Rest in peace now, brave hero.
Windows 10 is dead. Well, nearly anyway. The much-beloved operating system reaches its EOL on October 14, meaning that security updates, feature updates and technical support will cease. Should you still be eeking out the last gasps of a Windows 10 build, there are steps you can take—listed by our Jacob here—to keep the ageing OS on life support, or upgrade a non-supported machine to Windows 11. But as we watch it slowly ascend to the great operating system repository in the sky, I’ve been thinking about its legacy.
And really, I think the best thing you can say about Windows 10 (among many potential candidates) is that it righted a lot of the wrongs of Windows 8, and for that it should be celebrated.
It’s easy to forget what a misstep Windows 8 was. Built primarily around the principle that an OS interface should be a hybrid between a touchscreen system and regular ol’ mouse and keyboard, it managed to somehow fail at both, resulting in a frustrating experience for desktop users and a halfway house for those trying to make use of its flat, coloured-tile, touchscreen-friendly interface.
The Metro UI, it was called, and I think it’s fair to say it was not well-received. Gone was the useful, straight-to-business functionality of Windows versions of old, replaced instead by a start screen of brightly-coloured yet obtuse tiles, obscuring the traditional Windows desktop behind a series of eye-searingly-toned rectangles and squares.
Oh yes, the familiar Windows desktop was still there. It was just hidden by default, in a way that immediately irked many of those who chose to upgrade. It was a brave move, a thrust by Microsoft that seemed to say “computers have changed”, yet the resounding response was a firm “not if I have anything to say about it” from the majority of its userbase.
Step one: install Windows 8. Step two: swat away the Metro start screen. Step three? Poke around the operating system and realise that it feels like Windows 7, except slightly worse.
