I basically jumped from XP to 8.1 and I was amazed how much of an improvement 8.1 was on a technical level. Yes, the UI was horrendous, and any usability expert should have been able to tell you it was a terrible idea, but apparently they weren’t listened to. Luckily there was Classic Shell that restored a proper Start Menu, so I never had to use the horrible touch interface.
8.1 was the last good Windows (with caveats). When support ended I went back to Linux, because 10 and 11 are enshittified to all hell.
Yeah I think Windows 8 in general is just what happens when you don’t have proper user testing and go entirely based on what the shareholders think the next big thing in computing is going to be.
At the time everyone thought that touchscreens and tablets were going to take over everything, at this point though it’s become pretty clear that tablets are for media consumption and some creative work. For productivity they just aren’t as good as a full on desktop environment.
I never understood how anyone thought touch screens were going to take over for productivity. Back when they were being hyped, it seemed plainly obvious to me that even multitouch didplays couldn’t outpace a physical keyboard and mouse for input speed.
I can’t find it with a cursory search, but I remember seeing marketing back then for a laptop that was just two touch screens with no touchpad/keyboard. Color me shocked that it didn’t become the new norm…
DarrinBrunner@lemmy.world 3 days ago
I agree, 8.1 with Classic Shell was good. I also liked Windows Media Center.
I hung on through 10, but last year, as I learned more about Win 11, I decided to finally bite the bullet and figure how to switch to Linux.
Blue_Morpho@lemmy.world 3 days ago
Windows Media center was an amazing money saver! I cancelled all my cable boxes, bought a server to run 8.1, bought some used xbox360’s for every TV in the house, and everything was paid for in 9 months compared to the cable company rental fees. So I not only got 3 xbox360s and a server for “free” but was saving money for the next 3 years until I cancelled cable completely.
Plus I had unlimited TV show storage and could transcode anything I wanted to keep permanently to mp4.