The problem with the desktop is the way users spit their metaphoric dummy/pacifiers out if something like that changes behavior.

I was resistant myself to the change on the start menu with Vista. I was so used to spending 10 minutes finding the shortcut I wanted that I was stuck in denial that, in fact, its so much faster to type the name of what you want and have it show up in seconds. Now if me as a technical person had that problem, how does the average user respond?

I have in fact been trying to convince my less technical friends that the new start menu is the best thing since sliced bread. They however just utter “I don’t like it” without bothering to try to get used to it.

How can I convince them its all good?
I myself only “got it” after using Linux extensively as my primary OS (I already had been used it for web development and router tasks for many years but rarely desktop use) as I was so used to running things from the terminal I found I couldn’t stand the chore of searching the start menu for the application link I wanted anymore.

Yet, how many users even use the start menu? I think the majority use the desktop for the same speed reasons I like the new start menu. So you can see why changing the desktop is an even bigger issue for most people. No matter how cluttered it gets, most people seem to think the desktop is where “everything goes”.

The number of times people get stuck because “its not on the desktop” baffles me. People still seem to be afraid that their PC will blow up if they click the wrong thing, when all it takes is to actually pay attention to what the computer tells you and always choose the NO option if in doubt, instead of YES which people seem to do because they convince themselves its all a lot more complicated than it really is. If people were more comfortable saying NO then they would no longer be as afraid of clicking the wrong option, as anything that can screw up the PC usually quite plainly asks you if you are sure you want to do it in the first place.

I can only imagine how well the Windows 7 taskbar is going to go down with average users. Even I have switched the text back on, icons are just not intuitive enough and I keep getting caught out by window/desktop peek as I rollover to find the Window I want, think “thats the one” then immediately try to move the cursor into the Window to use it – then it disappears because DOH, I need to click the THUMBNAIL version first! I already think that is going to get old fast and I will be looking to change the default behavior or turning it off entirely if I can’t.

However my biggest objection to the changes is the sidebar being taken away. What on earth were they thinking? I can only hope it will make a comeback at retail.

I had JUST started to use the sidebar and write my own gadget for it on my new Vista laptop, only for them to take it away. I simply cannot imagine ANY gadget that is useful to have sat OVER the active window. I had always figured the point of the sidebar was to utilise the otherwise dead-space you have on a widescreen monitor, because the most common activities do not need all that horizontal resolution. So it makes perfect sense to steal 150 pixels of it and prevent Windows from maximising over it, so that you can always see your gadgets. Dead useful for e-mail reminders, eBay, RSS feeds, WiFi status, Battery status – all things you might want to keep an eye on without having to keep dedicated applications (such as your web browser) open for.

As it stands in Windows 7 RC however the fact you can’t stop Windows maximising under/over your gadgets makes them useless or at the very least, they hinder what you are doing in your applications.

For example in Firefox my gadget ends up sat over the search bar, minimise/maximise and close buttons. Sure there are keyboard shortcuts for those actions but even me, a technically minded person, neglect to use/remember them. Keyboard shortcuts are very much like the changes to the start menu for most users, they simply do not want to have to learn something new so if something hinders their ability to use the icons, they aren’t happy at all. Now sure, I can move my gadget further down but then things are even worse as then its sat over the scroll bar, again one of the most used part of the screen when browsing web pages. The scroll wheel is all very well but not everyone has one and it also causes major RSI/cramp if I use it too much, so I still like the click/drag the scroll bar a lot of the time.

So you can see how even small changes can have a huge impact on most users, even when they aren’t deeply stupid changes like removing the sidebar. (which ironically probably wont effect most users as I think the majority of people turn it off because like you said, Microsoft did not exactly sell that feature well)

He’s a better link regarding the tray misnomer: . Raymond Chen is a Microsoft stalwart who regularly blogs about these kinds of odd little things.