jakem1, on 19 September 2012 - 07:31, said:
Very interesting. Thanks.
And the point of the post is, in fact, dead-on - Windows 8 is, quite literally, a step in quite a different direction for Microsoft.
And while a lot of the detractors - albeit grudgingly - admit that such a step HAD to be taken, they would still have preferred that Microsoft in general, and Windows in particular, NOT take it.
After going through three Previews (Developer, Consumer, and Release) and then having thrashed the RTM bits since almost a month ago, here's my takeaway on Windows 8.
1. As different as the UI is from the direction set by the past decade-plus of Windows, you wouldn't know it from how solid the application, game and hardware compatibility is. (That, in and of itself, is remarkably different from previous versions - one of THE biggest issues with upgrading Windows - software backward compatibility - is a non-issue.)
2. As opposed to Windows 7, which tended to hide the keyboard under the mouse-biased Start menu that Windows has had since 9x/NT4, the Start menu's excision meant an improved focus on two areas that even Windows 7 was lacking in - keyboard-friendliness and touch-friendliness. (The lack of keyboard-friendliness of Windows XP/Vista/7 frankly bugged me - especially since it was by design.)
3. It's a shame that it's not as easy to get users more open-minded about what you can do with the admittedly-wildly-different UI - without changing applications. (Practically *all* the angst and criticism is about the UI being so different. I've seen more FUD about Windows 8 than I have about Vista - which had far greater issues with backward compatibility - especially in terms of applications.)
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No wonder.
