Windows 8 < Windows 11 (Premium)

How crazy is our world? A user experience lead from Windows 8 actually thought it was OK to publicly criticize the Windows 11 user experience. That’s ridiculous: we’re still living with the damage caused by that revolting disaster, and while the issues with the Windows 11 user experience are real, they pale in comparison to Windows 8.

And boy. Do I not want to discuss this.

It’s hard for me to even explain the PTSD-like impact that Windows 8 and the Sinofsky regime had on me. I had to confront this in early 2022 when my epic history of Windows series, Programming Windows, reached the Windows 7 and 8 eras, and I suddenly felt myself slowing down as the terribleness of those years bore down on me again.

I’m not sure how anyone else copes with the most awful things that have ever happened to them, but in my case, it involves shutting down those memories so that I can get on with life. And I had mostly blocked out the Sinofsky era, which for me was several years of illogical insanity and overt attempts to harm me personally and professionally. Imagine, if you can, what it’s like to have one of the most powerful men at Microsoft orchestrate a campaign to sideline an individual, me, because I was honest about the product he created. You really can’t. But do try.

Anyway, Sinofsky surrounded himself with unqualified people who could in no way threaten his authority. Key among these were Julie Larson-Green, who was often described as his chief lieutenant, and Jensen Harris. Both were nice enough people, and I got to know Harris a bit during those years in part because I had been indirectly responsible for him being hired by Microsoft. For example, he privately showed me the Office Ribbon before Microsoft revealed it publicly, and his later conversations with me about Windows 8 revealed, sadly, how out of touch that group had become.

As history shows us, after the success of Windows 7, this group and the teams they led collectively jumped the shark with Windows 8, a mess of undiscoverable UIs that was better tailored for the tablets they imagined we’d all be using someday rather than for the traditional PC form factors everyone really was using, and continues to use today. Windows 8 was such a disaster that Sinofsky was fired before it was even released, and the rest of the team---including Larson-Green and Harris---were sent packing within a year or so and were replaced by the “B-teamers” from Windows Phone. The people responsible for Windows 8 were completely disgraced.

Flash forward to 2021, and things have changed. Windows 10 came and went, as did the team responsible for it, replaced by Surface chief Panos Panay and Windows 11. This system has some distressing parallels with Windows 8, in that it is heavily influenced by competing mobile platforms. But because the team that made it lacks the internal influence and sheer hutzpah of the Sinofsky era---Windows just isn’t as important as it once was---it’s al...

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