Macrium Reflect 8 Update Discussion

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  1. Posts : 49
    WIndows 10
       #231

    When trying to break a Beta, "experts" are the only ones that have a chance to cause situations to go awry, especially in critical areas of change... that's what Beta testing is for. As far as Ease of Use/Beginner scenarios with their UI, they seem to handle that through their "suggestion box" (Forum for product suggestions). On that Forum I see tons of UI suggestions for both beginners and for experts to make the tasks even easier. Whether they take any of those suggestions to heart, I cannot say. Yes, I'm aware of Developer bias in creating a product, and yes, those Developers are indeed experts. To change the climate of the product you need to pay attention to those "suggestions."

    That said, when I became a Reflect user in 2015 (v6) there were areas that weren't as intuitive as I thought... but there was a User Manual and a Knowledge Base, both very useful. And once they were perused, the interface made sense... and I wasn't an expert. We constantly run into users of most any product who have issues not understanding the product... and we find out they've never taken advantage of the resources mentioned above, that's a shame. It just creates many needless questions & answers along the product education timeline.
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  2. Posts : 29,078
    Windows 10 21H1 Build 19043.1023
    Thread Starter
       #232

    kado897 said:
    They made a big point of ordinary people testing W7 in their early TV adverts for it.
    Yes, they did, and then this JackDonkey decided we beta testers were no longer necessary with Windows 8. From one extreme of no beta testers to speak of to opening Windows 10 to the whole world!
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  3. Posts : 29,078
    Windows 10 21H1 Build 19043.1023
    Thread Starter
       #233

    FroggyTheGremli said:
    When trying to break a Beta, "experts" are the only ones that have a chance to cause situations to go awry, especially in critical areas of change... that's what Beta testing is for. As far as Ease of Use/Beginner scenarios with their UI, they seem to handle that through their "suggestion box" (Forum for product suggestions). On that Forum I see tons of UI suggestions for both beginners and for experts to make the tasks even easier. Whether they take any of those suggestions to heart, I cannot say. Yes, I'm aware of Developer bias in creating a product, and yes, those Developers are indeed experts. To change the climate of the product you need to pay attention to those "suggestions."

    That said, when I became a Reflect user in 2015 (v6) there were areas that weren't as intuitive as I thought... but there was a User Manual and a Knowledge Base, both very useful. And once they were perused, the interface made sense... and I wasn't an expert. We constantly run into users of most any product who have issues not understanding the product... and we find out they've never taken advantage of the resources mentioned above, that's a shame. It just creates many needless questions & answers along the product education timeline.
    OK, so what you're telling me is that if I'm not an expert in Macrium, then I'm not smart enough to be a tester.

    I would say more, but I'd get into trouble.
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  4. Posts : 30,502
    Windows 10 (Pro and Insider Pro)
       #234

    Wynona said:
    OK, so what you're telling me is that if I'm not an expert in Macrium, then I'm not smart enough to be a tester.

    I would say more, but I'd get into trouble.
    Think they don't know what they're missing, Wynona...
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  5. Posts : 7,860
    Windows 11 Pro 64 bit
       #235

    I'll buy v8 a month or so after release after perusing the experience of users here!
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  6. Posts : 49
    WIndows 10
       #236

    Wynona said:
    OK, so what you're telling me is that if I'm not an expert in Macrium, then I'm not smart enough to be a tester.

    I would say more, but I'd get into trouble.
    Not at all, @Wynona. But I am saying that if you're not an "expert" in the areas of some of the more significant changes, how could you offer anything significant in the way of feedback to the Developers without completely learning the product and becoming such an "expert"... Beta tests don't allow for those types of progressions to occur. If the Developers are making subtle changes in the area of backup scheduling, and at the same time using a brand new scheduler... I would think they would want some users who do some "squirrely" scheduling for their backup plan. When offering a whole new imaging interface for the use of UFDs (USB Flash Drives), they would like someone who would do a lot of that type of work. If they were offering a brand new, simplified User Interface to their user community, you can bet your boots they would want "non experts" as part of this testing process. It's not a matter of being smart enough, it's a matter of getting users that can provide meaningful feedback to the Developers... remember those with the Developer bias.

    In the case of v8, the UI (at the simplified level) hasn't changed much so more simplified users were not recruited for such testing. The LOG & Existing Backup interface has changed quite a bit. Macrium sought out those who have been most vocal in the past, in their Forums, concerning those issues to be part of the Public Beta. I was primarily chosen due to my constant needle in their side about a feature called "Continuous Incrementals" that was due "a few weeks after release" of v7... it never appeared and it's 4-yrs later. I also constantly bugged them about the inability to image UFDs... their defense was silly for the reason why (I won't get into it).

    Newbies or non-Experts cannot assist those Developers in a lot of those changed areas without serious indoctrination, but they can assist in other areas. It would ne nice if Beta periods could take all the time they needed to sift through a product but alas, that's never the issue. They're usually marketing driven schedules. Even this Public Beta seems to have caused at least a 3-month delay in their product release which is usually in February (I'm glad I was never in any of those meetings )

    No, I'm sure you're more than smart enough to help them in a lot of areas... but if you didn't/don't participate in their Forum discussions, they don't know who you are and what you can help them with. Suffice it to say that opening up Beta testing to the full public would never produce a reasonably bug free application in less than 6-9 months... I've been there, and the test would seemingly never end.
    Last edited by FroggyTheGremli; 30 Apr 2021 at 08:35.
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  7. Posts : 31,398
    10 Home x64 (22H2) (10 Pro on 2nd pc)
       #237

    FroggyTheGremli said:
    In the case of v8, the UI (at the simplified level) hasn't changed much....
    While that is true (V7 users won't find it difficult to hit the ground running) there have been a lot of subtle changes that should help make it more intuitive for newbie users.

    Many of the names for the tabs have been revised to more accurately indicate their functions, for example the 'Backup' and 'Restore' tabs are now named 'Create Backups' and 'Existing Backups'. The icons across the top now have text names to show what they do. Perhaps the most significant addition of all for a newbie is a big friendly 'Help' icon at the top that takes you direct to the Knowledge Base.

    You can see v8 screenshots here in the v8 Beta Knowledgebase.
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  8. Posts : 281
    Win 10 21H2 LTSC
       #238

    Existing Backups seems a weird name to me, I suggest "Manage Existing Backups" instead. Backup and Restore not sure how that would confuse users either. It is a shame this isnt a public beta but instead invite only, frustrating only been able to give feedback when it no longer matters as once this goes gold everything will be set in stone.

    Also is that a banner ad I see on the screenshot in the knowledgebase? O_o
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  9. Posts : 49
    WIndows 10
       #239

    That's very true, @Bree, and those changes are a result of many user suggestions in the Macrium Forum. I have always been a participant there and have seen many of those simple requests made and eventually brought to fruition... in many cases during minor product releases (the new Macrium Scheduler for instance) rather than waiting for major releases.

    I'm sure there's a little something for everyone coming up in v8, I know there was for me
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  10. Posts : 281
    Win 10 21H2 LTSC
       #240

    I do like that they seem to have merged MS-Dos batch files and VBScript files into one Scripts tab, but I do hope that banner ad is only present on free version.
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