There’s been loads of web chatter not too long ago concerning the revelation that the Format drive window in Windows 11 hasn’t solely not been modified for 30 years – nevertheless it was alleged to be a brief interface. Whereas this 30-year-old piece of Home windows legacy is in some methods a part of Windows 11’s charms, it’s additionally emblematic of Microsoft’s issues with its operating system.
For these of us who nonetheless use the Format drive function in Home windows 11, it’s little shock that it appears to be like nearly similar to when it first appeared again in 1994. With a easy interface that provides you all the essential options it’s good to erase and format a drive rapidly, in some respects you can argue this can be a nice instance of ‘if it isn’t damaged, don’t repair it.’
Nonetheless, posting on X, former Microsoft developer Dave Plummer revealed that the interface of the Format function, which he created in late 1994, was alleged to be momentary, with a extra ‘elegant UI’ for WindowsNT ultimately changing it.
I wrote this Format dialog again on a wet Thursday morning at Microsoft in late 1994, I believe it was.We have been porting the bajillion strains of code from the Windows95 person interface over to NT, and Format was simply a kind of areas the place WindowsNT was totally different sufficient from… pic.twitter.com/PbrhQe0n3KMarch 24, 2024
Possibly repair it anyway
There’s something comforting about having sure instruments or home windows remaining unchanged for many years. Nonetheless, whereas it might be pleasing to some previous farts (like me), having a contemporary working system peppered with 30-year-old apps is way from perfect – particularly if these apps have been solely alleged to be momentary.
The truth that the Format function hasn’t modified for 3 many years explains why there are some odd issues that stay. It’s unlikely that anybody lately wants to regulate the ‘Allocation unit measurement’, but that possibility stays. Formatting a drive to make use of the FAT file system additionally stays restricted to 32GB, although – as The Verge explains – FAT helps volumes of as much as 2TB. With Home windows 11 sticking to the previous Format drive interface, there’s no official approach of making FAT volumes in Home windows 11 which can be bigger than 32GB.
It is these little quirks which have led some folks to consider that the rationale why Microsoft hasn’t modified the Format drive interface isn’t as a result of it thinks that it’s good – however just because it has forgotten to.
That’s definitely an amusing idea, and I think about that the Format drive function is among the least-used elements of Home windows 11. Nonetheless, I discover it exhausting to consider that Microsoft has forgotten about it. As an alternative, I believe it merely doesn’t care. And that’s worse.
Blame it on Home windows 8
Now, it’s all the time enjoyable responsible all the things on Windows 8. Microsoft’s failure to come up with a decent smartphone to take on the iPhone? Windows 8’s fault. The truth that the long-lasting Begin menu is now largely ineffective? The rot began with Home windows 8. Your automotive breaks down simply earlier than it’s good to get someplace urgently? You’d higher consider that’s Home windows 8’s fault.
Nonetheless, there’s a main situation with Home windows 11, exemplified by the 30-year-old Format drive interface, that I can legitimately blame on Home windows 8.
In case you can’t bear in mind Home windows 8, then let me fill you in on considered one of Microsoft’s worst working system missteps.
Launched in 2012 and following on from the very talked-about Windows 7, Home windows 8 introduced an bold, although flawed, overhaul to the Home windows interface. Ditching the standard Home windows desktop structure of a taskbar alongside the underside and the long-lasting Begin menu that had been a cornerstone of Home windows releases since Home windows 95, and changing it (form of) with a big-buttoned ‘Begin display’ that was designed with contact display units in thoughts, and taking cues from cell working methods like iOS and Android, Home windows 8 was arguably the most important revolution since Home windows 95. It was additionally a little bit of a catastrophe.
Whereas the brand new Begin Display screen may need regarded good and labored properly on touchscreen units, for conventional laptop computer and desktop PCs, which have been by far the vast majority of units working Home windows 8, it felt fundamental, garish and unintuitive.
Even worse, Microsoft didn’t totally commit to creating Home windows 8 a mobile-first working system. This meant that the touchscreen-friendly Begin display was clunkily overlaid on prime of a extra conventional desktop interface. This meant desktop customers needed to put up with the Begin Display screen, whereas touchscreen customers needed to fiddle about with sure apps and screens that have been designed for use with a mouse and keyboard. By making an attempt to attraction to conventional Home windows customers in addition to cell customers, Home windows 8 ended up annoying everybody.
That is maybe the worst legacy of Home windows 8. Since that OS, Microsoft has scaled again on its touchscreen ambitions, nevertheless it has continued to maintain some extra fashionable, simplified, components alongside extra conventional Home windows elements.
This has led to post-Home windows 8 variations of Home windows nonetheless feeling like an ungainly mixture of two totally different working methods. Not solely does it make utilizing fashionable Home windows, together with Home windows 11, really feel clunky, nevertheless it’s complicated as properly. It’s why Home windows 11 nonetheless has the Management Panel, an app containing a choice of choices that has been round since Home windows 1.0’s launch in 1985, nevertheless it additionally has the Settings display, which basically does the identical factor, however with a contemporary look (and debuted with Home windows 8). At first having Management Panel and Settings was merely redundant as they do the identical factor, however Microsoft is slowly moving parts of the Control Panel to the Settings app.
This has made issues worse, in my view, because it’s now unclear the place I must go to get to a sure setting in Home windows 11. It additionally appears like I’m utilizing two totally different working methods at occasions.
The actual fact is Home windows 11 has an id downside. Is it a contemporary working system that has advanced together with how folks now use their PCs, or is it a secure, acquainted, legacy working system that does the job however doesn’t wow folks? It could possibly’t be each and which means for the way forward for Home windows, be that Windows 12 or one thing else solely, Microsoft goes to must make some powerful choices.
That would imply slicing all these previous elements of the working system out and ranging from scratch. Do a Home windows 8, however totally decide to it. Sadly, on account of Home windows 8’s unpopularity, Microsoft could be too timid to essentially revolutionize Home windows. If that’s the case, then Home windows 8’s legacy will likely be even worse than I believed.
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