"[...]while Sinofsky had the maniacal power and force of will of a Steve Jobs, he lacked Jobs' best gift: An innate understanding of good design. Windows 8 is not well-designed. It's a mess. But Windows 8 is a bigger problem than that. Windows 8 is a disaster in every sense of the word." - Kevin (aka ThreadKilla)

"Everyone likes to compare Apple or the Mac to BMW and, you know what? Fair enough, and if that's true then Windows is obviously GM, the overly-big messy GM of a decade ago. But Microsoft can't afford for Windows to be like GM anymore—just like GM couldn't, for whatever that's worth. Maybe Windows needs to be more like GMC, the part of GM that only makes trucks (and truck-based SUVs). After all, while many people choose to use a truck for basic transportation, they're really designed and optimized for work. You know, as should be Windows." - Kevin (aka ThreadKilla)

"You can't please everybody, Microsoft. So stop trying. It's time to double down on the people who actually use your products, not some mythical group of consumers who will never stop using their simpler Android and iOS devices just because you wish they would." - Kevin (aka ThreadKilla)

I don't have a Mac, but I do have iOS devices and IMO since iOS 6 or so the system has been showing cracks in its till-then enviable track record of consistent UI. (most notably in the music player controls vs the lock screen music player controls, which is worrying for two reasons. First, how could something that basic slip? And secondly, why in the world do the lock screen controls use different assets from the main music player anyways?) - Andrew C (✔)

I know I harp on that one issue a lot, and Apple did eventually fix it, but for me it really was like seeing my computer dad be too tired to lift me, or something. It shook my confidence in the company's ability to execute seamless UI. - Andrew C (✔)

There are many, many small issues with iOS and MacOS. But, it's fair to say that both are, in the main, reasonably well designed to meet requirements of the devices they're meant to be used on. I don't use Windows, but it sounds like Thurott's main complaint is that the shaky principal of two completely distinct OSes under one umbrella was a bad idea to start and is only getting worse. - Kevin (aka ThreadKilla)

Yep. Windows 8 sucks. It's even worse than Vista. - Jim #teamFFrank

I think it's better than Vista, at least. I think the main problem is the weird hybrid UI. Like, underneath, the actual OS feels even more stable than Windows 7. If they could decide on a single UI, it might not be that bad. - Victor Ganata

I do think OS X and iOS are starting to get ponderous, though. I remember when iTunes was the best music player in existence, hands down. Now it's an onerous piece of crap with all sorts of inconsistencies and menu options that don't even work. - Victor Ganata

I agree with you Victor that there is a hybrid UI. That's the problem. Vista didn't have that problem. There are a couple of other things that Vista did well but which were eventually broken in Windows 7 -- I'm thinking of indexing and searching the file system specifically. These are a little better in 8.1 but not where they used to be. So for my use case, 8.1 is definitely worse than Vista. And my use case is exactly the use case Thurrott cites in his article... I just want to get things done. - Jim #teamFFrank

I've never used OS X but you'll get no quarrel from me about iOS. It's to the point where I've decided to switch to Android as soon as possible. - Jim #teamFFrank

Just don't expect a harmonious UI experience on Android either, especially on a tablet. - Kevin (aka ThreadKilla)