If you are a Windows OS aficionado, you should know by now that Windows 8 has been around for a while. And most likely, you are still on Windows 7. According to StatCounter, Windows 7 is still taking up more than 50 percent of the market share as the most widely used operating system for computers, and it is not really good news for Microsoft. We are a ‘touchscreen’ generation, with the abundance of tablets and smartphones, and the tech giant anticipated that. The problem is they might have prioritized the idea of making the recent OS a bit too touch-friendly.
User convenience for the average desktop
The world is still filled with laptops and desktops; laptops that have touch functions are still considerably small in number. Thus, Windows 8 has not become user-friendly enough for the average desktop user and its interface can be too complicated in comparison to Windows 7 and Windows XP. It is an entirely different world from the last version, and needs some time to get used to. Not a lot of people would take their time to learn the ropes of another OS, so most just decided to go with the same old Windows version that they have gotten used to.
Closing apps can be a burden
There has been a lot of complaints on cyberspace about Windows 8’s difficulty in closing apps and switching from one app to another and it can be a deal breaker for the new users of the OS. Upon starting apps, the OS will keep it running until it decides to suspend it to save on the CPU usage and energy. The thread on closing metro apps in the Windows 8 forum has the most views, which means that a lot of users have been having problems with this function. It is indeed hard when you always have to guess if your apps are still running in the background or not.
Come to think of it, Android has a task killer and iOS has a task killer, so why doesn’t this OS have one? You can stop your Evernote and RingCentral applications on your phone anytime, without doubting if it is still draining your smartphone’s battery. Windows shouldn’t burden its users with the idea that apps are constantly kept running in the background.
The Start screen itself could have killed it
It is indeed beautiful to look at, but who hasn’t had a difficult time getting productive with the Metro-style start screen of the Windows 8? Constantly switching between the new Start screen and the old Windows 7 desktop wastes precious time for users, and it might have annoyed a lot of them. One cannot turn the new Start screen off, so everybody had to deal with it. That’s enough reason for some to just steer clear from it until a better, more familiar version comes along. Windows Blue is being anticipated, and we’ll see if it is worth upgrading our desktops to in the near future.