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Windows. The central pillar of Microsoft and the modern computing world has also been, for the past several years, passingly easy to take for granted. Operating at varying degrees of mundane to tolerable, Windows has been a bore; a groan and a what-can-you-do shrug. No more.
With the intersection of PC and tablet interface in Windows 8, Microsoft hasn’t just made a gamble on its Metro interface (Microsoft doesn’t call it that anymore, but we have for months and will continue to) catching on; it’s introduced a whole new set of variables to an overwhelming frontrunner. It’s like Usain Bolt going home and training to run the 100m while playing the bagpipes. The degree of difficulty is staggering. The ambition behind it admirable. And the execution? Not half bad. But not quite there yet, either.
Using Windows 8 is pleasant, especially if you don’t have to do anything in a particular hurry. It’s a totally new way of thinking about how you want to operate in a desktop OS—and maybe not entirely in the way you think. But it also seems like a rough draft of a deeply interesting idea.
Why does Windows 8 matter? Ha! Ha ha ha ha ha. Simply, this is the first time that you will have to re-learn how to use Windows on a basic level since 1992. Windows is the most central piece of software in the world, and it is undergoing a major paradigm shift. It’s the New Deal, for PCs.
This is a chance for Windows to really stretch its legs. Windows 7 was a strong, totally acceptable OS. But it always felt like it was making up for the sins of Windows Vista before it. Windows 8 can claim an identity of its own.
Moreover, every PC that can run Windows 7 can run Windows 8. That’s especially notable, because the system requirements for Windows 7 didn’t budge from Vista’s. That’s three Windows updates in a row all running on the same machines. This is Microsoft doubling down, throwing specs out the window, and trying to deliver performance, good design, and usability.
Windows 8 is a dramatic change from previous versions of Windows. But only if you want it to be. The old desktop—basically everything you would see in Windows 7—is still there, with its taskbar and folders and windows. It’s still there, but now there’s a new layer of the OS that’s built around information and visually driven “tiles” that display things like message snippits, the weather, sports scores, or photos. The name for this layer is still up in the air, but we’re calling it Metro here. It is designed to be touch-friendly, but it exists in the PC version because Microsoft has merged its tablet and PC operating systems.
Even if you’re dead-set on changing absolutely no part of your Windows day-to-day while using Windows 8, there’s one part stands out even on the desktop: Metro remakes all of your windows. Instead of the glassy, transparent, rounded look of Windows 7 (Aero Glass), the new windows are sharp, with solid colors and cleaner lines. It’s a superficial change, but it affects the entire visual makeup of the desktop.
The move away from Aero Glass gives apps on the desktop a visual fidelity that has been missing for a long time. Things feel solid. Like they fit together. Like they’re not just haphazardly pieced together chunks of pixels and code. And the uniformly coloured window panels that fade to gray when they are not selected do an excellent job of drawing your focus to the task at hand. It’s an extremely sophisticated boost to the user experience.
A nice little bonus is that Microsoft’s new streaming music service, Xbox Music, is automatically attached to your account, and active in the default Music app. Think of it as a built-in Spotify. That means you’ll literally be able to just start up Windows 8 for the first time and play free music right away. That’s a great touch.
Don’t be afraid of Windows 8. If you don’t like using Metro, you really don’t have to beyond landing in the tile screen when you boot up; you can think of it as a big, stylish app drawer. Otherwise, you can use the desktop for everything you do now in Windows 7. If you use Metro as nothing more than that, your base Windows experience will still be improved by Windows 8. From the basic level, like the design of the windows to improved security features like the new virus and malware detectors that come by default in Windows 8.
For everyone else, it’s a fresh start.
At the core of Metro is an idea: You don’t need all that crap. The 78 plugins on your browser, the half dozen launcher apps you have running in the background, and all the assorted rippers, encoders, notifiers, and shorteners—you can shove ‘em. To extend the metaphor, that’s not crap that you would keep on your actual desktop. It would be in your junk drawer—the one on the left-hand side of your desk with the rubber bands and the stale Cheetos in it. Windows 8 takes that central idea, incubated in Windows Phone, and codifies it into a hard philosophy with full screen apps that make the insane levels of multitasking we do impractical. You will simplify your workflow. Because we’re going to make you.
And fine, sort of. But for a traditional computer, a move away from the desktop mentality brings a new challenge. We’re tied to the desktop as much for a place to reset as for organisation or multitasking. It’s a state of rest, almost. It serves as a visual anchor that operating in Metro lacks: There’s no place to default to and get your bearings, and maybe figure out where the hell you stuck that app. And without that anchor, as nice as using any specific app is, it can be really hard to reset.
Before we go any further, let’s get this out of the way: Using a mouse with the Metro interface is actually really great. It’s the scroll wheel. You know how you were totally afraid that dragging the screen metaphorically with your mouse is going to be the worst thing ever? Yeah, not actually how it works. You just scroll around from side to side with a scroll wheel, or you can use two-finger scrolling with the trackpad.
And while it doesn’t make visual sense to open the Metro start screen and just start typing, once you learn the behavior—doesn’t take that long—you can use it as a megapowered Start Menu if you really want. That’s an especially attractive option if you’re using a second display, since you can keep Metro, or a few full screen Metro apps, off to the side, and a whole screen of nothing but desktop on your main screen.
Metro apps filling up your screen radically changes how you use them. You can’t open a second window of the Metro Internet Explorer, for example. And your Mail and chats and everything else, so long as it’s in a Metro app, will all have to live in a single window, though possibly with multiple tabs. That’s a radical change from what you’re probably used to in other versions of Windows. It’s sort of like full-screen app Spaces in OS X, but better: since you can append a second Metro app to either side of your screen that stays put no matter what app you’re in.
But here’s where the visual anchors come in, and they manifest in a few different ways. In OS X, you get a horizontal movement metaphor betwen your Spaces—which includes full screen apps. You can maintain a sense of where you are, and where your stuff is. In Metro, you just sort of zap from one app to the next, with a sort-of shaky four-finger swipe to take you backward. But changing apps without using windows+tab or alt+tab always feels disorienting. It’s the difference between walking past a series of paintings on a museum wall and flipping through a slideshow of them on a projector. And it’s an issue on a PC because a typical workflow demands a lot more switching back and forth than you’d do on a tablet, where it isn’t an issue at all.
Being locked into one window in Metro IE (Metro Chrome retains its tabs) is also disorienting at first. We’re so used to multi-layered browsing that not being able to toggle between tabs and windows at once, over the same space, seems awful. But give it a chance and the strength of the narrowed down Metro experience manifests. Being trapped in one window really is more… tranquil? There’s just less of an inclination to rapid fire off extraneous tabs, windows and searches instead of focusing on what you’re reading. And if you want nothing to do with it, again, the old desktop browsers are right where you left them.
If you’re knee-deep in Metro apps, though, you have some new problems. There is no obvious visual cue as to whether or not an app is open. And unlike mobile operating systems, which don’t need to be actively running, say, Mail to pull down your mail, you actually need to have your apps open for them to work properly on a Windows 8 PC . Similarly, the full screen apps make it hard to see what you’ve still got running, so you end up leaving a tonne more apps open than you otherwise would. The display-wide apps are a beautiful effect, but they also give back all the where-the-hell-is-that-window ground that Aero Peek—the transparent look through your windows to the desktop from Windows 7—gained in desktop mode.
One of the core differences between a PC and a tablet experience is the number of things you feel like you should be able to do at once. And it’s another point where Metro needs to figure out how to make better use of the space it does have. One thing that immediately comes to mind is being able to use more than one sidebarred Metro app. The way Notifications work is indicative of this disconnect. Notifications look lovely, displaying in the top right corner with some information about what just happened, and then fading away. But unlike a desktop environment, when you click through, you’re shot all the way out of what you were doing and into another full screen app, just for an IM, or whatever. Twitter, Mail, and Messaging are all obvious candidates for that sidebar slot. I’m sure you can think of others. If you’re working in Metro, you can only have one.
And maybe some apps should never be allowed to be full screen—like Messaging, which looks absurd taking up your entire display.
The build itself seems fairly stable. Loading 25-plus apps managed to crash the Metro Party, but they resumed in their pre-crash states just fine. Performance from desktop mode to Metro mode is fairly equivalent. The Metro version of IE10, for instance, outperformed the desktop version in HTML5 browser benchmarks, but not by a huge margin. (Desktop Chrome blew both out of the water, for what it’s worth.)
Windows has had “gestures” for a while now, but that is to say, it’s had some bootleg two-fingered scrolling, and whatever off-brand multitouch OEMs cobbled together. But this is its first taste of big boy gestures. As a whole, they perform pretty well. The Charms gesture from the right side of the trackpad is especially wonderful.
Additionally, if you’re using one of the new convertible Windows 8 computers, or one of the traditional laptops or all in one computers with a touchscreen, you’ll find yourself reaching up and touching the screen much more than you’d think. Intellectually, it can be a hard thing to accept if you haven’t experienced it, but it’s definitely a nice feature to have.
That said, it’s telling that the single most troublesome gesture in Windows 8 on a PC has nothing and everything to do with the experience on a tablet. It’s the one-finger swipe from the outside left side of the trackpad. This gesture yanks you out of the app you’re in, and shoots you over to the next. Except it’s designed to work on a 10-inch tablet, not a 3-inch trackpad. So while you are just casually zig-zagging your finger around the trackpad while browsing—an action you’d only rarely do at the edges of the screen on a tablet—you’re likely to accidentally catapault yourself into the next app over. Same goes for if you swipe too far while opening the Charms panel—where you can access settings and features and actions—with a swipe from the right. (In more recent builds of drivers we’ve seen, this seems to have been corrected by making these gestures much harder to trigger—though that has the splash effect of making them somewhat frustrating to use when you actually want to.)
The lack of customisation in Windows 8 breaks down to two things: a lack of options for you, and a somewhat stunning lack of options for Microsoft. Let’s start with the you-facing problems first.
Settings need work. Well, more bluntly, Windows 8 needs settings. More of them. Or in some cases, like, any. This is “Uhhh, I don’t think you can actually change any of the gestures. Can that be right?” sparse.
The other reason behind the lack of options is a little more troubling: Microsoft continues to be unable or unwilling to pull more and bigger partners into its baked-in wonderland. First party Messages on a phone or tablet not having Google Talk or AIM is one thing; we (for now) accept limited functionality on mobile devices. But this is a desktop client that’s going to, hopefully, serve as your main chat and communication hub. That can’t happen without Google or AIM.
The thing about Metro apps is that even though they are mainly pushing an aesthetic and point of view about the operating system, they also hamstring really basic functions.
While, stylistically, the interesting answers and points are in design and philosophy and selection and features and everything else, the crux of the issue might come down to something simple, central, and horribly rote: File management.
The sad, somewhat predictable truth is that the fundamental act of moving a file from one folder to another—the drag-and-drop action that was probably one of the first three things you learned to do on a computer—is kind of terrible in Metro. How could it not be? But in practice, you cannot, say, drag an image off of a web page and onto your desktop or into a folder. You can’t drag files into a media player. All of that has to happen through right clicking and menus and ways of entering information and intentions that are almost entirely anthetical to Metro’s manifest destiny of intuitive, natural input and interaction.
Going forward, that can mean a few things. Maybe Metro just needs to evolve. This is its first run in a true desktop environment, remember, so it will definitely see things like upgrades to Charm functionality that lets you use that space as a visual clipboard. Or maybe Microsoft just decides to keep the desktop around as a utility belt for when you need to do anything like that—though that wouldn’t help much with the problem in Metro apps.
The visual disconnects are a real issue that should be addressed. It’s not a small thing; Microsoft’s goal is to make Windows as easy and friendly to use as possible. But who would intuit just looking at the Metro start screen and typing away? Imagine showing up to your government job and trying to make sense of this oddly stylish screen…
The central question surrounding Windows 8 and the Metro UI is this: Will this actually stick as an interface for PCs?
We’re talking here about the full version of Windows 8, but it’s worth taking a moment to touch on Windows 8 RT—especially since it’s so hard to tell the difference between the two. Windows RT is the ARM-powered version of Windows 8, and features the same “modern” UI paired with a limited version of the desktop that handles Office apps, Notepad, and simple file management. We’ve covered its limitations elsewhere, and although it’s at first blush practically indistinguishable from full Windows 8, you wouldn’t want to use it as a full-on desktop replacement.
As a mobile OS, though, the Windows 8 design is instantly addictive and wonderful. Tiles and the pervasive design language of the software were built for touch. But many of the apps, like the aforementioned Messaging and Email, which are central to the experience on any device, still need work. They don’t feel as full-featured as what you get from Android and iOS. And even though the start screen’s live tiles are supposed to stand in for this, you’ll really miss having a notification center.
In all the ways that the desktop Windows ecosystem is humongous, mature, and robust, the Windows RT ecosystem in the Windows Store is not. Customers who are accustomed to fully populated stores from Apple, Google, and Amazon will find much missing there. That’s RT’s primary limitation—and difference from Windows 8—right now, and something to consider. At the very least, wait until the Windows Store fills out its RT offerings a little more before you commit.
No, not yet, not if you don’t want it to. If you want, you’ll be able to operate more or less as you have in Windows 7, with some minor changes, mostly for the better. That’s what desktop mode is for. But the writing is on the wall. Nearly all of the features in need of upgrades that have been left largely untouched are associated with the non-Metro desktop and its structure.
Pros:
- Metro redesign actually makes Desktop way more pleasant
- Two-display support is pretty solid, and useful for mixing Metro with desktop
- Real gestures on Windows. That work!
- The Metro Start screen is an awesome dashboard/app drawer
- Free streamed music through Xbox Music by default
Cons:
- Limited selection of Metro apps in the Windows Store
- Simple actions in Metro apps, like searching, can be deceptively hard to complete
- Metro apps can be visually confusing when multitasking
- Laptop touchpads don’t make the most sense
- Some apps, like Mail, feel unfinished
Gizrank: 3.5 stars
Many of you won’t have a choice. This is the operating system that will come pre-installed on your PC for the foreseeable future. And that’s a good thing! If you’re thinking about upgrading, well, that means you actually care about this thing. And if you care about this thing, you should definitely give it a try, especially given it’s just £25 to upgrade.
- Networking is cleaner than it has been—the wireless connection pane is now tucked into the Metro sidebar options, and the desktop icon boots you there. It’s an improvement. But Homegroups—the “easy” grouping Windows gives you to share files across a home network—are still fairly confusing, and ethernet isn’t quite as plug-and-go as it could be.
- Where your apps go when you’re using two screens can get downright confusing. Despite relatively grand promises about how Windows 8 will work on multiple monitors, the way the entire Metro interface slips from one display to the other is jarring.
- Strangely, the Mail app seems to be bereft of many of the features that make the new Outlook, and even the Windows Phone mail app, so good. Things like threaded messages, joint inboxes, and notifications aren’t working yet. Mail is a bigtime app to not be up to par, but that’s softened a whole lot by how great Outlook is on the web. Still, Mail needs some updates to be something anyone who cares about email would actually want to use.
- Other apps are missing strange functions as well—like the absence of a buddy list in Messaging.
- Overall, there is an over-reliance on the Search charm to navigate you around your apps, to the point where there’s no way to search from the Store’s home screen. It makes sense that Microsoft wants to highlight its core OS infrastructure, but not at the cost of ease of use.
- The relative lack of third party Metro apps in the store isn’t a huge concern, since release is still more than a month away, but it’s still something to think about. A Windows platform will never be as thoroughly ignored by developers as the Wii, or even Windows Phone, but in the absence of Office on the install we received, I am writing this review in freaking Notepad because every other app is a totally broken beta, unacceptably slow (even for you, Evernote), or just plain non-existent.
- The traditionally bad Control Panel layouts are back just as you remember them too. Category, Large icons, Small icons—they’re all terrible to use, and passing comical when you realise that they’re nested in a neat, functional new Metro window.
- It’s also totally nuts that you still, after all these years, can’t pin a folder to the taskbar in desktop mode.
- Media-wise, Windows Media Player is just as dumpy as ever. But it generally gets out of your way when you need to play something, and you can always use other, better apps. The real takeaway is how good Music and Videos are.
This is a review of the Release to Manufacturing (RTM)—final—version of Windows 8. It was originally published August 15th, 2012, and has been updated to reflect developments since then.
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People still use AIM?
It’s shit, stick with Windows 7 for Desktop.
It’s obvious it was designed for a tablet, so it might just be a great Tablet OS for people who care about them.
Why do you think it’s shit, apart from having to log into what essentially seems to be a Start menu and clicking once to enter the desktop?
It is designed for touch screen devices. It has been built up from Windows phone and slapped straight onto desktops.
I agree with scaramoosh, stick with Wimdows 7 for desktops.
Nonsense. Windows 8 is built upon a completely different kernel to Windows Phone 7.
They might look similar stylistically. But they’re very different beasts underneath.
Windows phone 7 is still a win CE kernel. Windows phone 8 is when the kernels converge
I don’t really care about what kernel it uses.
Whether they’re different or not, my point was the UI. The kernel can be as different as it likes, but slapping the same bullshit over the top (the part everyone interacts with) is stupid.
Windows 8 was built for touch screen devices. The fact they’ve put it onto a desktop makes me think they couldn’t be bothered to come up with something that would work better with the style of input most people have, a mouse.
interesting, funny though, you can still chose Windows 7 on a desktop if you want mainly because Microsoft actually support legacy systems. If you want new stuff – use it, if you don’t then don’t your call. Ipad 1 is already out of support – Not a great life span. The point of Windows 8 is the new slim light form factors that CAN have a keyboard if you want, or CAN be used by touch if you want. The choice is yours. You want to use the touch device, you will probably spend most the time in the Start Screen – you want to do some real work, you’ll probably be in the traditional desktop – choice is a wonderful thing…..by the way what colour did you buy your ipad in?
And still no one actually seems to be able to explain what’s wrong with it. It’s been made in such a way that it works well on touchscreens…So what? The wheel was made for carts, but it works pretty well for other things too.
I can – As described in the article – it is jarring and strange to still have desktop windows apps and full screen metro apps. I have 2 monitors but can only open one metro app at a time and cannot chose which window to open the start menu on by default.
The doubling of the control panel is also strange – some options are in the metro one but all the option are in the desktop version meaning you often have to use both – and you can get to each in different ways with no real logical reason for separating them – I’d rather just have a full metro version with everything in it.
Many people are cynical about it because Microsoft have obviously designed it this way to leverage their desktop/laptop market share to help push the development of metro/modern apps.
I want the Windows paradigm to move on – I really want to like Windows 8 but I just can’t – I wish they’d had the guts to fully re-work the desktop with full metro/modern style.
Damn. I’d better stop using it on my non-touch laptop then, despite the fact that it works better and more easily than it ever did with Windows 7.
I have to agree… I will not be upgrading my Windows laptop regardless of how cheap the upgrade is.
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*clicked Submit too soon. Error.
Meanwhile, Win 8 is awesome – especially on my ASUS EP121. MUCH faster than Win 7 at both cold booting and resuming. Works way better than Win 7 for touch, and I really haven’t found anything to complain about when I have a keyboard and mouse attached.
Sort of reminds me of the fuss that was made when XP was introduced and all the tech hacks said nobody would like the new style and businesses wouldn’t buy it – look how that turned out.
I’ve heard it’s shit. To all intents and purposes, it’s Windows 7 with a clunky flash skin stuck on top and all the hideous Windows gubbins buried beneath.
Funny that…because as someone who actually understands Windows 8 incredibly intricately from a functionality and dev perspective, and having spent over a thousand hours with it…I could have sworn it was anything but “a clunky flash skin stuck on top and all the hideous Windows gubbins buried beneath”.
Opinion – not always the same as yours – claiming to be a dev with thousands of hours experience doesn’t change the fact that many people are completely warranted in thinking that metro is a waste of time on the desktop.
It wasnt an opinion, he stated that Windows 8 is clunky… Which it is far from, it is much faster and fluid that 7, which is an achievement in itself.
He then also states its basically windows 7, which it is not… There are lots of improvements, even non metro built into windows 8 as well..
Like Flynn said above… obviously the people making comments like that have made no attempt to navigate and use the new OS.
I haven’t used it but my best friend has – hence I wrote “I’ve heard it’s shit”. He said that it’s clunky from a user interface point of view; i.e. some features have been reskinned with Metro, some haven’t. Sometimes you’ll be working away in Metro and then select something and it craps you back out to Windows 7 style desktop. That’s not slick, that’s clunky. From the video previews I’ve seen of it, I’m reminded a bit of “Microsoft Bob” for that reason.
If you need advanced user settings then you get the control panel.
If you open a metro app, you get the full screen app.
If you open a normal programme, you get it on the desktop.
Pretty sure thats common sense.
Use it before you Abuse it.
It’s patently clear that Kyle hasn’t been using Windows 8 as his primary OS for any period of time…
The whole article is a textual manifestation of Kyle installing Windows 8, having a play for a few hours and forming an opinion. The piece highlights several ‘issues’ that have incredibly simple ‘fixes’, that simply are not necessarily immediately logical to a mind brainwashed by a couple of decades of Windows OS.
No doubt it takes a little re-adjustment, but you can’t have paradigm shift and progression without challenging a status quo.
Stick with your Windows 7…I’ll have a Windows 8 RTM build in a couple of days and I’ll be bloody happy about it. Your loss.
Agree somewhat. At least with what you said about Mr. Wagner’s write-up, and spending a handful of hours on it.
Regarding the OS though. It’s hardly a paradigm shift and the only thing it challenges is logic. Hear me out. I have no issues with Metro. It has it’s place, on touch screen devices. So lets keep it there. Fair dues to Microsoft who finally pulled there finger out after a decade. But here is the crux of the issue. Metro is a touch UI. And sure, they’ve put ‘hot corners’ and other gestures in place for non-touch screen users. But you see, there is the problem. It’s a touch screen UI, tailored and forced to work with non-touch screen environments. Thats why if you ever use it with keyboard and mouse, it just feels like more work than it should. It’s cumbersome.
If you take your target demographic groups.
Firstly and foremost, business, why in c”£$nts name are they implementing Metro on Windows Server 2012? Who has touch screen servers? Yes you can just use ‘Core’ and with them now seperating the UI element (sort of like linux and its GUIs) you can just run a command line windows server. It’s a pain in the ass.
Then theres business desktops. Do they want to replace every desktop in a business? Or personal desktops? Everyone must get touch screens?
I like Windows 8. It’s Metro which makes no sense from a business point of view. Why force a touch screen UI onto a world which is not ready to make that ‘paradigm shift’ or lets be honest, wants to or needs to.
Ive been using the beta for some time(server and desktop). And ive long since gotten used to skipping straight past metro and going to the desktop. The start button gone was a little annoying (very) , but like all changes, you get used to it. But its still annoying.
From a corporate perspective, im not sure how well this will go down. We will be forced to make the move, and from a features point of view, i have no issues with this. Our support server support staff will adapt and welcome alot of what 2012 server has to offer. But my god, bless those poor desktop support engineers having to support Metro on windows 8. My thoughts and prayers are with them.
As an IT Architect i will answer a few of your questions….
“Firstly and foremost, business, why in c”£$nts name are they implementing Metro on Windows Server 2012? Who has touch screen servers? Yes you can just use ‘Core’ and with them now seperating the UI element (sort of like linux and its GUIs) you can just run a command line windows server. It’s a pain in the ass.”
Large companies always use core and command line (at least all the ones i have been in do), powershell is much more powerful than the GUI, and when you have 50 servers to make changes on, you can either go to each server individually, or run 1 script and change all 50. You don’t do individual server management, as its all done through Operations manager and Configuration manager. On top of that, Metro on servers is just the same as desktop, its a large touch screen, and the improved search is better for server admins in my testing as it is faster and any IT Admin should know what they are looking for when they are on a server.
“Then theres business desktops. Do they want to replace every desktop in a business? Or personal desktops? Everyone must get touch screens?”
Nobody said you HAVE to have touch screens…. but lets say for example, we recruit 50 new sales staff (something we do on a regular basis) and we need to train them on laptops and tablets. What would be easier? To have a common interface, the exact same App and both devices talking to the domain or A windows 7 laptop and an Ipad and then having to do 2 seperate training sessions.. We could even throw a Windows Phone 8 into the mix just so all 3 devices are very similar and helps their learning curve.
For most people in a business, they will use 3-4 apps. Mainly a database, some sort of phone/IM software (xarios, lync, skype or similar), Email and perhaps an accounting programme or something similar. I dont see how Metro start menu will really affect this, it may look a little weird the 1st time they use it, but then it should be faster or just as fast as Windows 7 as Tiles are easier to find than Desktop items. All they do is boot up, open outlook, press start key, open database, press start key, open Skype etc and once they are opened, it will look just like Windows 7 on the desktop. Then of course you can always juse build in metro apps (which i agree are more for tablets than desktop).
A lot of people say its a touch UI… it isn’t… its a UI that is designed to support both touch and or traditional input methods… Walk through the steps of opening 5 apps on Windows 8 and 5 apps on windows 7…. It will take you just as long, maybe a little faster on Windows 8. If you then throw a search or 2 in there, windows 8 is far superior.
No. Just. No. Allow me to counter…
“Large companies always use core and command line (at least all the ones i have been in do), powershell is much more powerful than the GUI, and when you have 50 servers to make changes on, you can either go to each server individually, or run 1 script and change all 50. You don’t do individual server management, as its all done through Operations manager and Configuration manager. On top of that, Metro on servers is just the same as desktop, its a large touch screen, and the improved search is better for server admins in my testing as it is faster and any IT Admin should know what they are looking for when they are on a server.”
In very small/medium business with 50 servers, this is not a problem. Domain is flat, vlan/network structure is probally also very basic. When you support upwards of 10000 servers. Multiple DMZs, with strict security measures in place. This is not always viable. Powershell makes your life as an IT admin inifinitely easier. But it is NEVER, a one stop, be all and end all solution. There is just so many things wrong with your last sentence in that paragraph, im actually going to skip commenting on it.
“Nobody said you HAVE to have touch screens…. but lets say for example, we recruit 50 new sales staff (something we do on a regular basis) and we need to train them on laptops and tablets. What would be easier? To have a common interface, the exact same App and both devices talking to the domain or A windows 7 laptop and an Ipad and then having to do 2 seperate training sessions.. We could even throw a Windows Phone 8 into the mix just so all 3 devices are very similar and helps their learning curve.”
Sigh. I undestand what you’re getting at. And in principle, yes. But, No. If youre buying Windows 8 phones and iPads for business. You’re doing it wrong.
“For most people in a business, they will use 3-4 apps. Mainly a database, some sort of phone/IM software (xarios, lync, skype or similar), Email and perhaps an accounting programme or something similar. I dont see how Metro start menu will really affect this, it may look a little weird the 1st time they use it, but then it should be faster or just as fast as Windows 7 as Tiles are easier to find than Desktop items. All they do is boot up, open outlook, press start key, open database, press start key, open Skype etc and once they are opened, it will look just like Windows 7 on the desktop. Then of course you can always juse build in metro apps (which i agree are more for tablets than desktop).”
Youve not done desktop support have you.
“A lot of people say its a touch UI… it isn’t… its a UI that is designed to support both touch and or traditional input methods… Walk through the steps of opening 5 apps on Windows 8 and 5 apps on windows 7…. It will take you just as long, maybe a little faster on Windows 8. If you then throw a search or 2 in there, windows 8 is far superior.”
No. Just no. It is a touch UI. Made to work on non-touch devices. Theres no other way you can logically look at it. Then sold as a multi-device platform product. I agree though, theres no doubt Windows 8 is architecturally superior. Metro however, aesthetically and functionally a flaming steaming pile of turd.
I’m pretty much with you on this Token. Having played with W8 for a while now, I like most of the improvements apart from the UI on a desktop computer setting as like you said, it’s more work than it should be.
Relearning new things is fine, but not if the new way is more complicated. However on my touchscreen laptop the UI is a breeze and a joy to use.
Now if only my desktop monitor (my main workstation) was a touchscreen…
Hi from the US! Just checking in to see what, specifically, you thought those issues were. We had a very tight embargo to hit, and the specific stuff I highlighted was to illustrate to any new users what they will be in for; probably should have been more clear on how to fix them, if they can be, and the architectural benefits of the platform. But, can you point anything out specifically?
Oh Hai Kyle!
Welcome to our British shores. Care for a spot of tea?
Flynn, meet Kyle. Kyle, meet Flynn.
/grabs popcorn
I found Windows 8 destroyed my laptop and it’s absolute balls. Personally.
Hi, as a software architect (who works with Microsoft) I’m going to chip in.
I’m with Token, I love windows 8 and looking forward to my Surface RT turning up (where is it actually), and I think in this place its great. In a laptop within Windows 8 Pro and a touch screen (or multi touch pad) great. Love the challenge to the existing paradigms of windows and it’s long overdue.
But with a mouse, this design is not fit for purpose. Microsoft has clearly had to give mouse support and has to push the Windows 8 design pattern.
On a server (I work with dedicated hardware for our applications, we don’t administer farms etc.), it’s out of place. I agree its a nice start screen and I will be able to use the existing features such as Powershell and management windows, but a touch screen interface (and it is, otherwise the buttons wouldn’t be so big) is not designed and does not (easily) work with a mouse.
Case in point, switch apps is top right and scroll down. Nothing prompts or guides the user to this corner, it is a replication of the touch screen method, and scrolling down? No prompt, an obscure combination which is unintuitive, not distinct and not instant.
So conclusion, Windows 8 awesome, love it. On a server, no.
But we don’t have a choice, so will have to suck it up.
Not to fanboy it up, as there’s a lot of shit Apple need to learn lessons about (seriously, dual-screen on macs is a joke right now), I have to chuckle at the slow merger of OSX and iOS, how people have been criticising it for years, and Microsoft’s solution is to just full on leapfrog and build a tablet/desktop hybrid OS from scratch. I’m still waiting for them to turn round looking confused and say ‘but we thought you guys liked this stuff’.
I think there should be more in this review about the desktop changes, and less about metro – which is a tablet skin that is workable on a desktop, not vice versa.
is most reviewers being paid to say the metros good?
its UGLY & it SUCKS! i’m not trolling i just hate it with a passion, we are advancing to the future & microsoft want to use a UI that is incredibly basic but hard to navigate because tiles are different sizes, gets confusing… just annoying to look at, looks lazy.
it’s 2d as well, we have 3dtvs, amazing graphics, yet they want to go with a very basic look, even the colors are awful & random.
they could have gave it advanced features yet simple navigation with a 3d look, maybe made it look futuristic like space kinda theme… you know look good!
microsoft are loosing it big time
Facepalm
Oh and by the way, Lose = Not Win. Loose = Your Mum
“its UGLY & it SUCKS! i’m not trolling i just hate it with a passion”
I’m pretty sure thats trolling…….
You don’t know what “trolling” means, I can’t be bothered to write a fresh definition, so here’s the best one from the internet.
“The art of deliberately, cleverly, and secretly pissing people off, usually via the internet, using dialogue. Trolling does not mean just making rude remarks: Shouting swear words at someone doesn’t count as trolling; it’s just flaming, and isn’t funny. Spam isn’t trolling either; it pisses people off, but it’s lame.”
Now, explain how his post was a “troll” post.
In Internet slang, a troll is someone who posts inflammatory,[2] extraneous, or off-topic messages in an online community, such as a forum, chat room, or blog, with the primary intent of provoking readers into an emotional response[3] or of otherwise disrupting normal on-topic discussion.[4] The noun troll may refer to the provocative message itself, as in: “That was an excellent troll you posted.
inflammatory – tending to arouse anger, hostility, passion, etc.: inflammatory speeches.
_________
Claiming that the people who comment about metro being good are being paid by microsoft – 1st “troll”
If his 2nd sentance isnt there to provoke people, then i don’t know what it is there for.
Keep going to urbandictionary and selecting the definition that helps you most though (N)
*sigh* The urban dictionary was just the best descriptor, you might think you’ve been around but before the fucking word even came up anywhere in the limelight, that’s what it meant, whether you want to believe it or not.
But keep thinking what you think it means, not what it actually means. You can think the colour Blue is actually Red, but it will always be the colour Blue. Just in the same way that you can think that you’re not a cunt, but in fact you always, forever and ever, will be a cunt.
Stop trolling…..
You stop it first.
Because calling someone a cu^t is always a good way to make your point and take the moral high ground..
It’s the third best way! Right after throwing a bottle at them and (the best of all) sticking a blade between their rib cage!
Now I remember why I didn’t come to the Giz UK meet ups..
More like lucky I don’t attend, there’d be 100% arguments and stabbings! Count yourselves lucky folks
Actually if Blue object is moving away from you fast enough, then it will actually appear to be red…
Uh, you’re both wrong. A troll is clearly a large beast with limited intelligence that usually avoids sunlight, though certain species have been known to resist its effects.
Yep, he’s definitely Trolling.
need an edit…. you also say
“it’s 2d as well, we have 3dtvs, amazing graphics, yet they want to go with a very basic look, even the colors are awful & random.
they could have gave it advanced features yet simple navigation with a 3d look, maybe made it look futuristic like space kinda theme…”
Simple Navigation is always the easiest and fastest navigation.
“microsoft want to use a UI that is incredibly basic but hard to navigate because tiles are different sizes, gets confusing… just annoying to look at, looks lazy.”
I’m sorry… do you desktop items or your Apple desktop display live information to you without you touching anything? Live tiles are far from basic, if by basic you mean square or rectangle…. then they are basic…. but in technology terms, they are far from basic.
Coming from someone who uses “4″s as “A”s
“hard to navigate because tiles are different sizes, gets confusing”
You find squares and rectangles confusing…..
I bought a house and all the rooms were different shapes and sizes. It was too confusing. I now live in the park. I’m much happier.
I once partook in an orgy and all the holes were different shapes and sizes. It was too confusing. I now thrust my hips into the open air. I’m much happier.
I think you have ‘orgy’ and ‘children’s toy’ confused.
i know, a lot of people get chewbacca confused with you too. Ok virgins seems my hate filled comment got attention from some fanboys… it’s funny because no one cares lol.
i will just say it in a simple short sentence rather than explain it so you virgins dont get off topic on me.
Windows Metro sucks balls.
but it’s still more action than you virgins
Border Collies don’t count
from a boy that is confused by rectangles and wants a “futuristic kinda space theme”.
Happy tr4ils on your action fuelled lifestyle
I use a computer for the applications. I want the O/S to be as invisible as possible without me having to faff around to do normal day-to-day tasks. Windows 7 is robust enough for me, is stable and does what I need it to do – provide a platform for me to work without frustration. So unless Windows 8 offers me some amazing reasons to upgrade, I will stick with Win 7 until I have no choice but to upgrade.
I may have missed it in the article, but is this even a review of the RTM?
I think it’s a little premature to be posting a review without using the software on the hardware designed for it. Almost like reviewing iOS mobile via the Dev kit on a desktop (hopefully you get where I’m going with that)
I’ve been dual booting the RC on my new machine at work. Once you’re in the desktop mode everything is just as good if not faster then Win7 and most importantly of all, particularly as this is a test bed for a roll out, all of our legacy programs work flawlessly. I’ll admit I’m a MS fanboy, but at first I really wasn’t keen on Windows 8 and particularly the Metro Apps but having spent a significant amount of time with it, it’s turned me round and now I love it.
That’s all I have to say about that.
Ars Technica have done a review of the RTM. Basically they say that very little of function has changed since the last version, just visual stuff.
Yes, it’s a review of the RTM.
So Windows 8 gets the same star rating as Japanese Cat Ears?!
Agreed, should get less.
It’s cheaper than the £65 Cat Ears too
I know, right? Those stars were stolen, STOLEN I TELL YOU! I freaking love my cat ears…
I’ve not used RTM version yet, but from my testing so far I have been quite impressed with Windows 8. At first I was sceptical about Windows 8 and didn’t see the point, but after using it quite a bit I’ve been won over.
There is a line in the review above which sums up my view on Windows 8 “At the core of Metro is an idea: You don’t need all that crap” That sums up Windows 8 in one line, another one could be “it just works”
I think it’s a brave move by Microsoft to make such a huge change to their core product, it’s a move that really needs to work for them too.
I will reserve full judgement until I have it installed on my PC and have used it for a while, but Windows 8 is starting to win me over and I for one am really looking forward to having it my office PC and my surface tablet.
The only people that want to upgrade to this trojan horse POS, are the usual cheap whore’s crowd, who always think they have to have the newest ‘stuff’ and never take a step back and ask do i ‘need it’ or just ‘want it’.
Think I’ll trust Gabe Newell on this one…it’s not going near my desktop.
You only have to look at the list of negatives in this review to see why you shouldn’t upgrade, but that will never convince ‘must have’ morons.
WOW, you must of spent along time testing WIndows 8 if you can say all that about it.
Now I’m not saying this reviewer hasn’t spent enough time with Windows 8, but lets look at his negatives:
Searching, I never had any problem with searching. I found it really easy and streamlined compared to Windows 7. Perhaps he didn’t learn how to use it?
Multitasking is another area where I thought Metro has improved on Windows 7. It’s really straight forward and just seems to work for me. Perhaps I’m using my computer differently than the reviewer, I’m using a desktop PC and not a Laptop.
I’m using Outlook for my email on my test build, it feels like Outlook, not different at all. I haven’t used the Metro mail app, and probably never will.
I perfer to make my own mind up when it comes to things I use, I don’t care if it’s brand new or years old. I find reveiws useful for narrowing down my options, but I would never just look at 1 review for anything, because if you just used Gizmodo all you’d ever buy is Apple stuff, just saying….
Gabe Newell hates Windows 8 principally because it represents a material threat to his online video game sales business, since I assume Windows 8 employes the same “no app stores to be sold through our app store” policy that all the other ones do, which means Steam will be banished to the desktop ghetto, whilst the MS app store icon sits conveniently in the face of scores of new users.
Gabe Newell is YOUR pimp and shepherd.
Unlike you, most people will actually take the time to do research and make up their own opinion, and not rely on one from a biased billionaire.
quite impressed with RTM so far. Booting up on a 6 year old DELL Optiplex 745 takes 25 seconds! this includes the time going through bios and logging in to our AD
I think Microsoft’s philosophy is spot on – “Hide the junk in a junk drawer”
There is no need to have icons and toolbar widgets doing their best to perform in what is essentially a bland and uninspiring Windows environment. All these programs can be plugged into a Metro-like interface.
After reading this, I’m fairly convinced Metro ins’t the answer though, as it simply seems to be a rug that Microsoft has thrown over the mess of the existing illogical Windows OS. Metro needs to be good enough as the centre, the ‘home’ of your PC, but I can’t see that happening. Not only that, but it doesn’t allow good multitasking visibility, essential to a Windows business user.
I like aspects of Windows 7 as it is, like pinnable programs on the taskbar (godsend) and the Aero “Win + Tab” view, but the way options are structured in Control Panel and beyond is a horrible mess.
If Microsoft made the “desktop’ look derivative of Metro and make it a 1-stop-shop for launching any program you wish, as well as a place for messenger programs and other Windows utilities to display their outputs in the corner of the scree, and also tidied up the user experience concerning practically every sub-menu in Windows, maybe bringing important Control Panel functionality forwards into the Metro “desktop”, the whole thing would be a bit more seamless and friendlier to use.
I want to like this, I really do. But certain things about it would never stop annoying me. A computer that deliberately makes it harder to multitask is dumb. And am I the only one who thinks Metro-style desktop windows look ugly?
Basic functions like search are unintuitive because Microsoft want you to learn how to do it differently. This is so that you might conform to their vision. Not a design philosophy that learns from what people want.
Not being able to customise touch gestures is a major red flag. And would it kill them to let us change the colours of the application tiles? They won’t give us these settings because they don’t want us to interfere with their vision.
Perhaps the desktop is still a relatively open platform, but I’m sure Metro is a lot more locked down. Fewer APIs for third party developers. Fewer settings for the consumer.
Maybe most users will sit down and take it. But I want an OS that adapts to the user, not the other way round!
“They won’t give us these settings because they don’t want us to interfere with their vision.”
Its almost like they want to be apple or something!?
Since Apple came along with “Apps” it’s like good old fashioned programs went out of style. For 80% of the population that only use a browser and maybe write a few documents I suppose its fun for them.
Financially I can see it is a necessity that MS need to keep up with the ipad generation and if they are to launch their own tablets, then they desperately need something like Metro.
However, in the frantic move by companies to become appealing to hipsters, it seems that real business users and technical creatives just get left out a bit.
Simplicity can be part of a great user experience – but where is the line between simplicity and dumbing down everything for the lowest common denominator? And why do we have to be wired in to social apps 24/7?
I have enough of a social media monkey on my back already without having more boxes updating me on every twitter and FB feed while I’m trying to get work done.
It’s OK to create tablets and phones for browsing, messaging, games and light creativity – but there will always be a need for a functional, multitasking, power hungry and “boring” operating systems.
I’d just love to see news about an OS made for folk who want to have the best for Web Design, CGI, Film, CAD, 3D Animation, Music DAW’s etc..
Apple increasingly seem distracted away from doing this and now MS seems to be slowly following suit – though they never knowingly cared much in the first place.
If only the best creative programs were compatible with Linux…
It’s a good job they have provided the option to have the old style windows included because I can’t see this UI working for me unless I’m using it for leisure.
Professionally, I can only talk from a CG and VFX point of view.. but..
“If only the best creative programs were compatible with Linux…”
They are.
Nuke, Maya, XSI, Houdini, Mudbox, RV, Flame/Flare/Smoke, the list goes on…
If you want a pretty OS for home and personal use that causes very little issues – OS X
If you don’t like OS X, or are a masochist – Windows
If you wanna get some work done – Linux
That’s good to hear. Although for me its Coding, GFX and Sound Production. To my surprise there are a lot more programs available for Linux than I thought though. I suppose the only barrier now is simply the expense of switching all the software I have to another platform..
for sound production I’d imagine OS X is still top (Logic etc.), GFX – depends on your specific discipline but almost all of Autodesk’s stuff is on Linux, and coding? Well – you couldn’t do better than Linux! Unless you’re coding *for* an OS or Product, in which case, you need that OS or Product for Alpha testing anyway..
First, I think the article is mistitled. The title should read:
Review of the Windows 8 Metro Interface: Incredibly Innovative, Incredibly Important, Not Quite Incredible
This was not a review of windows 8 – it was a review of the Win 8 Metro interface.
Maybe others have said this but it sounds to me like metro is not at all designed for business use, but for home use instead. Then again, maybe Metro is not intended to be anything more than a fancy app drawer on a PC.
Personally, my trading workstation consists of 6 20″ 16:9 flat panels in a 3 on top of 3 setup. For most institutional traders on wall street this is the standard rig, 3×3 or 2×2. I have my trading interfaces directly in front of me on the bottom middle screens and my browser/mail apps sit in the background behind these interfaces and are brought forward when needed. The rest of my lower screens are coverd with various Bloomberg chat rooms (28 windows in total as I count them) and other communication apps. These are chats with various brokers and clients and have to remain up at all times. The top three screens are full of market data, charting apps, rv tools and tv feed.
There is no way I can do my job without all of these windows open all the time. I don’t have 1 inch of free real estate. Not an inch. The Metro would certainly not work in a trading enviroment or investment banking environment.*
* I realize fully I don’t need to use Metro and could use stock Windows 8
I think the RTM is brilliant – the preview was just that.
It works sooooo much better if you use dual screen. 1 screen is the tiles 1 screen is the desktop (or whatever)…to be fair…Windows 7 is better in dual screen too
Only thing that bugs me – shutting the thing down at night time
I think a lot of people will buy it as for £24.99 if you download the beta many people will get a legitimate version of Windows for cheap. I am sure there will be an addon available that would completely skip the metro interface.
Can I update from the Release Preview?
Saving the environment?
Must be some issue with Microsoft Giz US etc.
“This is a review of the Release to Manufacturing (RTM)—final—version of Windows 8. It was originally published August 15th, 2012, and has been updated to reflect developments since then.”
Granted i don’t know whats actually been updated…
I for one at first were with the majority of people saying’ohh its for tablets only and that I am really cool because I go against something’ But when i looked at the pre release it installed within under 2 minutes I was amazed already! Windows 7 takes just under an hour! I only wanted to test it out and straight away the login procedure amazed me! I love how you use your email to login! At first the desktop looks a little frustrating but being able to personalize every single detail was awesome. THe new editions like when you are copying a large file that a simple to use graph is displayed, I also have to say the readings are actually pretty accurate! The app store will be great as it allows you to play games maybe that were not made for the desktop. Windows 8 Will be great. For those who arnt upgrading, you should actually try it and then judge. Thank you Microsoft pre ordered last week and shall be installing tomoz!
See you soon!
Can anyone tell me why the reviews of the surface are from the point of view of it having been established for the same amount of time as Apple and Google’s tablets? Of course the amount of apps will be lower, Bugs will be more frequent! It’s new name anything that has been perfect in recent years, or even consistently stable?
I think of RT as your Ipad equivalent and Windows 8 as your Ultrabook / Laptop market. show me an IPad running full mac software and there will be reason to argue this point.
Btw if it looks the same it doesn’t have to run the same, whats the first thing we all do when we buy a computer… we look at the processor power ram etc, and in some circumstances what OS its running. Just look at the many variations of android phones and the problem becomes apparent you buy any low end phone and you’ll most likely not be able to run some of the top apps on it, all down to hardware and OS.
I myself will wait for the Windows 8 model, hopefully to avoid bugs, have more apps and of course full software compatibility.
(Without reading the review) I’ve been wondering, why is is that Unity (On the Ubuntu Desktop), and even Gnome 3, was perceived to be, by many, rubbish, as it deviated away from the traditional dekstop design, opting for icons more suited to a touchscreen, not a desktop, while Windows 8 with its’ Metro interface is ‘innovative’? Alot of people didnt like Unity as it seemed like they were trying to use a touchscreen interface on dekstop pc, when most would much prefer traditional menu’s and icons. But Windows 8 is like this..but much more. Much bigger icons…much more suited to a touch screen, not a desktop…?
(Disclaimer; I’m not against Unity, I have been growing into using it..it’s just too slow for me compared to xfce or Cinammon…)
Firstly, you’ll note that the Windows 8 interface has hardly been -that- well received. Though a lot of people seem to be accepting that once you actually use it, it’s not half as bad as people make out. (Which, incidentally, is also very much the case with Unity and Gnome 3).
Secondly, there is a good argument that on Linux, such concessions for making things easier for less adept users were really -necessary- as anyone using Linux isn’t likely to be in that audience anyway. Though there’s also the other argument that without making it easier for that audience, that will never happen…
Either way, it’s my view that within the next decade we’ll be seeing a large paradigm shift in hardware that matches the way the software is headed. Laptops will ship with touch screens, computers will start to be used more with televisions as full entertainment hubs (and will require large UIs as a result) and tablets (and/or possible interfaces like the Wii U’s controller) will start replacing keyboards and mice as the input for these set ups, and tablets like the Microsoft Surface will become more and more common and more and more useful – to the point where Laptops (or by then, basically all Ultrabooks) will be specifically workstations/portable game machines alone.
Windows 8 is the biggest step towards that paradigm that we’ve had since the iPad’s release, and so much of that is already the case that it’s not too far removed from my own current set up:
- 1 Gaming PC set up with my TV running Windows 8 preview and Steam’s Big Screen mode.
- 1 Xbox 360 soon to be running the Smartglass set up that Microsoft’s pushing allowing me to interface with it using my tablet – something that will inevitably extend to Windows 8 PCs
- 1 Laptop running Windows and Linux Mint (with Cinnamon!) for working.
- 1 Nexus 7 for reading, browsing and watching stuff on, as well as eventually controlling my Xbox and PC with – though a 10″ tablet may be the better suited for this kind of grunt work in the future. It’s feasible that it’d be common to have a full 10″ tablet in the house for general use and control and a personal, smaller and (crucially) much cheaper 7″ tablet for reading etc.
I agree with you there;
“computers will start to be used more with televisions as full entertainment hubs (and will require large UIs as a result) and tablets (and/or possible interfaces like the Wii U’s controller) will start replacing keyboards and mice as the input for these set ups, and tablets like the Microsoft Surface will become more and more common and more and more useful ”
I use my laptop with Ubuntu 12.04 and Cinnamon for work, browsing, etc, but recently built a cheap media centre pc (£50ish), installed Ubuntu Server (No GUI/DE by default) and the lightest DE I could, along with XBMC. It also runs some occasionnal web and game servers in the background. I control it using the remote on my Android phone (smartglass-esque?), but will eventually be buying a cheapo 7-10″ tablet for control/remotely browsing media.
), it boots up to xbmc with 2 apache servers, and kilk1 kickboxing portsmouthling floor game server running, in about 1 minute, gets freeview tv, hd streaming films, radio, retro games emulators, etc). So for a lot of people, it would be good to have something like this packaged up and ready for this sort of thing out of the box. I can see something like that being quite popular; my freinds have been quite impressed with my set-up anyway.
As far as most un-technical are concerned, this is maybe a bit of a rough/ hack job (Although I must point out that, with its pentium 4 and 700mb of ram (gonna get some more
dammit pasted some random stuff rom my clip board in there…wheres delete….
*killing floor game server…
Dam..now you know where I live…. :O
I’m torn… on the one hand, I’ve diddled around with the preview version of Win 8 and found it different, but nothing terribly exciting and somewhat frustrating to learn everything over again.
On the other hand, this is how computers will be used in the future, so learning everything over again is inevitable. Also, I don’t want to turn into one of those grumpy douchebags that gets something new and immediately resets everything back to the way it was 10 years ago, like everyone did with XP’s Luna interface.
For 30€, though, I will definitely pick it up and give it a good honest try. If not, I’ll just delete it and go back to Win 7.
A lot of people are saying that the “modern UI” works really well and is easy to use when you get used to it. Maybe that’s true, but for me to start using it I need one question answered. Why should I?
What’s wrong with using the traditional desktop environment on a PC? How will using the new UI actually make my life better as opposed to just different?
I’ve actually been using the Win 8 RC for a while. But I just go straight into desktop mode. I had a play with the new UI, but I didn’t see how it was any better.
Well I think I might give it a go at some point this week. Quite interested in seeing what something other than the Desktop is like.
there is a massive problem in win8. the actual Metro launcher runs separate processes from what you open in proper desktop.
example: chrome opened in Metro will not open it in the desktop mode at the same time. therefore, you have 2 processes eating resources and same app opened twice with different webpages…
What? You mean to tell me that when you open two apps, two processes run? Get out!