I decided to download the Windows 8 consumer preview today. For those of you who don't know, Windows 8 is the next operating system in development due to be released later this year by Microsoft. From what i can gather it's supposed to be mainly for use on mobile devices such as tablet pc's and make up for where Windows 7 fell behind with the mobile market. It supports mouse, keyboard and touchpad inputs and is built for support on the new ARM processor and many microprocessors used in mobile devices.
I installed it onto a virtual machine on my computer, and the setup process in general was quite fast, quicker than windows 7, i don't know if this is because its a preview OS but it seemed quick. When you come to setting up your user account after the initial setup, you can either create a local user account, or create a Microsoft account that you can use to authorize various PCs and devices such as your Xbox 360 or mobile phone. This is also used to link with a lot of the apps that come with the operating system such as the Xbox live companion, Xbox live games, and video player.
Once your account is set up you are taken to your "Start Screen" which is now essential what was the start menu, it uses what Microsoft call the "metro" layout, displays your apps and various other features:
When you are at this screen, if you mouse over the right corner of the screen, a little menu appears from the side that you can use to access your settings. This is a handy way to access your basic settings for your computer / mobile device, its plain and simple and easy to use, it wont be confusing to the less computer literate people as the control panel of windows 7 is.
You can see here a few basic options, such as the search option for searching for files, folders or apps on your machine, there's also an option to go to your start screen if you are not already there.
Next we have the left side of the screen, hovering your mouse to the upper left corner of your screen brings up a small sidebar that shows what applications / windows you have open, as well as another way to access your start screen. you can use this to switch between windows or applications as well as close any applications and windows that you have open.
When you go to log in at first, theres a Lock Screen that you have to drag upwards to reveal the actual Login screen. There's also a new feature that allows you to peak at what you have typed in the password box. I don't think that particular aspect is a good idea in anyway.
Next we move on to the DESKTOP - in my opinion I don’t really see the use for the desktop in this OS, everything is accessible from the start screen so you wouldn’t really need to go to it for a lot of stuff, unless you are using windows explorer, which now has a ribbon interface similar to that of Office 2010 and Sharepoint 2010. There seems to be a lack of the Aero that is used in windows 7 and windows Vista and the overall look and feel of it is that it is a bit square, you can see what I mean in the image below. One of the things you will immediately notice is the missing start button, this is because you hover your mouse in the bottom left corner where you will see a little popup to take you back to your start screen. Apart from that its just like your normal desktop. When in the desktop you have access to more advanced options such as your control panel, which is just the same as previous version of windows.
My final thoughts on it? I see its potential for tablets and as a mobile operating systems, it has a nice basic layout, click and drag functionality for most of the navigation, and the metro layout could use a little work. In some cases I like the idea of using an online account, with instant access to cloud storage for things such as the SkyDrive, and it would be interesting to see what happens with Xbox companion and a few other new features. But I also dislike the idea of having an online account, yeah sure you could just say use a local account, but it seems to look like you can't do certain things on there unless you have it as a Microsoft account and not a local account. If this is planned to also be a desktop operating system, and I get the feeling that it is, I feel that it could use a lot more work, maybe there will be two different modes or you can adjust settings to make it be like the previous operating systems (but then you could argue, why not just stick with windows 7?) we will have to wait and see. It would also be interesting to see how its counterpart, Windows Server 8 plays out, as this is apparently going to use similar layouts. I can't help but feel that this is going to be the whole Windows Vista vs Windows XP debate again, where most users stuck to windows XP because Windows Vista wasn't particularly good. There tends to be a pattern with Microsoft, releasing sort of Sub-Operating systems before major operating systems, EG - Windows 2000 - Xp, Windows Vista - Windows 7, where Vista and 2000 where like test operating systems before the final result. It would be interesting to see where Microsoft go with this one.
Here are a few extra screen shots I took:
Internet Explorer 10:
Applications (basically the former 'Programs' list):
Windows Store:
SkyDrive App:
I installed it onto a virtual machine on my computer, and the setup process in general was quite fast, quicker than windows 7, i don't know if this is because its a preview OS but it seemed quick. When you come to setting up your user account after the initial setup, you can either create a local user account, or create a Microsoft account that you can use to authorize various PCs and devices such as your Xbox 360 or mobile phone. This is also used to link with a lot of the apps that come with the operating system such as the Xbox live companion, Xbox live games, and video player.
Once your account is set up you are taken to your "Start Screen" which is now essential what was the start menu, it uses what Microsoft call the "metro" layout, displays your apps and various other features:
When you are at this screen, if you mouse over the right corner of the screen, a little menu appears from the side that you can use to access your settings. This is a handy way to access your basic settings for your computer / mobile device, its plain and simple and easy to use, it wont be confusing to the less computer literate people as the control panel of windows 7 is.
You can see here a few basic options, such as the search option for searching for files, folders or apps on your machine, there's also an option to go to your start screen if you are not already there.
Next we have the left side of the screen, hovering your mouse to the upper left corner of your screen brings up a small sidebar that shows what applications / windows you have open, as well as another way to access your start screen. you can use this to switch between windows or applications as well as close any applications and windows that you have open.
When you go to log in at first, theres a Lock Screen that you have to drag upwards to reveal the actual Login screen. There's also a new feature that allows you to peak at what you have typed in the password box. I don't think that particular aspect is a good idea in anyway.
Next we move on to the DESKTOP - in my opinion I don’t really see the use for the desktop in this OS, everything is accessible from the start screen so you wouldn’t really need to go to it for a lot of stuff, unless you are using windows explorer, which now has a ribbon interface similar to that of Office 2010 and Sharepoint 2010. There seems to be a lack of the Aero that is used in windows 7 and windows Vista and the overall look and feel of it is that it is a bit square, you can see what I mean in the image below. One of the things you will immediately notice is the missing start button, this is because you hover your mouse in the bottom left corner where you will see a little popup to take you back to your start screen. Apart from that its just like your normal desktop. When in the desktop you have access to more advanced options such as your control panel, which is just the same as previous version of windows.
My final thoughts on it? I see its potential for tablets and as a mobile operating systems, it has a nice basic layout, click and drag functionality for most of the navigation, and the metro layout could use a little work. In some cases I like the idea of using an online account, with instant access to cloud storage for things such as the SkyDrive, and it would be interesting to see what happens with Xbox companion and a few other new features. But I also dislike the idea of having an online account, yeah sure you could just say use a local account, but it seems to look like you can't do certain things on there unless you have it as a Microsoft account and not a local account. If this is planned to also be a desktop operating system, and I get the feeling that it is, I feel that it could use a lot more work, maybe there will be two different modes or you can adjust settings to make it be like the previous operating systems (but then you could argue, why not just stick with windows 7?) we will have to wait and see. It would also be interesting to see how its counterpart, Windows Server 8 plays out, as this is apparently going to use similar layouts. I can't help but feel that this is going to be the whole Windows Vista vs Windows XP debate again, where most users stuck to windows XP because Windows Vista wasn't particularly good. There tends to be a pattern with Microsoft, releasing sort of Sub-Operating systems before major operating systems, EG - Windows 2000 - Xp, Windows Vista - Windows 7, where Vista and 2000 where like test operating systems before the final result. It would be interesting to see where Microsoft go with this one.
Here are a few extra screen shots I took:
Internet Explorer 10:
Applications (basically the former 'Programs' list):
Windows Store:
SkyDrive App:
