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I have watched this debate about Windows, its app store, and its user interface for some time now, and I have a few observations.

First, I see many complaints from users who can’t get this app or this feature to work correctly on their Windows 8/8.1 computer. Yet I seem to have NO problems getting such apps or features to run on my computers. I have a Nokia 1520 Windows 8.1 phone, a Lenovo Yoga 11 Windows RT ultrabook, and two desktop machines running Windows 8.1 at home. I have gone through all the updates and upgrade cycles on these devices, again without any problems. And I’ve installed many different apps/programs on these computers/devices, again without problems. I can’t help but think that many users are experiencing problems that have to do with factors that are NOT related to the Windows OS of their device. What their problem may be, I can’t say, but for me to have experience for so long on so many devices and NOT suffer the issues mentioned is, for me, an indication that maybe the blame is being placed on the wrong source.

Second, I hear more and more about how some companies are abandoning their apps on the Windows app store, either for Windows computers or Windows phones. To my mind, everyone needs to step back and ask themselves if having a standalone app for computers/tablets/phones, apart from the standard web site presence you have, is really even necessary. While is it true that Bank of America and Chase have pulled their Windows apps, Wells Fargo and Citibank are still active. In any event, I would love to see the usage figures of ANY of the banking apps, especially on mobile devices. I suspect they are very low and will remain so. I contend that most users find it inconvenient to use their bank’s app, especially if they have strong passwords they have to type in on virtual keyboards. The bank’s website will ALWAYS be the more convenient place to access online, especially if one uses password manager software, such as the Roboform I use heavily. But the real issue is: What does a standalone app do for me that a well-designed web site does not.

Third, although Apple and Google’s Android have a major share of the tablet and smartphone market, Windows still reigns supreme in the laptop and desktop world, especially in the corporate environments, where neither Google nor Apple have played, and where neither has the management tools the system administrators need (and Microsoft has had for years) to manage devices and computers. With 90+% of the world’s laptops and desktops still running Windows, the market for Windows developers is still large. And a common development environment for creating applications that can run on any Windows-based device is MAJOR. I don’t agree with one of the other posters who seemed to think that a developer would have to try to make every application look and run exactly the same on every device. That’s not what happens now with web developers, who make their mobile-targeted sites look and act differently from their tablet-targeted apps or desktop/laptop-based applications. Although I haven’t tried any of the new developer tools Microsoft is making available for Windows 10, I am CERTAIN they will provide enormous amounts of guidance and examples of how to fashion apps that adapt on the fly to work best with the device that runs them.

This should be an exciting time for Windows developers. Let the games begin…

I am wary of automatic registry cleaners. I have had personal experience with using such utilities (including CCleaner) and then having serious problems because of cleansed items that apparently were really an important item that needed to be left alone.

One of the most troubling finds with these utilities is the registry item that points to a location that doesn’t contain the file. In the past, I used a registry cleaner that would look on your hard drive to see if the file in question was actually somewhere else (and would then rewrite the registry entry to point to the new location if you agreed). Alas, that was many years ago, and I can’t remember the name of the program.

I have no doubt that software I install on my PC’s will leave entries behind when I uninstall them. I wish there was an unbiased source of information about which software publishers are most guilty of not cleaning up after themselves during uninstalls. They should be singled out and publicly embarassed for creating a problem that the vast majority of their customers have to live with. I’m especially angry about programs that load all the international support files for languages I don’t use, instead of letting the user pick the one and only language they want the program to use. What a waste of time and space! Can’t we do better than that? That is the kind of crap that sits on my computer, taking up space, even for programs I continue to use. It’s time for a revolt!