Comment on [deleted]

• magic_lobster_party@fedia.io ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

  Counter counterpoint: Windows back then was Windows 8.

  source

  • AnarchoSnowPlow@midwest.social ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

    The problem with windows 8 is that with the initial release they wanted everything to be a mobile OS, even your desktop.

    “Metro Design” lol

    But it seemed decent for tablets and phones.

    source

    • CIA_chatbot@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

      It was actually pretty great for phones, but in true MS fashion they fucked that all up

      source
    • altkey@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

      The idea of unified interface layout itself wasn’t bad, that’s the implementation. It felt like they both didn’t have people testing desktop UI at all and didn’t have any idea how to leverage that idea on a desktop.

      Things they could do:

      1. Seamless device switching, projecting and control across Win platforms over local wireless;
      2. Crossplatform app development, with a wordpress-like UI wrapper;
      3. Tiling DE, so you can have a couple of vertical mobile-like apps contained in their constant positions for ease of use.

      Let it be an ecosystem where every new Windows device can be an opportunity multiplier. Like how KDE Connect makes my phone a media remote or a mouse+kb, and my PC a handler of recent photos I took with my phone today, no cloud involved. With their huge marketshare they could’ve pushed anything they wanted onto hardware producers as a demand and put Apple out of game entirely.

      Instead, we had horizontal scroll in Start menu, fullscreen Calc app, no third party desktop app bothering with Metro interface, everything being like a worse Win7 and the only living reminder of Metro phase ever existing being rectangular squares in w10 Start, now retired for MacOS copycat. GG WP M$. It could’ve been your turning point going into smartphone age, but you had too much money and yesmen to care.

      source
  • TachyonTele@piefed.social ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

    Oof

    source
  • protist@mander.xyz ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

    Counter counter counterpoint: Nothing stopped anyone from continuing to use Windows 7

    source

    • Scubus@sh.itjust.works ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

      Counter point: uh, yeah they did? A couple years after windows 8 came out they stopped supporting windows xp and 7. Afaik they dont support the latest versions of directx either, so there is literally no way way to run a modern game on anything prior to windows 8. Even windows 8 is no longer supported, meaning it doesnt get new antivirus updates and merely connecting it to the internet is a security risk for the device and the home network. Theres a reason you can right click on any program and select “run in compatibility mode” for legacy systems. And most of the time that compatability mode doesnt work either.

      Could be wrong on any of this, im on a computer scientist as a hobby. Feel free to correct me and ill update or delete the post.

      source

      • dual_sport_dork@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

        Support for Windows 7 (SP1) was not pulled until January of 2020 for ordinary users. Extended support contracts ran until 2023.

        For reference, Windows 10 came out in 2015. Users could, and absolutely did, completely skip Windows 8 entirely. Windows 7 was supported throughout essentially all of 8’s viable lifecycle because nobody wanted to use 8, and five additional years into Win10’s lifecycle.

        source
  • Fedizen@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

    I think windows 8 got more hate than it deserved. Having cross platform metro apps was a genuinely good idea. Smaller OS size was a genuinely good idea.

    Windows store and a bunch of changes to settings menus fucked it up along with questionable aesthetic changes.

    source

    • magic_lobster_party@fedia.io ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

      Removing the start button was a bad idea.

      It had an interface that was supposed to be compatible with desktop and tablets at the same time, and as a result it wasn’t good at either.

      The power off button was hidden behind the settings menu, which in turn was hidden behind some corner gesture menu. They seem to have taken the wrong lessons from Vim.

      Eventually the worst things were fixed with 8.1, but that was too late to repair the reputation.

      source
  • Asetru@feddit.org ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

    Actually, the first iteration of that interface was Windows Phone 7 and it was pretty terrific.

    source
• Passerby6497@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

  I sold phones in that era and had a coworker that loved them. I’ve been a tech guy the whole time, so I thought they were ok, but I didn’t trust Microsoft to not fuck it up. Stalman is always right and all that jazz…

  source
• genau@europe.pub ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

  Are you aware that every windows update pushes a fraction of its user base to Linux/osx? Windows was Def always reviled. I personally quit after XP SP3 and first glimpses of Vista.

  source

  • ekky@sopuli.xyz ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

    Nice. The first computer I had all to myself had Vista, it thought me how to fix my own stuff after random crashes. I ditched Windows shortly after the end of support for windows 7, after having entirely skipped 8, and then witnessing Microsoft themselves skipping 9 for the shitshow that was 10.

    source
  • protist@mander.xyz ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

    That fraction back then was much smaller than it is today

    source

    • genau@europe.pub ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

      It was maybe a bit harder to get into Linux , not that Microsoft managed to ship a decent product.

      source
• Banana@sh.itjust.works ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

  I truly believe everything after Windows XP has been bad.

  source