10. Windows 8 supports more devices Out of the box, Windows 8 will support lots more peripherals than the iPad or iOS because it’s built on Windows 7. If you have a USB drive, keyboard, printer, or camera, it should just work. Microsoft’s new OS makes it simple to access these add-ons via the Devices charm. Just swipe from the right side of the screen. And you can add devices from the PC settings menu.
I read the article, but didn’t see any mention of the purported eight reasons an unfinished OS is comparable to an established hardware / software platform that is extremely popular.
The only thing I don’t really like about it is that tile system. I understand it, as I can see information being updated as it happens.
I’m hoping that I can customize the background and tiles so they are one colour, so I don’t see the tiles though still see the information.
It’d be even fantastic, since they are going to have a choice of coloured phones, if I could choose colours that would blend with the tile colours it it all looks like one colour.
one word - Linux
Windows 8 will be a big success with both enterprise and prsonal users.
Why?
It caters to both.
From an enterprise standpoint, you can have Windows on USB with access to all files stored securely in the cloud, not locally on the hard drive. When you access the file, it is the latest version, not the last one a user downloaded.
From a personal point of view, download a game on XBox and play it. Continue play on your PC or Tablet and then play on your mobile phone. One download and the game is on all your devices. Yes, the gameplay might be restricted on your phone due to hardware limitations. However, having access to everything while you are away from home is incredible.
With Windows 7, I already download movies and games on my XBox. I can play those on my laptop and phone. Windows 8 just takes it to be more integrated, more consistent.
Sharing the core OS across all platforms is going to be the game-changer here.
iOS is trying to get there, but has a looong way to go.
Android is nice if you like to tinker with your system, but the fragmentation of upgrades is incredibly irritating. They just announced Android V5 while some people have just received their upgrade from 2.2 to 2.3.
Windows 8 is an operating system, iPad is a hardware platform.
Last summer my wife won an iPad2 by calling Big Brother to vote out “an annoying homosexual.”
I find the idea of trying to impose a tablet UI on a desktop computer to be absurd.
All of these features designed to save screen real estate make perfect sense, on a tablet’s small screen.
I’m running a pair of 27” monitors.
Microsoft is already too late to the mobile market. I have no doubt they will turn out a gazillion features at a price match against iOS and Android, but they will be doing nothing more than once again copying technologies that others have pioneered (at a buggier price). My bottom dollar says the only way they “compete” against iOS and Android is to come up with a better compression strategy to alleviate the carriers bandwidth woes and in return, the carriers will give kick ass deals for MS Mobile devices. In the end, the consumer will pick the lesser priced “fully featured” phone powered by MS and get a second rate mobile os that has the carriers laughing all the way to the bank.
iOS on the iPad already has this. You can switch between applications by swiping the screen left or right with multiple fingers.
What a stupid article. It compares an OS with a tablet computer, then proceeds to list 10 “cool things” as if that’s the difference-maker in such a war.
But I don’t want a pad environment. This doesn’t belong on a conventional computer.
Hated my Windows phone ... don’t like this either.
This is such a BS comparison. If you want to compare apples and apples (no pun intended), it should be a comparison between Microsoft Windows 8 and Apple’s Mountain Lion. Comparing Windows 8 to the about to be superseded Apple OS is such an obviously dishonest exercise. Why not compare Mountain Lion to Windows 7? That would be equally dishonest.
This is such a BS comparison. If you want to compare apples and apples (no pun intended), it should be a comparison between Microsoft Windows 8 and Apple’s Mountain Lion. Comparing Windows 8 to the about to be superseded Apple OS is such an obviously dishonest exercise. Why not compare Mountain Lion to Windows 7? That would be equally dishonest.
So how well does Win8 run on a tablet?
I have 20 years of experience doing tech support for Windows users. The average user is going HATE Metro. There is no easy way to back out of full screen apps (no home button, no Start). They will likely use desktop immediately after startup - only to find that every time they run a program they have to slide to corner, select an icon, then click a window to get out and select another program. Stupid. Newbies are going to get LOST.
Maybe on a device that has a home button, but not a PC.
Article 1,232,9392 that states some other device will out iPad the iPad.
Thanks for the article, I just threw it on my 5 year old P4 laptop, only system I have around that I can wipe out and play with, don’t want to do my main machines.
On even that old clunker, it is fairly responsive, but I can see how it is really designed for a touch based system, while you can do everything with a mouse/keyboard some things would be much smoother with a touch screen.
It took me only a few mins to figure out where all the settings were, the side bars that showed running apps, and ‘app’ specific settings, etc. It doesn’t recognize the built in video card so can’t do the native widescreen resolution of the laptop screen, which seems odd given how well hardware has been detected from Vista on.
So first impressions, I like it, though not sure I would want it on a daily work desktop, but certainly on a touch based tablet.