I recently installed Windows 8, and then Windows 8.1. I never really had it as a daily driver and so I really never interacted with it. By the time it came out I had switched to Ubuntu.

To think that it went from Windows 7 –> Windows 8 with those bold colours, tiles and removal of the start button. You landed on a sort of intermediate screen and the desktop was an app. Maybe in the same vein as Windows 3.11 had that Program Manager in there as a shell. Microsoft was so bold with this move. I really applaud that. Not even ironically, sincerely. What has MacOS ever done? Just a single shot and then said we created perfection. That perfection does not exist, both in the sense that I think perfection in general is unattainable and the “perfection” of MacOS is anything but. I love trying new things and seeing what is great and what not.

Along the same lines, what has Linux ever done? It also has a fairly few generic attempts at what the desktop environment should be but does not really experiment with different styles. You have the simple lines of the 90s style, then there is GNOME and KDE essentially. There are different window managers sure, but in general, that is it.

Windows XP was another such staple of design. It is so recognizable and it spawned a whole new era of design. Same for Windows 8.1. They re-introduced the start button again but kept the metro tiles. What I also liked was the way Microsoft wanted to have a unified design across laptops, desktops, tablets and mobile phones. It was ambitious, but also executed quite well to be honest.

Some things do not really translate well on the desktop. For instance, the hovering on the sides to get a menu to appear.

First impressions

My very first impressions were along the lines of “oh yeah, this is different” and a little “hmm, I am not sure about this”. After running it a bit now though, I must say it feels like a normal enough Windows. I like it more than I liked Vista, and it runs pretty well on my old laptop still. I am not going to run Windows 10 nor Windows 11 on that particular machine, but I did setup Windows 11 on another machine recently.

It feels okay, but I am not a fan of the center start menu and apps placement I think. It is something new though. I wish the whole Microsoft Fluent design really kicked off and through to their applications.