The good and bad Windows 8 thus far

Windows 8, Microsoft's latest (and greatest?) incarnation of their iconic operating system has been out for a few weeks, and I've been using the official release for as long as its been available. It's certainly a step towards the future of technology. "Technology and its innovations are the way of the future. Adapt or be left behind" is a saying I've come to find very true, especially with Windows 8. There have been points about how Microsoft and its new design suit mimic a lot of what Apple's been doing with its image and the image of their products. That's Microsoft adapting. Apple's Macs and iOS devices are so widely loved, and their ease of use is always contrasted with Microsoft products. So, Microsoft simplified their OS. Big, minimalistic tiles on a solid-color background with a little decal screams simplicity, or certainly more so than the Start menu. It's great to see Windows taking steps toward a more user-friendly experience, but there's still all that pre-Windows 8 OS to deal with.

Windows 8: a follow up

This is a follow up of the post I made titled "Windows 8 (a GameBoy)"

Since making that blog post, my mind has been dramatically changed about Windows 8 and its new Metro Start screen and UI. At the time, I was judging based on videos I had watched of people using the Windows 8 Developer Preview. More recently, however, Windows 8 Consumer Preview was released, and me, being a consumer, decided to install it. I wasn't prepared for how great it was, even for being pre-beta. Something I mentioned in the GameBoy post was the banishing of the desktop in favor of the Metro Start screen being the main GUI. I was wrong there. The Start screen feels more like an addon, not a replacement. It's like a bigger, more comprehensive Start menu. The layout and design are still geared for touchscreen interaction, but it works well enough with a mouse & keyboard. Most Metro apps aren't working for me because my system specs aren't that great, or they crash because they're only pre-beta and that can be forgiven. I don't feel like I'm missing out on too much yet. I still use the Desktop the most. In fact, I still use it just like I did on Windows 7. I installed the programs I most used on Win7, like Google Chrome and Paint.NET. Compatibility between the 2 Windows versions is almost seamless. There are a few programs that have to be used in compatibility mode, but it's excusable. And to me, Windows 8's Desktop environment is much less laggy than Windows 7's, but that could be my bogged down install of 7. As far as functionality goes, Windows 8 is doing pretty well with the coexistence of Start screen/Desktop. The same can't be said about UI, however.

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.