Windows 8 (a GameBoy)

Props if you got the title joke. If not, pronounce it. Windows 8 looks like it swallowed a GameBoy or some old portable game system, because IT’S ALL JUST COLORED BOXES! Before I go too much further, I guess I should say that Windows 8 developer preview was released earlier this week. (The developer preview is for developers to start playing around with Windows 8 so they can make programs for it.) From what I’ve seen, I’m not impressed at all. Microsoft has gone and turned Windows 8 into a half-tablet and half-smartphone OS. Thankfully, they did leave the normal Windows environment that the power users all know and love, but it’s been boxed into an “app” and thrown in a corner marked DO NOT TOUCH. Not really, but that’s the way I see it. The desktop as we know it is now an app. That being said, all the features of Windows 7 and before are hidden away in that app, and I sure hope there’s some way to disable that goofy “Start screen” that seems to be Win8’s new flagship feature. That environment is meant either for a tablet device or a smartphone, not a mouse. I’ve seen videos of people trying to navigate the Start screen, along with the new method of application switching and the “charms” menu, using a keyboard and mouse, and it’s pitiful. Microsoft tried to sell Windows 7 (clearly a computer OS) as a tablet OS. Now, they’re trying to sell Windows 8 (tablet-ish OS) as a computer OS. Rubbish. They need what Apple has: a computer OS and a tablet OS. Mac OSX wouldn’t belong on an iPad (it barely belongs on computers), and iOS wouldn’t belong on a computer. I’m not the first person to say that, either, and by far. People have also brought up that Windows is big in the business world. What are business folk going to do with stupid flashy tiles and the like? It isn’t meant for business multitasking at all. If I were someone who’s used Windows all my life for getting things done and not having fun and messing around, I’d figure out how to ditch the Start screen and just stick with the applicationized desktop. I wish that the Start screen would just be an addition instead of a reworking of the main UI. Microsoft has gotten a little bit of work done on the desktop, however. Task Manager has been upgraded into something a normal user might understand (if a normal user manages to find their way to the desktop and launch Task Manager). The ribbon UI has been added to Explorer, as well. I wasn’t a big fan of the ribbons at first, but they’ve grown on me. Apparently, IE10 on the desktop is supposed to be better, but I heard that about IE9 and wanted to physically shoot the icon off my desktop. I really hope that Microsoft figures out a way to turn Windows 8 into a respectable, usable computer OS.