Windows 8.1 unlikely to solve the OS’ problems
Don’t like Windows 8? Well, you might not like Windows 8.1 — Microsoft’s effort to tweak the operating system — either. That is because, as New York Times tech writer David Pogue writes, the new version of Windows 8 doesn’t solve the biggest weaknesses in the operating system.
No Start menu
The first problem? Windows 8.1 doesn’t bring back the much-missed Start menu. Pogue wonders if this is just stubbornness on the part of Microsoft.
Two worlds
Secondly, Windows 8.1 doesn’t split the TileWorld and desktop environments that have so confounded users. As Pogue writes, the TileWorld works well for touch screens. The desktop is made for mouse and keyboard. In Windows 8, you do not have the choice to utilize one of these worlds or the other.
A disappointment
This means, as outlined by Pogue, that Windows 8.1 will most likely not save the Windows 8 operating system. The system so far is a dismal failure, with low sales. The revamp, if Pogue’s column is believed, won’t change this.
