I have had a fair amount of time to be familiar with Windows 8 Consumer preview . While the software is far from complete and the Store is yet to become fully functional what we have now will be what the final software will most probably look and feel like.Here’s my take on the all new Windows.
*INSTALLATION AND INITIAL SETUP Installation is actually far more easier and faster than that of Windows 7.This was one of the claims made in the Building Windows Blog. I can say that this is in fact true and was beyond my expectations. Initial setup is a breeze if you have a Microsoft account(Hotmail, Zune,XBox Live etc.) and requires only a few cliks with a local account. You can always change a local account to a Microsoft account from the settings app. Startup time – less than 0 seconds on a 6 year old pc with low config Shut down time – Not very good , but faster than 7
*INTERFACE A lot has been wwritten about the interface already and you may already have a steady impression about it – good or bad. While I loved the metro environment from the Windows Phone and think it’s far more easier compared to the classic desktop, there is no hiding the fact that this requires a bit of lerning, or may be a bit too much. Windows 8′s live tiles are very good and a number of initial apps on the store do support live tiles including Cut the Rope!
*SPEED AND STABILITY Windows 8 is fast . When I say fast I mean fast fast . It’s faster than almost every other operating system I have used and it is very responsive.Stability wise I am not so sure what to say , but on my desktop machine Win8 run safely and smoothly without any problems but on my broter’s macbook it did hang 2 times initially, though I suspect the network connection to be the troublemaker.That said Win*8 is faster on the Macbook and is an absolute delight to the eyes.
*APPS All apps that are included in the Consumer preview are labelled App previews and that is for a reason. The apps are al very young and they are not even in their beta stages .What they essentially are are just mockups of the rel apps. These apps do not have full functionality yet like device sync etc.
The Music App- The music app looks a lot like Zune( that’s fair because Zune introduced metro into microsoft) and was a bt slow on my desktop.It worked fast on the macbook though.There is filtering by artist and albums.playing a fie actally takes us to the now plaing screen which kind of annoyed me.Outside india people will get access to the Music marketplace.For some reasons it doesn’t seem to work in India
The Videos App- Everything that applies to the Music app aplies here too there is not much of a difference. I would have liked to have both music and videos in the same app though.With the fate of Zune unsure I can’t sa if we will have a player as sexy as zune for windows phone.
Xbox Live Games and Companion- Xbox Live games is basically your Xbox Live Dashboard and th companion appp lets you remotely control and strem content to a Xbox 360.I don”t have an Xbx so I culdn’t tr it out. But I do have a Xbox Live account but unfortunately the same error which hogs the music app spells trouble here too.
Internet Explorer- nice but i would like to see some decent features on the metro version. What the heck! you can’t even save a picture to our computer from the metro version. The classic version doesn’t look or feel much different from the Internet Explorer 9 that’s alread available on 7 and Vista.
Calendar , Mail , People , Messaging- One way to describe it- Mind blowing. All these apps are simple to use and sync like a brother with your facebook account. Gmail integration is present but I didn’t try that out.you can pin contacts to the start screen and be notified avout their updates.
Weather and Maps- Sucks , I uninstalled the weather app and installed the alternative from Accuweather which is really good. Photos- Anther great app. This app can actually work with your facebook videos and photos , ur SkyDrive photos and videos, your Flikr photos and else. It is real easy to set up and is ver good to use too.
Third party Apps- Windows is nothing without third party apps. The Store alred hs about 88 apps available and what surprised me was a huge number of apps from india including NDTV and TOI. Even Vodafone has a app for manging their connections for Windows 8.All apps are of good qualit it seems but be careful to see developer notes for knowing whtether the work with the mouse and keyboard ver well. I did find a app in the store tht worked with a touch interface only.
Calendar , Mail , People , Messaging- One way to describe it- Mind blowing. All these apps are simple to use and sync like a brother with your facebook account. Gmail integration is present but I didn’t try that out.you can pin contacts to the start screen and be notified avout their updates.
Weather and Maps- Sucks , I uninstalled the weather app and installed the alternative from Accuweather which is really good. Photos- Anther great app. This app can actually work with your facebook videos and photos , ur SkyDrive photos and videos, your Flikr photos and else. It is real easy to set up and is ver good to use too.
Third party Apps- Windows is nothing without third party apps. The Store alred hs about 88 apps available and what surprised me was a huge number of apps from india including NDTV and TOI. Even Vodafone has a app for manging their connections for Windows 8.All apps are of good qualit it seems but be careful to see developer notes for knowing whtether the work with the mouse and keyboard ver well. I did find a app in the store tht worked with a touch interface only.
NAVIGATION-Moving around the operating system is easy. The four corners are used. Here’s what they do- bottom left corner-Start tip , the replacement for the start button. Mouse uesrs can right click on it to see a power user menu. top left corner-last used app.After seeing the apping moving along the edge reveals all open apps( except the one you are currenry in, weird).You can right click each thumbnail to close it.Ofcourse metro apps need not be closed as the are suspended and goes easy on the operating system. top right and bootom right-revealss the charms bar. From the charms bar ou can click the Windows logo to go back to the star screen. Click on setting s to access general PC settings and app aware settings.Clicking on search will let you search inside any app .All serches , even searches inside apps are done using thiis search idea which is consistent and very neat. Share charm will shre what you want. Overall the navigation is rather esy but as I said erlier it requires a learning curve and as we all know people most often resist change and will do whatever they have to stop it
DESKTOP APP The desktop app is not much different from that in Windows 7 except for the total lack of a start orb( yes , it is clled the start orb, the button was killed in Vista).
SAFETY Windows 8 comes with Microsoft sevcurity esentials built in so ou don’t have to worry about viruses. Of course you can install your favourite Antivirus under such cases MSE which is integrated into Defender will automatically deactivte. Besides that Windows 8 also enable SmartScreen filter, a highly acclaimed technology used in IE9 and 8 system wide and not just to internet files.
SETTINGS APP AND CONTROL PANEL With windows 8 you will get a settings panel from where you can do most common tasks but for more advanced tasks Control panel should be accessed from Desktop. For most users Settings app will suffice.
SETTINGS APP AND CONTROL PANEL With windows 8 you will get a settings panel from where you can do most common tasks but for more advanced tasks Control panel should be accessed from Desktop. For most users Settings app will suffice.
MY TAKEOverall I am very satisfied with Windows 8 and I am sure that Microsoft will ease out hte rough edges before final release(they better do because the iPad seems t be going out f reach).there are somr thing s that bother me though like the absence of snap in lower resolution screens( less than or equal to 1280 x 800). Ter are very good apps like the Evernote app in which I am writing this right now.The interface is clear and works wonders in simplicity. However an average user might find alot ot learn in this release whih is discouraging. I know words can’t describe the situation you will be enjoying on Windows 8 so I will soon be posting a gallery on facebook( ie when I learn how to take a screenshot in bootcamp 
). It’s amazing . amd will pose a real challenge to the iPad( we all know what happened to the droids).
). It’s amazing . amd will pose a real challenge to the iPad( we all know what happened to the droids).
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