Windows 8 is coming on October 26. But it is not just any other update to Windows, the most widely used operating system (OS) in the world. According to Microsoft, Windows 8 is re-imagining of the 25-years-old OS.
Windows 8 is publicly available as a Release Preview. I downloaded the 64-bit version, installed it onto a laptop and used it to see what sort of changes it brings for the end users. There are interesting and significant ways in which this Windows is different from its predecessors. All of them affect the way people use computers. Some in a good way and some in bad. Dive in to know how Windows 8 fared on my laptop...
Day one
I got the Windows 8 ISO file from Microsoft website. Downloading the OS is simple: Just select the version you want -- 32-bit or 64-bit -- and hit the download button. If your computer has Core 2 Duo or newer processor and at least 4GB RAM, get the 64-bit version. Or else go for 32-bit OS. I used the USB tool created by Microsoft to convert the ISO file into a bootable pen drive and installed it on a laptop running AMD's A8 Trinity processor, 4GB RAM and AMD HD 7670M graphics card. The installation was smooth and took just 20 minutes.
When I booted into the Windows 8, I found everything worked well. If you are used to the quirky Windows XP, you will be pleasantly surprised by how well Windows 8 can identify the hardware. But the Wi-Fi and touchpad caused some issues. Some tinkering with the system revealed the driver for Wi-Fi chip was missing. The laptop, which was made by Acer, lacked Windows 8 specific driver for the Wi-Fi chip, made by Atheros. But I tried Windows 7 drivers and it worked. I also managed to sort out touchpad issues but couldn't make multi-touch support work on it.
The touchpad also did not support the gestures, like swiping from left to multitask. Apparently there is some confusion about gesture support on touchpad of laptops released before Windows 8 launch. I asked Microsoft but the company was ambiguous in its answer. "Gestures are delivered via driver updates that are not currently broadly available," it said in an email.
Day two
Windows 8 can be personalized in a way similar to a smartphone or tablet. There is an option to use Microsoft Live ID to log into the system. Tying up the ID with a machine in Windows 8 does a lot. It allows users to install apps from Windows Store. It allows users to automatically backup their important files and photos on to SkyDrive, Microsoft's cloud storage system, and it configures the Microsoft email automatically. I also changed the wallpaper on Lockscreen, which could show notifications like amount of unread email, Twitter mentions, time, and weather information etc. This is similar to how lockscreens on tablets and smartphones work.
Unfortunately, beyond the cosmetic options, I did not find too many ways to configure the OS. Wallpaper on the screen can be changed with any photograph, but for background on the Home screen, users are limited to just five abstract drawings. (In the final version of Windows 8 more images have been added but users can't select a custom picture).
More than anything, I disliked the way Windows 8 de-emphasized folders. There is no Start button that can help a user navigate through folders and files. And in the part of the OS that uses Modern UI with big bold tiles, the file system is virtually non-existent. If you are the kind of user who never changes default folders like Download, Pictures or Music in Windows and does not care about meticulously keeping track of files, it may not bother you. In fact, you may even like the way Microsoft is trying to move away from the folder-inside-folder approach of storing files. But to me a machine doesn't feel personal enough unless I don't know exactly where each file is.
Day three
Windows 8 puts a lot of emphasis on Modern UI. And it discourages users from spending time in the Desktop mode, which has been reduced to an app. The command centre in the new OS is the Home screen, which is populated by tiles that replace icons in Windows 8. Some of these tiles can show information such as the number of unread mails and breaking news in almost real time. The Home screen also uses a powerful universal search, which helps users quickly find an application or file.
Despite my best efforts to use Modern UI mode, I found myself switching to the Desktop mode frequently. The reason is simple: There are few apps with Modern UI. You can't help but use the good old apps like 7-ZIP. And when you use an app that lacks Modern UI, the OS kicks the user into the Desktop mode. In fact, the Desktop mode is brought to the front even when a user accesses advanced system options like MS-Config or configures a newly-installed harddisk or uses Windows Explorer, renamed File Explorer in the final version! The to and fro between desktop mode and the Home screen is jarring. And bad if you want to do some serious work on the computer.
Day four
I am slowly getting the hang of the Windows 8. Unlike the earlier Windows, which relied on point-and-click philosophy, Windows 8 uses a lot of gestures. For example, do you want to switch off the computer? Navigate to the bottom right corner of the screen and wait for the charms to appear. Then click on settings and switch off the machine. Want to multitask? Navigate to the top left corner and wait for the open apps to show up. Want to close a program? Go to the top of the window, hold down the mouse button and then drag the window to the bottom.
While I find point-and-click much easier to use, I feel comfortable with gestures on Windows. But it may not turn out to be the same experience for everyone else. Until you are familiar with these gestures, it's kind of a hit and miss. There were times when I navigated to a corner of the screen and nothing happened. Or dragged a window to the bottom of the screen but it didn't close. Depending on your patience, you are either going to love the gestures or may ditch Windows 8 for something like Windows 7 within days.
Day five
As my familiarity with the OS grew, I started to appreciate some of the changes Microsoft had made with Windows 8. I liked the fact that the OS was snappy, with fast performance, and booted within seconds. I liked the revamped file transfer tool and task manager in the desktop mode. I liked the way the OS was always connected to the web and applications like Mail and Weather could pull in the data and showed the information right on the Lock screen. More than anything, I liked the big and bold design of the apps with the Modern UI.
Unfortunately, the availability of these apps is limited at the moment. For example, the Windows store doesn't have Firefox, my favourite browser, with Modern UI. Or WinRar, another of my favourite program. Similarly, there are no CPU-Z, KMPlayer, VLC Player, FoxIT reader, DaemonTools, OpenOffice, Picasa and InfraRecorder. I use these programs on daily basis. And I miss their Modern UI versions.
Instead, a user gets the Internet Explorer 10 (Modern UI) and the inbuilt Video Player. But I didn't like them. IE10 focuses too much on the design at the cost of functionality. For example, to open and access multiple tabs I had to do a right click and then select the tab. When I work, there are often 15 to 20 tabs open in my browsers. Opening this many tabs in IE10 with Modern UI and accessing them proved to be a cumbersome task. Similarly, I found the Video Player too basic. It didn't even utilize the full functionality of AMD graphics card in the laptop to playback HD videos in a better way.
Day six
I love Modern UI for its design but I totally hate the multitasking it provides. When I used Windows 8 in Modern UI mode, I could only open two windows. Of these, one was just a vertical strip on the left or right side of the screen. Apps did run in the background and I could navigate to them using gestures or ALT+Tab but I couldn't keep an eye on more than two windows at a time. When I was in Modern UI mode and wanted to see the programs I had opened on Desktop, I couldn't do it with ALT+Tab. I couldn't resize the windows. By default they took the full screen.
Multitasking is the single biggest drawback with Windows 8. Even on a 15-inch laptop screen I felt the need for a more flexible multitasking. I can only imagine how I am going to feel about running two windows — one taking 80% screen and another 20% — on a 24-inch desktop monitor. It's not pretty!
Day seven
I decided to 'forget' that I am a geek so that I could use Windows 8 the way many of not-so-tech-savvy users would do. I realized that if you were not so particular about multitasking -- and many people who work on one thing at a time might not be - Windows 8 was not that bad.
The dynamic information on the lockscreen is a nice touch. And so is the Settings corner, which has been simplified and now comes with options like Factory Reset. The more advanced settings are available but only in desktop mode.
Installing apps from Windows store is very easy. Just click install and they will be available to you. For uninstalling them, just click on their tile, do a right click and select delete... the app will vanish. There is no mumbo jumbo of click next, next, and next. Every file that is being downloaded goes through security check by default. There is no need for a user to look for the appropriate program to open file. The OS handles all of it automatically.
Yes, there is much to like with Windows 8 if you are not a power user. The only problems for such users are figuring out gestures, which requires patience, and the availability of apps, which Microsoft says will be solved.
Day eight
There is no other way to put it: Windows 8 is an OS with dual personality. I realize that I like both, just not together. The part with Modern UI is completely different from the good old Desktop mode. I personally prefer the Desktop mode but the part with Modern UI has some merits. It terms of design and ease of use, Modern UI part is good and if Microsoft can take care of the app problem, it can be a perfect fit for users who find computers confusing and currently struggle with even tasks like installing a program.
But at the same time, I feel millions of existing Windows users are going to be frustrated with the Windows 8 experience. The real problem is that Microsoft has deliberately made it difficult for users choose between the Modern UI part and the Desktop mode. On desktop computers and laptops, it is either both or none. The persistence of Charms, gestures and Start screen breaks the Windows experience as we know it. At the same time, it is missing crucial bits in terms of multi-tasking and file management.
With my Windows 8 tests over, I switched back to Windows 7. It felt like homecoming!
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