The Windows 8 Experience
Now here is where I'm going to deviate from what most of the reviewers are saying and state that I think Windows 8 is brilliant. As I have stated in previous entries, I don't believe that it's perfect and I think it suffers from "Design by Committee" issues, but over all I've become impressed with it.
At first I had believed that the marrying of the Desktop and Tablet like interface was a giant mistake. Now I feel that it's just the implementation that suffers from issues, but that the idea behind it is actually pretty sound.
(Please accept my apologies for being unable to manage simple tasks this morning - I accidentally published this super short, then updated it with a huge amount of text and accidently hit "Revert" after I was done - I'm not certain that beyond this point is going to be any good).
Microsoft was ahead of its time in the early 2000s with the release of the convertible form factor Tablet PCs. Gates and Co. could have had a real winner on their hands, but instead ended up with a flop. Apple then took the Tablet world by storm with the release of the iPad in 2008.
Microsoft finds itself once again head of its time. It has realized that the only way to go is to marry the Tablet and PC interface. It needs to be able to work on both platforms equally well and provide users with a rich computing experience that's also simple and easy to use. Windows 8 meets that need, but with some implementation issues.
First of all, there don't need to be two copies of IE on the device. Having a Desktop Version and FKMI* version makes no sense. Lenovo sends along SugarSync Cloud Storage as a FKMI app, but to get the full functionality of SugarSync, I have to download the desktop version. This is also annoying and I suspect is confusing for consumers.
Now, contrary to what many people have said, I don't believe there needs to be separate Tablet and Desktop interface. I used to think that, but just within the few days I've been using this device I can say that I was wrong. I think it's perfectly brilliant to have them both on the same device, though as I stated above, it seems like there is no need for multiple versions of a software suite to run in Desktop or Tablet mode. What they should do is write it so it can run in EITHER Desktop or Tablet mode and give a keyboard shortcut and a button that allows the ability to switch between the two interface options.
As thinks progress, I believe that there will less and less a need for the current Desktop as we know it. Microsoft hedged its bets on how to implement, but over all I believe they did a good job. Even File Explorer can become a FKMI app and be successful with its implementation completely avoiding the need to visit the classic desktop. It would also be helpful if the time would display while we were in FKMI productivity apps instead of having to summon the Charms Bar.
I have also heard from others who don't like FKMI because there's a lack of windowing and a sense that multi-tasking is a little lacking. I can't say that that's entirely an issue for me. I find myself liking the full screen apps with no distractions occurring in windows behind other windows. I can focus my attention entirely on the task at hand and not feel like I'm being pulled in a billion different direction. This has been an incredibly boon for me in productivity over the past week and I haven't missed windowing at all except in a very few, specific instances where I'd wished I could have a window hovering over the FKMI app I was using at the time - in that case, trying to figure out how to do something in the command line while reading instructions on a web page. I did end up opening Chrome on the Desktop to complete that task.
From what I've heard, Windows 8.1 fixes some of the multitasking woes people have been talking about by allowing fully scalable screen splits. In 8 you can only have 1/3 of the screen as an alternate app. It would be nice to have 50/50 going for some things, I'm sure. It would also be nice to be able to have two IE browser "Windows" open at the same time so I could research in one half of the display and write on the other half.
Here's one of the biggest weaknesses that Windows 8 currently has, and that's integration with its own apps. This is where Apple really leads the way right now.
On the one hand, there's the Windows 8 Photo Gallery. This is a nice place to view your photos, but you can't even perform simple edits like red eye correction or basic enhancements. Apple provides iPhoto, which has about as many tools and options as early versions of Photoshop (minus layers, of course). Now I suspect that about 96% of users never use iPhoto as more than an organizational tool for their photographs, but more people are learning about it every day.
MS Movie Maker is entirely missing from Windows 8 and even in Windows 7 isn't as robust as iMovie. With Apple, you can simply insert any picture or video from your iPhoto library and music from Garage Band or even iTunes - the same goes for Apple's iWork suite - complete integration within the software to other Apple software.
This is where things really need to change for Microsoft. They need to pull that same kind of integration together within apps and offer similar apps to consumers that Apple has. Don't let the Manufacturers provide subpar copies of Apple apps, Microsoft should create their own and help with integration. Imagine the possibilities of having MS Office immediately be able to access your Music, Photos and Video? Then imagine building a document that you send out to other people on their Windows devices and instead of having to print it out, they can read it, annotate it and even watch embedded videos within it.
These are all things that Apple can do both within OS X and their iOS software equivalents. This is the weakness of Windows right now and this is what they need to shore up.
That said, the days of having only one device are coming and Microsoft is leading the way, only nobody can see that. Google has completely fractured itself by having Chrome AND Android when they should really focus on turning Android into a viable Desktop/Laptop experience and ditch Chrome entirely. Asus has done an amazing job doing that for Google with the Transformer series. Google just needs to follow up with that. It feels as though Apple is trying to slowly integrate iOS and OS X, though I'm not certain how long that integration will take - at the last keynote they talked about another 10 versions of their OS - does that mean they keep iOS and OS X separated for that entire time?
One of the big draws to Windows for many people was the ease with which you could skin it and customize it. Much of that sense of freedom has been removed in Windows 8. There's not much you can do with Live Tiles currently, but I think the possibility is there for some really impressive customizations if MS ever opens up to that sort of thing with the FKMI.
To wrap this up, let me just ask any developers that might be reading this to please develop for Windows 8. We need good, solid apps in the Windows Store and we need the type of quality that can be found in the Mac App store and the iOS and Google Play stores.
Windows 8 is valid, it's unique and it's fun. It's a new paradigm and we need to stop fighting to keep the old and embrace the new.
*Formally Known as Metro Interface
At first I had believed that the marrying of the Desktop and Tablet like interface was a giant mistake. Now I feel that it's just the implementation that suffers from issues, but that the idea behind it is actually pretty sound.
(Please accept my apologies for being unable to manage simple tasks this morning - I accidentally published this super short, then updated it with a huge amount of text and accidently hit "Revert" after I was done - I'm not certain that beyond this point is going to be any good).
Microsoft was ahead of its time in the early 2000s with the release of the convertible form factor Tablet PCs. Gates and Co. could have had a real winner on their hands, but instead ended up with a flop. Apple then took the Tablet world by storm with the release of the iPad in 2008.
Microsoft finds itself once again head of its time. It has realized that the only way to go is to marry the Tablet and PC interface. It needs to be able to work on both platforms equally well and provide users with a rich computing experience that's also simple and easy to use. Windows 8 meets that need, but with some implementation issues.
First of all, there don't need to be two copies of IE on the device. Having a Desktop Version and FKMI* version makes no sense. Lenovo sends along SugarSync Cloud Storage as a FKMI app, but to get the full functionality of SugarSync, I have to download the desktop version. This is also annoying and I suspect is confusing for consumers.
Now, contrary to what many people have said, I don't believe there needs to be separate Tablet and Desktop interface. I used to think that, but just within the few days I've been using this device I can say that I was wrong. I think it's perfectly brilliant to have them both on the same device, though as I stated above, it seems like there is no need for multiple versions of a software suite to run in Desktop or Tablet mode. What they should do is write it so it can run in EITHER Desktop or Tablet mode and give a keyboard shortcut and a button that allows the ability to switch between the two interface options.
As thinks progress, I believe that there will less and less a need for the current Desktop as we know it. Microsoft hedged its bets on how to implement, but over all I believe they did a good job. Even File Explorer can become a FKMI app and be successful with its implementation completely avoiding the need to visit the classic desktop. It would also be helpful if the time would display while we were in FKMI productivity apps instead of having to summon the Charms Bar.
I have also heard from others who don't like FKMI because there's a lack of windowing and a sense that multi-tasking is a little lacking. I can't say that that's entirely an issue for me. I find myself liking the full screen apps with no distractions occurring in windows behind other windows. I can focus my attention entirely on the task at hand and not feel like I'm being pulled in a billion different direction. This has been an incredibly boon for me in productivity over the past week and I haven't missed windowing at all except in a very few, specific instances where I'd wished I could have a window hovering over the FKMI app I was using at the time - in that case, trying to figure out how to do something in the command line while reading instructions on a web page. I did end up opening Chrome on the Desktop to complete that task.
From what I've heard, Windows 8.1 fixes some of the multitasking woes people have been talking about by allowing fully scalable screen splits. In 8 you can only have 1/3 of the screen as an alternate app. It would be nice to have 50/50 going for some things, I'm sure. It would also be nice to be able to have two IE browser "Windows" open at the same time so I could research in one half of the display and write on the other half.
Here's one of the biggest weaknesses that Windows 8 currently has, and that's integration with its own apps. This is where Apple really leads the way right now.
On the one hand, there's the Windows 8 Photo Gallery. This is a nice place to view your photos, but you can't even perform simple edits like red eye correction or basic enhancements. Apple provides iPhoto, which has about as many tools and options as early versions of Photoshop (minus layers, of course). Now I suspect that about 96% of users never use iPhoto as more than an organizational tool for their photographs, but more people are learning about it every day.
MS Movie Maker is entirely missing from Windows 8 and even in Windows 7 isn't as robust as iMovie. With Apple, you can simply insert any picture or video from your iPhoto library and music from Garage Band or even iTunes - the same goes for Apple's iWork suite - complete integration within the software to other Apple software.
This is where things really need to change for Microsoft. They need to pull that same kind of integration together within apps and offer similar apps to consumers that Apple has. Don't let the Manufacturers provide subpar copies of Apple apps, Microsoft should create their own and help with integration. Imagine the possibilities of having MS Office immediately be able to access your Music, Photos and Video? Then imagine building a document that you send out to other people on their Windows devices and instead of having to print it out, they can read it, annotate it and even watch embedded videos within it.
These are all things that Apple can do both within OS X and their iOS software equivalents. This is the weakness of Windows right now and this is what they need to shore up.
That said, the days of having only one device are coming and Microsoft is leading the way, only nobody can see that. Google has completely fractured itself by having Chrome AND Android when they should really focus on turning Android into a viable Desktop/Laptop experience and ditch Chrome entirely. Asus has done an amazing job doing that for Google with the Transformer series. Google just needs to follow up with that. It feels as though Apple is trying to slowly integrate iOS and OS X, though I'm not certain how long that integration will take - at the last keynote they talked about another 10 versions of their OS - does that mean they keep iOS and OS X separated for that entire time?
One of the big draws to Windows for many people was the ease with which you could skin it and customize it. Much of that sense of freedom has been removed in Windows 8. There's not much you can do with Live Tiles currently, but I think the possibility is there for some really impressive customizations if MS ever opens up to that sort of thing with the FKMI.
To wrap this up, let me just ask any developers that might be reading this to please develop for Windows 8. We need good, solid apps in the Windows Store and we need the type of quality that can be found in the Mac App store and the iOS and Google Play stores.
Windows 8 is valid, it's unique and it's fun. It's a new paradigm and we need to stop fighting to keep the old and embrace the new.
*Formally Known as Metro Interface
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