Microsoft Goes to Reddit for Windows 8.1 AMA

News
By Daniel Starkey
published

While it’s only been a bit shy of year since the last full retail version of Windows launched, Microsoft already released its first big update this week. Windows 8 wasn’t the best-received OS, and the Redmond-based software giant is looking to help ease fears about 8.1 by fielding questions on Reddit.

For the uninitiated, Reddit AMAs are public threads where people, often in privileged positions or holding a unique perspective, invite users to ask them anything. It’s become a pretty popular method of engaging with dozens of users all at once and it’s a nice step towards transparency and for a company that’s been struggling to justify some of their recent decisions, it’s cool to see.

Unfortunately, the AMA has come and gone so if you were looking to get your questions in, you’re a bit too late. Some of the bits that did get answered are pretty informative though, and it looks like we might even see some updates soon to include user suggestions.

The questions and feedback range from technical small business-related things to random facts that people outside the team probably wouldn’t know. Overall, it’s a decent read, but if you’re one of the folks who are on the fence about moving from 8 or even 7 it probably won’t help you too much.

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Daniel Starkey
19 Comments Comment from the forums
  • ethanolson
    I can confirm that 8.1 is better than 8.
    Reply
  • monsta
    Yes it is better, hopefully it just keeps getting better from the feedback they are getting.
    I know a lot of people that don't like 8, it just takes a bit of time to get used to really.
    Reply
  • ern88
    Where can I get a cheap copy of Windows 8 pro???
    Reply
  • dimar
    Windows 8.1 is fine except couple of features, such as not able to right-click on wireless network to forget it. And stupid user shortcuts in "This PC/Computer" which I had to remove right away. And Classic Shell is a must.

    Watch the language. - G
    Reply
  • fulle
    I clicked on the AMA, what I observed was a bunch of angry Windows 8 users expressing a huge list of legitimate concerns, with no responses from MS whatsoever on anything that mattered.

    Worst AMA I've ever seen, to be honest.
    Reply
  • danwat1234
    Does Windows 8.1 fully support file paths longer than 255 characters? Right now with win 8 and earlier, Explorer.exe doesn't fully support it even though NTFS does and it's really annoying. I have to use Totalcommander to transfer files from within deeply nested folders.
    Reply
  • myromance123
    I clicked on the AMA, what I observed was a bunch of angry Windows 8 users expressing a huge list of legitimate concerns, with no responses from MS whatsoever on anything that mattered.

    Worst AMA I've ever seen, to be honest.

    This! I can't believe it, it's another Microsoft PR disaster. I'm really not sure what they were expecting, but leaving important questions unanswered will only lead to bad assumptions on the consumer's end.
    Reply
  • magicandy
    11748006 said:
    I clicked on the AMA, what I observed was a bunch of angry Windows 8 users expressing a huge list of legitimate concerns, with no responses from MS whatsoever on anything that mattered.

    Worst AMA I've ever seen, to be honest.

    Even worse is Tom's completely ignoring this fact, calling it "a decent read" and informative. This article is perfectly written to mislead people who don't actually read into sources. Tom's seems just as in on the marketing for MS as the people who started the AMA.
    Reply
  • tpi2007
    11748006 said:
    I clicked on the AMA, what I observed was a bunch of angry Windows 8 users expressing a huge list of legitimate concerns, with no responses from MS whatsoever on anything that mattered.

    Worst AMA I've ever seen, to be honest.

    Fully agreed. Whoever reads it can only reach one conclusion, that was solely a PR stunt (made apparent by the two "EDIT"s in the OP), and a hugely miscalculated one at that, they were slammed with criticism, didn't answer the most voted questions, answered just a few easy ones, including one trivia that was made by someone registered less than a day ago, and then still said that it was "fun" in the first edit. In the second edit it was a blatant PR stunt as they are offering $10 Windows Store gift cards. Ridiculous.


    11749099 said:
    11748006 said:
    I clicked on the AMA, what I observed was a bunch of angry Windows 8 users expressing a huge list of legitimate concerns, with no responses from MS whatsoever on anything that mattered.

    Worst AMA I've ever seen, to be honest.

    Even worse is Tom's completely ignoring this fact, calling it "a decent read" and informative. This article is perfectly written to mislead people who don't actually read into sources. Tom's seems just as in on the marketing for MS as the people who started the AMA.

    This. This does nothing to instil the reader's confidence, Tom's, much the contrary.

    Also, Tom's your commenting and voting system has been broken for months. Sometimes voting works, sometimes it doesn't. I can only comment by commenting in the forums, and you've turned the link to commenting using the forum view an icon that you only understand what it's really for if you hover over it. I don't know how you expect to keep a lively community with a broken system like this.
    Reply
  • smeezekitty
    Reddit is not a good choice for anything you want a serious response on.
    To be blunt, it is filled with idiots and sickos.
    Reply