Windows 8 Reviewed
Kenilworth Computer
Repairs Mobile Computer Maintenance,
Repair, and I.T Desktop Support Services for Kenilworth, Warwick, Royal
Leamington Spa, Rugby, Stratford on Avon, Coventry, Solihull and environs.
Windows 8 is here and looking around
the various forums it seems that there are very widely differing and
very mixed feelings about it, depending on whether you are a corporate
or domestic customer.
Some people are saying they
absolutely love it and will go out of their way to recommend it, whilst
others feel that Microsoft have in made a retrograde step. Only time and
no doubt numerous updates will tell and decide who is right.
It seems that many corporate
customers have only very recently upgraded from XP to Windows 7. This is
a testament to just how good XP was. With more and more Operating
Systems available, some of which are free, it might look like
Microsoft's dominance in this sector could well be over.
Lets get to the point. Windows 8 is primarily
designed to run on tablet devices and has been designed to compete with
Apple's iPad and Google's range of Android devices. Microsoft, a late
entrant into the tablet market, seems to have put this first rather
than the faithful desktop users on which they built their reputation.
As a Computer Repair Business based in Warwickshire UK
we think that in releasing Windows 8 so quickly after Windows 7,
Microsoft are rushing into the tablet market and forgetting their
desktop users. They have tried to shoehorn tablet users and desktop
users together. Whether this is a good move for Microsoft is yet to be
seen.
The first thing to notice is the new user touch
style interface, We cannot quite see the point in having this new
interface if you do not have a touch screen. Most people probably will
not have a touch screen and will either be forced to upgrade their
hardware in order to see the full benefits of Windows 8.
This begs the question Why did Microsoft not
create a version for touchscreens and a version for traditional desktop
users. Most corporate customers are probably not going to go to the
expense of giving all their users touch screens, so soon after upgrading
to Windows 7.
The boxes, sorry "tiles" on the front screen are
great for touchscreen users but pretty meaningless if you use a
conventional mouse. The main thing to remember is that the Windows key
will always return you to this screen, while the desktop tile will take
you to the familiar desktop.
FRESH WINDOWS 8 INSTALLATION
When Windows 8
is first installed you are forced to login using an email address
although you can revert back to a local user account afterwards. Why
this would be is anyone's guess and seems pretty pointless.
It also appears that you cannot import a user account form your old machine. You are forced to create a new one from scratch.
Some people are saying that the new interface is
designed for non computer literate people. If you have been using
Windows for years this might come as a bit of a shock to your system.
Once again Microsoft have hidden things like the
control panel and the shutdown options. Touching or clicking the far
right corner of the screen brings up a "settings" menu from where you
then have to click "Power" and then "Shutdown". Alternatively you could
use "ALT + F4" or the "Windows key+ I"
It's far too early to say how successful Windows 8 will be except to say that it might not run on some older processors
