Now, as you people probably know, Windows 8 was a complete flop, even though it has better performance than Windows 7. Microsoft changed far too much between Windows 7 and Windows 8, and hardly left any time between 7 and 8 (~3 years), meaning some people were only just getting used to Windows 7 after upgrading from XP (let's forget about Vista).
The most major failure of Windows 8 was the start menu (now the start screen). Since Windows 95 (so for a good 17 years), the start menu had been there. Many people relied on it to find programs - I mean really, what sort of PC user litters their desktop with the icon of programs, or pins anything other than the vital programs to the taskbar of Windows 7? Now, with Windows 8, you are given a full-screen start screen, which throws boxy icons at you left-right and centre. No simple folder navigation like on the start menu, just one big screen with buttons for useless apps.
Oh, the apps. Why Microsoft thought throwing those at people was a good idea without slowly implementing them, I don't know. Ok, if you look at the start menu of Windows 95/NT 4/98/ME/2000, and compare it to that in Windows 7, they are very different. But if you look from Windows 2000 > XP > Vista > 7, you can see that Microsoft have very sneakily and slowly changed the start menu (and also allow the user to use the old one...well, until Windows 7, that is). In Windows 8, it is just taken out. Poof. No option to have one (from Microsoft, anyway), just gone. Bah.
So, you are stuck with this big boxy start screen which you have no idea to navigate. Microsoft seemed to forget to tell us that you can just start typing, and it will automatically search for a program that we desire. But how do we view a list of the programs we have installed? Oh, you have to drag your mouse to the top corner of the screen, click search, and display apps. Why, Microsoft, why? It could be so less complicated.
(C) ZDNet
Windows Blue
By May 2013, Microsoft had, of course, noticed how abysmal the sales of Windows 8 were. And oh, were they atrocious. It had hardly reached that of Vista, and we all know how much of a calamity that was. But, anyway, they started listening to the community...sort of. Leaked builds of an updated version (codename Blue) showed that Microsoft were indeed taking into account complaints of the start menu. Theses builds show that there is indeed a start button on the task bar, just like in previous versions of Windows. Also, Microsoft was revamping the start screen to make it more user-friendly. Yaaay! But, unfortunately, many features were locked, or not working because they were still under development. But, that is no matter, because in late May and early June 2013, Microsoft released... dun dun duuuun:
(C) The Verge
Yep. Microsoft were desperately trying to show the community how sorry they were. Though the 8.1 update is just a service pack, Microsoft seemed to be really pushing it onto people, especially those who tend to try out pre-release OSs, and IT technicians, much more than the original Windows 8. This was a sort of bid to get sales for the actual release of Windows 8.1 (19th October 2013) which will be free for all Windows 8 users. But wait - they have actually improved it. The start menu can now have a picture background rather than ugly patterns of limited colour, the Windows 8.1 menus can have a much bigger range of colours, your installed programs can be accessed far more easily than previously, with a nice little down arrow on the main start screen. Ahh, this could work for Microsoft.
(C) Beta News
Windows 8.1 RTM and leaks
Well, as is the norm with Windows OSs, the RTM build was leaked more or less as soon as it came out in August 2013. It shows many new features of the OS, as well as running very smoothly (might I even say more smoothly than Windows 7?) on the lower-spec PCs, and being super-quick on the high-spec PCs.
Further reading:
Extreme Tech
Tech Radar
Sources:
Windows 8.1 - Wikipedia Article
Changed in Windows 8 - ZDNet
