I was going to write something big and profound about the Windows 8 Consumer Preview, but I just don’t have the heart to (plus, the danged OS isn’t even out yet). So, here are just some general thoughts on the current release:
- It IS going to be confusing for people.
- Metro has a lot to like.
- I like that Microsoft is pushing forward here.
- Why not just give the Metro portion it’s own, new name and make a clean break?
- At least at the start, people will still expect Windows to be Windows and it is not.
- We still haven’t seen any hardware.
After using Windows 8 even a little bit I think the major issue will be one of perception. This is Windows 8, not Microsoft Metro (or something else). It has been beaten to death, but perhaps a clean break in the OS naming would have done Microsoft more good because expectation would/could be reset by consumers to expect something new.
We’ll see how it all pans out, but that’s all I’ve got.
5 replies on “Windows 8 Consumer Preview”
What kind of device are you running it on Bob?
I’ve tried it on a high-powered desktop, traditional laptop, convertible tablet, and a netbook.
Two follow-on questions then-
1) Which tablet were you using?
2) What device gave you the optimal experience?
Obviouly I’ve formed my own opinions on it as well, but curious to hear your thoughts. BTW – I don’t disagree with any of your statements in your post. 🙂
1) It is an HP tablet, we’re rolling them out for the faculty here at school this summer.
2) Not sure really … none gave me the “optimal” experience I would say. All were equally handicapped in some way. Of course, getting more resources behind it gave the most “fluid” experience, but that is beside the point.
Honestly, it just seems like too much “this can run everywhere!” attitude. I don’t like that. Even on the web, the “this can work everywhere!” has given way to “we really need to think through the experience for each device”.
Of course, it’s a consumer preview so a lot will be changed between now and … whenever it is released and then tons of things will be changed between the release and when OEMs get good hardware out.
I should add that Metro *looks* like it will work well on a touch-only device. However, the widescreen-heavy layout still seems less-than-optimal to me.