Windows 8/8.1 is the WORST OS ever released by Microsoft

I just cannot believe they could release such a piece of garbage. I demo'd the OS once before when I installed it for my auntie and didn't think much about it. That changed when I installed it on my gaming pc. Oh my god, what in the world ... were they thinking when they cobbled together the mess that is W8/8.1?

I own a Surface 2 and a Lumia 928 so I had nothing but love for Windows 8 ... until I put it on my PC. It is the least intuitive, and the most confused OS designed in the history of OS's.

Yes, I know, welcome to 2012 but I thought holding off until now would have improved matters somewhat. Guess not. They should have just stuck with Windows 7 and released small updates over time rather than huge whammies. I heard that is their plan with Windows 10 but I almost wanted to switch to Mac after the experience. A freaking Mac!

Is it a surprise that their phones and tablets are selling poorly by the way? All the bad hype from Windows 8 must have had an impact!

I'm fine with Win 8.1. I stay here 99% of the time. I haven't had the need to access Metro for a while now. The only time I switch to Metro is to turn live apps off or remove them from view.

have you used Windows Vista,Windows 95?

Windows 8.1 is far from the worst.

I don't think it's worse than Win ME, but yeah, 8.0 was really annoying. You've heard of PC ports for console games, well I felt like 8.0 was like a desktop OS that has been ported to tablet then ported back to desktop, and the result was an irritating, inconsistent mess.

8.1 on my laptop now? Much less annoying. I have some hopes for Windows 10 - not high, but 8.1 Update 1 suggests they have at least got part of the message.

I like 8.1, doesn't seem all that different to seven.

I use it for my gaming pc and have no issues with it, I can't see what everyone complains about.

Right clicking the start button alleviates the pain.

you forgot windows millenium...

windows 95 wasn't so bad actually

I always stick with a good and stable os till it's proven that another one is better.

Windows 8, the way they give it to you out of the box, is garbage. It's unintuitive, cluttered, unorganized, and worst of all - ugly. Once you figure out how to boot to the desktop and disable any extra bloat - it's all uphill from there.

Windows 98, Windows ME, Windows Vista, Windows NT... 8.1 is hardly the worst. It runs faster then 7, it's more secure and the driver support is fantastic.

You have no clue what you are saying sorry.

If the new menu is really giving you that much trouble (10 year olds know how to use it) then install ClassicShell or Start8.

The rest of the OS is better in every way to Windows 7.

Windows 10 will be even better. Takes the best of 7 and 8.1 and mashes it together.

And WORST OS ever released? lol....were you born yesterday?

Windows 98 First Edition, Windows ME, Windows Vista without Service Packs....all those were 10 times worse than any current Microsoft OS.

I disagree. I like it and wouldn't go back to 7.

@BassMan: well thats a new trick for me. thanks for that :).

its nowhere near the worst. it works, its pretty stable and metro, though inferior to the start menu, is good enough to get the job done. it was a misfire but that hardly renders the OS broken. with a bit of planning you can even pretty much ignore it (i only visit it 1-2 times a week. the above trick means i will be seeing it even less \o/).

The original release of Win 95 (pre-USB support) was pretty bad. I recall throwing the Win 95 CD out of a 4-story window from sheer frustration.

YEP!

8.1 is fantastic actually. Might be my favorite OS that I have used, and I have used all the way back to 95.

Vista was actually a semi-decent OS (ONLY) once the service packs, and updates were applied.

Windows ME was the worst OS by MS.

I still remember the horrors as a kid.

windows 8.1 is the BEST OS microsoft has ever released..... it is a fantastic OS.

you are stuck in the past. 8.1 provides improvements in -every- area.

No that title still belongs to Win ME IMO.

Yeah Windows ME was terrible it was the operating system on my first computer :(

Also Windows 2000 is pretty bad, its still installed on most the computers in my world it crashes all the time.

Are they the same operating system ?

My home system was called "ME" and in work its called 2000

ME was replaced so quickly by 2000 because MS realized how terrible it was. It only lasted a year I think. 2000 was pretty solid OS after the patches and service pack. I think it was pretty buggy at the start but they fixed it.

but my god ME should never have been greenlighted.

I think the crashes on the windows 2000 PC in work are more hardware related, those PC's have been running daily for almost 15 years with no maintenance lol.

Anyone who says windows 8/8.1 is the worst is obviously about 12 years old and has never heard of Windows ME.

You loose go home. :P

As for windows 8.1 After the major patch that removed it booting straight to the Metro Interface,and fixing some other annoyances,it has been the best windows i have used in a long time,and the less than 30 second boot time is much better than windows 7 ever was.

Windows Vista is way worse imo, sluggish and just a pain to use.

I'm liking 8.1, smoothest OS i've used so far.

When you get used to the speed of Windows 8.1 update. It's hard and weird to go back to Windows 7

Just install Windows 7 and wait until 10 releases. Hopefully it'll turn out better and be worth upgrading to.

@ChubbyGuy40:

But you could get Windows 10 for free if you upgrade to Windows 8.1 though.

It's usable if you install classic shell or start8.

Windows 7 classic mode is faster than Windows 8 in terms of input latency.

If you enable aero, then it's noticeably slower than Windows 8.

yeah ok, but the second version was good in the sense that it had directx.

The first version wasn't so bad either in my opinion, of course it needed some knowledge about it. Installing drivers etc...

VIsta

/thread

Win 95 crashed like crazy for me. The only reason I put up with it was because Linux (Slackware 3.4) at that time was even worse (trying to get even X-windows working was a pain).

Win 98/98SE seem to have fixed my Win 9x issues. Nothing wrong with ME either. A lot of hate stems from ME not having any feature that justify buying it. It's more like MS trying to scam our money rather than technical issues. In fact, some would say ME was more stable than Win 98.

Edit:

I had the unfortunate distinction of buying an ATI Mach64 PCI and using it with Win 95. It sucked. Win 95 got better once I switched to a Matrox Millenium.

I like win8.1 but don't think my mobo likes it even though it says it can run it on the box. I think the Mobo driver installs better on windows 7 as its on DVD and installs automatic where as windows 8.1 the dvd don't work and got to download separate each driver.

I can't think of a single way it's directly inferior to W7 in. It's a great OS imo.

@FelipeInside: I am just curious what about 8.1 is better than 7?

This is a legitimate question btw, I am not trolling, my experience with Windows 8 is limited and I honestly do not know what is good or bad about it. All I know is I didn't like the tile layout but it sounds like that really isn't a problem anymore.

The problem with Windows 8 is that the power users will quickly notice things they hate, and causal users will find it harder to use...

It already drives me mad how they've actually not made you the administrator of your own system...

Other than the quicker boot up times it has way more problems than Windows 7.

Windows 10 however is what Windows 8 should have been..

Apart from the new menu, which takes about a minute to remove if you really have issues with it by installing Start8 or Classic Shell, then the rest of the OS is basically a better version of Windows 7 in nearly every area.

The boot up and shutdown times are faster, the OS is more responsive, the new Task Manager and other administrative tools have had a revamp and are better, it performs better and more stable than Windows 7 and the list goes on.

On top of that you have the features of online documents and settings syncing (if you want to use it), and the App Platform (if you want to use it)

At the end of the day, if you have Windows 7 and are happy with it, there is no point upgrading to 8.1.

If you're due for a reinstall or just build a new PC, then no point installing Win7 now.

Although I've tested Windows 10 Alpha, and can't wait for the final release. It's basically a mash of the best parts of 7 and 8.1 put together, and just gets better with each update.

You ever tried ME on a Domain Network? yeah not good times.....lol

Win95 was nothing like winxp or above. Win98 was better but you still had to configure everything perfectly otherwise it was bluescreen or not responding. Not to mention the hardware incompatibilities.

You could find jobs with extensive win95 knowledge back then. I had the luck that I was working in the business.

Me wasn't really that good, it worked, but it was as difficult as me. In that sens I though win 98 was the best of the three. Winxp changed a lot of things, it was like pure magic when you disconnected the ethernet cable and put it back in, in win 9xx, that required a restart...

@FelipeInside: Alright, thanks for the information. I have access to windows 8.1 from my school as a free download, but I probably won't bother with it since I have no problem with Windows 7. However, I may look into Windows 10 if they have access to it for free.

I'm still on Vista. Never had any issues. I've really never had any issues with any Windows platform, though 8 does seem kind of weird and annoying.

C'mon now. Domains were usually used in a corporate/business/military network setting. Clients normally consisted of NT or Win2k PCs.

Win9x PCs were inherently insecure and thus, outlawed from most domains, at least those that I've seen. They were fine for peer to peer home networks.

I wasn't particularly fond of Windows NT either because of major software incompatibilities. Win2k was the first 32-bit Windows I was enthusiastic enough for gaming.

Yeah.

But even at home I remember having heaps of problems, as did my friends.

To me, Windows ME will always be the "happy to go to blue screen at any time" OS, lol....

I still have my Windows ME install disk, never know when I might need it. The Operating system could make a comeback

I agree. Win 8/8.1 is the first Windows since Win 3.1 to break the mold. Win 95, Win XP, all the way to Win 7 all had a similar mode of operation, that is, having a desktop with a task bar and menu button.

PC users today would find Win 3.1 very strange, even stranger than Win 8/8.1:

Windows 8.1 is my preferred version of Windows. As a user of Windows since '95, this is by far the easiest one to use. I suggest you make use of the search function on the Start screen and update all your apps. They look great and perform quite well. Plus, many programs made for previous versions of Windows work on Windows 8.1.

I liked windows 3.1 :-P

@jun_aka_pekto said:

PC users today would find Win 3.1 very strange, even stranger than Win 8/8.1:

I liked 3.1 :-)

I liked Windows 3.1 :-)

I don't like Vista and 8. But 7 is where it's @ for me.