Windows 8: What Were They Thinking?

My son started playing with his new computer today and loves the hardware. It is not all roses though as this evening he is setting up Windows 8 and I am learning to swear in multiple languages. After living in Romania for 2 years, my son knows how to swear in Romanian, Russian, and Moldovan. Setting up Windows 8 is helping my learning process as there are plenty of opportunities to use such language.

Earlier in my career I worked on Larry Ellison's Network Computer. We basically took NetBSD and wrapped a user friendly interface around it. In the process I worked with our graphics designer and went through countless hours of usability testing. We would sit behind a one-way mirror and watch as users played with our software to do a number of simple computer tasks. We learned a lot in the process and created an award winning user interface. I only wish Microsoft had taken the time to do the same thing with Windows 8.

I don't know how Microsoft let Windows 8 get through any sort of usability testing. As near as I can figure, they wired electrodes to their users and had a plate of cookies on the table. When the users complained about the interface, they received an electric shock. When they appreciated the non-intuitive features of a horribly designed computer interface, they got a cookie. There is no way that anyone would prefer Windows 8 over an abacus.

Here are some examples of why I think only a fool would use Windows 8:

1. If you leave a CD in the drive too long, it won't eject. You have to restart the computer to get the disk out.

2. You have to get updated drivers for your laptop's touch pad in order to use multi-finger scrolling. It doesn't matter which hardware manufacturer you buy the laptop from, they all require the update. Sony, Toshiba, and Lenovo have their drivers posted in their technical support forums on their websites.

3. You have to use the task manager to kill Windows 8 native programs. Who writes a program and doesn't put a quit option in one of the menus? Isn't that part of user interface 101?

The longer I sit here typing my blog, the more examples of Microsoft stupidity are exposed. Unfortunately my son is almost in tears and wants to ditch Windows 8 in favor of Linux. We will probably spend the next couple of nights figuring out a way to run Linux as the primary operating system and Windows 8 in a VM. . . but only as a last resort.