I wanted to give some feedback on my experience with Windows 8 in general: Background on my relationship with Windows: I have been using Windows since 3.1. I have been Microsoft's first/ best customer- basically I'm the one lined up the first day a new OS comes out ready to purchase it. It did it with Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows XP and Windows 7. Windows XP was the best thing Microsoft offered very honestly. Intuitive and quick. I installed Windows 8 Consumer Preview and it was such a complete fail that I had to uninstall it. I should have given Microsoft feedback then but I just didn't. I thought surely you guys would fix glaring issues. You did not. I bought Windows 8 because of the extremely cheap upgrade price- otherwise I would not have done it (I also thought that some things would be fixed but nope- they were not). I am writing this now because I know 8.1 is coming out and I want to make sure you are looking at all the things that need to be fixed. I told many people after the Consumer Preview came out that 8 would be a complete train wreck/ fail and I see it is from all the reviews and crashing PC sales. When you have Jay Leno on the Tonight Show making fun of it- it is not good. The PC industry relies on Microsoft as well to get it right- you guys have let them down. I just don't see how you got it so wrong guys. You have done a great job for a very long time. Someone needs to be fired at Microsoft for letting the current version out. I'm very serious about that. You don't see this kind of fail at Apple. Someone is just not paying attention and you guys need to figure out what needs to be fixed to make sure it does not happen again. Didn't you do testing with business users and consumers? The current iteration says you did not. Issues needing to be fixed: Add the Start button back and don't just have it link to the "Start" page. You need to have it in the same form as previous versions where there is a program list and access to all the different things that users used to have access to. Boot to Desktop. I have a desktop and do not want to use the "Start" page. I spend 99% of my time in Desktop mode. Or change the Start page so I WANT to use it. In it's current form I hate it. If you guys had the Start screen experience right I in theory wouldn't have to use my Desktop. Shut down. This is the biggest fail I have ever seen in the history of history. Seriously guys- I had to Google to find out how to turn off my PC. Complete Fail. You can either add this to the Start menu like before or add something to the corner of the desktop. Just do something. You should never have this hidden under 4 steps. The current way is so unintuitive and I'm sure it is a very serious "turn off" to users. Fix it. The Charm bar on the side of my PC is hard to access. I have a Dell touchscreen for my desktop and I have to continually swipe to try to get it to come up. Fail. I always end up using my mouse to access this. And I HATE having to position my cursor just right to access it. So completely a fail. I'd prefer the charm feature to just die to be very honest and be replaced by the start button where it used to be. There is no value add to having it. I need to be able to quickly and intuitively access my information. The charm bar is neither of these. You shouldn't have to think about where to go to in the charm area for something. Bring back the old way to Search in the Start menu. The current way is the ultimate in frustration. Some of the ways you have to do a search for certain things that are now hidden in Windows 8 that were not hidden in Windows 7 is crazy. I've even had a Microsoft support person say this. You guys have made something so easy much more difficult and unintuitive. Having to actually type in a search term to find certain parts of Windows: FAIL! There should be a case study written about that on what not to do in an OS. Mind boggling to the max. I don't even know what to say. Left side bar in the Start Page view to bring up program list. I'm speechless on this one. It is so ridiculous the way it is now I don't even know where to begin. Mind boggling complete full FAIL. Having to scroll to the corner in a very small space (itself very unintuitive)- the go over a little and then go down? And if you mess up with how you move your cursor you have to start over because everything collapses. And you can't access it by touch on a desktop- you have to use your mouse cursor because the activation area is so far in the corner. Really? LOL guys. Who designed this craziness? This is not intuitive! The pics are so small I sometimes can't even see what I need to choose. I just don't know what to say. You went from having clear program icons at the bottom of the screen to quickly and easily go from program to program to this. No. I don't know how you need to change this but it needs to change. There needs to be a static element and there needs to be clear icons for the program choices. I am telling you Microsoft- if this is not changed you will lose your customers. No one wants to deal with the current way of doing this. It is a complete FAIL. More on this: You have to navigate this ridiculous setup to try and close things running in the background. So unintuitive. And frustrating to the max. I have to find my app then right click and click close? LOL. No. Go to the corner. X out. Done. This x out feature has to be brought back and integrated into the apps. It HAS to be. This is what makes Windows (the old Windows) so great. And you guys killed it with 8! :( I feel like I'm trapped when I open an app- and therefore I use the apps MUCH less. I'm in the Internet Explorer App. I need Excel. I have to: click on the bottom left corner to bring up the start menu- click desktop and find Excel. I could do it through the Start menu but it is so busy that it's hard to find things quickly like I can on my desktop. Now I need to go back to IE. Top corner- over- down- squint to find IE. click. Ugg! What did ya'll do? No! So frustrating - so not Microsoft. You have to design the interface so everything flows. You should not have to even think. I need to be able to click back and forth quickly between apps. Or use touch. Windows 8 is supposed to be about touch and the current setup is so crazy horrible I can't use it like it has the potential to be used. Please put some thought into how to better do this. You guys could really make this great if you wanted to and even make it better than Apple. There needs to be some serious thinking being done. Keywords: Quick. Intuitive. You do this for your customers and you have them as loyal customers like you did with me and every other version of Windows. Touch- somehow things in your programs need to be more touch friendly. I don't want to have to touch the edges of my screen. Could you design something where a quick double touch anywhere on the screen brings up an open program list to toggle between programs? I just feel totally out of control with Windows 8. Put the user back in control. Larger touch friendly buttons? Everything is designed for a mouse clicker. Change this. IE app- I really hate this app. App stability: Horrible. This needs to improve. The current way on the app screen to have to right click (somewhere in the "grey" area? Really?) to bring up a bar at the bottom then click on something again to control it is so unintuitive. This is one of the worst features of Windows 8. I think whoever designed this particular thing should not have a job at Microsoft. I don't know how to improve this but it needs to be improved. You have to think here. FAIL. It is your job to come up with an intuitive interface so the customer can quickly get to things and feel confident and in control. That is why Microsoft has been successful in the past. You have previously done a great job for your customers. I just feel lost- even after using the system for awhile. Make things easier. You guys really need to put a lot of thought into this interface. Make it simple! The process to add a program as an app to the start screen is ridiculous. If you have to add a couple floating buttons to the Start screen- do it. Maybe "add an app to the start screen". This would make the user feel in control. Good things: System stability. Apps: I think Microsoft has a win with the app approach. It just needs to be tweaked so that I want to use it. Allow me to group types of apps into folders of some sort maybe. I don't want to have to think when I go to access stuff. Right now I have to scan a wall of apps. It's too much. And again- allow me to x out of an app. Allow me to quickly switch between apps in an easier way. Bottom line: Make it more intuitive. Make the user feel like they are IN CONTROL. Make me want to LOVE to use it- not research how to use every element. There is clear feedback users hate to use Windows 8. You do this and you have a WIN. This is what Microsoft is guys- ya'll can do it. I love Microsoft because of your open nature unlike Apple. Make me WANT to buy your product. Take out all these unintuitive and frustrating roadblocks you've put into Windows 8. You guys have the chance to be the best with the touch interface. DO IT! And advertise how you have changed. Damage has been done but you can turn it around. This is the only OS you have come out with that I've told friends and family NOT to buy in it's current iteration. Give me reasons to change my mind and recommend it.

First let me say that I use windows 7 and I am an happy with it. It's less than a day since I (and my gf) turned on the Asus laptop with Windows 8 pre installed and the nightmare begin. Ok, the interface is very changed, it may be take a while to get familiar with it but, why not give the chance to use the old interfaces? Why not to put such option at the first start? We try to click on "music", one of the big squared icon on the monitor. We tried then to pick a song and play it but NO, you need an XBOX account for that! So, you are putting as main icons non free services. Are you joking?! It's plenty of free web radio on internet, youtube it's also full of music and you put such thing that require a registration?! After that we tried to update the system. What a terrible mistake... After a LOT of search we found the control panel and we managed to go on windows update (this one was identical to the windows update of win7). There I clicked on check updates. There were 100 of them. Ok, we then clicked on "install updates". The process stop, the bar was moving but the counter was stuck at "0kb". Guys, this is a total FAIL. We managed to find another way to run the updates (this interface was totally new). The bar this time was moving and the pc got the updates. When it finished to download the updates we correctly rebooted the machine, we got the message "windows configuring ....." and then we got this: http://goo.gl/bqH5Mc "Failure configuring windows update reverting changes". This on a total new pc (zero hours of work). Seriously guys, are you joking? I paid for such OS and it give me that error at the day 0?! And you have the gut to ask me money for your OS?! I pretend a refund!! It took more than half an hour to revert the changes. Now we don't know if we will be able to install the critical updates. After such terrible experience on the day 0 we are planning to install Ubuntu, at least there it's easy to update the system and everything works. Moreover there is an very quick button to turn it off. We had to google how to turn off windows 8. I am totally shocked by the terrible quality of you product. This is a total insult to your customers.

I absolutely hate windows 8 - I can't stand it and agree that however thought up this version should be fired

Hi Microsoft, I just want to say that I to am a long time Windows user and have been a Windows user since the days of DOS and 8086 processors. As much as I do agree with some of these comments as far as they reference giving the user options to access the previous versions windows system windows. But I see this version of windows as a revolutionary transformation of the Windows system to be able to more effectively manage and interact with future technologies. At first I didn't understand what you guys were doing and like many others thought this was a crazy unreasonable and major change to the operating system. But now I see what's going on here and I think it's pretty ingenious! Seeing how we are all in a 'multi-personal computer' world and the days where homes and businesses only had one type of desktop computing system are gone. We now have hand devices that utilize 'touch' technology like cell phones and tablets. That is now migrating to watches, glasses, and other 'wearable' technologies. The fact is that the 'old school' widows just doesn't work with the 'new emerging technologies in this now very much a 'mobile' computer world. This 'major shift' that you guys have now implemented seems to have been coming slowly for a long time. Even since the days of XP-Vista. It seems to me that a lot of the Vista issues may have been the result of this beginning shift. Like I said, I didn't really fully see this until I purchased a Surface tablet and then got into a discussion with someone about the purpose of RT. I may be wrong but it seems to me that Windows 8 has become or is becoming a system that will incorporate the use and interaction of many of these emerging technologies. One operating system that is a sort of 'Master Control' that will allow all of our Windows Devices to utilize and run off of the same base system. This new W8 RT system seems to be the foundation of all things Windows. Including the 'old school' Windows now new school Windows concept. Just as Apple (seems to be) now working to 'imitate' what W8 is all about by trying to blend iOS & OSX. Their approach seems to be to slowly start with the User interface and then work backwards into the background. Making the user experience more subtle and adaptable to its users. That seems to be what is upsetting the Windows users who are resistant to change and want things to stay as much the same as possible. I think the most important problem Microsoft has is that it's "Marketing Plan' stinks! You guys don't communicate well with your users. Apple on the other hand has mastered the art of 'Marketing" to it's users. Even to the whole world. The idea of providing a 'beautifully crafted product' has never been something MS has had to offer since they deal primarily with the corporate world. But Wake Up! The general public want's it. Ask Samsung and htc who now offer 'beautiful' devices that also have the latest in tech and functionality. This is required in the 21 century. They're also beginning to get the who 'marketing' concept to the public. The companies that get it have the best results at the sales register. Take a look in Best Buy and see the "Cell Phone" sales area and then see the 'Samsung' sales area or the 'Apple' sales displays. Then venture over to the 'Microsoft' area and look how cheap things appear to be. Where are the 'beautifully crafted' items. A couple from Asus & HP as seen in the Microsoft stores. (Need more of those-at least one in every county/shopping region). Anyway, these guys have or are learning how to 'bring their customers and potential customers along' in the process. You Microsoft need a new overall company wide marketing strategy. It seems to me that most of the complaints in this (and most others) forum could have been avoided by a better 'Marketing'. I know this is a difficult thing due to the 'certain degree of secrecy' that is required in order to keep the competition at bay. So Yes, you have a tough job but you must overcome this in order to stay ahead of the pack. The good news is that there are many of us out here that get it! And we like the 8 concept. Does it need some tweaking yes. Is it a total failure? NO WAY! Even the critics that use this 'harsh negative language' add up all of their complaints it still doesn't add up to 'Failure'. People don't like change and they always complain about what they don't understand. It's also a fact that the 'squeaky wheel' gets the grease. Even with the 'very few' comments here in this forum we see this played out. Yes there have been some 'upgrade issues' and some driver problems along the way. But compared to the number of 'successes' this number is extremely small. Especially since Windows is running on so many different manufactures & homemade machines. Since Apple only runs on 'its own machines' and they don't sell as many of their OSX machines as Microsoft does of Windows they don't have this problem. Maybe there's an argument for companies like Asus, HP, Dell, & Gateway to offer their own versions of Windows that have been tested on their models of machines in order to make sure that drivers for the various machines are 100% compatible. Kind of like what the Cell Phone companies do. Well, I just wanted to add my 2 cents worth and point out these things. Yes, I am considering a W8 phone because I now see the advantages of this new system. As soon as my carrier offers a nice modern version of something. It would be nice to have htc and Samsung offer a Windows version of their most popular flagship phones. Of course this is only worthwhile if Windows RT works well on W8P as well as tablets and desktops. This is as I said an ingenious concept! Yes, it does have a few 'design issues' with making the necessities easily accessible and logically placed but I know I speak for many when I say... "I love this Windows version & concept"! Especially on tablets and touch enabled laptops. I've had the opportunity to do about a dozen upgrades for friends, family, and myself and I have only run into one problem with a software program used for Studio Audio Recording. I'm not sure what the problem is but I worked around it by installing the 32 bit version instead of the 64 bit version of the recording software. Yes, it's a bit annoying but still not a 'total failure'. So, I say keep plugging away MS till you get the package right and don't give up but learn to communicate well with your users. Invest in TV ads like the ones for the Surface Tablets (which seemed to have faded from view) and start thinking 'appearances' because product sales and 'positive comments' are all tied into the concept of a finely tuned and well working nice looking machine. Windows 8 is a winner! It just needs some refinement and some serious marketing to teach people what W8 can do across device platforms. Desktop, Laptop, Tablet, Phones, Watches, Glasses, and on into the future...

Couldn't agree with you more. I just bought a laptop that had Windows 8 on it and I pad the $150+ just to "upgrade" to Windows 7. I've gone through every version of Windows and this is easily the least user-friendly and intuitive OS I've ever seen. Well said and Windows, please don't make the same mistakes on your next version!!! I like your saying the "Upgrade" to Windows 7 from 8 - sadly that is very true - I think Windows 9 will have to have some big improvements. Enjoy " Seven " - I love it.

Couldn't agree with you more. I just bought a laptop that had Windows 8 on it and I pad the $150+ just to "upgrade" to Windows 7. I've gone through every version of Windows and this is easily the least user-friendly and intuitive OS I've ever seen. Well said and Windows, please don't make the same mistakes on your next version!!!

Windows 8 Feedback

Anonymous

I wanted to give some feedback on my experience with Windows 8 in general:

Background on my relationship with Windows: I have been using Windows since 3.1. I have been Microsoft's first/ best customer- basically I'm the one lined up the first day a new OS comes out ready to purchase it. It did it with Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows XP and Windows 7. Windows XP was the best thing Microsoft offered very honestly. Intuitive and quick.

I installed Windows 8 Consumer Preview and it was such a complete fail that I had to uninstall it. I should have given Microsoft feedback then but I just didn't. I thought surely you guys would fix glaring issues. You did not. I bought Windows 8 because of the extremely cheap upgrade price- otherwise I would not have done it (I also thought that some things would be fixed but nope- they were not). I am writing this now because I know 8.1 is coming out and I want to make sure you are looking at all the things that need to be fixed. I told many people after the Consumer Preview came out that 8 would be a complete train wreck/ fail and I see it is from all the reviews and crashing PC sales. When you have Jay Leno on the Tonight Show making fun of it- it is not good. The PC industry relies on Microsoft as well to get it right- you guys have let them down. I just don't see how you got it so wrong guys. You have done a great job for a very long time. Someone needs to be fired at Microsoft for letting the current version out. I'm very serious about that. You don't see this kind of fail at Apple. Someone is just not paying attention and you guys need to figure out what needs to be fixed to make sure it does not happen again. Didn't you do testing with business users and consumers? The current iteration says you did not.

Issues needing to be fixed:

Add the Start button back and don't just have it link to the "Start" page. You need to have it in the same form as previous versions where there is a program list and access to all the different things that users used to have access to.
Boot to Desktop. I have a desktop and do not want to use the "Start" page. I spend 99% of my time in Desktop mode. Or change the Start page so I WANT to use it. In it's current form I hate it. If you guys had the Start screen experience right I in theory wouldn't have to use my Desktop.
Shut down. This is the biggest fail I have ever seen in the history of history. Seriously guys- I had to Google to find out how to turn off my PC. Complete Fail. You can either add this to the Start menu like before or add something to the corner of the desktop. Just do something. You should never have this hidden under 4 steps. The current way is so unintuitive and I'm sure it is a very serious "turn off" to users. Fix it.
The Charm bar on the side of my PC is hard to access. I have a Dell touchscreen for my desktop and I have to continually swipe to try to get it to come up. Fail. I always end up using my mouse to access this. And I HATE having to position my cursor just right to access it. So completely a fail. I'd prefer the charm feature to just die to be very honest and be replaced by the start button where it used to be. There is no value add to having it. I need to be able to quickly and intuitively access my information. The charm bar is neither of these. You shouldn't have to think about where to go to in the charm area for something.
Bring back the old way to Search in the Start menu. The current way is the ultimate in frustration. Some of the ways you have to do a search for certain things that are now hidden in Windows 8 that were not hidden in Windows 7 is crazy. I've even had a Microsoft support person say this. You guys have made something so easy much more difficult and unintuitive. Having to actually type in a search term to find certain parts of Windows: FAIL! There should be a case study written about that on what not to do in an OS. Mind boggling to the max. I don't even know what to say.
Left side bar in the Start Page view to bring up program list. I'm speechless on this one. It is so ridiculous the way it is now I don't even know where to begin. Mind boggling complete full FAIL. Having to scroll to the corner in a very small space (itself very unintuitive)- the go over a little and then go down? And if you mess up with how you move your cursor you have to start over because everything collapses. And you can't access it by touch on a desktop- you have to use your mouse cursor because the activation area is so far in the corner. Really? LOL guys. Who designed this craziness? This is not intuitive! The pics are so small I sometimes can't even see what I need to choose. I just don't know what to say. You went from having clear program icons at the bottom of the screen to quickly and easily go from program to program to this. No. I don't know how you need to change this but it needs to change. There needs to be a static element and there needs to be clear icons for the program choices. I am telling you Microsoft- if this is not changed you will lose your customers. No one wants to deal with the current way of doing this. It is a complete FAIL.

More on this: You have to navigate this ridiculous setup to try and close things running in the background. So unintuitive. And frustrating to the max. I have to find my app then right click and click close? LOL. No. Go to the corner. X out. Done. This x out feature has to be brought back and integrated into the apps. It HAS to be. This is what makes Windows (the old Windows) so great. And you guys killed it with 8! :( I feel like I'm trapped when I open an app- and therefore I use the apps MUCH less. I'm in the Internet Explorer App. I need Excel. I have to: click on the bottom left corner to bring up the start menu- click desktop and find Excel. I could do it through the Start menu but it is so busy that it's hard to find things quickly like I can on my desktop. Now I need to go back to IE. Top corner- over- down- squint to find IE. click. Ugg! What did ya'll do? No! So frustrating - so not Microsoft. You have to design the interface so everything flows. You should not have to even think. I need to be able to click back and forth quickly between apps. Or use touch. Windows 8 is supposed to be about touch and the current setup is so crazy horrible I can't use it like it has the potential to be used. Please put some thought into how to better do this. You guys could really make this great if you wanted to and even make it better than Apple. There needs to be some serious thinking being done. Keywords: Quick. Intuitive. You do this for your customers and you have them as loyal customers like you did with me and every other version of Windows.

Touch- somehow things in your programs need to be more touch friendly. I don't want to have to touch the edges of my screen. Could you design something where a quick double touch anywhere on the screen brings up an open program list to toggle between programs? I just feel totally out of control with Windows 8. Put the user back in control. Larger touch friendly buttons? Everything is designed for a mouse clicker. Change this.
IE app- I really hate this app.
App stability: Horrible. This needs to improve.
The current way on the app screen to have to right click (somewhere in the "grey" area? Really?) to bring up a bar at the bottom then click on something again to control it is so unintuitive. This is one of the worst features of Windows 8. I think whoever designed this particular thing should not have a job at Microsoft. I don't know how to improve this but it needs to be improved. You have to think here. FAIL. It is your job to come up with an intuitive interface so the customer can quickly get to things and feel confident and in control. That is why Microsoft has been successful in the past. You have previously done a great job for your customers. I just feel lost- even after using the system for awhile. Make things easier. You guys really need to put a lot of thought into this interface. Make it simple! The process to add a program as an app to the start screen is ridiculous. If you have to add a couple floating buttons to the Start screen- do it. Maybe "add an app to the start screen". This would make the user feel in control.

Good things:

System stability.

Apps: I think Microsoft has a win with the app approach. It just needs to be tweaked so that I want to use it. Allow me to group types of apps into folders of some sort maybe. I don't want to have to think when I go to access stuff. Right now I have to scan a wall of apps. It's too much. And again- allow me to x out of an app. Allow me to quickly switch between apps in an easier way.

Bottom line: Make it more intuitive. Make the user feel like they are IN CONTROL. Make me want to LOVE to use it- not research how to use every element. There is clear feedback users hate to use Windows 8. You do this and you have a WIN. This is what Microsoft is guys- ya'll can do it. I love Microsoft because of your open nature unlike Apple. Make me WANT to buy your product. Take out all these unintuitive and frustrating roadblocks you've put into Windows 8. You guys have the chance to be the best with the touch interface. DO IT! And advertise how you have changed. Damage has been done but you can turn it around. This is the only OS you have come out with that I've told friends and family NOT to buy in it's current iteration. Give me reasons to change my mind and recommend it.

Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.

0 comments

43 answers

Anonymous

2014-07-12T12:09:50+00:00
First let me say that I use windows 7 and I am an happy with it.

It's less than a day since I (and my gf) turned on the Asus laptop with Windows 8 pre installed and the nightmare begin.

Ok, the interface is very changed, it may be take a while to get familiar with it but,
1. why not give the chance to use the old interfaces? Why not to put such option at the first start?
2. We try to click on "music", one of the big squared icon on the monitor. We tried then to pick a song and play it but NO, you need an XBOX account for that! So, you are putting as main icons non free services. Are you joking?! It's plenty of free web radio on internet, youtube it's also full of music and you put such thing that require a registration?!
3. After that we tried to update the system. What a terrible mistake...
After a LOT of search we found the control panel and we managed to go on windows update (this one was identical to the windows update of win7). There I clicked on check updates. There were 100 of them. Ok, we then clicked on "install updates". The process stop, the bar was moving but the counter was stuck at "0kb". Guys, this is a total FAIL.

We managed to find another way to run the updates (this interface was totally new).

The bar this time was moving and the pc got the updates. When it finished to download the updates we correctly rebooted the machine, we got the message "windows configuring ....." and then we got this:

http://goo.gl/bqH5Mc

"Failure configuring windows update reverting changes". This on a total new pc (zero hours of work).

Seriously guys, are you joking? I paid for such OS and it give me that error at the day 0?! And you have the gut to ask me money for your OS?! I pretend a refund!!

It took more than half an hour to revert the changes. Now we don't know if we will be able to install the critical updates.

After such terrible experience on the day 0 we are planning to install Ubuntu, at least there it's easy to update the system and everything works. Moreover there is an very quick button to turn it off.
1. We had to google how to turn off windows 8.
I am totally shocked by the terrible quality of you product. This is a total insult to your customers.
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Anonymous

2014-06-06T15:29:48+00:00

I absolutely hate windows 8 - I can't stand it and agree that however thought up this version should be fired
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Anonymous

2014-04-14T04:58:17+00:00

Hi Microsoft,

I just want to say that I to am a long time Windows user and have been a Windows user since the days of DOS and 8086 processors. As much as I do agree with some of these comments as far as they reference giving the user options to access the previous versions windows system windows. But I see this version of windows as a revolutionary transformation of the Windows system to be able to more effectively manage and interact with future technologies. At first I didn't understand what you guys were doing and like many others thought this was a crazy unreasonable and major change to the operating system. But now I see what's going on here and I think it's pretty ingenious!

Seeing how we are all in a 'multi-personal computer' world and the days where homes and businesses only had one type of desktop computing system are gone. We now have hand devices that utilize 'touch' technology like cell phones and tablets. That is now migrating to watches, glasses, and other 'wearable' technologies. The fact is that the 'old school' widows just doesn't work with the 'new emerging technologies in this now very much a 'mobile' computer world. This 'major shift' that you guys have now implemented seems to have been coming slowly for a long time. Even since the days of XP-Vista. It seems to me that a lot of the Vista issues may have been the result of this beginning shift. Like I said, I didn't really fully see this until I purchased a Surface tablet and then got into a discussion with someone about the purpose of RT. I may be wrong but it seems to me that Windows 8 has become or is becoming a system that will incorporate the use and interaction of many of these emerging technologies. One operating system that is a sort of 'Master Control' that will allow all of our Windows Devices to utilize and run off of the same base system. This new W8 RT system seems to be the foundation of all things Windows. Including the 'old school' Windows now new school Windows concept. Just as Apple (seems to be) now working to 'imitate' what W8 is all about by trying to blend iOS & OSX. Their approach seems to be to slowly start with the User interface and then work backwards into the background. Making the user experience more subtle and adaptable to its users. That seems to be what is upsetting the Windows users who are resistant to change and want things to stay as much the same as possible.

I think the most important problem Microsoft has is that it's "Marketing Plan' stinks! You guys don't communicate well with your users. Apple on the other hand has mastered the art of 'Marketing" to it's users. Even to the whole world. The idea of providing a 'beautifully crafted product' has never been something MS has had to offer since they deal primarily with the corporate world. But Wake Up! The general public want's it. Ask Samsung and htc who now offer 'beautiful' devices that also have the latest in tech and functionality. This is required in the 21 century. They're also beginning to get the who 'marketing' concept to the public. The companies that get it have the best results at the sales register. Take a look in Best Buy and see the "Cell Phone" sales area and then see the 'Samsung' sales area or the 'Apple' sales displays. Then venture over to the

'Microsoft' area and look how cheap things appear to be. Where are the 'beautifully crafted' items. A couple from Asus & HP as seen in the Microsoft stores. (Need more of those-at least one in every county/shopping region). Anyway, these guys have or are learning how to 'bring their customers and potential customers along' in the process. You Microsoft need a new overall company wide marketing strategy. It seems to me that most of the complaints in this (and most others) forum could have been avoided by a better 'Marketing'. I know this is a difficult thing due to the 'certain degree of secrecy' that is required in order to keep the competition at bay. So Yes, you have a tough job but you must overcome this in order to stay ahead of the pack. The good news is that there are many of us out here that get it! And we like the 8 concept. Does it need some tweaking yes. Is it a total failure? NO WAY! Even the critics that use this 'harsh negative language' add up all of their complaints it still doesn't add up to 'Failure'. People don't like change and they always complain about what they don't understand. It's also a fact that the 'squeaky wheel' gets the grease. Even with the 'very few' comments here in this forum we see this played out. Yes there have been some 'upgrade issues' and some driver problems along the way. But compared to the number of 'successes' this number is extremely small. Especially since Windows is running on so many different manufactures & homemade machines. Since Apple only runs on 'its own machines' and they don't sell as many of their OSX machines as Microsoft does of Windows they don't have this problem. Maybe there's an argument for companies like Asus, HP, Dell, & Gateway to offer their own versions of Windows that have been tested on their models of machines in order to make sure that drivers for the various machines are 100% compatible. Kind of like what the Cell Phone companies do. Well, I just wanted to add my 2 cents worth and point out these things. Yes, I am considering a W8 phone because I now see the advantages of this new system. As soon as my carrier offers a nice modern version of something. It would be nice to have htc and Samsung offer a Windows version of their most popular flagship phones. Of course this is only worthwhile if Windows RT works well on W8P as well as tablets and desktops. This is as I said an ingenious concept! Yes, it does have a few 'design issues' with making the necessities easily accessible and logically placed but I know I speak for many when I say... "I love this Windows version & concept"! Especially on tablets and touch enabled laptops. I've had the opportunity to do about a dozen upgrades for friends, family, and myself and I have only run into one problem with a software program used for Studio Audio Recording. I'm not sure what the problem is but I worked around it by installing the 32 bit version instead of the 64 bit version of the recording software. Yes, it's a bit annoying but still not a 'total failure'.

So, I say keep plugging away MS till you get the package right and don't give up but learn to communicate well with your users. Invest in TV ads like the ones for the Surface Tablets (which seemed to have faded from view) and start thinking 'appearances' because product sales and 'positive comments' are all tied into the concept of a finely tuned and well working nice looking machine. Windows 8 is a winner! It just needs some refinement and some serious marketing to teach people what W8 can do across device platforms. Desktop, Laptop, Tablet, Phones, Watches, Glasses, and on into the future...
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Anonymous

2014-03-09T03:49:09+00:00

Couldn't agree with you more. I just bought a laptop that had Windows 8 on it and I pad the $150+ just to "upgrade" to Windows 7. I've gone through every version of Windows and this is easily the least user-friendly and intuitive OS I've ever seen. Well said and Windows, please don't make the same mistakes on your next version!!!

I like your saying the "Upgrade" to Windows 7 from 8 - sadly that is very true - I think Windows 9 will have to have some big improvements. Enjoy " Seven " - I love it.
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Anonymous

2014-03-09T00:29:12+00:00

Couldn't agree with you more. I just bought a laptop that had Windows 8 on it and I pad the $150+ just to "upgrade" to Windows 7. I've gone through every version of Windows and this is easily the least user-friendly and intuitive OS I've ever seen. Well said and Windows, please don't make the same mistakes on your next version!!!
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