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My Windows 8 Review

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I don’t usually write reviews of OSes or software of any kind, but I felt like writing about this upgrade to Windows that have been getting a lot hype and a lot of reactions from users and media.

TL;DR: I quite like it, it’s an improvement on almost every way on the way I use Windows and it actually gives me a lot of reasons to go back to Windows as my main OS.

As a power user (that’s how I consider myself), I will focus on my workflow exclusively. There are quite a lot of reviews out there that mention a lot of casual and light users problems or frustrations with the OS, which I can’t care less to honest. In my opinion, those are comments from power users trying to think as a casual user, which they are not.

Start Menu

This is by far the most talked item about Windows 8. It’s different, big, tiled and very “touch based”. If I stop for a moment and think about what I used the start menu for, the new one is much better. Press Win+Q and start typing any app that you want and press Enter to open it.

Organizing apps is something I used to do with the old school Start menu (Windows 98 version), and I hated when in Vista/7 they made it all go into one small box. I welcomed the fast indexing of apps so you could start typing the app name, but I still missed the the fact that navigating through that Start menu became totally unfriendly. Windows 8 makes that better by offering an even faster indexing and grouping is pretty cool.

Modern/Metro apps and Windows Store

Simply put: If you don’t like it, don’t use it! I personally like it a lot. It’s allowing all that discovery that you get on platforms like iOS, Android and even OSX into Windows. I was hoping for them to have a standardized way to install desktop apps through the store but they decided to only allow modern apps on it. A bummer, but that’s the direction they want to move into.

I haven’t had a lot of time to download and test apps from the store but so far I love both MetroTwit and Reddit To Go! There are quite a lot of games for free too that I will be spending time with.

Another thing I like from the store is that it knew the apps I used on another Windows installation so it listed them under “My Apps”. Same as what Android does, but better because you can check a bunch and install them all at once.

Startup time

Windows 7: 17.3 secs.

Windows 8: 10.9 secs

Enough said.

Upgrade

When trying to upgrade, Windows didn’t let me continue until I uninstalled the following:

  • MS Security Essentials
  • Intel USB 3.0 eXtensible Driver

Then it complained about the integrity of some stuff on my files. I assumed it was some activation problem but it wasn’t. Sadly as always with Microsoft stuff, it’s easier to re-install than trying to fix a problem. The good thing is that clean installations are always welcomed.

Changes

Windows 8 is definitely different than Windows 7 in many ways. Some changes will take some time to get used to, but I’m still happy about them.

The task/dock bar was something that I always thought it was the best way to keep all closed and opened apps (just like OSX), but I’m liking the idea of having a dashboard or app launcher that does that job. Kind of what Apple tried with the launch pad, but it was plagued with animations that i didn’t want and it’s just way too basic.

Windows 8 also made font scaling at 125% (previously 100%) a default now. As a 15″ 1080p laptop user, I love this change. The only problem is that some icons in the desktop and some UI text alignments will have to be fixed on a lot of desktop apps.

File copy is faster and has a pause button and it was redesigned so it stacks multiple processes. File Explorer (ex Windows Explorer) looks nicer and cleaner, and has a ribbon option.

The Task manager was redesigned and it looks much cleaner and better than in Windows 7.

Overall I’ve spend a reasonable time with Windows 8 and I like it a lot. I think it was a step in the right direction and it proves that Microsoft was thinking on both power users and casual users, by trying to bring the best of both into one OS.

I also had the chance to spent some time with a Windows 8 touch based Ultrabook and I have to admit that I loved it. I was browsing for a second and playing a touch based game on another, sketching after and then back to doing serious stuff on my browser. I don’t own one at the moment, but I think it’s definitely going into my list.

Problems

I would love to say that Windows 8 is perfect, but it isn’t. Besides the useless upgrade path in my case, I’m still missing some polish in the OS. It seems that Microsoft tries to find their  visual style every few years. They did with the blueish Windows XP, then moved to a glass style with Windows Vista and then polished some on Windows 7. Now with Windows 8 they went back to tiles and basic colors, very little shadow and almost no gradients. This is all welcomed but the fact that they leave a lot of legacy visual style still very much present in the OS is pretty sad.

Conclusion

All in all, Windows 8 is a good OS, an improved version of Windows 7 that needs refinement, polish and constant improvement if they really want to convince their users that their idea of mixing tablet with desktop features is correct, and that Modern apps can be as powerful as the desktop ones.


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