#218- The Arrival of Windows 8

Its here, its here, oh my god it is here.... Windows 8 arrived this past week to a flurry of media events, but a big ho hum from consumers and dealers.  This is the biggest change that Microsoft has ever attempted in its Windows operating system.  Microsoft finally believes the future is in the tablet pc with touch capability.  Windows 8 is designed for touch screen pcs and tablets.  If you don't have either then you'll feel like you have been left behind.  Working in Windows 8 with a mouse and keyboard is very non intuitive.  Plan on lots more clicks to do a simple task like changing a setting.  Lets take a quick look at the specifics of the release.


There are 3 versions of Windows 8. The home version is called Windows 8 (those Microsoft guys are just so creative). It has all the basic features and is missing the following: disk encryption, media center, domain membership and remote desktop connection. Need those features? Then get Windows 8 Pro. Both version REQUIRE a 64bit processor. That would exclude PCs and laptops over 4 years old. Here are the other needs: The minimum hardware requirements for running Windows 8 include a processor with a clock speed of 1GHz or more; at least 2GB of RAM, 20GB of hard Drive space (WOW!) and DirectX 9-capable graphics.  Most manufacturers are providing drivers for PCs made in the last year to run Windows 8.  Most are also providing $15 upgrade packages if you wish to upgrade (note that PCSS is NOT recommending you upgrade).  The third version is Windows 8 RT which is designed for tablets, phones and other limited size devices.  You can't buy RT so we won't talk about its features.  We will mention that the new Microsoft Surface tablet ($499) uses the Windows 8 RT version.


  
The desktop screen that we are familiar with is gone.  We now have the Start Screen that has tiles you can click to start an app (yes they are now called apps not programs).  You can customize the Start Screen so that you have your most frequent apps there.  There are some size constraints if you use many different apps.  On the positive side Windows 8 loads fast, on the negative side there are two seperate control panels and browsers that will cause confusion.  The new Internet Explorer 10 looks faster then Internet Explorer 9 and has some unique (We are talking about Microsoft uniqueness!) features.   

The question for customers is should I upgrade from Windows 7? The answer is not as black and white as you might think. It appears that upgrading to Windows 8 actually can be done. The question becomes Should it be done? Unless you have a touch screen, PCSS is saying No you should not upgrade. If you get a new PC/tablet with Windows 8 then you should be OK. We haven't seen a list of what printers/scanners/special hardware will be supported by Windows 8. It doesn't do you much good to upgrade or buy a new PC and not have your existing printer/scanner work. The other issue is that if you do not have a touch device Windows 8 just seems hard to use.