Windows 8 woes
As the world moved from desktop PCs and laptops to tablets and smartphones Microsoft, the former king of the PC world, realised it was being left behind. So it cooked up Windows 8, the most radical change to a PC’s operating system since Windows 95.
In many ways Windows 8 is great. Well it looks great. However, anyone who has used it will say that it takes some getting used to. The Start bar and button is long gone, all you have now are tiles. Compared to iPhones and Android devices this isn’t that remarkable, compared to Windows XP though, it is.
And that’s the problem. When it comes to our PCs, the workhorses of so many companies, we like the familiar. When we want to create a new presentation we don’t want to spend hours trying to work out where all the the things we want are.
That’s the issue with Windows 8 and Microsoft, following poor sales, has finally admitted that it made some mistakes with the OS and is reportedly looking into changing things. The company hasn’t said what exactly it will be looking at, or what it might change, if anything, but the fact that it has said that it will be, is a massive thing to own up to.
The Metro interface and downloadable apps are good, but having used iOS for a number of years you do have to think that it is too little, too late.
The rumours are that Microsoft will bring the Start button back and make the desktop easier to get to. Many users will no doubt want this, but this would be a massive step back for the company and also something of a slap in the face.
Looking back Microsoft really should have gone with something like this years ago. Windows 7 was excellent, but this was mainly because Vista failed so badly, and Microsoft should have been bolder then. If it had really tried to push the boundaries back then, things would be so different. Now the company is playing catch-up with software that people don’t want or know how to use.
We will have to wait to see what Microsoft does change, but something will have to change because people just aren’t buying it.
