windows 8 Degraded User Experiences - Please Contribute Your Impressions

[News Bot]

From the perspective of serious/business/desktop use of Windows 8...

In my opinion Microsoft has actively degraded the user experience (UX) in various parts of Windows 8, presumably to encourage we users to use

other parts they'd like to see become more popular.

The obvious ones, discussed many times, include removal of clickable elements and visual styles in the desktop UI, including the Start button, Show Desktop button, etc., and reducing discoverability by hiding functionality in edges and corners. 

We really don't need to talk about the Start button again here.

But beyond the above, there are subtle UX degradations I'm not sure everyone has noticed, which must have been done on purpose (unless you subscribe to the theory that development

at Microsoft has gone out of control, which has some merit in its own right).    We saw some of these things rolled out in subtle stages in the various preview versions, as though to "wean" us from the better UX.  They have

even come up with catchy terms such as "digitally authentic" and "modern UI" in order to sway opinion.

These things simply serve to make using Windows 8 on a desktop system less pleasant.

I'd like to have a discussion here about these things, in the hopes that Microsoft will see that we HAVE noticed, and we'd really like them to do better.  I for one believe the future of desktop computing still has plenty of life, because power

and richness is what data producers and business users need, and I don't see a need for Microsoft to

exit that market to succeed in another one.  Clearly they have kept the "legacy desktop" in Windows 8 for a reason.

There are those who say Microsoft is de-emphasizing desktop use because they want to go "all Metro/Modern", and that may very well be true but in the interim,

while the desktop is still supported shouldn't the UX be as smooth as possible? 

Why should it get worse?

I'd love to hear from you here, supported by screen grabs or whatever as examples, about specifically what YOU think has been degraded. 

First impressions and those borne from sage experience are equally welcome.

Everyone uses Windows a little differently, and please don't be shy to illustrate how you deal with the changing UX.

 

-Noel

 

 

 

 

 

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