Windows GUI – Good, Bad and Pretty Ugly (2023) • Hacker News Board

I started using keyboard navigation more and more around Win 7 and that has actually improved quite consistently since then and I remember Win 8 Win-key search was quite good, if you could look past the start menu…

Also reminds me of the layers of UI versions still present in Windows https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27556754

Re: Windows GUI – Good, Bad and Pretty Ugly (2023)

#5

Post by derleyici » Tue, Nov 25, 2025, 6:50 AM UTC

8 for Windows 11? An OS that includes ads in the Start menu, made with React. I'm not even mentioning right-click, which has basically two views: you open it and see some uselessly chosen tools, and you still need to open the old version (with the old design, breaking design consistency) to access actually useful things. Viva Windows XP!

Re: Windows GUI – Good, Bad and Pretty Ugly (2023)

#6

Post by sneakinsnake » Tue, Nov 25, 2025, 6:53 AM UTC

Cooked take.

Re: Windows GUI – Good, Bad and Pretty Ugly (2023)

#7

Post by nehalem » Tue, Nov 25, 2025, 6:54 AM UTC

To me personally, it feels like Windows 2000 was the last and maybe only consistent UI onto which all later versions bolted what they considered improvements without ever overhauling the UI in full.

Re: Windows GUI – Good, Bad and Pretty Ugly (2023)

#8

Post by spankibalt » Tue, Nov 25, 2025, 6:56 AM UTC

adastra22 wrote: post #3

I cannot accept this slander of Windows XP.

It is, strictly going by looks, one of Microsoft's ugliest UIs. I will never understand how people tolerate it, let alone defend it publicly. Shameful, absolutely and thoroughly shameful!

Re: Windows GUI – Good, Bad and Pretty Ugly (2023)

#9

Post by zootboy » Tue, Nov 25, 2025, 6:57 AM UTC

derleyici wrote: post #5

8 for Windows 11? An OS that includes ads in the Start menu, made with React. I'm not even mentioning right-click, which has basically two views: you open it and see some uselessly chosen tools, and you still need to open the old version (with the old design, breaking design consistency) to access actually useful things. Viva Windows XP!

But this article is only grading the styling of the OS GUI elements, not the functionality (or lack thereof) of the OS itself.

Re: Windows GUI – Good, Bad and Pretty Ugly (2023)

#10

Post by cuber_messenger » Tue, Nov 25, 2025, 6:59 AM UTC

derleyici wrote: post #5

8 for Windows 11? An OS that includes ads in the Start menu, made with React. I'm not even mentioning right-click, which has basically two views: you open it and see some uselessly chosen tools, and you still need to open the old version (with the old design, breaking design consistency) to access actually useful things. Viva Windows XP!

IMHO the right-click menu these days seems to get better, at least I can find "Open with Code" or "Open in Terminal", etc. Except that I need the old menu to create a desktop shortcut occasionally.