The Most Pointless Version of Windows

Why was Windows 8 such a pointless operating system - and what exactly was Microsoft thinking when they made it?

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[HikingFeral]

I was part of the Windows insider beta testers who got sent free top of the line phones to test by Microsoft but because they didn't listen to us it died.

[guitarsimon]

I started working in a computer store around the time Windows 8 came out, and spent almost the entire time teaching people how to get back to the desktop view or aggressively recommending Classic Shell.

[Eoin-B]

One of the main psychological reasons why people hated windows 8 was the "doorway effect". It triggers a temporary short-term memory loss when pressing the start button like when you go into a new room and forget what your doing because your mind suddenly is filled with a sudden burst of new information to process before it has to think of what you're doing again.

I studied human interface design while doing computer science and actually moved away from windows after windows 8 was released, and didn't know the psychological reason why until then but windows 10 2h2 got me to move back in 2021.

[madness]

I was in education when Win 8 was released. My design tutor was such a HUGE fan of Metro, and wanted it everywhere. We once had an argument (I had a poor grade) that went over an hour, because I shat all over Metro design (on non-touch devices).

[sylvanelite]

The fact that windows server editions around then also had touchscreen UIs was maddening.

[DecanFrost]

i actually loved windows phone, but the lack of compatible apps was a huge problem here, as many companies went "paperless" meaning, you were forced to get a android or apple phone, if you wanted to use home banking, government mail as well as many smart utilities. So it was a short experience but man, those "live icons" were awesome.

[MrWaheedulHaque]

Bottom left tile 1:10 james your subscription about to end

Nice Easter Egg

[nicholas_scott]

the anti-multitasking feature drove me nuts. Even after putting on a 3rd party start button, lots of apps used the "metro" version, like acrobat. It was such a terrible experience

[viken]

I used 8 for a long time and one habit I still have is right clicking the start menu button and then navigate to the power off. Instead of clicking, cause thats how it was done quickly in 8

[Telogor]

I actually liked Windows 8's UI. People always forget about Hot Corners and the Charms Bar, which were absolutely great UX elements.

[tiavor]

I'm not ready to move to 11, my start menu is just perfectly organized for me. I like the mix of large and small tiles.

[zenkiz]

I like the windows 10 start menu with the option for live tiles. Kinda like the wisgets of older systems

[jonsmith]

Lets face it the lack of the Start Button killed Win8 on arrival. It wasn't the live tiles or the app store or any of the other stuff. Even media giants like LMG hated the fact that MS took away the Start Button which is funny in an ironic sort of way.

[hectorvivis]

I was still using a Windows Phone a month ago as my main phone. And Gosh do the Metro UI is so great on phones. And contrary to what is said in the video, you're not attacked by too much information, it's absolutely integrated and don't spam you like what you get on Android.
And the UI was actually pretty great on the last iteration. I'm still absolutely blown away by how Android (at least the vanilla version) is still so subpar to my old Lumia on so many little things like controlling the music for example.

Gosh if it was still viable, I'd use my Lumia again today.
I'm still so pissed at MS for dumping it.

[Zefar]

Windows 8.1 got rid of the full start screen start menu button.

Since then the start menu has been fine for me. I don't mind it being bigger because I can throw less used stuff there and if I ever need it's quickly available rather than taking up space in my taskbar.

[oes]

Win8, while being the most pointless "idea" or "concept" for Windows ever, was actually one of the highest quality jobs MS ever did in my experience. At least on the intended tablet-pc hardware for the experience, which was 1% of the market of Windows 😂 But seriously though, even if the concept was doomed to fail, Win10 and Win11 doesn't even come remotely close to the refinement and snappiness of animations, the speed and stability that Win8 had on my Surface Pro 2.

[raxcentalruthenta]

Windows Phone was the most innovative mobile OS and it sucks that it didn't take off like it should have.

[The__Creeper]

I had a hybrid PC when I first used Windows 8 and it was really useful to just swipe up to get a list of apps rather than getting out a keyboard and hitting the windows key or using a mouse. For what it was meant for, it was really good.

I had heard that it was always designed for touchscreens and the marketing team were the ones that decided there could only be one version of Windows. I also still use a weather tile in Windows 10 because hitting the Windows button to quickly check the weather is really convenient.

[lonelyPorterCH]

Windows 8 was strange, first thing I did: install shell or whatitcalled to get the windows button/start menu back

[RoboChemist]

5:00 Imagine having notifacations that can't stack 💀