Ever since Windows 98 came out I have been reading the nonsense that gets put on forums and blogs. “Why change it?” “I’ll never use that OS, this one is perfect.” “They’ll never top Windows XP.” I heard it in every OS change. 95 to 98, ME to XP, Vista to 7, and every upgrade in between. And with the exception of Vista, I tend to think they are nothing but ignorant fools who couldn’t evolve with the rest of the technological world. Now I have to join them and bash the coming OS.
If you have had the “pleasure” of checking out the consumer release of Windows 8, or the final preview release now that 8 has been shipped to manufacturers before distribution in October, you have experienced the glory of the Metro UI. Not that it’s being called that now. Now Windows is calling it Windows 8 Style UI. I wish I were kidding, but that’s their temporary name while they come up with something better than Metro. But while they wobble around in Limbo, we’ll still call it Metro for this article.
Windows 8 brings with it two big annoyances for me. One of them is that it goes straight to that awful Metro Start Screen. A GUI mostly intended for touch screen monitors and hosts apps that you buy from the Microsoft app store. You get that? It’s a touchscreen GUI that has apps on it you buy from their store. I just turned my desktop into an iPod. The worst part is that there’s no option in Windows to bypass the Metro Start Screen on start up.
When the consumer release came out some months back, some resourceful people out there did workarounds to enable us to load directly to the desktop. With the RTM release, that possibility is gone. Microsoft ripped out a bunch of code before sending W8 off for production to keep people from bypassing that moronic start screen. Sure, it’s fine to have a screen that is intended for touchscreen monitors that has apps for Microsoft stuff. But don’t force us to look at it first thing. It seems that Microsoft is dead set on shoving their GUI d**k down our throats. Why not just put a button somewhere to give us the option to see that crap?
Do you want to know the worst thing about Windows 8? Read on…
And speaking of buttons, this one really got my undies in a bunch. They took away the start button. What kind of nonsense is that? That button was the best idea they ever had. Access to everything on your computer at the click of a button? It was damn near perfect. You know how you have to shut down Windows 8? You have to move your mouse to the upper-right corner, wait for the pane to slide out, select Settings, click on Power Options, and then click Shut Down. Your other option is pressing WINKEY + I, then click Power Options, then Shut Down. What was so bad about Start, then Shut Down? I’m thinking it’s time for the guys at Microsoft to pull their heads out of their asses and stop messing with stuff that works and start fixing what doesn’t. And that code they ripped to keep savvy consumers from bypassing the Metro Start Screen? They also did the same for the code that would allow users to add a Start button.
The good news is that programs that worked in Windows 7 will still work in Windows 8. But don’t think you’re going to be adding a nice app to Metro that gives you the “Metro Power”. It will just be an icon in a square that is no better than an icon on the desktop. From there it’s business as usual for your program. So what’s the bleeding point? Because Microsoft seems to be so jealous of their own accomplishments that they think they should one-up themselves by combining the screens from Xbox 360, the GUI from Apple products, and a version of Windows that strips us of the one thing that made Windows the preferred OS over all others: Ease of use.
The one light in the dark tunnel is that some companies are already on top of things to give us the Windows 8 we deserve. Stardock released an application back in March called Start8 that would not only allow us to bypass the Metro Start Screen, but also put a Start button back on the desktop. As of the preview release of Windows 8, it seems to be working. The best part is that it’s free. But it shouldn’t even have to exist. Stardock recognized a need that Microsoft intentionally took away from us, the power to navigate our own computers without a bunch of crap getting in the way.
Windows 9 will probably require us to have a Dreamscene wallpaper of Gates flossing his teeth. Oh yeah, they took away Dreamscene, didn’t they?