My Impression of Windows 8 - 1 Week In (#9b)

(My very first impressions are here)

My gut reaction (hatred) of Windows 8 has passed, but what remains is a lingering discomfort.  I found some of the important shortcuts (I go to desktop mode with Windows+D when I start-up or end up too deep in AppLand, and Window+ to cycle with snappy views) that quickly get rid of the strange layout where I often find myself.  I've learned to open programs like Google Chrome NOT as an app, though it's frustrating that the Adobe Reader included comes only in app form and required another download.  

The touch feature of many Windows 8 laptops appears mostly unnecessary to someone running in desktop mode, and I realized this when I noticed the majority of my touches to the screen have been to remove a hair or dust speck, which now causes an unwelcome scroll up or down.  It's possible I will find niche instances where I will save time moving my hand to the monitor vs. moving the cursor, but we'll have to see.  The swipe gestures using the touchpad were triggered inadvertently about 90% of the time, and I had to edit the registry to turn these "innovations" off.  My point that all these examples allude to is: 

My Windows 8 experience gets better as I get better at ignoring its irrelevant changes to what used to be a good OS.

The leap that W8 has failed to make with me so far is from "cool" and "useful in the abstract" to "useful in my real, everyday experience". The goal of an operation system that it still loaded onto over 4 in 5 new computers should not be to convince me it is cutting-edge or innovative. The ideal operating system for the mass market maximizes ease of use and minimizes confusion and frustration right out of the box.  And, for the love of god Microsoft, if you want to teach customers something now, you better have plenty of tutorials.  My concern is not for savvy Googlers like me who will willingly find workarounds to silly settings.  But for the hefty majority of older users (who are intimidated opening a command prompt, diving into settings or even using a search engine), the net result is not learning to snap and swipe and swing and scroll like Millenials or thinking that Microsoft is relevant again. The net result is simply wasted time looking up tasks users knew how to do for the last fifteen years.

I understand that, from Microsoft's perspective, few people would be convinced to use the new features the company staked its future on if users had to opt-in to experience them or if it was easy to quickly turn them all off.  But there need be no choice between cool and usable.  Mac OS and iOS are both so easy a cavemen could learn them.  Android adds customization to the iOS formula while being only slightly less intuitive.  The Windows 8.1 update, while embarrassing in the sense that Microsoft either diluted or removed a number of the risks it took, is encouraging that the company can admit its mistakes. Microsoft is making the transition to an internet-based company like Google where failures are reversed quickly with updates.  A year to correct glaring goofs is forgivable...for now.