Microsoft Windows 8.

Its like Marmite but here to stay!

Windows 8 is here but was it worth the wait?

It's Windows reimagined and reinvented from a solid core of Windows 7 speed and reliability. It's an all-new touch interface. It's a new Windows for new devices. With an all new Metro style interface, it carries on from where Windows 7 left off, keeping you in touch with all your favourite media sources like your music collection, emails, social networking sites...  Windows 8 has apps similar to those you would find on your mobile device. The more apps you have, the better your experience. Apps can work together and share info, making it easier for you to do what you want.

There's an app for everyone. Browse lists of top apps, view staff recommendations, and get personalized picks based on apps you already own. And access is easy—the Store is built directly into Windows 8. Your apps light up with connections to your friends and family. Info from the services you connect to—Hotmail, Messenger, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and more—appears right inside the Mail, Messaging, and People apps. You use multiple PCs and a phone. Now you can connect across these devices to SkyDrive, Facebook, Flickr, and other services, so you can smoothly get to all your photos and files.

 

Our verdict:

This is a tricky one, there is always a good reason for newer versions of operating systems. They take advantage of new hardware, connect us to new devices and technologies including websites and social media sites in new ways. They also protect us better against online threats by providing updates and stronger behind the scenes protection from the core of the operating system. To be fair, Windows 7 worked well, much better that Vista, most people have settled with Windows 7 and know their way round it well.

Windows 8 will probably upset most people. There are obvious reasons why it has been released, it is perfect when running on tablets and other mobile devices, it also works well on touch screen computers. The main problem is that it will alienate most Windows 7 users for a while until they find shortcuts and work-arounds to run tasks they so easily ran on Windows 7. Gone is the Start button, so too the couple of clicks to turn off the computer. What happened to the Program files menu? I guess you could praise Microsoft for being bold and making a drastic change to Windows, competitors like Apple make just as many changes to their MacOS operating system but seem to opt for keeping the look and feel of things familiar. I've updated Macbooks in the past and had nothing more than 'oh, my icons look nicer!'

I'm sure after a while there will be some patches developed that bring back some Windows 7 features, they would be very welcome, Windows 8 feels a little basic because of the lack of familiar features at your fingertips. This is a shame because it is actually very good, its glossy, the Metro user interface is very smooth, hardware and software installation is simple. There is a lot to like in Windows 8 once you've got the feel for it.

Will we get used to Windows 8 or will it be grumbled about for years like Vista was?  Time will tell.......