I have been using Win 8 for long enough to now make an informed judgement about it.
My Desktop computer dual boots Win 7 and Win 8 and to summarise, I now rarely boot to Win 7.
The only time I boot to Win 7 is:
- Run updates to the OS and Security Essentials and run Google Calendar Sync *
- Use Live Mesh PC to PC Sync – Skydrive keeps improving so here’s hoping that Skydrive eventually gets this function; and
- Use programs I bought on Win 7 . I will have to look into whether I can transfer these licences to the new OS.)
(* Google calendar Sync is not yet available for Outlook 2013)
In other words, I prefer Win 8 to Win 7.
That is not say that Win 8 does not have some issues.
Win 8 is a mixture of the traditional desktop and the new Tile Interface. The more I use the Tile interface (formerly called Metro) the more I like it. But it is still early days and most of the applications (programs) that I use default to the old Desktop including Office.
I can now see more clearly where Microsoft is going and, as the App store expands, there will be a reducing need to download programs directly from the internet via the traditional installation method . For example, if you want one of the millions of programs available for Windows on the internet, instead of going to the related web site and downloading the installer and running it on the Desktop, you would go to the App store and install it to the Tile Interface.
No doubt, over time more and more programs will be in the App store and there will be a gradual move away from the current method. Hopefully this will also mean safer downloads with some oversight maintained on the items in the App Store. (Like what Apple does with its Apps – not perfect but better than nothing).
I don’t miss the Start Button but I can see some argument for its restoration at least until there is a “critical mass” of available Apps (programs) in the App Store.
But you don’t need the Start Button. Remember that you can always click Win Key X (or right mouse in the bottom left corner )to bring up the Power User Menu that has access to most of the things you want.
Nevertheless I do have some complaints.
MAIL APP (TILE VERSION)
Lack of support for POP Email in the Mail App is my number one complaint.
When I saw that the Mail App had support for Hotmail, Gmail and Yahoo Mail with a button for “Other” I thought I was good to go. But alas it does not support POP email.
A very, very large number of people use POP Email and in my case I have POP Email addresses from Telstra/Bigpond plus my own Domain.
There are suggested ‘work arounds’ like redirecting POP Emails via your Gmail or Hotmail but I don’t want to do this and I shouldn’t have to. This is not a big deal on a computer as you can use an Email program like Outlook or Windows Live Mail. However, if you get one of the new Windows RT Tablets (with the ARM CPU) you are out of luck. In fact this was the deal breaker when I was deciding whether or not to buy a Surface RT. I will stick with my iPad as it has no problems with POP Email.
What a pity as the Mail App is otherwise excellent and I like the way it looks and works.
INTERNET EXPLORER – TILE VERSION
OK I admit that I have a bad attitude towards the Tile Version of IE. But I have reasons. I had it set as my Default browser, but as it cannot install plug ins such as Flash, more often that not, you end up on the Desktop version. It does not take long to decide that you may as well just use the Desktop version.
Also it does not have a favourites list nor a Home button plus many other annoying omissions.
I gave up and went back to my preferred set up of Firefox with No Script as my default browser plus Chrome (with Google Search) and IE10 with Bing for day to day use.
However there are so many other excellent things about Win 8 that these two annoyances can be overlooked.
There are too many to detail but some that come immediately to mind are:
- Great Tile Apps like the Finance, News and Weather that come pre installed. When you dig down into them they are fantastic and so much better that anything I have on my iPad;
- The Restore and Back Up functions including Push Button Refresh which enables the OS to be restored without wiping out your personal data and settings. This one feature alone justifies the upgrade but it is by no means the only reason to do so.
- The Win 8 “Search” function which is an improvement on the previously excellent ‘Start Search’ in Win 7;
- The ease of installing Win 8 (including, in my case having all of the drivers for my hardware being installed automatically);
- The new improved Task Manager;
- It seems to me to be much quicker.
In other words, I give Win 8 a big “thumbs up”.