[keyneus]

If the interviewer is truly confrontational (as in, you're being asked something like "why did you do stupid thing A when thing B is clearly better"), then you're better off not working there.

However, I'll often ask questions similar to those you posed (without thinking/telling the candidate he's useless, of course).

Let's take the "why not Java 1.8" example. If I asked you that, and you were prone to being defensive, you might think I'm attacking you. In reality, though, I'm just probing for more information. Are you familiar with Java 1.8? What would be the benefits/drawbacks of using it? If you can explain why Java 1.7 is fine for your project (I don't know Java, but I assume there are good reasons not to use the latest version), then I'm satisfied.

Basically, my goal is to learn as much as I can about you. This often involves direct questions. When I'm asking direct questions, I'm not attacking, and I suspect it's the same for many interviewers.