As a cruel trick on myself, about a month ago I installed Windows 8 on my main PC to see what it was like. The answer is: abysmal. I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to say that Windows 8 is the worst computing experience I’ve ever had. As a desktop operating system, it’s annoying, frustrating, irritating, and baffling to use. I’ve tried on many occasions to explain exactly why it’s so awful to use day-to-day, and most of the time, smoke starts pouring out of my ears. I thought it would be better to get down exactly what the issues are and why you should avoid it.
What it comes down to is this: Windows 8 is a tax on your brain. That dealing with it, day in, day out adds to your world being slightly worse in a dozen different but slightly irritating ways.
This isn’t an exhaustive list, but it is an exhausting list of reasons why I’ll never touch Windows 8 again. I'm not alone:
game developers worldwide have declared Windows 8 a catastrophe.
Windows 8 is really meant for tablets
Windows 8 brings a new kind of computing design to the desktop. Once called Metro (until Microsoft realised that Metro is also the name of a German supermarket), it’s a design motif that’s meant to be appropriate across tablets, mobile phones, the desktop, and eventually, televisions. To be fair to Microsoft, Metro is a decent way of poking at your computer with a finger. But when you have the flexibility and precision of a mouse, it makes no sense. In Metro Most of your screen is taken up with white space. Text is bigger, the buttons are bigger, the borders are bigger. There’s less information, more wastage. It’s a complete mess.
The treatment of the desktop as an app is an out and out disaster
The Metro interface is Windows 8. The desktop that you’re used to is also there, but it’s built as a separate app. Think of it this way: Metro is the shell. The desktop is an app within that shell. If you want to start Steam, you’ll want to launch the Desktop app, and then launch Steam.
This is insanity. This is Windows 8.
Window management is a pain in the arse
Metro apps don’t have any window controls. If you want to swap between apps, you have to make a convoluted mouse gesture - move the mouse to the top left of the screen, and then down to select the window. You can’t minimise the app, and there’s no on-screen preview of what’s running to help you quickly switch between programs.
You can pick up windows and shunt them, say, to a second screen, which initially feels relatively useful. But I’ve discovered more than anything that you spend more time fiddling with their arrangement than actually doing anything useful with them.
Switching between Metro apps is a complete farce
I can’t get over how Microsoft have managed to break one of the basic functions of a GUI - swapping between running programs. Metro programs have no window controls and take up the entire screen. Therefore, there’s no easy way to switch between them using on-screen controls. You have to engage in unfamiliar mouse movements to swap between them.
Core apps that offer basic OS functionality are Metro only. And they’re awful
There are certain things that you do with your PC every day that should form the basis of the operating system. Email. Instant Message. Calendars. Media Playing. All of these functions in Windows 8 are carried out through Metro apps, and they are universally awful. There are no desktop apps included that do a similar job.
