Well, the era of Windows 8 is nigh and at 12:01 AM across all time zones, we will finally get to see how the world reacts to one of biggest changes to Microsoft Windows in the history of the company.
I have mentioned before that I think that the new Windows OS will do just fine but it will take some time for people to get used to. Most people don’t like change, it makes them uncomfortable and in some cases a bit angry. Some people will continue to hold on to Windows 7 and never let go, and they have every right to, but I think that Microsoft is headed in the right direction, it’s time to let Windows evolve.
What’s kind of strange to think about is that this release of Windows actually lacks just that, windows. For the first time Windows will be released with a new UI that doesn’t have any “windows”. How weird is that? I suppose they could have really turned things upside down on us and named it Microsoft Tiles, but that just sounds wrong. All joking aside this is a big deal for Microsoft but is it a big gamble? Maybe it isn’t.
Just where would all of those Windows 8 haters go? Would they move to Linux or OSX? I would venture to guess that most of these “h8ters”, if I may so un-elegantly put it, would just end up using a previous version like Windows 7. So how does Microsoft lose here? In the worst case scenario Microsoft completely redesigns and rethinks their UI again and quickly pushes toward Windows 9. They have had their fair share of OS failures over the years and have recovered just fine i.e. (Windows ME, Vista). I understand that putting this much time and money into a product release with this much change is a big deal but I don’t think that a Windows 8 failure is enough to make the average Windows user jump ship.
Understanding what users want and need is crucial in a release like this and Microsoft has put in billions of hours into testing Windows 8 and hopefully we will see all that hard work payoff. Windows 8 offers everything a modern OS should and they have wrapped it up in an elegant design, but there are a few major changes in Microsoft’s mentality that are reflected in Windows 8.
One of the more notable changes besides overall UI design is the sandboxing of applications. Sandboxing apps can make your system a lot more secure and it’s something that Apple has been doing for years now with Mac OS. Many developers are divided about having their apps in a sandbox environment, again it’s a change and people don’t like change, including developers. From a user perspective having an ‘app store’ is convenient and it gives us an extra sense of security knowing that these apps needed to be approved before making it into the store. Personally, I don’t have an issue with anything that has the potential to make Windows more secure.
I will be spending with weekend with Windows 8 Pro and will be talking about my experience soon after. For now we wait and see if the world will accept the change that Microsoft has put in front of us.
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