Yesterday I told you that Microsoft is officially ending support for Windows 8. I thought that this would be a great opportunity to look back about ten years, to when I first blogged about it.
In this December, 2012 article entitled “Windows 8: Day 1 Fail?” I laid out my case. Let me tell you, I wasn’t subtle. I think this quote really says it best:
There are so many bad quotes about Windows 8, it’s beginning to seem like too easy of a target. For my part, I’ve been using Windows 8 since its retail launch. I still don’t use it on my primary PC, I’m not quite that bold and it’s taken me a while to get my computer just how I like it. But I have it on a secondary PC I use every day.
First of all, unless you’ve been hiding under a rock you have read numerous articles about how abysmal it is to use Windows 8 without a touch screen. Honestly, that’s the first impression I had too. But I’ve found some workarounds, and there certainly are a lot of keyboard shortcuts if you’re willing to learn them. It’s still no thrill but honestly it’s workable.
Keep in mind that I am the sort of person who eagerly jumps into a lot of new software and hardware, and even I couldn’t stomach using Windows 8 at the time. I’ve softened my point of view somewhat with time, though. I now think Windows 8 wasn’t really so bad, it’s just that we didn’t have hardware to use it properly. With a few tweaks it could have stood on its own. I even think that if it were released now in 2023, it might even be a hit.
Understanding the role of PCs
The biggest mistake Microsoft made with Windows 8 was misunderstanding how people really wanted to use their products. In the ’20s, there are very few people who use PCs because they want to. Some hardcore gamers might, I guess, if they don’t want to use consoles. For the most part we use PCs because we have to. We use them for work. Productivity demands that we use them. (We use them for school less and less, as school IT departments have fallen in love with Chromebooks.)
The fact that we look at PCs as a way to get work done means we don’t want a lot of extra distractions. We may love that sort of thing about our phones. In fact we love it when there’s a user interface tweak that makes our phones feel new again. But when it comes to PCs we really just want to get through the day. Microsoft didn’t understand that, and that’s why they came out with Windows 8.
Will Microsoft ever take such a big swing again?
Actually I’m surprised they haven’t yet. It seems Microsoft never quite learns from the past and is almost supernaturally interested in making the same mistake over and over. Most people don’t remember the Windows NT launch in 1993. It was Microsoft’s attempt at building a business oriented version of Windows. The problem was, for the most part, it didn’t run any apps designed for Windows. A little more than a decade later, they rolled out the largely reviled Windows Vista. Vista also had compatibility problems, but it was mostly just ahead of its time. Computers in the mid-’00s weren’t at all ready for it. And then, of course, Windows 8.
It’s getting pretty close to the time where Microsoft should roll out something so terrible we’ll be talking about it until 2035. I don’t know what it will be… Windows for the Metaverse? Whatever they bring though, I suspect that it will be the last time I’ll complain about them. At that point I will have been using Microsoft products for an astounding 54 years. Perhaps it will be time for another generation to do the complaining.
