Five Things We Hate About Windows 8

Microsoft might be the world’s most valued company and the largest manufacturer of software. But, all the praise and adulation heaped upon Microsoft over the years falls short when it comes to enlisting bad design and features of windows 8.

Five things that are responsible for widespread customer discontentment are:

No free upgrade is available-

 Previously, when users bought a windows vista based computer when windows 7 was just about to be released, a free upgrade was available. The customer could upgrade his software without paying any additional money. But, this feature is not available now. If you buy a computer before October 26th, 2012, you will be stuck with windows 7.

Left to right scrolling-

 We are quite accustomed to scrolling up and down using our mouse’s scroll wheel. But, windows 8 favors left to right scrolling which becomes cumbersome and not so user friendly for standard desktop users. This feature might be advantageous for touch screens but not for desktops.

No internet access via Mozilla or Google chrome-

 Windows 8 supports internet explorer 10 as its web browser. Mozilla Firefox and Google chrome browsers that have become customer favorites when it comes to browsing the internet are not supported on windows 8 (tablet version). The speed and added features of these browsers might not be the sacrifice that customers want to make in order to use windows 8.

Invisible start button and hidden shutdown controls and other essential functions-

In aero desktop, there is no start button. This makes it difficult to navigate your way through files and programs.

When a person is trying out windows 8, he might be scared out of his wits when he cannot shut off the computer. The shutdown button is not easily accessible and the fact that it pops up when the mouse hovers over the bottom right corner is not known to anyone.

Also, closing a program is not as simple as it was before
Metro mode and no file manager- Without a file manager, it is an absolute nightmare. Browsing and moving files in the metro environment of windows 8 is not permissible using file manager. Although, the traditional desktop format allows this feature, metro only complicates simple things when it comes to desktop usage. Metro environment might be great on phones and tablets with touch pads. But, when it comes to desktop usage, the environment seems pretentious and is not ideally suited and adapted to being used on a pc. The aero and metro environments do not work harmoniously and it seems as if the metro has just been fabricated over the traditional windows environment.

Though the feeble attempt to integrate all user interfaces for various devices as one operating system is praiseworthy in itself, still the unavailability of a media center and numerous advertisements about the merchandise available at Microsoft quickly replace the good feeling with discontentment and dissatisfaction.

When it comes to a new windows operating system, the customers are always rooting for the traditional environment with a stack of added features. It is high time Microsoft consider the views of the consumers before venturing into creating any other user unfriendly operating systems.