Programming Windows: Aftermath (Premium)

The fallout from Windows 8 was immediate. Steven Sinofsky, who had done more to harm Windows than any of Microsoft’s competitors, was summarily fired by CEO Steve Ballmer. And two of his underlings, Julie Larson-Green and Tami Reller, were tasked with fixing the product as quickly as possible. This would be a temporary situation, almost a punishment, and it was telling that neither was given Sinofsky’s title or overall responsibilities: Ballmer clearly wasn’t sure this was the right direction.

The public’s reaction to Windows 8 was a mixture of confusion and outrage. As originally designed, Windows 8 didn’t just embrace a touch-first mobile world, it jammed it down users’ throats whether they wanted it or not. And most users, decidedly, did not. With Windows 8, Microsoft seemed to be abandoning the billion-plus people who expected Windows to look and work a certain way. Meaning, the way it always had.

Power users were particularly put out, complaining that the Start screen, Windows Store, and Windows Runtime-base full-screen apps together constituted a childish, Fisher Price-like environment that had been grafted onto the more traditional and powerful Windows desktop like some bizarre Frankenstein experiment. Worse, these unwelcome additions neatly hid some useful desktop upgrades that collectively provided the same leap over Windows 7 that Windows 7 had made over Windows Vista.

But Windows 8 succeeded in harming mainstream Windows users---the vast majority of the userbase---the most.

The system booted into a full-screen Start experience that bore no resemblance to the Windows versions they had always used, and many of its key new interfaces were undiscoverable and, when found, unpolished. And even those who figured out how to navigate to Windows 8’s more familiar desktop environment faced uncertainty: there was no Start button for the first time in almost 20 years, and no way to bring the traditional Start menu back. Complaints began piling up immediately with Microsoft and its PC maker partners from both consumers and business users. Many customers demanded to go back to Windows 7.

“Windows 8 is the biggest and most confusing upgrade that Microsoft has ever wrought on its most core of platforms,” I wrote at the time. “It is a mess. A glorious, wonderful mess … It is the most controversial release of Windows ever, eclipsing previous perceived disasters like Windows Vista and Windows Me.”

“I have a hard time believing that any normal person---that is, any non-enthusiast---would want to, or should, go through the time, effort, and potential disaster of upgrading a perfectly good Windows 7-based PC to Windows 8,” I continued. “Windows 8 is for devices. It’s not really for PCs.”

Externally, Microsoft put on a brave face, though it knew before the Windows 8 launch that this product was doomed and would need to be quickly fixed to appease its partners and customers. But the first external h...