Windows 8 has been highly disappointing. It is fortunate that my own systems run Windows 7. It is also fortunate that Linux distributions are slowly maturing enough to the point where people will be able to use them without having to muck around with the command line, so that when Microsoft manages to release an OS that’s fully unusable, we’d have somewhere else to go.
So I’ve tested Windows 8 for two months on two touch enabled systems: Sony’s WAIO E14A and the Dell XPS 12. These represented best case scenarios for Windows 8, as the Modern UI (formerly called the Metro UI) is designed for touchscreens, and not the keyboard/mouse interface.
There’s a reason the Windows GUI, consisting of Windows, a taskbar and a Start Menu and not oversized colourful tiles, remained unchanged from 1995 to 2012. There’s a reason it’s used by both Mac OS X and various Linux distributions. The reason is — it works perfectly well with the mouse and keyboard, which are the perfect productivity tools.
MS, in its quest for convergence, has ended up on compromise. They’ve essentially provided Windows 7 SP2, stuck ugly tiles on top of it.
What they managed to get right
Improved memory management
Improved the task manager
Windows can now natively mount ISO files
Some core Metro apps are useful and are installed out-of-the box, though I see more use for the tablet/phone crowd than PC users
The Very Long List of Wrongs
They removed the Windows 7 desktop.
No choice of UI. PC users should NOT be forced to use the Modern UI.
Can’t use Metro apps in windowed mode.
Windows store is not easy to navigate.
Failure to recognize or accept publicly, despite being told repeatedly by many, that the Modern UI is touch-oriented, and for a majority of Microsoft’s user base, serves no purpose
SecureBoot is horrible.
Multi-tasking is not good. Only 2 Apps at the most can be used concurrently. The next service pack may fix it.
The possible Way forward
Allow PC users to choose their UI on Windows 8, bring back the Start button and menu, boot to desktop and Aero. It’s not difficult.
Free the Desktop of the Modern UI, and vice-versa.
Give users a choice between the Explorer Ribbon and the Explorer Toolbar.
Allow all Windows users to access the Windows Store, especially the ones on Windows NT 6 (Vista, 7, 8).
Allow Metro apps in windowed mode to be run on the desktop in windowed mode.
My problem with this is, When you’re paying for an upgrade, you shouldn’t be paying more to a third party to make that upgrade usable. Most improvements in Windows 8 are already available as free tools to Windows 7 users. Whoever would make use of the new Task Manager already has Process Explorer and HWiNFO available for free. There’s PowerISO and Daemon Tools. There’s TeraCopy. There’s 7-Zip. There’s just so much, you couldn’t even use all of it if you tried really hard.
Windows 8, on the PC, tries to fix what wasn’t broken, and on tablets, hasn't quite delivered what was needed. The concept is there, but execution isn’t.