There is a popular held belief that you should avoid every other version of Microsoft Windows and then only upgrade after Service Pack 1, well at the end of January I broke both of those rules to take advantage of the upgrade promotion to install Windows 8. After a month of using the software I am ready to give my first impressions of how it varies from Windows 7 and if the upgrade is worth it".
The big difference between Windows 7 and 8 is the removal of the task-bar and start menu. These have been integral components in Windows since Windows 95 so is this evolution or desecration? The answer to some extent depends on the device you are using. The new metro interface is geared towards touch screen devices so if you have a touch-screen monitor, a tablet or a touch-screen laptop then you will benefit from the large finger friendly tiles.
On the other hand if you use a pc with a keyboard, like most people using a pc in a business environment, your initial reaction will be something along the lines of 'where has the start menu gone!' The interface change is not at all geared towards traditional keyboard users but don't panic, help is at hand in the form of Classic Shell, available from www.classicshell.net this nifty app will restore the taskbar and start menu and you can select from a variety of themes, styles and key mapping options.
this is a nice app with support for multiple accounts of all different providers. The app supports auto updating in sleep mode and includes notifications on the lock-screen so that you can see in an instant if you have received an email upon returning to your pc. Mail has a severe limitation however which will prevent its use by many business users, the email signature section does not support the inclusion of images so if you want to include a company logo you will have to look elsewhere. Coming from Windows 7 I would have preferred the app to operate in a window rather than the full screen view that is implemented.
Not much to say about this one, again the calendar operates in a full-screen view but it is easy to operate with nice icons and colours.
Microsoft has kindly integrated MSE into Defender in Windows 8 so there is no need to go hunting for a third party anti virus app as soon as you install or upgrade. The level of protection is debatable, there are many free and paid anti virus packages on the market so it comes down to user preference. Personally I won't be installing any additional a/v suites.
The other integrated apps are nice and useful additions, a PDF Viewer that means you no longer need to install a third party app, a Maps app that shows full screen maps courtesy of Bing, a Weather app that can show detailed forecast information for multiple locations, a People directory app that integrates with Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn, plus various media, entertainment, Messaging and Skydrive apps.
Something you notice when using the metro interface and the integrated apps are the apple-esque transitions that Microsoft have implemented. These definitely improve the user experience but if you are using the classic shell and avoiding the integrated apps you will rarely see them.
New options are available such as the facility to easily change the login/lock screen wallpaper to one of your own choosing and a selection of colour schemes. It's nice that you no longer have to lookup a windows hacks website or install a third party app in order to change the appearance. Microsoft have followed the lead of the Chrome operating system so that you can sign into Windows 8 using your Microsoft ID and it will synchronise various features between devices such as other Windows 8 PCs, Microsoft Surface Tablets and Windows 8 Mobile Phones.
Most users will not notice any performance difference between Windows 7 and Windows 8. The main area of improvement is the boot up time which can be as low as seven seconds if you are running on a solid state drive. A lot of the back-end looks very similar to Windows 7 and if you look around the control panel settings and configuration options it is difficult to tell the two apart.
The new Windows 8 Metro interface works nicely on touch-screens and if you have a touch-screen pc or laptop, it is probably already installed. If you are using Windows 7 on a traditional pc with a keyboard then it's not really worth upgrading. In order to obtain the same functionality you will need something like the classic shell app and without it I regard Windows 8 as a downgrade in functionality terms. So wait for SP1 to see if that improves things or go tell your boss (mine will read this!) that you need a shiny new touch screen laptop to do your job.
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