Windows 10: Now the dust is settling from yesterday...

Color me disappointed. With all the hype about a big announcement on the 21st, I fully expected we'd be offered the latest build of the Technical Preview. Instead, I had to dig through comments by visiting techies to learn that won't happen until sometime next week.

One critic said Microsoft's problem is that it has raised mediocrity to an art form. But let's look at this article before I resume my rant, because I want to address a couple of points brought up in it...

Windows 7 is still the most popular flavor, but not because it's the best - just because it costs a lot of money for an enterprise to switch software and/or hardware to a new system. Windows 8 kicks the shit out of Windows 7,  and there's nothing wrong with it that a couple of third-party add-ons won't cure, and I know because I've done it.

My Windows 8 has had the Windows 7 style gadgets and sidebar almost since 'Day One', and to solve all that crying about the Start Button, all you need do is make a couple of shortcuts to your C:\Windows\System32\shutdown.exe for Shutdown and Restart, and put them with the rest on your Desktop. In case you're too lazy to "read the directions" and find the built-in ones via the Charms from the right-hand margin. Windows isn't some kind of puzzle you have to solve, but it isn't idiot-proof either. You do need some basic knowledge of how it works, and where to find the goodies. So don't be afraid to read directions or do a quick Google Search for an answer, and you'd be surprised at what you can now learn with a well-worded question in Google Search.

I'm impressed at the space-age possibilities ballyhoo'd yesterday, but I have to wonder how much of that your average semi-computer-literate user will really get comfy with and actually use in everyday surfing and emailing and getting the latest news and gossip from USA Today or News Bento. Microsoft invented that Cortana personal assistant because that "average user" needs someone to hold their hand and remind them where they left their notes and mail and coffee and when to call home for more instructions. If you doubt the intelligence level of that "average user" you should read some comments in support forums. Some of those poor bastards were not only born stupid, they've been steadily losing ground ever since! Or, as my American cousin puts it, "Have you ever looked at someone and wondered who ties their shoelaces?"

So yes, virtual reality is very nice, but first we need more actual intelligence and more computer literacy.