Windows 8: Through the Looking Glass

It’s been said that the age of the PC is already over, and that the laptops rolling out now are just the last gasp of what will become specialised tools for professionals. Most of us will move on to tablets and mobiles, which already do all the Facebooking and Tweeting for us anyway. The basics of Windows haven’t really changed since the first few releases – menu bar, movable windows, and programs and settings all thrown together in a heap. It’s grown more complex than that over the years, of course, cleaned up a bit, but basically the same deal. Keeping that kind of continuity has been what keeps people from generally complaining too much when there’s a new version. So throwing that to one side and introducing a new interface like Metro with the upcoming Windows 8 is, in a word, an adjustment.

Metro is a new design philosophy for Windows, one that seems designed for touching, gestures and swiping, which makes it very much the kind of thing that makes sense on the tablet and somewhat less on a laptop, especially when the screen isn’t touchable. It is well put together, but relies on gestures to trigger multi-tasking, full-screen, custom designed apps, and centralised locations for settings rather than menu bars for each window. There’s definitely a sense of integration and control, but in many cases the shift is radical enough to change your workflow entirely, so the learning curve isn’t quite as friendly as it could be.

It’s worth noting that you can do away with Metro entirely and go back to the Windows you know already, and avoid the whole issue. Elaborate programs like Photoshop still live in that desktop environment and work just the same way. You can treat Metro like a glorified app drawer and leave it at that. But Windows is pretty eager for new users for to try its new tricks and work with them, and almost certainly banking on touchscreens coming to a laptop near you soon.

Ultimately, Windows 8 feels good, but not a little strange, not unlike how Vista felt just a few years ago. There are enough changes in places that it’s likely that a good portion of the new features won’t get used enough to support after a while. It’s cheap enough that an upgrade won’t break the bank, but it’s probably different enough that you don’t need to be in any hurry to get it.