Power icon only for laptops/UPS

Why on earth has Microsoft taken it upon itself to remove the power
icon in Vista except for laptops and desktops with UPS systems?

I have always used the icon to quickly switch between different power
plans, so that "always-on" desktops can be put in low-power mode when
no user interaction is required.

I understand that switching off, or hibernating, would be the ideal
solution, but if the machine does work over night, that's not an
option. The power icon makes it easy to save power under this
scenario. Isn't Microsoft supposed to be promoting energy efficiency?
Not much sign of it in Vista.

Maybe they'll say "Oh, we thought people just used the power icon for
looking at the battery on laptops". It's exactly this kind of second-
guessing which is driving me insane in Microsoft software of late. The
new slogan appears to be "where do we want you to go today?" Nanny
knows best! The more I use Vista, the more useful features I find that
have been removed or disabled, presumably "for my own good".

Lord

You can simply create a shortcut to the Power Options component and place it
on the Start Menu, Desktop, Quick Launch Toolbar, or........

Right click the shortcut, select Properties and give it a Keyboard Shortcut.

You can also Select Start, type pow in the Search Box and press Enter.

Usually, the changes you see in a new operating system are based on
feedback. You can express your opinion here:

Vista Product Feedback:
https://feedback.windowsvista.micros...ctkey=winvista


--

Ronnie Vernon
Microsoft MVP
Windows Desktop Experience


"LordLiverpool" <> wrote in message
news:4fe99e66-71be-43d0-bc80-...
> Why on earth has Microsoft taken it upon itself to remove the power
> icon in Vista except for laptops and desktops with UPS systems?
>
> I have always used the icon to quickly switch between different power
> plans, so that "always-on" desktops can be put in low-power mode when
> no user interaction is required.
>
> I understand that switching off, or hibernating, would be the ideal
> solution, but if the machine does work over night, that's not an
> option. The power icon makes it easy to save power under this
> scenario. Isn't Microsoft supposed to be promoting energy efficiency?
> Not much sign of it in Vista.
>
> Maybe they'll say "Oh, we thought people just used the power icon for
> looking at the battery on laptops". It's exactly this kind of second-
> guessing which is driving me insane in Microsoft software of late. The
> new slogan appears to be "where do we want you to go today?" Nanny
> knows best! The more I use Vista, the more useful features I find that
> have been removed or disabled, presumably "for my own good".

It's a conspiracy, I tell you..... a Conspiracy!

http://www.tfhp.org/images/tinfoil-hat.jpg



"LordLiverpool" <> wrote in message
news:4fe99e66-71be-43d0-bc80-...
> Why on earth has Microsoft taken it upon itself to remove the power
> icon in Vista except for laptops and desktops with UPS systems?
>
> I have always used the icon to quickly switch between different power
> plans, so that "always-on" desktops can be put in low-power mode when
> no user interaction is required.
>
> I understand that switching off, or hibernating, would be the ideal
> solution, but if the machine does work over night, that's not an
> option. The power icon makes it easy to save power under this
> scenario. Isn't Microsoft supposed to be promoting energy efficiency?
> Not much sign of it in Vista.
>
> Maybe they'll say "Oh, we thought people just used the power icon for
> looking at the battery on laptops". It's exactly this kind of second-
> guessing which is driving me insane in Microsoft software of late. The
> new slogan appears to be "where do we want you to go today?" Nanny
> knows best! The more I use Vista, the more useful features I find that
> have been removed or disabled, presumably "for my own good".

I'm curious to know what feedback from "ordinary users" made them
remove the option to show an icon which is not even shown by default.
What did Joe User say during XP testing?

"Hey, look, this XP thing is great, but you know the check box on the
Advanced tab of the Power Options dialog? It really bugs me that
people have that "always show icon" option, I fly into a rage every
time I see it. Please fix it so that in the next version of Windows,
nobody can do that any more, even if they want to".

You and I know that's not the reason they removed it. I suspect it's
something to do with "UI simplification", i.e. removing the options
that no more than 10% of users ever use, or something to that effect.
Since that 10% is going to consist of different people for each
option, it's an excellent way to annoy 70% of your customers.

On 7 Mar, 21:42, "Ronnie Vernon MVP" <r...@invalid.org> wrote:
> Lord
>
> You can simply create a shortcut to thePowerOptions component and place it
> on the Start Menu, Desktop, Quick Launch Toolbar, or........
>
> Right click the shortcut, select Properties and give it a Keyboard Shortcut.
>
> You can also Select Start, type pow in the Search Box and press Enter.
>
> Usually, the changes you see in a new operating system are based on
> feedback. You can express your opinion here:
>

Lord

Why they changed it, who knows? We can only speculate.

I do know that the power options was completely rebuilt, from the ground up.
The 'power options icon' is now called the 'battery meter' and it wouldn't
make a lot of sense to have an option to show the 'battery meter' if the
system isn't even connected to a battery? If the system is connected to any
kind of battery, the battery meter will automatically be shown in the
notification area.

The thing with windows is that, if something has changed that you don't
like, you can always 'fix' it to suit your needs. I gave you some options in
my last message.

If this is worth more of your time, open the Control Panel/Power Options and
click the Help button on the menu bar. There is a large amount of
information there about the changes.


--

Ronnie Vernon
Microsoft MVP
Windows Desktop Experience


"LordLiverpool" <> wrote in message
news:cfb8142b-ceef-4288-bc65-...
> I'm curious to know what feedback from "ordinary users" made them
> remove the option to show an icon which is not even shown by default.
> What did Joe User say during XP testing?
>
> "Hey, look, this XP thing is great, but you know the check box on the
> Advanced tab of the Power Options dialog? It really bugs me that
> people have that "always show icon" option, I fly into a rage every
> time I see it. Please fix it so that in the next version of Windows,
> nobody can do that any more, even if they want to".
>
> You and I know that's not the reason they removed it. I suspect it's
> something to do with "UI simplification", i.e. removing the options
> that no more than 10% of users ever use, or something to that effect.
> Since that 10% is going to consist of different people for each
> option, it's an excellent way to annoy 70% of your customers.
>
> On 7 Mar, 21:42, "Ronnie Vernon MVP" <r...@invalid.org> wrote:
>> Lord
>>
>> You can simply create a shortcut to thePowerOptions component and place
>> it
>> on the Start Menu, Desktop, Quick Launch Toolbar, or........
>>
>> Right click the shortcut, select Properties and give it a Keyboard
>> Shortcut.
>>
>> You can also Select Start, type pow in the Search Box and press
>> Enter.
>>
>> Usually, the changes you see in a new operating system are based on
>> feedback. You can express your opinion here:
>>
>