Windows 8 has a lot to offer, including – vastly reduced boot time, blazingly fast application load time, a very small memory footprint, and considerably enhanced security over previous versions. Users can, of course, choose to stand pat and resist evolutionary change, But, those who continue to brush this OS aside are making a mistake, in my view. There’s no doubt – it certainly forces a readjustment in the comfort level of experienced Desktop users – there’s that learning thing again. With the navigation system designed with swiping features, slider menus, and so on, it’s obviously designed with Tablet PCs and Smartphones in mind.

It’s true that the Windows 8 user interface is a radical departure from the traditional desktop GUI. Windows 8 (learning required), is just one more operating system in the continuing evolution of how users interact with computing devices. In my career, I’ve had to deal with 5/6 versions of DOS (each one requiring a commitment to skills development), a sprinkling of bolt-on DOS GUIs (learning required), 7 or more versions of Windows (learning required), as well as various flavors of Linux (learning required). Despite my initial impressions (not favorable), I’ve made a 180 degree turn – I’m really into Win 8.ĭespite the clunky Metro GUI, which I’ve managed to deal with by accepting it for what it is (and isn’t), and by acknowledging the fact that with a small amount of effort put into learning the navigation intricacies of this new OS, Windows 8 is “great.” I can assure you, that learning a few keyboard shortcuts necessary to take full advantage of Windows 8, was hardly the task that learning DOS 1 was, back in the day. I’ve been running Windows 8, almost exclusively, since the first (beta) release in September of last year.

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