Windows 8–lots of little things, and one big one, make it great

This should be an interesting year for personal computing. The Intel Ultrabook concept will come into its own, Apple will make the Pro and the Air and the iPad  is even better, Android tablets will finally come into their own with Ice Cream Sandwich . . . and the thing that could change the whole game: Windows 8. I’ve been using it for a couple of months and I have to say now that I’ve adjusted my thinking to it (yes, that had to happen) I have a hard time going back to Windows 7 or to Android, or to anything else. Why?

1. All the little things, yes. Touch screen handling is silky smooth edge to edge. Performance is snappy everywhere (even compared to Windows 7, and remember: this is a BETA I’m using). The preview apps for photos, news, finance, weather and more are beautiful, functional and informative. The cross-everything search function is nice. Internet Explorer 10 is amazing: it’s beautiful and snappy and all that, and there are lots of little things like underscored spell check in web forms (good by again, Firefox), swiping for forward and back (just like Tony Stark, but not in 3D), and on and on. And I've just scratched the surface.
2. The big thing: it’s still Windows, and it runs desktops, laptops and tablets.
3. Reflect on #2 for a moment. Windows 8 is still Windows. All my stuff that works on Windows 7 also works on Windows 8 (mostly – it’s still a Beta). That’s most of most people’s stuff, even now.
4. OK, it’s still Windows and runs my stuff; so what? What: it’s got a split personality: Metro and Aero. Aero is what Windows 7 looks like. Metro looks like the picture above. Now, there are lots of very famous and popular bloggers who complain about this. Why do we need both? It’s ugly and inconsistent! But I love it! I, along with millions of other computer users, have been using computers and tablets for awhile now. The computer is where the “work” gets done, mostly, and the tablet is where the “fun” happens, mostly. Do you see it? Metro is where the tablety ‘fun’ happens: read, look at pictures, browse, look at news, use apps. Aero is where the computery ‘work’ happens: Outlook, Word, time recording, photo editing, and so on. If you run this on a convertible tablet like the ThinkPad x220t on which I’m typing this (in Live Writer, under Aero – it’s "work", after all), it’s like having two devices in one: a computer and a tablet. But it’s a tablet. And it’s a computer. And it’s all on one device. No compromises.
5. Reflect on #4 for a moment. It’s the ultimate “two devices in one” with almost no compromises (other than having to get used to it).

I read an article recently (can't recall where, so can't attribute) that mentioned the concept of people having a laptop, getting a tablet to replace it, trying that for awhile, and ending up carrying around both devices because the tablet just couldn't cut it.

See?

That’s all for now. This thing’s going to be big!

Comments

[Pawan J]

I m already on WIndows 8.1 and heard that 9 is on the way.!

[hacker]

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