Windows 8 – Time to Learn a New OS

Microsoft Windows has come a long way since the days of Win 3.1, they have had good success with Windows NT, XP and Windows 7, but have also missed the boat a few times, who could ever forget Millennium. We are now headed towards a new learning curve, for those of you who appreciated the change from Office 2003 to Office 2007, this will be on the same level. There is no doubt that people who have never used a computer before will gravitate to the Windows 8 interface, my experience with the beta version has been as one would expect. The general design is very easy to navigate, assuming you know nothing of previous Operating Systems. If you do, you will be challenged to find the functions that you have spent the last few years learning.

Windows 8 promises more integration with Touch Screens and if you purchase new computers frequently, you will probably like this feature. My experience however is that most people only buy a new PC when theirs is beyond repair, so if you are like the rest of us, it will be a while before you get the full advantage of Windows 8. The goal from Microsoft was to build the OS for the PC/Tablet to integrate with all of the gadgets we have become accustomed to, watching Netflix, reading an online book, playing Angry Birds or creating a spread sheet. Windows 8 is also a much lighter OS, it boots quickly and even functions well on older machines.

If I use my wife as the gauge – I installed the Windows 8 beta version on her laptop – then I would expect a few challenges for most users. She has asked me at least a dozen times where her pictures are stored as they never seem to show up where she expects them and it took her a few days to figure out the new navigation icons. But despite a few complications, Windows 8 will move us closer to the centralized OS that can run a house hold that is connected to a network.

One other critical component is that Microsoft is making Windows 8 very affordable, they recently announced on their blog that an upgrade to Windows 8 Pro (from any version of XP or later) would be just $39.99.  I have to show my age here as I was one of the geeks that waited until Midnight at Comp USA (yes they were brick and mortar before Tiger Direct bought their name) to purchase Windows 95 – the OS that was going to change everything. Microsoft certainly knows how to keep our lives on the PC interesting.

Frank Toscano is a 15+ year specialist in cloud based services focusing on Product Management, Marketing and Security within the Cloud. He has worked for EasyLink Services and Premiere Global Services in a global role providing hosted services to Fortune 1000 clients. He is currently seeking employment with a cloud based provider in a senior level Product/Marketing role.