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Thoughts on Windows 8

It's received heavy criticism from quite a few places, but I am rather fond of Windows 8.

The day after it was released I upgraded, and put Windows 8 on a new partition so I could dual-boot. Dual booting is neat. You get a metro style page to choose which operating system to run, and overall it's a very smooth process. One massive drawback though. I installed Win8 on D: (7 being on C:), and much to my annoyance, a lot of the registry for Win8 pointed to the incorrect C: drive. This gave problems such as my start menu folder being located on C:, and the libraries pointing to my old Win7 libraries on C:. This inconvenience has led to me reinstalling Win8 on C:, and ditching 7. Overall though, switching from Win7 to 8 was pretty smooth

dual boot ui

The neat dual-boot UI.

One of the reasons I left Win7 on their in the first place was in case any vital programs I needed didn't function on Win8. However, as I now know, backwards-compatibility is great; everything works fine on the desktop. (Compatibility is probably only so great because the Win8 desktop environment is almost the same as on Win7.)

Windows 8 could be described as a tablet operating system that lets you launch this traditional desktop environment as if it were an app, and effectively, it is. At one point, I thought I would be using the desktop for everything I did, but actually, you find yourself using Metro apps most of the time. There is a nice multitasker built in for metro apps, but it does have restrictions that become frustrating when using a large monitor: you can only use two apps simultaneously, and they must occupy 1/3 and 2/3 of the space respectively. (You can, of course, do whatever multitasking you like inside the desktop)

multitasking on a tablet

The multitasking is nice for a tablet, but becomes restricting on a larger screen

Why? Because the metro experience is amazing. Full screen is something that I think is not fully appreciated, but when you use Metro apps, you really love it. Web browsing is lovely without the clutter, games are a lot more immersive without any toolbars, you can see so much in maps without the menus, and so it goes on. The clean style of Metro apps also adds to the overall smooth, clutter-free look.

writing a post of meta in metro

Even writing a post here is so immersive on metro!

Startup and shutdown are also brilliantly quick on Windows 8.

startup times

A visual look at startup times.

I've heard criticism of the new Windows Store (paying for entry to a store targeted mainly at PCs...), but the store has brought a way for applications that we are used to running natively on tablets and smartphones to run natively on PC. You would not be able to play something like 'Cut the Rope' natively on any other desktop platform.

cut the rope in the windows store

Applications we are used to on mobile OSs running natively on Windows 8.

Whilst it is not fully optimised for desktop computers (I think the tablet like start screen means it would work best on touchscreen laptops), Windows 8 is a great new operating system. It's easy to switch, runs everything that runs on 7, and gives you a great new experience in Metro apps such as web browsing and email.

Thoughts on Windows 8

It's received heavy criticism from quite a few places, but I am rather fond of Windows 8.

The day after it was released I upgraded, and put Windows 8 on a new partition so I could dual-boot. Dual booting is neat. You get a metro style page to choose which operating system to run, and overall it's a very smooth process. One massive drawback though. I installed Win8 on D: (7 being on C:), and much to my annoyance, a lot of the registry for Win8 pointed to the incorrect C: drive. This gave problems such as my start menu folder being located on C:, and the libraries pointing to my old Win7 libraries on C:. This inconvenience has led to me reinstalling Win8 on C:, and ditching 7. Overall though, switching from Win7 to 8 was pretty smooth

dual boot ui

The neat dual-boot UI.

One of the reasons I left Win7 on their in the first place was in case any vital programs I needed didn't function on Win8. However, as I now know, backwards-compatibility is great; everything works fine on the desktop. (Compatibility is probably only so great because the Win8 desktop environment is almost the same as on Win7.)

Windows 8 could be described as a tablet operating system that lets you launch this traditional desktop environment as if it were an app, and effectively, it is. At one point, I thought I would be using the desktop for everything I did, but actually, you find yourself using Metro apps most of the time. There is a nice multitasker built in for metro apps, but it does have restrictions that become frustrating when using a large monitor: you can only use two apps simultaneously, and they must occupy 1/3 and 2/3 of the space respectively. (You can, of course, do whatever multitasking you like inside the desktop)

multitasking on a tablet

The multitasking is nice for a tablet, but becomes restricting on a larger screen

Why? Because the metro experience is amazing. Full screen is something that I think is not fully appreciated, but when you use Metro apps, you really love it. Web browsing is lovely without the clutter, games are a lot more immersive without any toolbars, you can see so much in maps without the menus, and so it goes on. The clean style of Metro apps also adds to the overall smooth, clutter-free look.

writing a post of meta in metro

Even writing a post here is so immersive on metro!

Startup and shutdown are also brilliantly quick on Windows 8.

startup times

A visual look at startup times.

I've heard criticism of the new Windows Store (paying for entry to a store targeted mainly at PCs...), but the store has brought a way for applications that we are used to running natively on tablets and smartphones to run natively on PC. You would not be able to play something like 'Cut the Rope' natively on any other desktop platform.

cut the rope in the windows store

Applications we are used to on mobile OSs running natively on Windows 8.

Whilst it is not fully optimised for desktop computers, Windows 8 is a great new operating system. It's easy to switch, runs everything that runs on 7, and gives you a great new experience in Metro apps such as web browsing and email.

Thoughts on Windows 8

It's received heavy criticism from quite a few places, but I am rather fond of Windows 8.

The day after it was released I upgraded, and put Windows 8 on a new partition so I could dual-boot. Dual booting is neat. You get a metro style page to choose which operating system to run, and overall it's a very smooth process. One massive drawback though. I installed Win8 on D: (7 being on C:), and much to my annoyance, a lot of the registry for Win8 pointed to the incorrect C: drive. This gave problems such as my start menu folder being located on C:, and the libraries pointing to my old Win7 libraries on C:. This inconvenience has led to me reinstalling Win8 on C:, and ditching 7. Overall though, switching from Win7 to 8 was pretty smooth

dual boot ui

The neat dual-boot UI.

One of the reasons I left Win7 on their in the first place was in case any vital programs I needed didn't function on Win8. However, as I now know, backwards-compatibility is great; everything works fine on the desktop. (Compatibility is probably only so great because the Win8 desktop environment is almost the same as on Win7.)

Windows 8 could be described as a tablet operating system that lets you launch this traditional desktop environment as if it were an app, and effectively, it is. At one point, I thought I would be using the desktop for everything I did, but actually, you find yourself using Metro apps most of the time. There is a nice multitasker built in for metro apps, but it does have restrictions that become frustrating when using a large monitor: you can only use two apps simultaneously, and they must occupy 1/3 and 2/3 of the space respectively. (You can, of course, do whatever multitasking you like inside the desktop)

multitasking on a tablet

The multitasking is nice for a tablet, but becomes restricting on a larger screen

Why? Because the metro experience is amazing. Full screen is something that I think is not fully appreciated, but when you use Metro apps, you really love it. Web browsing is lovely without the clutter, games are a lot more immersive without any toolbars, you can see so much in maps without the menus, and so it goes on. The clean style of Metro apps also adds to the overall smooth, clutter-free look.

writing a post of meta in metro

Even writing a post here is so immersive on metro!

Startup and shutdown are also brilliantly quick on Windows 8.

startup times

A visual look at startup times.

I've heard criticism of the new Windows Store (paying for entry to a store targeted mainly at PCs...), but the store has brought a way for applications that we are used to running natively on tablets and smartphones to run natively on PC. You would not be able to play something like 'Cut the Rope' natively on any other desktop platform.

cut the rope in the windows store

Applications we are used to on mobile OSs running natively on Windows 8.

Whilst it is not fully optimised for desktop computers (I think the tablet like start screen means it would work best on touchscreen laptops), Windows 8 is a great new operating system. It's easy to switch, runs everything that runs on 7, and gives you a great new experience in Metro apps such as web browsing and email.

Source Link
ACarter
ACarter
  • 1.5k
  • 7
  • 6

Thoughts on Windows 8

It's received heavy criticism from quite a few places, but I am rather fond of Windows 8.

The day after it was released I upgraded, and put Windows 8 on a new partition so I could dual-boot. Dual booting is neat. You get a metro style page to choose which operating system to run, and overall it's a very smooth process. One massive drawback though. I installed Win8 on D: (7 being on C:), and much to my annoyance, a lot of the registry for Win8 pointed to the incorrect C: drive. This gave problems such as my start menu folder being located on C:, and the libraries pointing to my old Win7 libraries on C:. This inconvenience has led to me reinstalling Win8 on C:, and ditching 7. Overall though, switching from Win7 to 8 was pretty smooth

dual boot ui

The neat dual-boot UI.

One of the reasons I left Win7 on their in the first place was in case any vital programs I needed didn't function on Win8. However, as I now know, backwards-compatibility is great; everything works fine on the desktop. (Compatibility is probably only so great because the Win8 desktop environment is almost the same as on Win7.)

Windows 8 could be described as a tablet operating system that lets you launch this traditional desktop environment as if it were an app, and effectively, it is. At one point, I thought I would be using the desktop for everything I did, but actually, you find yourself using Metro apps most of the time. There is a nice multitasker built in for metro apps, but it does have restrictions that become frustrating when using a large monitor: you can only use two apps simultaneously, and they must occupy 1/3 and 2/3 of the space respectively. (You can, of course, do whatever multitasking you like inside the desktop)

multitasking on a tablet

The multitasking is nice for a tablet, but becomes restricting on a larger screen

Why? Because the metro experience is amazing. Full screen is something that I think is not fully appreciated, but when you use Metro apps, you really love it. Web browsing is lovely without the clutter, games are a lot more immersive without any toolbars, you can see so much in maps without the menus, and so it goes on. The clean style of Metro apps also adds to the overall smooth, clutter-free look.

writing a post of meta in metro

Even writing a post here is so immersive on metro!

Startup and shutdown are also brilliantly quick on Windows 8.

startup times

A visual look at startup times.

I've heard criticism of the new Windows Store (paying for entry to a store targeted mainly at PCs...), but the store has brought a way for applications that we are used to running natively on tablets and smartphones to run natively on PC. You would not be able to play something like 'Cut the Rope' natively on any other desktop platform.

cut the rope in the windows store

Applications we are used to on mobile OSs running natively on Windows 8.

Whilst it is not fully optimised for desktop computers, Windows 8 is a great new operating system. It's easy to switch, runs everything that runs on 7, and gives you a great new experience in Metro apps such as web browsing and email.