A little background before I begin my rambling on Windows 8.
Windows 8 is one hell of a radical change with the implementation of a touch UI (Metro) which is the UI platform that Microsoft seem determine to implement for all of it's products and services.
As such, Microsoft want to completely phase out the traditional start menu and desktop environment that mostly every GUI desktop OS uses today.
This has kicked up a lot of controversy since the Developer Preview and following Consumer Preview have been tested over the past months in that most people are taking sides.
One side likes the change and would rather the Metro UI then proceed to criticize others for not accepting and adapting the change.
And the other side states that it is a total step-backwards in terms of a desktop GUI and the experience is really jarring, intended for touch, not ready which also leads to criticizing how blindly people believe in the Metro UI for a desktop environment.
Now here is what I think:
My experience has been jarring, switching back and forth from the Metro UI and normal desktop that I would rather one or the other, not a mash-up of two platforms then there is the massive tiles that represent my applications in the metro start menu.
I know this will be intended to be "Live Tiles" but where is the customization? Why are they so huge for normal applications? Why must I now learn shortcuts to do things? (I know they are more efficient but feels like I don't have the option between the two now).
This might change in the Release preview but for now, not really doing it for me so I use Classic Shell to bring back the start-menu and the recent applications list with customization.
The focus seems to be entirely on touch and I know touch is great for it but I am not exactly going to run out and buy a couple of touch-enabled displays to use it. (I might of if it did not cost 3 times as much to replace my current set-up with a touch panel)
I can see touch being used in the future for sure and the Metro UI touch interface is great for that but at the moment, it has major issues and for me, it is really a step backwards if they think it is gonna be usable for desktop users with a keyboard and mouse.
Much in the way that cloud computing applications have entered the scene, their interfaces and features are somewhat limited or spartan compared to their desktop counter-parts.
The Metro UI and applications are looking like they are taking the same route even though it might be early days for development, it requires yet another shift in Windows development much like when Microsoft decided to move to their .Net framework which was followed by them totally dropping support for VB6.
Though I do think change is great as when Microsoft released Windows Vista debuted back in 2006, the changes and features that Microsoft brought with it were a step forward even though it had it's fair share of controversy due to being somewhat unstable and under-performing for most low-mid spec computers.
I just think Microsoft is jumping the gun a bit by trying to make Windows a touch-centric OS too soon in that, it should really complement both Touch users and Mouse+Keyboard users and not annoy the hell out of Mouse+Keyboard users.
Windows 8 has been a blast to use for general use and stability (The experience in terms of stability, refinements to windows explorer, file copy/paste prediction etc.)
There is also WDDM 1.2 as well which is rather long winded to explain but it is an improvement over how GPUs are handled and managed so in theory, better performance and efficiency with certain things.
Total War: Shogun 2 has been the only game/application not working since it updated recently with the expansion update and the Android ADB does not function on it.
Which brings me to my final points, if you enjoy using the Metro UI and keyboard short cuts then it's great you managed to adjust to it however if not and you would still like to use Windows 8:
It's either a start menu and desktop for me or a no go for now.
Classic Shell: (A great and customizable start menu, explorer and would even recommend it over
the Windows 7 one).
Start8: (Mini start-menu version of the Metro UI screen though it performs strangely and not
really adequate in my opinion yet).
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