Not so long ago, Microsoft landed in some hot water because of Windows Recall, a method of snapshotting what you’re doing and invading your privacy as a user. It turns out this is just the latest in a series of questionable decisions the company has made. These seven are the worst missteps I could find.
Windows Vista’s User Account Control (UAC)
Users used to Windows XP asking for permission before doing something dangerous expected something similar in Windows Vista. However, User Account Control (UAC) was much worse than they were prepared for. According to insiders, UAC was designed to annoy users and make them think about whether they really wanted to run a particular piece of software. Requiring manual permission to run software with elevated permissions meant that the OS was a little safer. However, the sheer annoyance of having to allow every single thing to run on your Windows machine led to it being a pretty unpopular feature. Because it was so annoying, many users tended to disable it UAC completely, defeating the entire purpose.
One of the most significant egg-on-face moments Microsoft encountered was when they designed Windows 8 and removed the Start Menu completely. Users were looking forward to seeing new updates for the Start Menu and taskbar, but in the end, they decided to replace it with a tile-based system that made the OS easier to use on tablets and touch screens.
The uproar led many users to download third-party “fixes” to add a Start Menu to their Windows installation. To Microsoft’s credit, they actually listened to the users and added the Start Menu back on the 8.1 update, albeit a very basic one. Since Windows 8, however, the company has updated the Start Menu more gradually with each subsequent release, realizing it’s a crucial part of the Windows experience.
Windows ME (Millennium Edition)
When discussing bad Windows operating systems, Windows ME usually ranks at the top of the pile. This operating system was supposed to be the last DOS-based OS under the Windows banner and improve on the shortcomings of its predecessor, Windows 98. Unfortunately, it didn’t and made a lot of things worse.
Why was Windows ME so hated? Older applications designed for DOS wouldn’t run. Several features users had gotten used to in Windows 98, like Quick View and Drive Space, were found to be missing in ME. Finally, the OS was so unstable that it was a miracle that it could run for more than an hour without crashing. Most users who tried ME for a while ran back to Windows 98 since, even though it was older, it was more stable.
Windows 10’s Forced Updates
Windows 10 has become a much-loved operating system. Yet, it’s not immune to criticism and problems. One of users’ most significant issues with the OS was when Microsoft rolled out forced updates. It was already a disaster when the first set of forced updates erased some files from users’ systems, and the second one caused BSODs. This led to multitudes of people using workarounds to stop forced updates.
Since then, Windows 10 has become more stable, and forced updates aren’t much of an issue. That’s not to say there aren’t occasionally things to worry about regarding updates. Companies like CrowdStrike show us that all it takes for a bad update to brick a system is pushing one out that wasn’t tested properly.
Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA)
WGA was designed to be Windows’ anti-piracy program. The idea was to include a bit of code on Windows to check if the OS was genuine. Remember, this was long before using a constantly connected system to check for piracy existed. So, Microsoft rolled out WGA as a beta upgrade to many Windows XP users to see how it would fare in the wild.
After the update, some Windows users woke up to a nag screen telling them that their version of the operating system wasn’t authentic, even though it was. Some users had their updates halted, and others had their access to Windows features suspended, all because WGA erroneously detected their systems as non-genuine. It was a massive debacle, showing that even Microsoft couldn’t reliably control piracy of its operating system.
The Charms Bar in Windows 8
It was clear that Microsoft intended to innovate with Windows 8, and introducing the Charms Bar was one of those innovations. The Charms Bar was supposed to be universally accessible and customizable with the things you used the most. For example, users could stick the search function on their Charms bar and access it without even opening a browser.
Users’ problem with the Charms Bar was that it was much more intrusive than they expected. It was another feature designed with tablet users in mind but didn’t translate very well to a desktop environment. While tablet and Surface users loved the Charms bar, desktop users disliked it so much that they immediately tried to find ways to turn it off.
Cortana – The Unwanted Assistant
Image of the Surface Pro
Before Copilot, Microsoft’s AI Assistant, there was Cortana. Cortana was Microsoft’s attempt at a voice assistant, much like Apple had Siri. Unfortunately, several things made Cortana far less useful as a voice assistant compared to competitors.
Cortana lacked many of the essential features that popular voice assistants had, and in general just didn’t work as well as competitors. Its technical problems ,combined with competition from Google and Apple on mobile devices, resulted in an assistant that just wasn’t as popular as other digital assistants of its age. A lot of the resources that could have gone into improving Cortana went into its successor, Copilot, instead. With time, Microsoft realized its mistake and removed Cortana from Windows 11 and Windows 10 completely.
Innovation Means Making Mistakes Sometimes
Innovation means staying alive as a tech company. Microsoft has been a dominant force in the industry for a long time, but that isn’t a guarantee. While these failures stand out as terrible, the company has also made some of the world’s most popular operating systems—so much so that it’s hard to get people to move to the newer one when it is released. Microsoft will likely make a few more Windows faux-pas, but hopefully, it’ll help them learn to create a better product.
