Windows 8 is coming, there is no denying that. And it will make many people turn to Macs and Linux, with Linux being the more probable option. You may wonder why would Linux be more favoured over MacOS, as it has only a tiny user group, a lot of people haven’t heard of it and their new user interfaces are quite bluntly horrid (GNOME, Unity and KDE certainly are). However, once you have bought a new PC and discover the user-unfriendliness of Win8 you are hardly going to go out and buy a new computer as the old one is most likely not going to be refundable. This means a change of OS is the likely option. Although Hackintoshes (PCs with MacOS installed) exist, installing it is a more gruesome process than getting a Linux (that even has a Windows installer).
Unfortunately the solution is not as simple as getting rid of Win8 and installing a Linux (or the awful MacOS for that matter) to replace the Windows as Microsoft has decided to take note of Apple’s infamous marketing strategy – let nobody do anything they might actually want to do. This means ARM processors[1] that are incompatible (or hardly compatible) with our familiar Intel-based processors (the AMD and Intel processors pretty much every computer uses, except for mobiles and Apple tablets. Yes, this affects the tablet version, not the computer version, but it is annoying for anyone who wants to use their newly bought shiny tablet.
So it has been declared that the switch can be difficult and switching options are rather limited. However, why the switch in the first place?
As it was mentioned already, Microsoft is imitating Apple’s strategy that limits the user and bites profits for the company. This applies to all of the content published for the new OS, but applications are the most affected type of content. Even if you could settle for the idiotic user interface (now named Modern UI because Metro caused legal trouble) you are hindered by quite a few other things. The tablet version (the one where the interface is actually of any use) allows installation only via the built-in store. That means no third party applications or anything developed by anyone who does not want to give Microsoft a third (actually 30%) of their earnings[2]. And to prove that the Modern UI is one of the worst user interfaces we’ve noticed lately, I present this proof:
The problem does not end with that – allegedly the task manager does not simply kill processes, it starts checking for solutions. Sure, that does not sound all that bad but consider that it will do so without warning, without any option of turning it off. And it will do so, hogging some resources, every single time you wish to kill a process (which, if you are trying to use older applications or you are stuck with Win8 before the first Service Pack, is pretty likely to happen surprisingly often).
What bugs me personally is that they still call it Windows.
This has barely anything to do with windows. To clarify, these boxes are called ‘tiles’ and all applications within Modern UI are either full-screen or, if you really want to, two applications can go side by side filling the entire screen. No more resizable windows, which will make people with larger screens or multitasking abilities pretty furious. You can only pick up to three of the following at any time: use the intended user interface, watch a movie, talk to people, browse the internet, make notes, write something in Word, check your mail. Unless you choose not to use the intended user interface, in which case you end up with no Start menu. And who doesn’t like going from folder to folder to run each program individually?
I asked why it was still called ‘Windows’ and not ‘Tiles’ (obviously because people are familiar with the name and are more likely to buy it) from a local official representative of Microsoft but he could not quite answer it. Instead, he said that windows are still possible to have, hence there is no conflict.
Just as a curious thing that you might know, Windows was originally named after the windows you could open, it was a revolutionary idea – everything before it was full-screen. It was what made it so different, so great. With the new Modern UI, Microsoft has taken a step back to its roots – the main user interface features no more windows, as DOS did not (Windows was actually an interface that made the DOS user interface better, not a standalone product, that changed with the 3.x series of Windows). A further proof that Microsoft has reverted to the old days of the 80’s is their logo:
With this, I finish this informative rant about how Microsoft has stepped into a blunder yet again. This is not surprising at all as Windows tends to flourish every second edition (95 was not very good, 98 was praised, ME had tons of bugs, XP was magnificent, Vista was hated, 7 was welcomed). Thank you for reading and have a good day.
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