Win8 user experience tested by Jakob Nielsen

Sorry Geoff, but I think your blog misrepresents Jakob Nielsen's review of Windows 8.

To take just a few points:

• You answer Jakob's points by quoting Don Norman saying: "Windows 8 is brilliant" but Don Norman doesn't really offer any specific explanation of why it's brilliant.  It's just brilliant.  That hardly undermines Jakob's issues.
• Jakob points out that Windows no longer supports multiple Windows.  Now it's quite clear to me he was referring to Metro, so saying that the desktop is still there is right, but doesn't counter Jakob's point. 
  
• You're quite right to point out that Metro allows 2 non-overlapping windows (if only you can figure out how to do it).  On my W7 desktop I currently have 21 windows open, including 10 browser windows, each with several tabs. 
  
• You cite Scott Barnes who criticises Jakob with comments about him being "stuck in the past", or "he is kind of saying 'it’s changed, I don’t like it'", or "I won’t bother remarking too much on these areas".  

Hmm... I think I'll stick with Jakob Nielsen's arguments which were explained from UI principles rather than Scott Barnes' generally empty or ad hominem arguments.

I read a lot of promotional reviews for Windows 8 along the lines of "It's new, exciting and different" (as though that somehow makes it good) and "Critics are just so 20th Century".  Oh, how profound!

Just to be clear, it's not you I'm criticising here, Geoff (though I don't agree with you), it's the comments from Don Norman and Scott Barnes, which seem to be a bit light-weight compared to those of Jakob Neilsen.

--
Simon