Windows 8 - Burning My Fingers

Day 5 With Windows 8

The lovely bold tiles, the full screen interaction, the appearance of something entirely new.

Appearance is the key word here. After almost a week of utilizing Windows 8 as part of my daily work habits, I am left with a strange feeling.

As I wrote in my previous post about Windows 8, I was very pumped and excited for what seemed to be the dawn of a new day for the PC. A fresh operating system that actually departs from tradition to offer us something new. The initial excitement has departed, and now, as I flip 'live tiles' back and forth, and try to find the darn settings, I see how Microsoft has baited much of the world with Windows 8.

The wriggling worm that I consumed leaves me feeling no fuller than before.

At first one is tempted to click on the tiles and rearrange them to their pleasing, but as I looked for a deeper experience, I discovered that the shiny Windows 8 live tiles were little more than a pretty blanket, or a nice throw pillow over the basic drywall of Windows 7, or something that looks, feels and functions much like Windows 7.

I know many people wanted to upgrade and then set the system to just open up on the desktop view, as opposed to the new 'start' screen. I think those seeking to do so are wasting their time, as this would basically be a lateral move if you were just seeking to avoid the start screen. You'd be upgrading for nothing in such a case.

I don't want this to be taken TOTALLY the wrong way, I love the live tile interface - I just wish it was MORE complete. It still feels a little shallow, almost like that feeling I used to get when Windows 95 required you to open DOS to open certain games, and programs.

DEVELOPERS

Perhaps this upgrade is still so fresh, that developers aren't all on board yet to make use of the new interface, and are instead just making sure their old applications can open as people would normally expect. I understand there will be some delay before Microsoft's Windows 8 catches it's groove, and once it does, it will indeed be the transformation I was hoping for. I understand baby steps, and the slow process it will be to totally convert to an entirely new style of interface. Those USS Enterprise touch screen consoles didn't evolve that way overnight did they!?

The Tough Pill to swallow here is that products are introduced to us to show off their greatness, and we may assume the greatness to be ever present. Though in most cases it just a component of a larger product, and as such, our expectations may be too high.