At this point, even if you’re living under a rock, with an internet connection, you would be well aware of the hatred towards Windows 11, and it is completely justifiable, considering the OS had more than 20+ issues in 2025 alone, and continues to have more in 2026.
But such hatred isn’t new to Microsoft. Windows Vista, for example, was hated for its poor performance and high system requirements on older PCs, among other things. Windows 8 was infamous for ditching its familiar interface, which Microsoft took 20 years to perfect.
That being said, the original Windows 8 TV Spot promo video, featuring Lenka’s Everything at once, makes me feel like giving Windows 8 another chance if it launched today. Of course, it had its flaws, but Microsoft’s ads back in those days were much more creative and convincing, unlike the ones today, whose only job is to force people into using Copilot.
A 30-second Windows 8 promo video is better than all Copilot ads combined
Microsoft’s “Everything at Once” campaign, featuring Lenka’s song of the same name, perfectly encapsulated Windows 8’s ability to show many things at once, courtesy of “Live Tiles” and “Snap View”.
Of course, the music itself is quite catchy, but what makes the ad stick in my mind is how well Microsoft managed to showcase the OS features without explicitly listing them one by one, like the Windows 11 ads of recent times.
Windows 8 was never one to shy away from its brilliant use of colors, and unlike the monotonous look of newer operating systems, it had a real personality.
People were indeed overwhelmed by the lack of a proper desktop interface, but for something as new and daring as Live Tiles, this approach of “show, don’t tell” in the Windows 8 promo video is exactly what Microsoft forgot with its Copilot ads in 2025, and we may see more of the same things in 2026 as well.
For example, Windows Latest first reported on a Microsoft Copilot ad promo that accidentally showed the AI making mistakes on a basic task like text resizing in Windows 11.
The promo video was a collaboration with a tech influencer, and it’s about the influencer “telling” users how to use Copilot, because what was shown on his screen was a clear mistake by Copilot. The promo video was later removed from X, following our reports.
Microsoft is blatantly pushing users to use Copilot even for tasks that are innately human. For the 2025 holiday season, Microsoft had a Copilot promo video where a dad was seen spending Christmas talking to his PC more than his family.
The lack of creativity in the above campaign is very apparent, and I don’t think an intrusive Copilot would be something that we would appreciate in the future, unlike the Windows 8 promo video, which now feels refreshing even though the OS was hated during its time.
Microsoft also had some awesome Surface promo videos, too
One of my favourite ads ever is the original Surface Studio promo video.
10 years ago, when this launched, I was still in college, and I promised myself that I would purchase a future version of the Surface Studio. This decision was purely based on how beautiful and compelling the promo video was. I still remember being awestruck at different points in the video where the person “shows” how it is used, instead of “telling” it.
Unfortunately, Microsoft’s hardware division is nothing like what it was in those days. The company has stopped the pursuit to invent new form factors, cut staff and budgets, and it seems like they have put all their eggs in the AI basket.
Microsoft’s main goal now is to get its customers to use AI, specifically Copilot, in all kinds of workflows. Because if it doesn’t, the company would have some serious explaining to do to its shareholders, considering the massive investment into OpenAI and cloud infrastructure.
It’s understandable if a company wants to promote its products, but in Microsoft’s case, the company is confident in Copilot’s abilities, despite people not having a good experience with it, which explains some of their X posts, like the one where the company said that the AI can finish coding before developers finish their coffee.
To no one’s surprise, the dev community rounded up to criticize Microsoft for Copilot’s futility and all the issues in Windows 11.
What we need now is Windows 11.1
Even at its peak, hardly anyone used Windows 8. Sure, it was all Microsoft’s fault, but one year into the OS’s launch, the company issued a service pack that actually changed the version number from Windows 8 to Windows 8.1. In doing so, it came with a lot of improvements and fixes that people had been asking for.
Windows 8.1 brought with it the Start button and made it easier for people to continue using the traditional desktop interface with a way to boot directly to the desktop instead of booting to the Live Tile Start screen.
Full-screen Metro apps gained the ability to run side by side, and even up to four apps at a time, after the company recognized that their new approach had taken productivity to the back seat.
There were a lot of other improvements too, and it showed Microsoft owning upto their mistakes. This was all that was needed to avoid negative press.
In fact, this is exactly what Microsoft needs to do now for Windows 11. Acknowledge the mistakes they made with Windows 11, especially the ton of bugs, and the excessive AI push, and then launch a Windows Version 11.1.
A new version number would pique people’s interest, provided the company manages to resolve Windows 11 issues. It would also serve as a good starting point for the upcoming Windows 12, making the transition experience similar to the one from Windows 8.1 to Windows 10.
