14 DAY TRIAL // Windows 8.1 was officially launched yesterday, so in order to promote the new operating system, someone at Microsoft had the brilliant idea to host an AMA (Ask Me Anything) session on Reddit to chat with users and answer a few questions.
As it usually happens with AMAs, several members of the Windows 8.1 development team took to Reddit to read users’ comments and answer some of the most interesting.
It all turned to be nothing more than a fiasco, as the MSFT_Jason, MSFT_katie, MSFT_Ian, MSFT_Rob, MSFT_Galileo and Windowsonreddit handles only posted 15 messages (yes, we’ve counted them), even though users who joined the AMA published more than 2100 comments.
Microsoft has thus failed not only to answer the highest rated question, but also to post some totally uninteresting and generic comments, saying the same things over and over again and providing rather vague information for the things we already knew about Windows 8.1.
Of course, it missed some awesome questions, such as the ones below:
“Why did you advertise 8.1 as ‘Bringing back the start menu’ when all you did was include an icon that looks like a start menu, but goes directly to the tile screen? Isn't that a bit misleading?”
“Why did you design an OS for a touchscreen interface and then install it on non-touch devices?”
“When is Windows 9 coming out?”
“Did any internal testers try to warn you how terrible this interface is on a non-touch screen desktop?”
“Why is there a :( ‘smiley’ face on the Windows 8 BSOD?”
“How do you feel about Steve Ballmer leaving Microsoft?”
So, after more than 2100 comments posted during the AMA and only 15 answers published on the page, the Windows 8.1 team left with the following message. So much for the “getting closer to our users” strategy.
“Thanks, all! We're closing out a few questions and logging off. It's been fun! Be sure to visit the Windows Blog for more details and download Windows 8.1 if you haven't already.”