Tuesday, November 13, 2012

The Windows 8 adventure


I have been experiencing Windows 8 Professional.  Sigh!!!  Microsoft seems to get it right every other operating system. Windows 7 is great!  I only switched to practice working with it.  I will eventually have someone call me with a Windows 8 problem.  New computers will come with Windows 8 and people will be stuck with it.  Yes, I said stuck with it!  I installed Windows 8 Pro on my desktop first.  It now isn't working.  I haven't fully trouble shot it so I don't know what to blame yet.  I'll let you know though. I then put it on my Laptop.  That is what I am using now and it works.  It did not kill my Laptop.  I must say there are still some driver issues which may be Toshiba's problem. 

The major issue I see with Windows 8 is that Microsoft drastically changed the user interface, without asking it's user base.  Much of my time with the operating system has been spent trying to find easy ways to use it.  The interface was clearly made for a tablet and would be reasonable for a tablet device.  I have two tablets, one running Android and an Apple Ipad 3.  They are distinctly different from a Laptop or Desktop.  The needs are different and the access methods are different.  I could have seen it if Microsoft had made it easy to use the Start Screen (formerly Metro) or the Desktop, but they have gone to great lengths to MAKE you use the START menu.  There are few options (some third party solutions exist and there is a way to use the scheduler to run the desktop) to avoid the use of the START screen.

If you haven't heard or figured it out the start screen is NOT the start Menu! They are quite different ways to achieve similar results.  If you have been a Windows user for a long time you will scream in horror with the new system.  My figuring is that Microsoft was looking for a way to solve a problem that doesn't exist.  They saw the increasing tablet use and panicked.  Apple has been much more sane about the whole business and maintained the integrity of their OS X versions on Laptops and Desktops and used IOS versions for the mobile devices (iPhones, iPods, and iPads.)  In fact, Microsoft has a special Windows 8 for their Tablet devices and for their Phones.  I wish they had taken more of a lead for Apple here.

I am working at Learning and adjusting.  I have tried to work with "out of the box" Windows 8 Pro but admit I have gone to some third party solutions.  My favorite so far is Classic Shell.  It is free and it works.  I'll let you know more later.

Until then,
Love Shel