s p="2"> the text comes up that </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> identifies which program is which, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="909392" d="1835" wp="12" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> then you can scroll the rest. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="911227" d="3737" wp="12" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Well, that is </s><s p="3">too damn slow</s><s p="2"> for me! </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="914964" d="2202" wp="13" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> But on the Dock program, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="917166" d="3437" wp="13" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> boom, boom, boom, boom, boom; </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> rapid-fire identification. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="920603" d="2303" wp="13" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Say I have five text files open. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="922906" d="2902" wp="13" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> I can identify which </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> is which immediately, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="925808" d="2970" wp="13" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> and the rest of the time </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> I have nice looking icons instead, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="928778" d="2769" wp="13" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> and I don't have to see the </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> text cluttering up everything. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="931547" d="2470" wp="12" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> I hate the default grouping </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> Windows does now, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="934017" d="4537" wp="12" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> so I have to click an additional menu </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> before I can select my program. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="938554" d="1635" wp="12" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> That's another slowdown! </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="940189" d="3838" wp="13" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> This is faster than normal Windows, </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> and makes me more efficient. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="944027" d="3003" wp="13" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> That's half the damn point of a GUI! </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="947030" d="1635" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Boom, another truth: </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="948665" d="4471" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> The GUI should be as efficient as </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> possible if you know what you're doing. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="953136" d="4504" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> If you know exactly what you want to do, </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> but the GUI is making you wait, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="957640" d="4071" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> or jump through a series of hoops, </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> then that's a bad design. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="961711" d="2603" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Although, even Nexus Dock isn't great. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="964314" d="3336" wp="5" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Yeah, you want a taste of </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> GUI hell? Here you go. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="967650" d="2136" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Ideally, I wouldn't have any icons at all, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="969786" d="3570" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> and it would just be fullscreen </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> browsing to maximize my space. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="973356" d="3270" wp="13" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Now, it does support auto-hiding, </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> but that's another problem. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="976626" d="3670" wp="13" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Let's say I'm browsing fullscreen, but </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> now I want to switch to another window. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="980296" d="1769" wp="13" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Okay, bring up the dock. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="982065" d="700" wp="13" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Uh... </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="982765" d="2203" wp="13" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Bring up the dock! </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="984968" d="1301" wp="13" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Bring it up! </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="986269" d="2102" wp="13" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> It won't work, I can't do it. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="988371" d="2869" wp="2" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> But what if I was in a </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> fullscreen game or a video? </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="991240" d="3604" wp="9" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Or I'm just scrolling towards the </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> bottom of the screen for something else? </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="994844" d="2903" wp="9" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Well then, I wouldn't </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> want the dock to show up. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="997747" d="1168" wp="9" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> I can't win. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="998915" d="1768" wp="9" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> So that brings up another truth: </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1000683" d="5306" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> The GUI should activate when you want it, </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> and </s><s p="3">not</s><s p="2"> activate when you don't. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1005989" d="5338" wp="9" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Now, that's a lot easier said than done, </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> but that's what the perfect GUI would do. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1011327" d="4171" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Now the way I solve this problem </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> is I told the dock to always show up, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1015498" d="3103" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> but I used a script in AutoHotkey </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> to map a toggle function </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1018601" d="1869" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> to one of my mouse buttons. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1020470" d="2135" wp="2" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> So I can turn it on and off at will. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1022605" d="3604" wp="2" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Now, I hate to burn a whole </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> mouse button on </s><s p="3">just</s><s p="2"> this, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1026209" d="2102" wp="2" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> but I couldn't find any other way. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1028311" d="3370" wp="9" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> This is all super hacky </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> and I'm not proud of it, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1031681" d="4237" wp="9" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> but that's the price I pay for being </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> able to read my titles immediately. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1035918" d="2336" wp="9" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Fighting Windows is hell. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1038254" d="3570" wp="9" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> All right, I should start wrapping up </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> the tour, but a few more things quick. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1041824" d="3404" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Besides all this, I've replaced </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> Windows Explorer too. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1045228" d="4404" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> The default with Windows is okay, </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> but it could be a lot better. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1049632" d="2503" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> I'm using a years old version </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> of Directory Opus, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1052135" d="2769" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> because I'm too cheap </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> to buy an updated copy. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1054904" d="2402" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> It has a </s><s p="3">lot</s><s p="2"> of options. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1057306" d="4238" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> My theme here used to look better, but the </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> forces of chaos had another victory here. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1061544" d="1368" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> See, I used to have buttons </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1062912" d="3103" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> to switch back and forth </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> between details and thumbnail view, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1066015" d="1769" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> since that's all I ever use, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1067784" d="2802" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> but now I have to click </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> an extra button first. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1070586" d="3804" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> See, that's another example </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> of an inefficiency I should fix! </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1074390" d="2403" wp="14" ws="2"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> I </s><s p="3">used</s><s p="2"> to have that fix, but... </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1076793" d="934" wp="15" ws="2"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Gah! </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1077727" d="2803" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Anyway, I'm sure this could be </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> even better with the right theme, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1080530" d="3637" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> but I don't know what I'm doing, </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> and this still beats Explorer. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1084167" d="3803" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Like, hey, I can have queued </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> file transfers, that's handy. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1087970" d="2269" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> There's a lot of file explorers out there. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1090239" d="1468" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> I don't know what's best, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1091707" d="3003" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> but they're pretty much </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> all better than Explorer. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1094710" d="1369" wp="2" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Uh, what else? </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1096079" d="2235" wp="2" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> You may have noticed </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> the number indicators. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1098314" d="3203" wp="2" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> This shows how much free space </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> I have on each of my drives. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1101517" d="2269" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> I </s><s p="3">do</s><s p="2"> want that on the desktop, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1103786" d="4638" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> since discovering you've gone to zero </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> while you're working is not fun. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1108424" d="3303" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Uh, I have a wallpaper changer </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> I can change to a random one </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1111727" d="2770" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> by pressing Control and </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> clicking on the desktop. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1114497" d="2269" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> I like being able to </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> do that on command. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1116766" d="3470" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Oh, and while I'm on wallpapers, </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> I want to veer off course a second. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1120236" d="2636" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> I'm a fan of the art from </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="3"> Magic: The Gathering</s><s p="2">. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1122872" d="3437" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> They have lots of gorgeous art, </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> especially the lands. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1126309" d="3036" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> I was thinking these would </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> be perfect as wallpapers. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1129345" d="4037" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Now, sometimes the artists make </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> the high-resolution copies available, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1133382" d="2036" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> but a lot of times, they don't. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1135418" d="3403" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Since we don't have access </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> to what I imagine is a giant vault </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1138821" d="4204" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> with super high-res copies of all </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> their artwork at Wizards of the Coast, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1143025" d="2837" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> I had the idea of maybe </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> using some of this AI learning </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1145862" d="3336" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> to scale these card </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> scans to wallpaper size, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1149198" d="2236" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> and still have them look pretty good. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1151434" d="3570" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> I mean, I've seen miracles performed </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> on that with old game textures, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1155004" d="2436" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> this seems like more of the same thing. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1157440" d="3804" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> If anything, this might be easier, </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> it just has to look like an oil painting. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1161244" d="2903" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Plus, you could probably </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> train the AI really well </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1164147" d="3269" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> by using high-resolution </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> originals that we do have, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1167416" d="3471" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> against the cards scans </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> themselves for it to learn from. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1170887" d="2736" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> We could have thousands </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> of potential wallpapers. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1173623" d="2936" wp="16" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Now, if the artist has the </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> high-res stuff for sale, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1176559" d="1902" wp="16" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> yeah, we don't want to rip them off, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1178461" d="3537" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> but a lot of this art has no other </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> version available to the public </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1181998" d="2102" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> other than these tiny cards. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1184100" d="1968" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> I'm kind of an art raider. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1186068" d="3137" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Anyway, I totally don't have </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> time to be spending on that, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1189205" d="3770" wp="2" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> but I wanted to encourage someone </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> who does to take a crack at it. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1192975" d="2203" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> I'll have contact info at the end. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1195178" d="2902" wp="5" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> All right, so that's the </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> quick tour of my desktop. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1198080" d="2169" wp="5" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> But I said there's a crisis emerging. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1200249" d="1502" wp="5" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> What's that all about? </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1201751" d="4538" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Well, I'm on Windows 7, and I'm not </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> going to be able to stay on it forever. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1206289" d="2702" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Now, I know a few of </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> you out there might try, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1208991" d="1769" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> but I want to be able to do VR </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1210760" d="3804" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> and have better DPI scaling </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> than that blurriness on 7, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1214564" d="1768" wp="5" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> so that limits things for me. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1216332" d="1468" wp="5" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> So what's the big deal? </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1217800" d="3036" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Well, when it comes to GUI customization, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1220836" d="3504" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Windows 10 is like the end times. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1224340" d="4771" wp="5" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> I barely got LiteStep working </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> with the functionality I needed on 7, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1229111" d="3170" wp="5" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> and even now it acts like </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> it's been shot in the leg. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1232281" d="2903" wp="5" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> I'm thinking there's </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> no hope at all for 10. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1235184" d="4238" wp="5" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> The state of GUI customization </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> was pretty healthy back in XP times. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1239422" d="1434" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> There were lots of options. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1240856" d="1936" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> See, look at all those green boxes. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1242792" d="1635" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> These weren't all of them either. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1244427" d="3904" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> I remember GeoShell, </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> Aston Desktop, SharpE... </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1248331" d="1568" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> I'm sure there were more. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1249899" d="1568" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Now look at things. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1251467" d="4671" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> It's been a trail of bodies when </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> it comes to GUI customization. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1256138" d="3204" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> People either gave up, or </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> Windows suffocated them. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1259342" d="2035" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Now, the software </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> dying was bad enough, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1261377" d="3303" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> but Windows has been </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> moving in for the kill, too. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1264680" d="3804" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Okay, first, Windows doesn't </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> like you're doing </s><s p="3">any</s><s p="2"> of this. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1268484" d="4638" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> It tends to treat any sort of replacement </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> to the desktop shell like it's a virus. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1273122" d="2903" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> It'll even set off some </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> virus or malware scanners, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1276025" d="3237" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> and I have to use a special </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> utility to set it back again. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1279262" d="4070" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> And hey, Windows 10 </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> likes to update, right? </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1283332" d="5005" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Assuming my LiteStep theme will work </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> properly, which it won't, there's no way, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1288337" d="4505" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Windows 10 is going to scrub it </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> pretty much any time it feels like it. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1292842" d="5338" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Customizing the GUI is outside </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> the range of acceptable thought. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1298948" d="1034" wp="17" ws="3"><s p="1"></s><s p="4"> No, sick! </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1299982" d="1535" wp="17" ws="3"><s p="1"></s><s p="4"> Sick and wrong! </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1301517" d="2503" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Yeah, I get the message loud and clear. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1304020" d="2135" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> I should use Windows </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> the way it's intended, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1306155" d="4471" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> and I'm a degenerate for </s><s p="3">actually </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> trying to customize my desktop. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1310626" d="4271" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Oh, and speaking of updates, </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> let's head back to Windows 7 a second. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1314897" d="5406" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> I've had to skip </s><s p="3">multiple</s><s p="2"> security updates, </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> because they screw up LiteStep! </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1320303" d="1501" wp="5" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> No joke, look at this: </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1321804" d="2102" wp="5" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> I'll install one temporarily. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1323906" d="4772" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> See, look: now the Z-order on my </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> windows is screwed; my theme's broken. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1328678" d="2402" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> I literally cannot fix this. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1331080" d="4671" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> My computer's half-unusable </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> unless I do things the Windows way. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1335751" d="3337" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Now on 7, I can choose </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> to </s><s p="3">skip</s><s p="2"> those updates, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1339088" d="3870" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> which I guess makes my system </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> less secure; that's nice, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1342958" d="3304" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> but on 10, they got </s><s p="3">rid</s><s p="2"> of that option! </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1346262" d="2469" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> You either update, or you go to hell! </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1348731" d="4104" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> There's no "skipping" </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> problematic ones they never fix! </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1352835" d="3604" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Plus, what a wonderful </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> choice I'm being given! </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1356439" d="3003" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Choosing between </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> a more secure system, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1359442" d="3436" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="3"> or</s><s p="2"> being able to use </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> my GUI the way I want to! </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1362878" d="1001" wp="17" ws="3"><s p="1"></s><s p="4"> No, sick! </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1363879" d="1502" wp="17" ws="3"><s p="1"></s><s p="4"> Sick and wrong! </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1365381" d="1001" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Yeah, I get it! </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1366382" d="3103" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> I'm a freak, and I'm the </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> only person who's doing this, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1369485" d="1335" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> but riddle me this: </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1370820" d="5906" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Why do </s><s p="3">security</s><s p="2"> updates need to </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> screw with the </s><s p="3">graphics</s><s p="2"> like this? </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1376726" d="4037" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> A friend of mine has a theory that </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> they're doing this to push notices on you, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1380763" d="1868" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> and he could be right. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1382631" d="1068" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> I'll say this: </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1383699" d="3070" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> I received updates for </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="3"> years</s><s p="2"> without incident, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1386769" d="1935" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> and this all started right around the time </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1388704" d="3604" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Microsoft was aggressively telling </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> people to move to Windows 10. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1392308" d="1368" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> They're assholes! </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1393676" d="5605" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> And why the hell does the GUI have to be </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> so damn deep in the code to begin with?! </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1399281" d="2403" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> I'm not trying to hack my damn system, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1401684" d="4471" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> I </s><s p="3">just</s><s p="2"> want to change the </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> graphics and the interface! </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1406155" d="2569" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> You'd think I'm trying </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> to delete the kernel! </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1408724" d="4304" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> The Windows way of doing things </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> is so damn hostile to this! </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1413028" d="2169" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Hey, do you know where </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> the icons are located </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1415197" d="3437" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> for things like folders, </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> message prompts, and so on? </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1418634" d="3871" wp="5" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Well, most of them are </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> buried inside shell32.dll, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1422505" d="2102" wp="5" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> which is a protected system file </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1424607" d="3170" wp="5" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> that you have to jump through </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> all kinds of hoops to modify, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1427777" d="4037" wp="5" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> and again, Windows will never </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> let it go that it's been modified! </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1431814" d="2970" wp="5" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> And what's worse is </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> that sort of makes sense, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1434784" d="3837" wp="5" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> because why the hell should I </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> have to modify a system DLL file </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1438621" d="2569" wp="5" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> just to change the damn icons?! </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1441190" d="2936" wp="5" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Because I'm a dirty </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> virus creator, apparently! </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1444126" d="701" wp="17" ws="3"><s p="1"></s><s p="4"> Sick! </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1444827" d="1368" wp="17" ws="3"><s p="1"></s><s p="4"> Sick and wrong! </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1446195" d="4738" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Yeah, remember kids: </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> Non-Windows graphics equals virus! </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1450933" d="1935" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> That's the Microsoft way! </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1452868" d="3804" wp="5" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Now, there </s><s p="3">are</s><s p="2"> workarounds, </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> but everything's a compromise. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1456672" d="3003" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Take the program IconPackager by Stardock: </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1459675" d="4872" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> It advertises itself as being able to change </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> the Windows icons to whatever you want! </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1464547" d="1368" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Great, right? </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1465915" d="700" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> No! </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1466615" d="1268" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Not great! </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1467883" d="4638" wp="5" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> If you're using a custom </s><s p="3">shell</s><s p="2">, </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> like say, a LiteStep user, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1472521" d="2336" wp="5" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> then it </s><s p="3">doesn't work! </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1474857" d="4738" wp="5" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> It only works if you're using </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="3"> Explorer</s><s p="2"> as your shell, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1479595" d="3103" wp="5" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> as God—I mean, Microsoft intended! </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1482698" d="2402" wp="5" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> So even trying to break free, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1485100" d="4472" wp="5" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> you're being funneled back into the way </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> Windows wants you to do things again! </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1489572" d="1635" wp="5" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> I hate this crap! </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1491207" d="3236" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Windows 10 is bringing me to an impasse. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1494443" d="3103" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> I feel like I'm being </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> dragged back to the past, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1497546" d="4305" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> and having what limited progress </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> I've made over the past decades erased! </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1501851" d="1501" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> For me, this is the equivalent </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1503352" d="4304" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> of the industry discovering I'm </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> writing papers using a word processor, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1507656" d="3404" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> so they want to come smash it up </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> so they can sell me a typewriter. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1511060" d="4037" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> They're trying to make me go back, </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> and I don't want to go back to that! </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1515097" d="1268" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> See, that's just it: </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1516365" d="3604" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> I'm faster on my flawed, limping interface </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1519969" d="3904" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> in almost any situation </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> than I am on Windows default. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1523873" d="3069" wp="5" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> The thought of going </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> back to </s><s p="3">regular</s><s p="2"> Windows </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1526942" d="3070" wp="5" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> is going to be such a </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> slap in the face for me! </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1530012" d="2736" wp="5" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Okay, here I'm really gonna </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> start sounding like a heretic, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1532748" d="4071" wp="5" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> but if you're still here watching this, </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> maybe you can handle a little heresy. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1536819" d="2469" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> This entire experience </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> has gotten me to realize </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1539288" d="4605" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> just how woefully underdeveloped </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> the GUI as a whole is. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1543893" d="2969" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Yes, there have been minor </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> improvements over time, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1546862" d="5406" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> but the GUI on Windows isn't </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="3"> that</s><s p="2"> different than it was 25 years ago. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1552268" d="4838" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> So, what, we got it almost perfect </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> back then, only small things to improve? </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1557106" d="767" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> No! </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1557873" d="1235" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> God, no! </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1559108" d="5505" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Okay, for starters, much of the GUI </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> depends on precise movements and actions. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1564613" d="4038" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> If I want to open up a shortcut, </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> I have to click on this area. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1568651" d="3536" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> If I want to resize the window, </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> I have to click here. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1572187" d="4171" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> The sloppier you are, the </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> longer everything takes you. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1576358" d="3637" wp="9" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> And while I'm on it, I kind of </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> don't like double-clicking? </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1579995" d="3504" wp="9" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> This is a minor thing, but I've </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> never really liked how it feels. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1583499" d="2569" wp="5" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> I like things to happen when I click once. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1586068" d="1735" wp="5" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Plus, it's a little awkward. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1587803" d="2903" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Sometimes I open a folder </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> or launch a program, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1590706" d="3136" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> but sometimes I accidentally </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> tell it to rename the file. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1593842" d="2002" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Or sometimes nothing </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> seems to happen. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1595844" d="2136" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Then there's this pause </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> when you're not sure </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1597980" d="3337" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> if the computer is just taking </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> its time to start the program, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1601317" d="3203" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> or if it just didn't register your </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> double-click for some reason, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1604520" d="1701" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> and you're waiting on nothing. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1606221" d="3771" wp="5" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> If I only have to click </s><s p="3">once</s><s p="2">, </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> I know I pressed the button. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1609992" d="4438" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> The GUI as it is right now </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> wants me to be precise. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1614430" d="2469" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Humans are not precise. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1616899" d="2669" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Now, they can be relatively precise, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1619568" d="4705" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> but that takes additional concentration </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> and energy, and usually time. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1624273" d="3470" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> In fact, there's a famous story </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> about how Pope Benedict XI </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1627743" d="2769" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> sent a letter to Giotto di Bondone </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1630512" d="4338" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> asking him to prove his skill as an artist </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> before he offered a commission. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1634850" d="5339" wp="18" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> So he drew a perfect circle freestyle </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> without any assistance on the spot. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1640189" d="4404" wp="18" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> That blew the pope away, and </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> that story has survived even now. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1644593" d="2836" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> That's how big a deal </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> human precision is. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1647429" d="1068" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Nyah! </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1648497" d="4371" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Well, the GUI gives you </s><s p="3">some </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> wiggle room, but not a lot. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1652868" d="3937" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> The less precise you need to be, </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> the faster you are. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1656805" d="2503" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> I'm surprised this analogy works, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1659308" d="3737" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> but everybody knows why airports </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> take up so much space, right? </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1663045" d="2936" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Because planes can't just land on a dime. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1665981" d="4038" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> They have a lot of momentum </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> and need lots of room to do it right. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1670019" d="5271" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Whereas helicopters can land in </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> pretty tight areas, but they're slower. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1675290" d="6207" wp="18" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> The fastest helicopter in the world isn't </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> as fast as an ordinary passenger plane. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1681497" d="2035" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> That's also why that scene in </s><s p="3">Deus Ex </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1683532" d="4505" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> where you fly from New York to </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> Hong Kong by helicopter is a little silly, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1688037" d="2369" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> but I guess that's a future helicopter. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1690406" d="4938" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> I think the GUI needs a lot </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> more planes and less helicopters. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1695344" d="2169" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Here, let me show you </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> what I'm talking about: </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1697513" d="4237" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Windows 7 added a Show Desktop </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> button in the corner of the screen. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1701750" d="3304" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> I thought this was such a good </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> idea to come from Microsoft, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1705054" d="1935" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> that maybe they stole it from elsewhere. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1706989" d="867" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> I don't know. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1707856" d="1135" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> But that's great. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1708991" d="3303" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> If everything's cluttered and you </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> just need to get a bearing on things, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1712294" d="1668" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> bam, there you go. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1713962" d="3471" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Well, I liked that so much I copied it </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> for my own desktop in LiteStep, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1717433" d="1801" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> so I can do the same thing. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1719234" d="2102" wp="5" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> But I thought, "Why stop there?" </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1721336" d="2703" wp="5" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Two programs I run </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> all the time on my computer </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1724039" d="2636" wp="5" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> are a web browser and a file manager, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1726675" d="3303" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> so I made the left mouse button </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> in this area show the desktop, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1729978" d="4772" wp="5" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> but the right one or middle one </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> launch a web browser or Directory Opus. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1734750" d="2769" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> I mean, I use those a lot </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> of the time I use a computer, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1737519" d="2503" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> so why not make that stupid easy? </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1740022" d="1368" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> But let me prove this: </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1741390" d="3904" wp="5" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> I'm going to clock myself launching </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> a web browser as fast as I can, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1745294" d="4204" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> using the default Windows methods </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> of using a shortcut on the desktop, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1749498" d="1835" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> using the Quick Launch bar, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1751333" d="2669" wp="5" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> and then using my way on LiteStep. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1754002" d="2336" wp="5" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> We're not gonna wait </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> on my computer to load it, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1756338" d="2703" wp="5" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> timing ends as soon as </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> I complete the action. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1759041" d="4938" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Okay, I looked over the footage and took </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> the average times on multiple attempts. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1763979" d="2136" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Now, I wasn't Bruce Lee speed, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1766115" d="4771" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> but it looks like my way is about half a </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> second faster than using the Quick Bar. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1770886" d="2236" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Now, sure, that doesn't sound like much, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1773122" d="3970" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> but how many times do you use a </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> web browser or need to move files around? </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1777092" d="1635" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> That crap adds up. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1778727" d="2736" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Plus, my method is more reliable. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1781463" d="3737" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> If you asked me to launch stuff from </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> the Quick Launch bar as fast as I can </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1785200" d="1302" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> over and over, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1786502" d="2969" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> I'm probably going to </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> screw up at some point. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1789471" d="2703" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> "Oh, no, I hit the wrong button!" </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1792174" d="3370" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Whereas I'll get it </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> every time using my way. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1795544" d="2703" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> I could literally do this blindfolded. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1798247" d="3003" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> So it's faster, </s><s p="3">and</s><s p="2"> more reliable. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1801250" d="2402" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> And that's an </s><s p="3">objective</s><s p="2"> difference. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1803652" d="6006" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> We can measure it, repeat it in trials, </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> get hard data, and quantify the bastard. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1809658" d="4171" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> It </s><s p="3">is</s><s p="2"> possible to figure out </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> what is best for the GUI </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1813829" d="2235" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> based on what you're trying to do. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1816064" d="2636" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> And I feel like this example </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> is just a microcosm </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1818700" d="3070" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> of what we </s><s p="3">could</s><s p="2"> be doing with the GUI. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1821770" d="4972" wp="5" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> All right, now listen up, because I'm going </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> to say something positive about Steve Jobs. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1826742" d="2069" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> You're not going to hear me do that often. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1828811" d="2102" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> In fact, I might be </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> playing with fire here, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1830913" d="2535" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> since there's some </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> Steve Jobs worship out there, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1833448" d="1402" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> but from what I know of him, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1834850" d="3570" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> I think he was a predatory asshole </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> who was good at marketing, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1838420" d="2336" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> and had a cult leader personality type. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1840756" d="1535" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Sure, he did stuff, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1842291" d="3036" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> but a lot of it probably still would've </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> happened one way or another, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1845327" d="1335" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> even without him. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1846662" d="1434" wp="5" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> You know how multiple people </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1848096" d="3938" wp="5" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> invented the telephone </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> independently around the same time? </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1852034" d="2803" wp="9" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> A lot of stuff in computers </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> I think was like that, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1854837" d="2369" wp="9" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> especially when you </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> don't have a monopoly. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1857206" d="4004" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> I have ten times more </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> respect for Steve Wozniak, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1861210" d="4504" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> also known as the guy who actually </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> invented the Apple Computer? </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1865714" d="2569" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> He didn't let success go to his head, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1868283" d="2469" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> has kept dabbling in </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> engineering projects, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1870752" d="3304" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> and just has a better </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> attitude about life in general. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1875090" d="1368" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Where am I? </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1876458" d="934" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Oh, that's right... </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1877392" d="3471" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> One thing Steve Jobs said </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> that I agree with 100% </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1880863" d="2135" wp="2" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> is when he was working on the Macintosh, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1882998" d="3136" wp="2" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> he was hellbent on </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> getting it to boot faster, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1886134" d="2903" wp="2" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> because if millions of people </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> were going to be using it, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1889037" d="4171" wp="2" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> that collectively adds up </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> to people's lives being saved. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1893208" d="3570" wp="2" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Okay, now obviously the math </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> doesn't work out that cleanly, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1896778" d="3737" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> and to be honest, boot time </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> isn't the end of the world. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1900515" d="3137" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> You can do other things </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> while you wait for it to boot up. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1903652" d="1835" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> But the GUI? </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1905487" d="4805" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> A bad one is </s><s p="3">constantly</s><s p="2"> going to weigh </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> you down the more you're on a computer. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1910292" d="2869" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Shaving seconds down anywhere you can </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1913161" d="4305" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> is </s><s p="3">exactly</s><s p="2"> the attitude major </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> companies should take towards it. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1917466" d="4571" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Now if you're making a game or a program </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> that makes dog noises or something, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1922037" d="1768" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> you can forget all this crap. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1923805" d="5072" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> But a major operating system </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> that's going to be used by millions? </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1928877" d="3971" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Oh no, excuse me, </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> a </s><s p="3">billion</s><s p="2"> people, I guess? </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1932848" d="3236" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> That has such far reaching consequences </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1936084" d="5272" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> that </s><s p="3">any</s><s p="2"> inefficiencies mean </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> you are wasting people's lives! </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1941356" d="3671" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> That's practically holding </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> human progress back a bit, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1945027" d="2369" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Because instead of </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> getting more things done, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1947396" d="2002" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> we're wasting bits of time everywhere </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1949398" d="3737" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> on navigating Windows </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> in a semi-irritating way! </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1953135" d="4337" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> I mean, I realize Microsoft doesn't </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> seem to understand the human race. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1957472" d="1735" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> If you have any doubts about that, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1959207" d="3904" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> I encourage you to watch their </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> Windows 7 launch party video. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1963111" d="4138" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> It feels like a documentary </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> about humans made by aliens. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1967249" d="4771" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> But Jesus, the level of stagnation </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> on the GUI just drives me crazy, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1972020" d="3070" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> because I have to deal </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> with it almost every day! </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1975090" d="4905" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Again, if you work on the computer, </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> the GUI is most of what you're seeing. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1979995" d="2569" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Computers have changed the world, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1982564" d="3937" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> so why are we still in four </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> out of ten territory on this? </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1986501" d="2036" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Well, I know part of the answer. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1988537" d="2436" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Again, I'm mostly </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> singling out Microsoft here, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1990973" d="1968" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> but that's because they're a monopoly. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1992941" d="3704" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Oh, sure, somebody's going to say, </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="3"> "No they're not, there are other options!" </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1996645" d="2669" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Yes, technically, that's correct. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="1999314" d="2369" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> So they're a de facto monopoly. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2001683" d="3337" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> I mean, actually, they are down </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> globally for desktop share. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2005020" d="3036" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="3"> Only</s><s p="2"> 77% of the market. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2008056" d="1969" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> That's lower than I thought. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2010025" d="3036" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Down from 91% a few years ago. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2013061" d="734" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Huh. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2013795" d="2069" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Well, what if you're a PC gamer? </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2015864" d="2102" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> What percent of the market are they then? </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2017966" d="4304" wp="2" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Okay, on Steam, they're </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> only 96.8% of the market. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2022270" d="2903" wp="2" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Oh yeah, that's not a monopoly at all. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2025173" d="3204" wp="2" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> And yes, competition technically exists. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2028377" d="4404" wp="5" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> And people were making fun of that concept </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> over a hundred years ago, by the way. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2032781" d="1301" wp="18" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> I mean, in 2001, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2034082" d="3804" wp="18" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Microsoft was so big they attracted </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> attention from the Justice Department </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2037886" d="2402" wp="18" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> for violating antitrust laws. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2040288" d="1335" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Microsoft won, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2041623" d="4671" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> though I can't help but think if computing </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> would be better off now if they hadn't. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2046294" d="4371" wp="11" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> I mean, their net worth now is </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> four times bigger than it was back then. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2050665" d="4839" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Anyway, the point to all this is in many </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> areas, Microsoft doesn't need to compete, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2055504" d="1201" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> so they don't. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2056705" d="3937" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> See, here's what I would do if I was </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> running the GUI department at Microsoft, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2060642" d="1602" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> assuming they have one. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2062244" d="4471" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> First, I'd hire some people that just </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> invent GUI methods and test them out. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2066715" d="2903" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> That'd be their whole job: </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> just to brainstorm all day. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2069618" d="2969" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Then, they can implement ideas </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> in test builds or programs </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2072587" d="2069" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> that the public could try alphas of. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2074656" d="3504" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> You know how Microsoft has </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> the Insider builds of Windows? </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2078160" d="3703" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> I'd have that as a perpetual </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> program for the GUI also. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2081863" d="2903" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> There would be a new one for </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> people to test out all the time. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2084766" d="3103" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Then, collect data on everyone </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> who does opt into that. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2087869" d="3237" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> See which designs the </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> public navigates the fastest. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2091106" d="6039" wp="18" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Over time, I could accumulate lots of data </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> on maybe not the perfect GUI, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2097145" d="2169" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> but something pretty close, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2099314" d="2603" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> because you would have </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> the numbers to back it up. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2101917" d="1668" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> And I'm getting ahead of myself here, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2103585" d="4571" wp="5" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> but I would also detach the </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> GUI from core system files, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2108156" d="4271" wp="5" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> and make a developer kit, so artists and </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> designers could do whatever they wanted. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2112427" d="3203" wp="19" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> So they would </s><s p="3">ship</s><s p="2"> Windows </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> with the Microsoft standard, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2115630" d="2870" wp="20" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> which would be brilliant </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> instead of what we have now, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2118500" d="3236" wp="20" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> because it would be derived from </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> constant research and development, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2121736" d="2336" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> but if people didn't like it, fine! </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2124072" d="2636" wp="9" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> They could make their computer </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> look like whatever they wanted, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2126708" d="2569" wp="9" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> because they'd have the tools to do so! </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2129277" d="3370" wp="21" ws="3"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> So it could look like a giant </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> extension of </s><s p="3">World of Warcraft</s><s p="2">, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2132647" d="2870" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> those panels from </s><s p="3">Star Trek</s><s p="2">, whatever! </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2135517" d="3837" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Some people will spend hundreds </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> if not thousands of hours </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2139354" d="5072" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> working on mods for </s><s p="3">Skyrim</s><s p="2">, with others </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> picking out exactly what they want. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2144426" d="2602" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Can you imagine what </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> the computer would look like </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2147028" d="3404" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> if even a fraction of </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> that talent was unlocked, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2150432" d="4738" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> and given full access to </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> the GUI itself in an easy way? </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2155170" d="2703" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Right now, it's hurdle after hurdle. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2157873" d="1401" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> I mean, when most people talk about </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2159274" d="3270" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> how they prefer an </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> operating system over another, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2162544" d="5472" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> half the time, they're not really talking </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> about the underlying code, but the GUI, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2168016" d="1602" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> because that's all they see. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2169618" d="2536" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> So by opening that up, </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> Windows could be the king </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2172154" d="4471" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> because people genuinely prefer </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="3"> using</s><s p="2"> it over alternatives, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2176625" d="2869" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> and not just because of </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> business strong-arming tactics. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2179494" d="2336" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> You know, when I first </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> heard about how Microsoft </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2181830" d="2936" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> was going to be changing </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> the GUI for Windows 8, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2184766" d="1235" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> I got excited. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2186001" d="1468" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> I thought, "This is it! </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2187469" d="3403" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> This is their chance to just </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> scrap all the outdated holdovers, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2190872" d="2269" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> and come up with something really good! </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2193141" d="2403" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Sure, people will have </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> to learn something new, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2195544" d="2302" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> but then they'll be able </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> to use Windows faster, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2197846" d="2602" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> and hate the thought of </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> going back to the old way!" </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2200448" d="2603" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Well, that didn't happen. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2203051" d="2970" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Instead, it was a half-baked </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> touchscreen interface </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2206021" d="2269" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> that not only wasn't thought through, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2208290" d="3370" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> but it couldn't even perform </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> all Windows functions, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2211660" d="3770" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> so it truly was "one size fits no one." </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2215430" d="4505" wp="5" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Or hey, remember how I said </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> the look of a GUI is subjective? </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2219935" d="2302" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Turns out that's not entirely true. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2222237" d="1335" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> I saw an article recently </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2223572" d="4104" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> about how apparently flat-looking </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> themes lower productivity. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2227676" d="2369" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> They did exactly what </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> I was talking about: </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2230045" d="1868" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Gave users tasks to perform, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2231913" d="2736" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> and clocked time spent </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> lingering on the UI, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2234649" d="1936" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> and tracked their eye movements. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2236585" d="4771" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> So objectively, Microsoft's </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> flat theme is slower. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2241356" d="4271" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Now, if we want to be super generous, </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> which I don't think we should be, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2245627" d="5238" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> we could speculate that maybe it's </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> slower initially, but then faster later. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2250865" d="3504" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> For example, I've heard that </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> typing on a Dvorak keyboard </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2254369" d="2135" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> is faster than a regular one. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2256504" d="2870" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> But if you clock somebody </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> one week into learning it, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2259374" d="2002" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> yeah, they're going to be slower. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2261376" d="3770" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> But six months later, no, </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> they'll probably be faster. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2265146" d="2136" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> And if you're wondering </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> why I don't use one, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2267282" d="4438" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> it's because I may be a lost cause, since </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> I don't type the right way to begin with. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2271720" d="2168" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> I don't have a home row. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2273888" d="1969" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> I'm keyboard homeless. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2275857" d="4171" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Anyway, Windows 8 exists, </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> so I think it's safe to assume </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2280028" d="4471" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> GUI efficiency wasn't part </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> of Microsoft's master plan. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2284499" d="4304" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> And here's data stating what </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> they're doing is objectively worse. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2288803" d="2803" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> So to me, this says one of two things: </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2291606" d="4371" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Either Microsoft is barely doing </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> any research at all on the GUI, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2295977" d="4104" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> and their design process is like </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> somebody taking a test who hasn't studied, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2300081" d="3304" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> or Microsoft </s><s p="3">did</s><s p="2"> do the research, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2303385" d="3069" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> but some higher-ups at the </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> company completely ignored it, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2306454" d="3871" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> and it's the ego of someone who's </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> not a designer steering the ship. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2310325" d="3637" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Either way, it's incompetence, </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> and they're rewarded for it, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2313962" d="2102" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> because they're a monopoly. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2316064" d="2769" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> I'm not a fan of Microsoft, by the way. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2318833" d="2870" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Okay, now if you're still here, </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> because let's face it, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2321703" d="2035" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> most normal people left by now, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2323738" d="2403" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> I'm sure some of you are </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> jumping out of your seat </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2326141" d="5305" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> to tell me about hotkeys and shortcuts, </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> and all the innovations on that front. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2331446" d="3136" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Now on Windows 10, you can </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> hold down the Windows key, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2334582" d="1736" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> and make a window dock, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2336318" d="3169" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> or access a specific </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> program on the taskbar, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2339487" d="2069" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> or minimize, maximize... </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2341556" d="2569" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> There's a keyboard </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> shortcut for everything! </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2344125" d="3637" wp="5" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Or hey, use the program </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> AutoHotkey to create your own, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2347762" d="3070" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> which I do actually, but uh... </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2350832" d="1502" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Okay, I'll start off easy. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2352334" d="3370" wp="5" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> First, yes, these are improvements. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2355704" d="934" wp="5" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> But... </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2356638" d="1034" wp="22" ws="3"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> [sighs] </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2357672" d="2503" wp="23" ws="3"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> it's like we're getting </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> there, and we're not. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2360175" d="1501" wp="24" ws="2"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Okay, to kick things off, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2361676" d="4271" wp="24" ws="2"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> all the Windows key shortcuts are </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> almost useless if you're a gamer. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2365947" d="4638" wp="24" ws="2"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Anybody who's gamed on the PC </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> long enough has hit that key by accident, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2370585" d="2169" wp="25" ws="2"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> and that can sometimes </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> end your game, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2372754" d="2836" wp="25" ws="2"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> because it tells Windows </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> to pull up the Start menu, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2375590" d="2970" wp="26" ws="2"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> which a lot of games </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> are not cool with. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2378560" d="3670" wp="27" ws="2"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Hey, I made a video on the </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> game </s><s p="3">Messiah</s><s p="2"> not long ago. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2382230" d="3937" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Let's see what happens when I </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> press the Windows key while in that. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2386167" d="2369" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Uh-oh, didn't want that! </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2388536" d="2536" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> But that's okay, I'll just </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> switch back to the game. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2391072" d="3804" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Now, impressively, </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> the game did not crash, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2394876" d="3403" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> but it's just not quite the same anymore. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2398279" d="3237" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> There's a </s><s p="3">lot</s><s p="2"> of games this happens with. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2401516" d="4037" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> It's such a liability, I had the </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> key disabled on my system, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2405553" d="3137" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> so I'm missing out on </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> all these hotkeys anyway. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2408690" d="3670" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> And wouldn't you know it, </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> that brings me to another GUI truth: </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2412360" d="5672" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> It shouldn't be really easy to do </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> something you don't want to by accident. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2418032" d="3838" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Now that truth is in a constant </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> tug of war with the efficiency one, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2421870" d="4538" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> because often the fastest path </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> is also easy to trigger accidentally. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2426408" d="2202" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> But there are ways around that. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2428610" d="4004" wp="28" ws="2"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Bottom line is if pressing </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> one button wrecks everything, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2432614" d="3670" wp="28" ws="2"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> and it's right next to other </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> buttons you press frequently, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2436284" d="2136" wp="29" ws="2"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> that's not a good design. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2438420" d="1935" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> But let's say I wasn't a gamer, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2440355" d="4104" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> and I never had to worry about </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> getting ripped out of a fullscreen game. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2444459" d="2235" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> This still isn't efficient. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2446694" d="2369" wp="7" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> First, let's look at the ergonomics. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2449063" d="3704" wp="7" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Let's say I wanted to bring up </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> the fifth program using that hotkey. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2452767" d="2436" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Well, that's Windows key and 5. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2457038" d="1001" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Eh... </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2458973" d="1502" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Ergh... </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2460475" d="1435" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Yeah, that sucks. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2461910" d="3603" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> It's a solution the keyboard was </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> never designed for to begin with. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2465513" d="3804" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> But surely it's a lot easier </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> to just do this, right? </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2469317" d="1268" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> But uh-oh, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2470585" d="2703" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> now my hand's off the mouse. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2473288" d="4271" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> So I had to bring my hand all the </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> way from over here to press this key. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2477559" d="2802" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Modern computing is full of this crap. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2480361" d="1769" wp="7" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> If you use hot keys, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2482130" d="4171" wp="23" ws="3"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> unless they're really well </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> thought-out, which most aren't, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2486301" d="2536" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> you're constantly going back and forth. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2488837" d="2135" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> This is crap design. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2490972" d="3537" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> You have to stop whatever you were </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> doing with this hand on the mouse, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2494509" d="3537" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> bring it all the way over here, </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> that takes time, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2498046" d="2169" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> and now because your </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> hand was on the mouse, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2500215" d="1868" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> and you don't have a frame of reference, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2502083" d="4004" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> you may not be able to locate </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> the exact key you want by touch, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2506087" d="2703" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> so you have to take your </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> eyes away from the screen, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2508790" d="2602" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> look down to find the key you wanted, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2511392" d="4605" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> because no one ever gets "N" and "M" </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> mixed up when they don't look down, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2515997" d="1435" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> then press it, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2517432" d="5505" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="3"> then</s><s p="2"> move your hand back to the mouse, </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> and resume looking at the screen. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2522937" d="1602" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> This is garbage! </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2524539" d="4438" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Now most of us probably don't think of </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> it that way, because we're so used to it, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2528977" d="3003" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> but I told you I was going </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> to sound like a heretic! </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2531980" d="2435" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> I feel like Michael Palin in </s><s p="3">Jabberwocky</s><s p="2">. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2540188" d="3136" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="4"> I couldn't help noticing that </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="4"> you could increase your efficiency </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2543324" d="1569" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="4"> if you moved your box to here. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2545894" d="1968" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="6"> [screams] </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2550565" d="1001" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="5"> Oof! </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2551566" d="6173" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="5"> [all scream] </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2557739" d="2669" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Yeah, that's what I should expect, huh? </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2560408" d="2736" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Unless you're actually typing a sentence, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2563144" d="4271" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> because I don't see a way around that, </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> with the mouse and keyboard anyway, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2567415" d="3504" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> ideally your hands should </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> never come off the mouse. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2570919" d="4204" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> You should be able to do as </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> much as possible with just one hand, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2575123" d="3837" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> and then really bring out the </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> higher functions if you use two, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2578960" d="4371" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> not essentially require </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> three hands the way it is now. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2583331" d="3704" wp="5" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="3"> This</s><s p="2"> is why even if you know </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> the name of your programs, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2587035" d="4738" wp="5" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> using something like Launchy </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="3"> still</s><s p="2"> isn't an optimal solution, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2591773" d="2569" wp="5" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> because it involves leaving the mouse. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2594342" d="2703" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> In fact, I feel another truth coming on: </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2597045" d="2269" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> If you're not actually typing, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2599314" d="4504" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> the number of times you have to switch </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> your hand between the mouse and keyboard </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2603818" d="2436" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> should be kept to an absolute minimum. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2606254" d="2703" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> The computer could </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> almost be like a throne, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2608957" d="3136" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> where your hands are on </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> each side doing everything. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2612093" d="1435" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Look at the Riddler there. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2613528" d="1902" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> He doesn't have to lift his hands! </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2615430" d="3303" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Look at how much </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> information he's processing! </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2618733" d="3871" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Really, I almost see Windows </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> pushing Cortana as the go-to standard </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2622604" d="3103" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> for launching programs </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> as an admission of defeat. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2625707" d="1201" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> It's like they're saying </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2626908" d="3804" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> they can't come up with a graceful way </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> to navigate your computer visually, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2630712" d="2903" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> so here, just type in what </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> you want and leave us alone. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2633615" d="3636" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> That will free up more of the Start menu </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> for us to add </s><s p="3">Candy Crush</s><s p="2"> to it. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2637251" d="2336" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Now, not all hotkeys are bad. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2639587" d="3470" wp="30" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> I use Control-C a lot, since </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> that's a common function, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2643057" d="3470" wp="30" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> and that sort of passes </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> the ergonomics test. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2646527" d="3370" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Too bad it only works when it wants to! </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2649897" d="4605" wp="31" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Okay, I'm off course again, but there have </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> been times I've highlighted a bit of text, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2654502" d="3470" wp="31" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> pressed Control-C </s><s p="3">three</s><s p="2"> times, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2657972" d="3904" wp="31" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> then went over here and pressed </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> Control-V, and then, nothing. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2661876" d="2903" wp="31" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> It's like it never happened. </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> Erased from history. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2664779" d="3170" wp="31" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> However, this is not the hotkey's fault, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2667949" d="1868" wp="32" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> because I've seen it happen before, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2669817" d="5039" wp="33" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> right-clicking, pressing copy, </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> and then still, nothing. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2674856" d="4137" wp="34" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Now this only happens </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> maybe 5–10% of the time, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2678993" d="2302" wp="34" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> but that's still way too high. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2681295" d="3170" wp="34" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> I have zero idea what's causing this, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2684465" d="4705" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> and if we're to rely on my blurry </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> memory, which maybe we shouldn't, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2689170" d="6373" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> I want to say it didn't used to be </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> this bad on XP and Windows 98. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2695543" d="5172" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> I seem to remember copy and paste </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> not being a game of chance. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2700715" d="4004" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Anyway, hotkeys could be better </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> if you had a dedicated keypad, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2704719" d="3503" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> and </s><s p="3">all</s><s p="2"> the functions </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> were optimized for that. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2708222" d="2670" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> But right now, they're </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> just all over the place. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2710892" d="1668" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Plus, there's a lot of them. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2712560" d="4872" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Do you really want to memorize all these </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> hotkeys for different Windows functions? </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2717432" d="2836" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Pop quiz: What's the </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> hotkey for Device Manager? </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2720268" d="1401" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> For System Restore? </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2721669" d="1368" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> The Display panel? </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2723037" d="1435" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Learn those hotkeys! </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2724472" d="1535" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Hup hup hup hup hup hup hup! </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2726007" d="4638" wp="5" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> I want to be as lazy </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> as possible when using the GUI. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2730645" d="1802" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> I get more done that way. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2732447" d="4037" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> I should get the maximum </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> amount done for the minimum effort. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2736484" d="4104" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> And I'm sure some of you are making fun of </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> me for complaining about the "extra effort" </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2740588" d="4605" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> it takes to click on tiny icons, </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> move my hand off the mouse, and so on. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2745193" d="3169" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Well, go ahead, but it's not </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> like you're building character </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2748362" d="2169" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> by putting up with inefficiencies. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2750531" d="1735" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> You're just getting aggravated. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2752266" d="3704" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Everyone should want to </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> be lazier using the computer. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2755970" d="3137" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> You should save the effort </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> for your actual work, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2759107" d="3637" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> or just whatever you were using </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> the computer for in the first place, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2762744" d="1868" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> not the GUI. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2764612" d="2536" wp="5" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> If you don't want your arms to be lazy, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2767148" d="2936" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> then get off the computer </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> and go lift some weights! </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2770084" d="3504" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> What, are you getting </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> pumped from using the mouse? </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2773588" d="3270" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> The GUI is full of </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> inefficiencies like this. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2776858" d="2836" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Why do we have to switch </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> off the mouse so often? </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2779694" d="3870" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Why go down to the bottom corner when </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> you could just launch the menu anywhere? </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2783564" d="3804" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Yeah, I bet people using </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> super-wide monitors love that one. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2787368" d="2803" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Why do we have tiny icons </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> and buttons to click on </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2790171" d="2970" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> instead of just hiding big ones </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> until we need them? </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2793141" d="1701" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Why do we double-click? </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2794842" d="3003" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Why does middle-clicking often do nothing? </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2797845" d="2569" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> And this is just the stuff I'm noticing. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2800414" d="3003" wp="5" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> I don't even know half </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> of the problems we have. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2803417" d="2169" wp="5" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> But every time I use a computer, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2805586" d="4104" wp="5" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> my intuition is screaming </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> at me that it could be better. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2809690" d="2236" wp="5" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Okay, I'm going to go full heretic: </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2811926" d="4471" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> I'm not even convinced one of the </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> most sacred aspects of GUI design, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2816397" d="5806" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> having tiny buttons in the corner </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> to close, maximize, and resize your window </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2822203" d="2235" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> is a good way of doing things. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2824438" d="3137" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> I mean, if you look at </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> Windows, Mac, Linux... </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2827575" d="2002" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> They all follow that formula. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2829577" d="2369" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> These are tiny targets. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2831946" d="2669" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> It takes concentration to hit them. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2834615" d="2670" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> It's easy to hit the </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> wrong one by accident. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2837285" d="3870" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> They take up space that can </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> be devoted to the program itself. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2841155" d="3937" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Now, this wasn't a bad </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> system 35 years ago, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2845092" d="3270" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> but it's barely evolved since then! </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2848362" d="2536" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Hey here's a thought experiment for you: </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2850898" d="2536" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Pretend you got rid of </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> all modern eye candy, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2853434" d="4471" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> and judge the Windows GUI </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> solely by how functional it is. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2857905" d="2569" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Does this look like decades </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> worth of advancement </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2860474" d="2937" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> in a cutting edge technology field? </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2863411" d="4171" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> If this was yours, would you be </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> proud to show this off to the world </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2867582" d="4804" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> if this was all the progress </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> you've made since 95? </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2872386" d="1335" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> I wouldn't! </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2873721" d="2703" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> When you type a sentence, it has flow. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2876424" d="1234" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> You roll along with the keys, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2877658" d="3437" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> and things feel like they're moving </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> about as fast as they could be. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2881095" d="1969" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> It generally feels good. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2883064" d="2636" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> The Windows GUI has no flow. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2885700" d="3770" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> It's all a bunch of starting and </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> stopping and precision clicking. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2889470" d="5038" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> It feels more like driving downtown in </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> a city with constant stops and checks. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2894508" d="4004" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> In fact, when I think of what the </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> optimal Windows user would look like, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2898512" d="4238" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> I keep thinking back to a </s><s p="3">Star Trek</s><s p="2"> episode </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> where the engines have been sabotaged, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2902750" d="3971" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> they need to get them working again </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> in time before the ship is destroyed, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2906721" d="2035" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> except the only way to start the engines </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2908756" d="4838" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> is by inserting these cards into </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> the computer in the exact right way, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2913594" d="3504" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> and no one can humanly do it </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> fast enough to save them in time, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2917098" d="1735" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> except Data. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2918833" d="4037" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="3"> This</s><s p="2"> is what the ideal </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> GUI user looks like. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2922870" d="4004" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> We've created an interface </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> for androids, not humans! </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2926874" d="4304" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Now I have some ideas on how </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> to fix this, because I've seen better. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2931178" d="5005" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> This may sound stupid, but plenty of movies </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> have shown slick-looking interfaces. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2936183" d="1669" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Zip, zip, zip. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2937852" d="2669" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="3"> That</s><s p="2"> is what I'm talking about. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2940521" d="4838" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Now don't worry, I'm not saying we have to </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> use motion controls and augmented reality, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2945359" d="3904" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> at least, not for most people, uh... yet. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2949263" d="2703" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> But I can't help but think </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> there's potential here. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2951966" d="3770" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> I mean, motion controls are less </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> lazy than the mouse and keyboard, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2955736" d="4371" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> but this looks so much more efficient, </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> which is what I actually want. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2960107" d="4004" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> All right, forget the layered </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> transparency crap, I don't like that, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2964111" d="2803" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> but do you know how much </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> faster I could edit this video </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2966914" d="4304" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> if I could use my hands like this, </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> instead of the mouse and keyboard? </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2971218" d="2570" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> And these all look like they have flow. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2973788" d="1168" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Look at that. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2974956" d="4204" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> I have no idea what he's </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> doing, but it looks efficient. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2979160" d="3837" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Oh, and hey, this one takes place in 2021! </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2982997" d="2769" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> There's still time for this, guys! </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2985766" d="4572" wp="13" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Now, back in the 2D mouse and </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> keyboard world, we still have options. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2990338" d="5739" wp="13" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> I think the future of GUI efficiency </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> lies at least partially in mouse gestures. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2996077" d="1501" wp="13" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Here, take a look: </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="2997578" d="3170" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="4"> So I was sitting here doing nothing, </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="4"> just playing my music, and I thought, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3000748" d="4204" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="4"> you know, I'd better stop and mute this, </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="4"> and go ahead and upload a video to YouTube, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3004952" d="2803" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="4"> and I thought, "What can I talk about? </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="4"> Maybe I could talk about the mouse," </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3007755" d="1668" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="4"> you know, scrolling </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="4"> in the background, maybe. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3009423" d="3671" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="4"> This is something Windows doesn't </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="4"> do by default, it's pretty cool to have. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3013094" d="2402" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="4"> And I thought, you know, </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="4"> "Nah, people don't want to watch that." </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3015496" d="868" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="4"> But then maybe they do. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3016364" d="3870" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="4"> Some people go on YouTube just to find </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="4"> new content. They want to see anything. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3020234" d="3804" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="4"> They're happy to refresh the page </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="4"> just to find new videos to watch. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3024038" d="2336" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="4"> So I could do that, </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="4"> or I could search on Google. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3026374" d="4871" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="4"> I mean, at the end of the day, there's </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="4"> always something to be found on Google. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3031245" d="701" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="4"> Then again, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3031946" d="3737" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="4"> I don't really want to be that person </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="4"> that just takes content and copies it, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3035683" d="3203" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="4"> and then you end up seeing </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="4"> exactly the same thing again later on. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3038886" d="2703" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="4"> That's not what I'm about, you know. </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="4"> My channel isn't going backwards, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3041589" d="2202" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="4"> it's going forwards, so, I don't know. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3043791" d="2269" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="4"> Maybe I should go on Twitter </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="4"> to find new content, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3046060" d="3203" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="4"> or maybe I should just, uh, </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="4"> think about something closer to home. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3049263" d="1568" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="4"> Ooh, my mind went blank. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3050831" d="2603" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="4"> Tell you what, let's talk </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="4"> about mouse gestures. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3053434" d="5772" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Yeah, see, now </s><s p="3">that</s><s p="2"> looks like an </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> actual advancement to the GUI. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3059206" d="2203" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Instead of aiming for precise targets, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3061409" d="3503" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> we just wave the mouse around </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> like a wand and things happen. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3064912" d="2836" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Tell me that doesn't look </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> faster and more intuitive </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3067748" d="2970" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> than almost every </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> GUI computers use today! </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3070718" d="1301" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> I dare you! </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3072019" d="5873" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Why the hell is this an obscure third-party </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> program instead of an industry standard? </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3077892" d="4304" wp="35" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Maybe because Microsoft wasn't </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> broken up and maintained their monopoly, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3082196" d="2502" wp="35" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> so it calcified </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> every designer's thinking </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3084698" d="2470" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> into doing things the way </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> they've always been done! </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3087168" d="2469" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> It stunted people's brains! </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3089637" d="3670" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Hell, now I'm mad at myself </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> that I haven't been using this. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3093307" d="2503" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> I'm not saying this is </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> the answer to everything, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3095810" d="3103" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> but in the same way my intuition </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> has been screaming at me </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3098913" d="2002" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> that the GUI could be better, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3100915" d="3870" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> this is screaming to me </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> that it has massive potential. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3104785" d="3337" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> But I do think there are a few </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> principles you would want here. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3108122" d="3537" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> First, you would want very </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> quick and simple gestures. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3111659" d="2202" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> I'm thinking three strokes maximum. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3113861" d="3036" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Second, you don't want to </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> trigger these by accident. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3116897" d="4471" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Okay, I'm not super knowledgeable </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> on </s><s p="3">Star Wars</s><s p="2">, but from what I can tell, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3121368" d="2470" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> there's some sort of </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> mechanism in the lightsabers, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3123838" d="2669" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> where they turn off </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> if you're not gripping them. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3126507" d="2402" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> At least, that's what it </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> looks like in the movies. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3128909" d="2803" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> For example, we know </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> this video isn't canon, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3131712" d="3370" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> because when they knock the </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> lightsaber out of the farmer's hand, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3135082" d="2736" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> it should turn off, but it doesn't. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3137818" d="2770" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> So you would want </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> something similar with gestures. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3140588" d="3937" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Maybe assign a button from your mouse </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> to hold it down when you make a gesture, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3144525" d="1835" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> then let it go the rest of the time? </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3146360" d="1902" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Actually, there are so many functions, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3148262" d="3837" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> you might need a few buttons, </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> or need a mouse that looks like this. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3152099" d="3270" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Oh, and that's not an endorsement </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> of Razer, by the way. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3155369" d="2069" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> In fact, I've been trying to boycott them </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3157438" d="3103" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> ever since they started </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> adding DRM to their mice. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3160541" d="3503" wp="5" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> But maybe this many buttons isn't needed, </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> and right-click and thumb-click </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3164044" d="2269" wp="5" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> could take care of everything </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> they traditionally did, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3166313" d="2336" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> except now with gestures too. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3168649" d="1101" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> I don't know. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3169750" d="2403" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> You'd probably need </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> more than one button though, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3172153" d="3169" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> so a swipe left would mean </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> one thing with button one, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3175322" d="2002" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> and another with button two. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3177324" d="2870" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> You could unlock dozens </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> of functions that way. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3180194" d="2436" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> In fact, I think that's another truth: </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3182630" d="3904" wp="36" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> You need multiple mouse </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> buttons for maximum efficiency. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3186534" d="3103" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> See, I told you I wasn't </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> a fan of Steve Jobs! </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3189637" d="2769" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Now, another problem is </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> like the Windows key, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3192406" d="3670" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> you don't want gestures </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> triggering by accident in a game. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3196076" d="2369" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Now, maybe there's </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> third-party software like this </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3198445" d="2603" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> already on Windows </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> that I don't know about, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3201048" d="3036" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> but I've actually seen a </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> possible solution to that. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3204084" d="2303" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> When I had a SteelSeries mouse, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3206387" d="2636" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> I could assign different </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> functions to the mouse key </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3209023" d="2602" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> depending on what program was active. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3211625" d="4872" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> So if I was inside a video editor, </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> my buttons would trigger editing functions, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3216497" d="4838" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> but if I switched over to a web browser, </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> they would seamlessly do something else. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3221335" d="3270" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Oh, and that's not an endorsement </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> of SteelSeries mice either. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3224605" d="2970" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> My scroll wheel button </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> broke on my last one. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3227575" d="4070" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> The scroll wheel button broke on </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> my SteelSeries mouse before that, too. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3231645" d="3304" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Actually, my scroll wheel button </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> is broken on my current mouse, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3234949" d="4404" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> but I was able to remap it to the DPI </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> button, so it's still hanging in there. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3239353" d="3403" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> But that's my problem; </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> I'm a mutant when it comes to mice. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3242756" d="3370" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> You can watch my birthday video </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> if you want to know more about that. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3246126" d="3971" wp="5" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> The point to all this is we really </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> need software like that standardized, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3250097" d="3737" wp="5" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> so that mouse buttons can do a lot </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> more depending on what you're running. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3253834" d="4738" wp="5" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> I'm not sure if all this is </s><s p="3">the</s><s p="2"> answer, </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> but it seems like it could be. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3258572" d="3504" wp="5" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Mouse gestures combined </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> with smart application detection </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3262076" d="2402" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> could get things done very quickly. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3264478" d="3737" wp="5" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> I mean, maybe there's a good reason </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> the industry isn't really using them, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3268215" d="1001" wp="5" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> I don't know. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3269216" d="2503" wp="5" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Gestures have been around a long time. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3271719" d="3103" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> I remember the Opera browser </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> had them from way back, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3274822" d="4137" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> although I don't use Opera anymore because </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> they switched to a Chromium foundation, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3278959" d="1802" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> which is a problem for me. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3280761" d="5172" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> I currently use Firefox, </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> because once again of the GUI. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3285933" d="2769" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> See, Firefox is one of </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> the last browsers standing </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3288702" d="2903" wp="2" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> to let me disable the tab close button. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3291605" d="2836" wp="2" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> I haven't used those in maybe decades. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3294441" d="4905" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> See, they're not on those early </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> screenshots from 2002 or whenever that was. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3299346" d="3804" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Say I want to open up a bunch </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> of tabs, like some screenshots. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3303150" d="1602" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Fine, I middle-click. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3304752" d="1401" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Open, open, open. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3306153" d="2636" wp="5" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Now I want to browse some, and—oh, darn! </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3308789" d="3270" wp="5" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> I closed one by accident </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> because I hit that stupid button, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3312059" d="2636" wp="5" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> because I'm an imprecise human being! </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3314695" d="3370" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Gee, if only I didn't need </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> that damn button at all, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3318065" d="2803" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> because I can just </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> middle-click to close the tab, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3320868" d="2169" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> and left-click to select it, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3323037" d="3136" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> thus ensuring I never </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> close one by accident, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3326173" d="3103" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="3"> and</s><s p="2"> freeing up more </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> space to read the titles! </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3329276" d="4371" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Plus, the space to click on a tab </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> instead of a close button is wider, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3333647" d="1935" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> so there's more margin for error. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3335582" d="2770" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> This is just a more efficient system. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3338352" d="2970" wp="13" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> I'm not the only person </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> who thinks this, either. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3341322" d="4237" wp="13" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> I've seen threads asking Chrome </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> to add this, to which they've replied, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3345559" d="3070" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> "This is a will-not-fix kind of issue." </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3348629" d="2269" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> And now Opera is doing this too! </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3350898" d="1802" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Now this is much more minor, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3352700" d="5305" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> but again, it feels like the industry </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> is trying to drag me backwards to the past </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3358005" d="1935" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> when it comes to the GUI! </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3359940" d="3203" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Thank god Firefox </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> hasn't done this to me! </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3363143" d="935" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> ...yet! </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3364078" d="2068" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Though, it's given me other problems. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3366146" d="3837" wp="30" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> One of the updates completely </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> broke file associations for me. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3369983" d="4205" wp="30" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Then they updated again, </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> and made it less broken, but not fixed. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3374188" d="2536" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> It remained busted </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> from its original state. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3376724" d="2802" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Then, update after update, no fix. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3379526" d="5372" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Now, to be fair, it did get fixed </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> just recently, which honestly shocked me, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3384898" d="2837" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> but it was still bugged </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> for about six months. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3387735" d="3470" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Stuff like that makes me </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> afraid to click on updates. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3391205" d="4104" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Though problems like this are </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> hardly unique to Firefox. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3395309" d="3537" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Hey, did you know that now Microsoft </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> has stopped supporting Windows 7? </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3398846" d="3003" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> They released one </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> final patch of fixes for it? </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3401849" d="4571" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Except that fix added a new bug </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> which turned people's wallpapers black. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3406420" d="2970" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> So they released a </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> fix for their final fix. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3409390" d="3103" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Except that fix added another new bug, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3412493" d="2502" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> so people couldn't shut </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> down Windows anymore. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3414995" d="1001" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> I haven't kept up </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3415996" d="3971" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> to see whether they've released </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> a fix for the fix for the final fix. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3419967" d="1334" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> With Windows 10, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3421301" d="4905" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Microsoft has made perpetual betas </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> the new standard for computing. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3426206" d="2736" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> There are no stable versions </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> for the user now. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3428942" d="2703" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> It's always a fix for the fix for the fix. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3431645" d="4104" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> That might have something to do with them </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> firing their quality assurance department, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3435749" d="2336" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> and replacing them with AI testing. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3438085" d="5205" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> It blows my mind the industry </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> and just users in general tolerate this, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3443290" d="2636" wp="5" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> but all right, I'm getting </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> way off track now. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3445926" d="1568" wp="5" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Actually, wait, no. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3447494" d="1168" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> As I'm editing this, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3448662" d="5172" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> there's news that Microsoft is replacing </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> its news contractors at MSN with AI also. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3453834" d="1101" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Oh boy(!) </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3454935" d="2135" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> It's a brave new world, guys. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3457070" d="1836" wp="5" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Back to the GUI! </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3458906" d="1034" wp="5" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Uh... </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3459940" d="2603" wp="5" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> All right, I'm winding this up, </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> but before I do that, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3462543" d="3336" wp="5" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> I've been focusing so much </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> on how the GUI functions. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3465879" d="2002" wp="5" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> What about how it looks? </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3467881" d="2336" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Again, Windows is pathetic! </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3470217" d="2369" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> We have different colors, and... </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3472586" d="3170" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> yeah, that's pretty much </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> all you get out of default Windows. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3475756" d="3503" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Now in the past, there have </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> been programs like StyleXP, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3479259" d="1902" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> I think that's dead now... </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3481161" d="4004" wp="5" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> I use this BricoPack thing I've found </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> to make the buttons less ugly, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3485165" d="2803" wp="5" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> and that probably won't </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> work on Windows 10, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3487968" d="4771" wp="5" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> but one of the holdouts that </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> still works, I think, is WindowBlinds. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3492739" d="1669" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Now, in the past, at least, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3494408" d="3970" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> WindowBlinds and a lot of </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> Stardock programs could change a lot, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3498378" d="2536" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> and I have found some promising themes, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3500914" d="3904" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> but I don't know how many of </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> those got updated for Windows 10. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3504818" d="3637" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Plus, there's so much </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> mediocrity out there. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3508455" d="701" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Eh... </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3509423" d="767" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Eh... </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3510491" d="1067" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Eh... </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3511558" d="2369" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Like vanilla Windows itself, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3513927" d="4972" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> so much that's out there looks like </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> four or five out of ten material to me. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3518899" d="2636" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> I mean, yeah, these took time to make, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3521535" d="3804" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> but can you honestly say </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> these themes look almost perfect, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3525339" d="4638" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> and what you would want your computer </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> to look like for the next ten years? </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3529977" d="3336" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Look at this contrast; </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> that's not easy on the eyes! </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3533313" d="2670" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> And why do so many </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> themes have low contrast </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3535983" d="2402" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> between the text and the background? </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3538385" d="1835" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> That's how you get eye strain! </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3540220" d="1935" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Hey, Bach was a great composer, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3542155" d="4038" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> but he went blind because he </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> used crappy WindowsBlinds themes. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3546193" d="3070" wp="37" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Here, I'm adding those to the truth list. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3549263" d="2902" wp="18" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Now, again, I don't know </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> exactly what I want, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3552165" d="3404" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> but I have seen some themes in </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> the past I like more than these, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3555569" d="3470" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> so the potential is there with </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> WindowsBlinds to make something nicer, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3559039" d="2703" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> but good luck finding the right themes. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3561742" d="3003" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> All right, let's talk about </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> other OSs for a minute. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3564745" d="2068" wp="38" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Now, I'm not much of a Mac user. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3566813" d="3237" wp="38" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> They've always cost more, </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> have locked-down hardware, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3570050" d="1835" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> and don't have as many games, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3571885" d="4838" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> but if they had a look I really liked, </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> I'd say that's worth copying. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3576723" d="1936" wp="5" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Well, it's not terrible. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3578659" d="3803" wp="5" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> I'd say the default look is definitely </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> more cohesive than Windows. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3582462" d="3871" wp="5" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> I like some of the icons, </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> like that two-faced smiley guy, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3586333" d="4605" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> but I can't say I like it so much </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> I want to model the GUI after this. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3590938" d="4170" wp="9" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Though obviously I like the look of the </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> dock better than the Windows taskbar. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3595108" d="4738" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Now I haven't used a Mac in a few years, </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> so my knowledge may be a little outdated— </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3599846" d="2103" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Macs have a different way of doing things, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3601949" d="4871" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> but I'd say they have a lot of the same </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> pitfalls as Windows regarding the GUI. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3606820" d="2836" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> They weren't thinking </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> that outside the box. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3609656" d="2870" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> However, I have heard of the Magic Mouse, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3612526" d="3637" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> which seems to be embracing </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> gesture-based navigation. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3616163" d="2302" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> I don't know how successful that's been. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3618465" d="3403" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> I would think that if they </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> did a really good job on that, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3621868" d="2603" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> the tech media would </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> be talking about it more, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3624471" d="2336" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> but I'm operating from ignorance here. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3626807" d="3904" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> If any Mac users want to </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> weigh in on how nice or not nice </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3630711" d="3637" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> the current state of the GUI </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> is on the Mac, let us know. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3634348" d="4738" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> I still can't see myself switching </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> for all the same reasons I've had for... </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3639086" d="1801" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> my whole life pretty much, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3640887" d="2937" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> but that doesn't mean they </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> couldn't be doing some things right, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3643824" d="2636" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> and are worth copying if they are. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3646460" d="1701" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Now what about Linux? </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3648161" d="3671" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Okay, I had to rewrite everything </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> I was going to say about Linux. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3651832" d="3003" wp="5" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> First off, there's no one Linux look. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3654835" d="3103" wp="5" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> There are lots of different </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> flavors and distributions. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3657938" d="3270" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> In the </s><s p="3">past</s><s p="2">, I felt like some </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> of these default themes </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3661208" d="2068" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> were some of the nicest around; </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3663276" d="2937" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> better than what Windows </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> or Mac was coming up with. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3666213" d="2269" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> There was definitely </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> room for improvement, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3668482" d="2435" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> but I liked a lot of what I was seeing. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3670917" d="2770" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Now, I don't know </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> what the hell is going on. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3673687" d="3570" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> I was hoping to show just </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> how great Linux can look, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3677257" d="2236" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> but everything I've found </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> had a problem with it. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3679493" d="3136" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> For starters, I'm not a </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> fan of super dark themes, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3682629" d="2403" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> because if you're browsing </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> the internet or something, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3685032" d="2636" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> you'll inevitably come </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> across something bright, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3687668" d="3003" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> which can hurt your non-adjusted eyes. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3690671" d="2869" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Well, there's a lot of super dark themes. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3693540" d="3504" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> There's also that flat-looking </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> "too much white" stuff. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3697044" d="2636" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Are we copying Windows 10 here? </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3699680" d="4037" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> But most of all, a million themes </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> today seem to have this ugly contrast, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3703717" d="2202" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> where we have a decent theme going on, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3705919" d="3470" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> but then they slap these </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> black bars on the top or bottom, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3709389" d="2970" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> which increases eye strain </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> and hurts readability. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3712359" d="1868" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Why are they doing this? </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3714227" d="4305" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> And of course, there's also some </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> of the super low contrast stuff. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3718532" d="1001" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Eugh. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3719533" d="1535" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Look, I tried. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3721068" d="4437" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Odds are, there </s><s p="3">are</s><s p="2"> really nice </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> looking Linux themes out there, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3725505" d="1135" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> but they're in hiding, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3726640" d="2969" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> and the mainstream stuff </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> doesn't seem to know what it's doing. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3729609" d="3137" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> See, that's one thing that </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="3"> is</s><s p="2"> great about Linux: </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3732746" d="4771" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> These are all desktop environments </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> that sit on top of the OS itself. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3737517" d="2203" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> So if you want to </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> change all the graphics, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3739720" d="3703" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> that's totally cool and it isn't </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> treated like a virus attack. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3743423" d="5773" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> So if you wanted to create the perfect GUI, </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> Linux might be the place to do it. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3749196" d="1601" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> And to add some more positive, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3750797" d="4104" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> for basic things like web </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> browsing or light multimedia, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3754901" d="5406" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Linux is actually super easy to use now, </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> even easier than Windows. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3760307" d="4871" wp="18" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Oh yeah, some people might expect me </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> to add "easy to understand" to the truths? </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3765178" d="2069" wp="18" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> No, that's not one of my truths. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3767247" d="400" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> [pop] </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3767647" d="1669" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> I don't care at all about that. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3769316" d="2669" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> I want whatever makes me a GUI wizard. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3771985" d="1935" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Though, old people might want that one. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3773920" d="701" wp="39" ws="3"><s p="1"></s><s p="6"> Uh! </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3774621" d="4872" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Regardless, for basic things, </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> Linux has that going for it: it's easy. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3779493" d="5205" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> But once you get into intermediate stuff, </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> or specialty functions and programs, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3784698" d="2335" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> I want to say it's </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> inevitable at some point </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3787033" d="3804" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> that you're going to </s><s p="3">have </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> to use the command-line interface. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3790837" d="3704" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> This isn't really the case </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> for Windows or Mac. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3794541" d="3804" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> I've heard some people say the </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> command-line is faster than the GUI. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3798345" d="2169" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> I don't really think that's true. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3800514" d="2469" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> I used the command-line </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> back in the DOS days. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3802983" d="1701" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> I don't miss it at all. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3804684" d="5339" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> I still play DOS games, but man, </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> I use a front end for that crap now. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3810023" d="2870" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Say I want to change a </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> profile for a game I'm running, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3812893" d="3603" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> then change my CPU speed, </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> maybe try a different scaler, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3816496" d="3270" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> turn fullscreen on or off, </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> change the directory... </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3819766" d="1702" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Boom, boom, boom, I'm done. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3821468" d="1635" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> It's just faster. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3823103" d="3170" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Or say I want to select </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> some specific files from a list, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3826273" d="2202" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> then move them to a different directory. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3828475" d="3203" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> I can't see a command-line </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> being faster for that. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3831678" d="1935" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> There are tons of things like this. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3833613" d="2603" wp="5" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Now there might be some </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> scenarios I'm not thinking of </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3836216" d="2536" wp="5" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> where a command-line could beat the GUI, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3838752" d="5138" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> though I'm not sure what that would be </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> if you had a properly optimized front end. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3843890" d="2569" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> And hey, don't forget the travel time! </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3846459" d="4138" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> But, assuming the command </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> line is faster at some things, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3850597" d="2903" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> I still don't think that means </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> the command-line is better. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3853500" d="3503" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> It means the current GUI is </s><s p="3">worse</s><s p="2">. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3857003" d="4772" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> It's inefficient and unoptimized, </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> which is the whole point of this video! </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3861775" d="2002" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> It needs to be better! </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3863777" d="2869" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> All right, I may upset </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> some people, but whatever. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3866646" d="2736" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> I don't want to </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> stereotype all Linux users, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3869382" d="5039" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> but I think people will agree there's a </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> significant portion of the Linux community </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3874421" d="2369" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> that see the GUI as the enemy, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3876790" d="3770" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> and the command-line as </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> the end-all answer to </s><s p="3">everything</s><s p="2">. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3880560" d="3971" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> You can pry the command-line </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> away from their cold dead hands, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3884531" d="3437" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> and Linux development </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> can reflect that sometimes. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3887968" d="2736" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> In fact, while making this video, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3890704" d="3370" wp="27" ws="2"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> I ran into this comic </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> completely by coincidence, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3894074" d="3370" wp="27" ws="2"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> and it kind of sums up </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> what I'm talking about. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3897444" d="3603" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> So with this obsession </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> by </s><s p="3">some</s><s p="2"> Linux users, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3901047" d="4305" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> I'm not sure we're going to see </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> the perfect GUI emerge on Linux. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3905352" d="1334" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Though, we could. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3906686" d="1535" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> No matter how you slice it, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3908221" d="4304" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Linux is </s><s p="3">not</s><s p="2"> stopping the </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> march of progress of the GUI, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3912525" d="2103" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> and Microsoft </s><s p="3">is</s><s p="2">, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3914628" d="1901" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> so the potential's there. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3916529" d="3237" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> But just to illustrate what I'm </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> talking about, let me give an example: </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3919766" d="3937" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Normally, the GUI requires you </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> to go through all these sub-menus, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3923703" d="5372" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> press the right tab, double-click, </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> press checkboxes in the right locations... </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3929075" d="2403" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> For sure, all that can bog you down. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3931478" d="1401" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> It can get so bad, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3932879" d="3237" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> I completely understand why </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> some people say, "hell with it," </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3936116" d="1935" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> and just type out what they want. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3938051" d="2836" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Well, what if instead of </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> all that, I just hit a button, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3940887" d="2669" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> then options came up </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> where my mouse cursor was, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3943556" d="2670" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> and one of them was a </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> broader category I wanted. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3946226" d="4504" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Then, as soon as I move to that direction, </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> I can move to another sub-menu wheel, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3950730" d="1769" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> until I got to where I wanted. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3952499" d="3336" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> If I needed more options, </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> I can maybe have multiple layers. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3955835" d="3537" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Or maybe different buttons </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> would bring up different wheel options. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3959372" d="2836" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> That could give us hundreds </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> of options right there. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3962208" d="2403" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Then, if I knew what I was doing, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3964611" d="3236" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> I could just bring up the menu </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> then go zoop, zoop, zoop, done. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3967847" d="3437" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> I could be as fast as Zorro carving a "Z". </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3971284" d="2836" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> That's how you become </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> faster than the command-line: </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3974120" d="3771" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> by being able to launch hundreds of </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> different options in under a second. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3977891" d="5038" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> We don't really have this or something </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> even better in standard GUIs today. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3982929" d="1969" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> At least, not how I'm envisioning it. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3984898" d="2903" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> And remember, I am not an expert— </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3987801" d="5238" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> this is just an idea I had off the cuff </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> that I could imagine flowing very rapidly. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3993039" d="2870" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> There's probably even </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> better ideas out there! </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3995909" d="2536" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> I think people who swear </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> by the command-line </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="3998445" d="4905" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> may have trouble imagining an interface </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="3"> much</s><s p="2"> better than what we have now. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="4003350" d="2602" wp="5" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Okay, I spoke too soon. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="4005952" d="2036" wp="5" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> I found this out at the last minute. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="4007988" d="1968" wp="5" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Apparently, MakuluLinux has something </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="4009956" d="2870" wp="5" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> extremely similar to </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> what I was thinking of, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="4012826" d="3837" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> but it looks like it wasn't </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> optimized for speed and functionality. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="4016663" d="3003" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> See, look, that's </s><s p="3">way</s><s p="2"> too </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> many options per wheel. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="4019666" d="3470" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> When there's that many, you can't just </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> flick your mouse in the general direction </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="4023136" d="1635" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> you want to make things happen. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="4024771" d="3604" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> You have to slow down and </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> carefully select what you want. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="4028375" d="3903" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> That means we're back to </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> helicopters and not planes again, guys. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="4032278" d="2570" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> You lose all your speed when that happens. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="4034848" d="3770" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> This wobble effect makes it even </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> harder to click on your target, too. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="4038618" d="1068" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> That's no good. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="4039686" d="4004" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Plus, look at how huge a gap there is </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> between the menu in the icons. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="4043690" d="2202" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> That travel time is too high. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="4045892" d="1235" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> This needs work. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="4047127" d="4104" wp="9" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> However, I feel like I'm unfairly </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> trashing a prototype here. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="4051231" d="4571" wp="9" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Big props to MakuluLinux for at </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> least attempting something better. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="4055802" d="4204" wp="9" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> We need a </s><s p="3">lot</s><s p="2"> more experimentation </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> like this to get something good. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="4060006" d="1001" wp="9" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> I feel dumb. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="4061007" d="3237" wp="9" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> I had no idea this </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> even existed until now. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="4064244" d="4504" wp="9" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> See, this is what happens when a </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> non-expert realizes there's a problem, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="4068748" d="2770" wp="9" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> and most of the industry </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> is asleep at the wheel. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="4071518" d="1835" wp="9" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> All right, time to wrap things up. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="4073353" d="4938" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Now, believe it or not, I did not </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> make this video to trash Microsoft. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="4078291" d="1702" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> That's just unavoidable. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="4079993" d="2669" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> No, I made this as a cry for help. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="4082662" d="5539" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Windows 10 is looming on the horizon, </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> and it's coming to chop my hands off. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="4088201" d="4071" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> It wants to undo all the </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> progress I've had with the GUI, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="4092272" d="2035" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> and I don't know what I'm gonna do. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="4094307" d="1602" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="4"> What am I gonna do?! </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="4095909" d="1468" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Yeah, I don't know! </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="4097377" d="2269" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> I'm really not taking this well. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="4099646" d="4037" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> But I can't be the first person </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> to be thinking like this. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="4103683" d="3804" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> There has to be some </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> unsung GUI genius out there </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="4107487" d="4438" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> who's even more frustrated than I am, </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> and has more of the answers. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="4111925" d="3503" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> You know how in role-playing games </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> where you customize your character? </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="4115428" d="3837" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Some people are </s><s p="3">really </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> good at optimizing them? </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="4119265" d="1902" wp="9" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> They'll figure out some bizarre combo </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="4121167" d="3437" wp="9" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> that amounts to five times the </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> damage you would normally get? </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="4124604" d="3604" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> I feel like GUI design </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> is a lot of the same thing. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="4128208" d="2669" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Instead of balancing </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> your offense and defense, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="4130877" d="3937" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> you're balancing efficiency and </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> not triggering things by accident. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="4134814" d="3537" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> So this video is a search </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> for the GUI masters. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="4138351" d="2703" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Now that you've watched it, </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> you know where I'm coming from. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="4141054" d="1501" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> I could have made it shorter, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="4142555" d="2102" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> but if I had done that, </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> then people would have said, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="4144657" d="3471" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> "Oh, just use Classic shell. </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> Problem solved!" </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="4148128" d="1701" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> and not seen the bigger picture. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="4149829" d="1835" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> That would be depressing. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="4151664" d="4171" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Out of the spectrum of magnificent </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> possibilities for the GUI, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="4155835" d="5639" wp="18" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Microsoft has shifted the range of </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> acceptable thought to this tiny sliver. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="4161474" d="2770" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> It's like watching a dream die. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="4164244" d="4537" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> So, I'm seeking out the GUI masters, </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> because I think they're out there, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="4168781" d="2737" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> and maybe their knowledge </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> can benefit us all. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="4171518" d="2202" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> I'm looking for three things: </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="4173720" d="3870" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> First, show me your </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> vision of the perfect GUI. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="4177590" d="3537" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Pretend Windows doesn't exist, </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> and you can do anything. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="4181127" d="4838" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> I at least want to know what GUI utopia </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> looks like, and what to aim for. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="4185965" d="3170" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> This could be a mock-up, </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> some sketches, anything. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="4189135" d="2669" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> How are we launching </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> programs, hiding them, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="4191804" d="3971" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> resizing, closing, </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> organizing files, whatever. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="4195775" d="1168" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Let's see it. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="4196943" d="4638" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Show us your brilliance, and how </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> the industry, especially Microsoft, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="4201581" d="4438" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> should be ashamed of itself </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> that it's so far behind! </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="4206019" d="1568" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Shame! </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="4207587" d="5038" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Second, what's the closest </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> we can get to an ideal GUI today? </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="4212625" d="3871" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Windows is not going to let us </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> achieve the GUI dream. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="4216496" d="1568" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> That much is clear. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="4218064" d="3670" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> But we can chip away at it </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> and get a little closer, at least. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="4221734" d="3637" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Now, I do know about some </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> programs as a starting point here. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="4225371" d="4538" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> First off, Stardock has partially </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> cornered the market on this sort of thing. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="4229909" d="2069" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> I mentioned some of their stuff already, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="4231978" d="4137" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> but they also have Fences, which, </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> I don't know if that's going to be ideal, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="4236115" d="2736" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> but I'm going to want </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> those icons off the desktop, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="4238851" d="2536" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> so this may be my only route for that. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="4241387" d="4505" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> I've heard of Rainmeter, which I never </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> bothered learning since I had LiteStep, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="4245892" d="3603" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> but it should be good for adding </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> my little drive space labels back. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="4249495" d="1502" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Circle Dock: </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="4250997" d="3036" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> I'm almost certainly </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> going to start using this, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="4254033" d="2369" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> even though I don't know how, yet. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="4256402" d="5139" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> I feel like this one in particular is </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> getting us closer to GUI evolution. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="4261541" d="1435" wp="5" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> You just press a button, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="4262976" d="3903" wp="5" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> and shortcuts come up wherever </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> you are to whatever you want, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="4266879" d="2870" wp="5" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> and they're relatively </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> big and easy to click. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="4269749" d="2836" wp="5" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> This could maybe replace </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> my primary shortcuts, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="4272585" d="1902" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> though it would be more chaotic. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="4274487" d="3270" wp="5" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> I'd like multiple wheels like </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> this for different categories. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="4277757" d="2870" wp="5" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> See, even Circle Dock </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> may not be enough for me! </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="4280627" d="2202" wp="5" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> I need Circle Dock steroids! </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="4282829" d="2469" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Also, I'm not sure </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> how to get this working, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="4285298" d="2869" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="3"> and</s><s p="2"> turn it off when I'm running games. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="4288167" d="3504" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Again, we're going to need some </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> equivalent of that SteelSeries software, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="4291671" d="2703" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> where if program "X" is the active window, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="4294374" d="3236" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> then disable "Y" function, </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> that sort of thing. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="4297610" d="901" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> But yeah, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="4298511" d="5405" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> my stumbling intuition tells me more </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> software like StrokesPlus and Circle Dock </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="4303916" d="2136" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> is the path to the future. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="4306052" d="3070" wp="5" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> We have the potential to be so slick! </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="4309122" d="1935" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> I know it's out there! </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="4311057" d="2336" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Now there are a lot of </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> Start menu replacements, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="4313393" d="3136" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> but I'm not sure any of them let you </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> bring up the menu anywhere, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="4316529" d="1769" wp="5" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> like LiteStep does now. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="4318298" d="2035" wp="5" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> So I may just have to deal with it. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="4320333" d="1501" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> So thanks, Windows. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="4321834" d="1035" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Thanks. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="4322869" d="3270" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Now, knowing what software </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> to use is only half the battle. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="4326139" d="5071" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> What the best themes or configurations for </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> them are can take forever to figure out. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="4331210" d="1535" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> I don't want just options, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="4332745" d="3704" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> I want to know what are some of the </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> best methods for navigating the computer. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="4336449" d="1969" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Hey, I mentioned mouse gestures. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="4338418" d="1968" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> What are the best combos for that? </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="4340386" d="4104" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> See, that's tricky, because anybody </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> can come up with </s><s p="3">a</s><s p="2"> system, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="4344490" d="2369" wp="5" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> but a well thought-out </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> one that's efficient, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="4346859" d="3471" wp="5" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> where the most common functions </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> are the easiest and feel natural, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="4350330" d="2302" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> and you're less inclined </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> to trigger the wrong ones? </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="4352632" d="1735" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Ugh, that's hard. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="4354367" d="1935" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> I don't even want to think about that. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="4356302" d="2536" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> It's almost like we're </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> literally having to come up </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="4358838" d="2803" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> with a martial art style for the computer. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="4361641" d="1668" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> I'll do it if I have to, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="4363309" d="4004" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> but I'd really prefer not to have to </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> figure out my own half-assed style, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="4367313" d="4271" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> and instead just learn karate </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> from some GUI Mr. Miyagi out there, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="4371584" d="5973" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> but that would require GUI karate </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> to exist, which it may or may not. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="4377557" d="1434" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> It's the wrong year! </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="4378991" d="1435" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> We're too early! </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="4380426" d="3404" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Now, there are programs </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> like Winstep and Cairo Shell, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="4383830" d="2636" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> but they don't strike me </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> as GUI masterpieces, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="4386466" d="1935" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> so I'll probably pass on those. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="4388401" d="2936" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> I'm sure there's more stuff </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> out there I'm not familiar with. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="4391337" d="3437" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> It's a long, dark road </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> trying to figure all this out. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="4394774" d="6139" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> And hey, I'm focused on Windows, </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> because, surprise, I'm part of that 96.8%, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="4400913" d="2770" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> but if you're on Linux and </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> think you have all the answers, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="4403683" d="2869" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> and they're not the command-line, </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> then let's hear them! </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="4406552" d="1869" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Yeah, there's a challenge for you! </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="4408421" d="3103" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Make Windows look bad, literally. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="4411524" d="2603" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> So that's what I want </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> from the GUI masters. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="4414127" d="1968" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> But there's one last thing I want to see </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="4416095" d="3270" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> that you don't need to be a </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> master to help out with. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="4419365" d="3137" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Maybe you don't know where </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> to start when designing a GUI, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="4422502" d="3303" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> but you do know what </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> you think looks good. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="4425805" d="1335" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> So let's see it! </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="4427140" d="4170" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Let's see screenshots of your </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> favorite GUIs, they can be from anywhere. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="4431310" d="3137" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Stuff that has nice color usage, patterns… </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="4434447" d="4304" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> I mean, what a concept: </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> an interface that's pleasant to look at! </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="4438751" d="3103" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Or hey, what are the nicest </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> looking icons out there? </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="4441854" d="2069" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> What fonts look the best? </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="4443923" d="4671" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> That stuff has a surprisingly </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> large impact and how a GUI feels. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="4448594" d="2436" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Just what should we be imitating? </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="4451030" d="1668" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Now this is highly subjective, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="4452698" d="2703" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> because different people are </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> going to like different things, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="4455401" d="1668" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> but whatever people come up with </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="4457069" d="4038" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> I'm betting will far and away </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> look better than default Windows, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="4461107" d="2035" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> so you almost can't lose. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="4463142" d="2469" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> So, where do you submit this stuff? </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="4465611" d="3204" wp="9" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Well, you can always email </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> me about anything in this video, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="4468815" d="2602" wp="9" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> but I'm not looking to </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> hoard the knowledge here, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="4471417" d="3270" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> and I think a lot of people might </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> benefit from this being public. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="4474687" d="3303" wp="40" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> So I've set up a thread in my forums </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> where you can post information, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="4477990" d="3904" wp="40" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> and it can serve as a resource for </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> anyone else frustrated with the GUI. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="4481894" d="4204" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> I can't be the only person who's </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> sick of Windows, that's impossible! </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="4486098" d="3037" wp="13" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Now, I don't care if you </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> sign up for my forums or not, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="4489135" d="3603" wp="13" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> it's just that then I can guarantee </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> the information will stay up there. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="4492738" d="3804" wp="13" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> But if you don't want to do that, </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> there's also an Accursed Farms Reddit, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="4496542" d="2403" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> though I'm not actually in charge of that. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="4498945" d="3870" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> I mean, you </s><s p="3">can</s><s p="2"> try to post something </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> important in the YouTube comments </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="4502815" d="1235" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> if you really want to, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="4504050" d="2903" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> but that's a little like </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> putting a note in a bottle at sea, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="4506953" d="2435" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> and hoping it reaches the right person. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="4509388" d="3204" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Oh, and before I finish, </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> I mentioned my email address— </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="4512592" d="3003" wp="9" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> what's the nicest looking email interface? </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="4515595" d="3303" wp="9" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> See, I can't stop, the GUI </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> pervades everything! </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="4518898" d="2970" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> I use Gmail, which allows </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> some minimal customization </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="4521868" d="2302" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> if you're not using the official themes. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="4524170" d="2135" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> They have this pretty nice pixel art theme </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="4526305" d="3604" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> that makes me think of a bright, </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> sunny day in some 8-bit racer, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="4529909" d="1668" wp="5" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> but then it would switch to night on me </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="4531577" d="2703" wp="5" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> when I didn't want it to, </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> so I stopped using it. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="4534280" d="3937" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> I love the idea of a GUI making me </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> think I'm in a nice-looking game. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="4538217" d="2670" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Stuff like that can make </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> you more productive. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="4540887" d="4604" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Is there a third-party email client </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> that has really nice themes like that? </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="4545491" d="3604" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> A lot of people use email, </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> I'm sure plenty of them would be happy </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="4549095" d="3403" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> to feel like they're in their </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> favorite game when they go through it. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="4552498" d="2770" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> We need a good GUI for everything! </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="4555268" d="1668" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Everything! </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="4556936" d="1201" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> And that's it. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="4558137" d="2069" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> I hope we find answers. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="4560206" d="734" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> To be honest, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="4560940" d="3537" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> I'm not sure we're ever gonna make it </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> to the promised land with the GUI </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="4564477" d="5005" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> as long as Microsoft and Google exist, </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> but we can still try. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="4569482" d="1868" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> And to end things, while making this, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="4571350" d="3037" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> I stumbled onto a quote </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> that's just too perfect: </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="4574387" d="4237" p="7" wp="1" ws="1">"Man must shape his tools
lest they shape him."</p><p t="4578624" d="2670" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Wow, if that isn't what this is all about. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="4581294" d="2702" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> We've all been shaped a little too much. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="4583996" d="1969" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> I felt kind of crazy making this, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="4585965" d="4271" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> since I went on a long time about </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> something almost nobody talks about, </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="4590236" d="4037" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> but there's just too many observations </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> for me to be completely crazy. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="4594273" d="4038" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> So I'm only half-crazy </s><s p="1">
</s><s p="2"> at worst on this, guys. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="4598311" d="1401" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> Half. </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="4599712" d="1735" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> [Subtitles by Erasmus Magnus] </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="4601447" d="21588" wp="1" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> ♪♪ </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="4624036" d="13614" wp="18" ws="1"><s p="1"></s><s p="2"> [ominous music] </s><s p="1"></s></p><p t="4989" d="100" p="8" wp="41" ws="3"></p></body></timedtext>

 
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