Oh no, I fear Microsoft has birthed another Vista. It’s none other than Windows 7’s successor, Windows 8. How could Microsoft let history repeat itself again? It all started when tablet computers become all the rage, and Microsoft with its juggernaut desktop OS is trailing Apple’s IOS and Google’s Android as the platform of choice for the hottest gadgets in the marketplace. Consequently, Microsoft inspiringly decided to create an OS from the ground up which can support both desktops and tablets. If you don’t know, the user interface for desktops which rely heavily on mouse input while tablets rely more on finger input or stylus pen. Hence the user experience for each device is correspondingly different.
Using the same OS for both devices is fine. You get to reuse a lot of overlapping code, saving cost overall. (Apple decided to keep its phone/tablet OS separate from its desktop OS for now, by the way). However, it’s conceptualization of the interface is disastrously erred.
The Metro UI or Modern UI is comparable to Android and IOS in nature. It has a pretty different aesthetic and operation, so it really depend on the individual if it suits them. For a tablet PC, you can go Metro all the way, and it’ll be perfect. They have special features if you peel the screen from any of the four corners too.
However Windows 8 has a desktop mode which we are familiar with. The problem is the desktop mode is easily accessible from the Metro UI start page (that multi coloured wall of blocks). Herein lies the problem, the Metro UI is meant for touch input, while the desktop is for a mouse input. For a mouse to drag the start screen to flip between pages is tiring, since the motion is almost from the far left to far right. And with the popularity of large screens, it’s not practical. And as for the Start button we are so accustomed to in previous Windows versions, it’s gone, replaced with that whole Metro UI start page.
That’s a lot of relearning to do, especially if you want to work on Windows 8 the way you use Windows 7. That’s fine, however, if the new way of doing things makes it more of a hassle, then that would be wrong. Unfortunately, I did find it a greater hassle.
In Windows 8, programs are duplicated, or doubled to serve both desktop mode and metro. For example there are two media players, one is your ordinary familiar media player, and the other is one that is similar to the Windows mobile’s media player, full screen and all. Both programs are independent of each other and even have their own codecs, in fact both can play different media at the same time. There is no syncing whatsoever.
My last gripe is about aesthetics. Design philosophies teach that your design must be different, must stand out. And Windows 8 does. However, the Metro style features monochromatic styling without any colour gradient or transparencies. Each program is assigned one drab colour and is assigned an uninspiring tile on the Start Page. Different Yes, Boring Yes, Ugly Yes. What happen to cool icons? I missed Windows 7.
Tablet modes are great when you using a tablet. Desktop mode is also fine when you are at your desk. Unless your device is the Asus Transformer laptop series, the way Windows 8 forces the user to switch between the modes is outright impractical. Alas, Windows 8 is a software which can’t decide what it wants to be, an OS for touch based tablets, or an OS for mouse based desktops, so it settled on a hybrid of sorts, with a notable detriment to desktop users.
But they can fix it. There are some devices that can benefit from this dual modes, like a PC that’s hooked up to be a media center in the living room, or those touch based all-in-one PCs that gets displayed at store fronts. So, in my opinion, the decision is clear, the two modes should be available as the click of a switch. And when you’re in one mode, you should stay in it. You shouldn’t be allowed switch arbitrarily. And bring back the Start button!
Windows Vista may have failed because of its inefficiency, but Windows 8 fails because of a lack of conceptualization. Windows 7, we’re going to get cozier with one another. Will it beat Windows XP’s record?
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