A Response...
First, go and read this: http://ludwigkeck.wordpress.com/2013/07/14/windows-8-1-importing-photos/
Now, I'm not saying that much of what he's saying here isn't valid, I just think he's not looking at things the same way I am, and the same way I suspect Microsoft is.
The fact is that Microsoft did decide to remove some features from Windows 8 and 8.1. But that doesn't mean that they didn't think about what they were doing.
The more I make use of this device, the more I realize that it is, very likely, a far more user friendly system than even Mac - which might frighten the folks in Cupertino if Microsoft's own loyalists weren't busy bashing an OS that has a ton of potential (this coming from a former Mac user - hence this blog). Apple doesn't even have to respond to Windows 8 because they see it as a non-issue because of the public response to it.
Much like the iPad, this is simply a point and touch device, but with so much more ability than the iPad currently has, minus some of the battery life.
Okay, I'm going off topic here...
The above referenced article is from the point of view of photo handling. From somebody who would probably fit into the Prosumer category, I am very familiar with photography software available on the Mac, including Aperture and Lightroom. Both of these are very passable photo management and editing softwares designed for the pro and prosumer market. These pieces of software are, quite literally, the new enlargers of our time. While Photoshop allows you to manipulate an image into something like digital art, the two aforementioned products focus on turning what's in the frame into something amazing.
When you buy a new Apple product, it comes with iPhoto installed for you. While iPhoto doesn't have the power of Lightroom or Aperture, it does allow for some basic development options like brightness, exposure, color enhancement, cropping and more. It's incredibly robust for being included with every Mac.
As somebody who worked doing on-site technical consulting, with a specialty in Mac, I can tell you that 95% of the people I ran into used iPhoto as a photo album and never once touched the adjustment controls, or if they did, they touched brightness and saturation.
While Windows 8 didn't give us ANY options for edits, 8.1 does allow for some basic edits to be performed. As I stated before in this blog, the touch interface for those changes is brilliant.
For the person who needs more controls, there's Adobe Photoshop Express, which is free from the Windows Store. It fills in many of the gaps between what Gallery can do and what iPhoto can do.
Now the biggest disappointment with Photoshop Express for this particular user is that they do not seem to have RAW support built in. It doesn't appear as though it's something for me to download either. The Gallery software, on the other hand, can read RAW files and allows you to make changes to them - once they're saved, they're JPGs, but the original RAW file remains on the system.
Again, unless your a professional or a serious hobbyist you're likely not shooting RAW and may not even know what I'm talking about. Both Photoshop Express and Windows 8.1 gallery work well with JPG files and other, more standard, file types.
So, in a very round about way, what I'm trying to say (while also trying to keep my eyes open) is that Microsoft likely made the decision to keep editing to a minimum because they know that the people who really need those kinds of tools are the ones who will go out and pay for them anyway.
I will say it again, Microsoft has taken a risk with the release of a new paradigm for computing. The problem with such risk is that people don't like change. Mac OS X looks unchanged since the early 2000s, and even before that you had a very similar setup and look from the very beginning. HD on the desktop, trash icon and a file system that largely remains unchanged in appearance.
Windows 95 through Windows 7 had the same soul. Start button, desktop, My Computer... It was also largely unchanged for a huge chunk of time.
Stop looking for the things that are missing and you may find that you don't actually miss them at all.
A week and a half in, and I'm amazed I'm not pulling my hair out and bashing my head against a brick wall.
To date, the Lenovo IdeaPad Yoga 11s is probably the best computer I've owned since my PowerBook 145b in 1993 (which I still own and which still works).
That said, there's still a lot of time left in this experiment, so I guess we'll see where things end up...
Now, I'm not saying that much of what he's saying here isn't valid, I just think he's not looking at things the same way I am, and the same way I suspect Microsoft is.
The fact is that Microsoft did decide to remove some features from Windows 8 and 8.1. But that doesn't mean that they didn't think about what they were doing.
The more I make use of this device, the more I realize that it is, very likely, a far more user friendly system than even Mac - which might frighten the folks in Cupertino if Microsoft's own loyalists weren't busy bashing an OS that has a ton of potential (this coming from a former Mac user - hence this blog). Apple doesn't even have to respond to Windows 8 because they see it as a non-issue because of the public response to it.
Much like the iPad, this is simply a point and touch device, but with so much more ability than the iPad currently has, minus some of the battery life.
Okay, I'm going off topic here...
The above referenced article is from the point of view of photo handling. From somebody who would probably fit into the Prosumer category, I am very familiar with photography software available on the Mac, including Aperture and Lightroom. Both of these are very passable photo management and editing softwares designed for the pro and prosumer market. These pieces of software are, quite literally, the new enlargers of our time. While Photoshop allows you to manipulate an image into something like digital art, the two aforementioned products focus on turning what's in the frame into something amazing.
When you buy a new Apple product, it comes with iPhoto installed for you. While iPhoto doesn't have the power of Lightroom or Aperture, it does allow for some basic development options like brightness, exposure, color enhancement, cropping and more. It's incredibly robust for being included with every Mac.
As somebody who worked doing on-site technical consulting, with a specialty in Mac, I can tell you that 95% of the people I ran into used iPhoto as a photo album and never once touched the adjustment controls, or if they did, they touched brightness and saturation.
While Windows 8 didn't give us ANY options for edits, 8.1 does allow for some basic edits to be performed. As I stated before in this blog, the touch interface for those changes is brilliant.
For the person who needs more controls, there's Adobe Photoshop Express, which is free from the Windows Store. It fills in many of the gaps between what Gallery can do and what iPhoto can do.
Now the biggest disappointment with Photoshop Express for this particular user is that they do not seem to have RAW support built in. It doesn't appear as though it's something for me to download either. The Gallery software, on the other hand, can read RAW files and allows you to make changes to them - once they're saved, they're JPGs, but the original RAW file remains on the system.
Again, unless your a professional or a serious hobbyist you're likely not shooting RAW and may not even know what I'm talking about. Both Photoshop Express and Windows 8.1 gallery work well with JPG files and other, more standard, file types.
So, in a very round about way, what I'm trying to say (while also trying to keep my eyes open) is that Microsoft likely made the decision to keep editing to a minimum because they know that the people who really need those kinds of tools are the ones who will go out and pay for them anyway.
I will say it again, Microsoft has taken a risk with the release of a new paradigm for computing. The problem with such risk is that people don't like change. Mac OS X looks unchanged since the early 2000s, and even before that you had a very similar setup and look from the very beginning. HD on the desktop, trash icon and a file system that largely remains unchanged in appearance.
Windows 95 through Windows 7 had the same soul. Start button, desktop, My Computer... It was also largely unchanged for a huge chunk of time.
Stop looking for the things that are missing and you may find that you don't actually miss them at all.
A week and a half in, and I'm amazed I'm not pulling my hair out and bashing my head against a brick wall.
To date, the Lenovo IdeaPad Yoga 11s is probably the best computer I've owned since my PowerBook 145b in 1993 (which I still own and which still works).
That said, there's still a lot of time left in this experiment, so I guess we'll see where things end up...
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