Warning, Don’t Use Windows 8

I was sold on an iPad 2 before I left for the BUILD conference last week. I told my friends I’d get one. I had gone through all the pros and cons. “I couldn’t wait” to, all of a sudden, be upgraded to a new level coolness.

Then, on a small one hour break from BUILD when I couldn’t find any interesting sessions from an end user point of view, I walked into a BestBuy some 2 miles from the Anaheim Convention Center. 

I was directed to the iPad 2 stand and played with the device for 5 minutes while an employee was telling me how this product basically sells itself, most probably thinking that I was an easy sell, since I had declared from the start that I was going to buy one. 

He must have been left scratching his head when I walked out of the store moments later, empty handed. 

What had happened? Much to my “dismay,” I had the “misfortune” of playing with the Samsung Windows Developer Preview PC running Windows 8 pre-Beta for some 36 hours. 

I no longer wanted an iPad2, or a Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 or an ASUS Eee Pad Transformer. I no longer wanted any tablet unless it would run Windows 8. 

Reimagined, yes, it’s about the right word to describe Windows 8

After Windows 7 was just so… comfortable, it’s certainly a breath of fresh air to see Microsoft take a risk again. 

Remember when Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer said that Windows 8 was the company’s riskiest bet? This was back in October 2010. He wasn’t really exaggerating. 

Windows and Windows Live Division President Steven Sinofsky has taken Windows out of its comfort zone, and the result, albeit still far from being finished, is still very promising. 

You undoubtedly must have heard the Windows chief, and other Softies, talk about the reimagining of Windows. This is about the introduction of Metro, of course, but also about more than just the new NUI + GUI and app platform. 

It’s also about pushing Windows completely to the background and letting immersive experiences take center-stage, about delivering unprecedented Cloud connectivity both for Microsoft’s and third-party programs, and still offering customers the option to run the good old desktop, to take advantage of the existing software and hardware ecosystem.

With Windows 8, consumers will truly get more than any of its predecessors had to offer. 

Metro

I’ve seen both the good and the bad side of reactions to Metro. Walking around BUILD, I started random conversations with attendees whenever I had the chance, they were easy to spot because of their green badges, after they received the Samsung Developer Preview PC. With the last one I talked to I also took the same flight back home.

Ballmer said that feedback following initial testing was positive and this is also my take. All the people I asked about the Samsung device and Metro had only good things to say to me. 

Here is Microsoft’s take on Metro:

“Windows 8 introduces a new Metro style interface, which shows the information important to you, embodies simplicity, and gives you control. The interface is a personalized layout with clean typography and animations to make interacting with your PC fluid and intuitive. The new interface is built for touch. With touch, you can do what you want to do quickly and naturally. The new Start screen puts all of your apps in front of you for immediate access. 

“You don’t have to remember where things are. And whether you want to type, click, or swipe, Windows 8 is optimized for easier navigation so moving around the operating system is effortless with either a finger, or a mouse and keyboard.”

This is the first Windows UI that truly marries the natural user interface and graphical user interface concepts. It’s built to be touched. 

And this is why it’s important to stress that using it with a mouse and keyboard simply doesn’t do Metro justice. Metro is palpable. Users need tangible interaction with this innovative UI in order to truly experience its fluidity, speed, simplicity. It’s UX naturalness, if you will. 

I said that I also came across negative feedback. Yes, such a thing does exist. As far as I can tell, for the most part, this type of input comes from Windows 8 testers that didn’t get to touch Metro. Didn’t get to touch the new Start Screen. 

Looking at old-style icons on existing tablets in the BestBuy store, I realized just how far they were from the Windows 8 tiles. They delivered none of the interactivity, none of the content richness, little flexibility, no customization options, no coherence of design. You just “clicked” one with your finger to launch the app. Otherwise they were just uselessly taking up screen real estate space, crowded together in a jarring mass. This was not what I wanted, not any more. 

A scene from Zoolander

On September 12, 2011, Sinofsky and Windows team members gathered along with press representatives from around the globe in a hotel next to the Anaheim Convention Center for an exclusive sneak peek at Windows 8. 

What we got to see that day was pretty much the BUILD day 1 keynote address, as well as a range of great demos. 

The Windows boss promised that after getting to play with Windows 8, and specifically with the Samsung Developer Preview PC, we’d want to touch Windows, to touch older screens. I can’t say that I really believed him at that time. 

Following the day-long sneak peek, I retired to my hotel room, and fired up the Samsung Developer Preview PC almost immediately. At that point in time, it was the only way for me to test Windows 8, official downloads wouldn’t go live for another 24 hours, or so. 

I played around with the early pre-Beta Build of Windows 8 and the Samsung device all evening. Somewhere between 11:30 PM and 12:30 AM I started writing the first article that went live the next day. I wrote a number of articles throughout the night, sacrificing sleep. 

After the first BUILD keynote address, I continued much in the same line, picking up the Samsung device when I wasn’t writing. At one point I placed it in the dock provided and connected the keyboard that also came into the package offered by the software giant. It was the same as working on a laptop, except I didn’t connect a mouse, and I was simply touching the screen with my finger. 

I went back and forth between the Samsung device and my old Dell notebook for the next day after the official debut of BUILD, using the new form factor both docked and undocked. 

At a certain point, I needed to launch an application on my Dell machine. Much to my surprise I didn’t move my right hand to the mouse it was near, but instead lifted my left hand and poked at the screen with my finger. 

When I realized what I was doing, I stopped, and started laughing, and of course, proceeded to sharing the experience with the world via Twitter. 

Touching the non-touch screen of the notebook with my finger was nothing short of a scene from Zoolander. However, I want to emphasize that I had done it out of reflex, and not consciously. It amazed me just how natural the Samsung device and Windows 8 made touching the monitor.

I didn’t get it at first

Served through the Windows Store, Metro apps will run on x86, x64, and ARM platforms, delivering completely immersive experiences since they’ll run full screen with no Windows 8 chrome peeking through. 

These apps are designed by default to run in a new security context, to leverage the Cloud, to be interconnected, to accompany the always-on experience of next-generation form factors, and to move with the user from one Windows 8 PC to another, effortlessly. 

I can see Microsoft working with OEM partners to provide Metro-only Windows 8 devices that would be the equivalents of tablets available today, namely geared toward content consumption alone, but with all the inherent capabilities of Windows, such as multitasking.

I must confess that I didn’t get it at first. Using the Samsung Windows 8 Developer Preview PC really opened my eyes on the benefits of having a tablet that can seamlessly switch to the full Windows desktop experience, deliver all of its power, compatibility, application and device support, productivity, etc. 

Content consumption-oriented devices now seem artificially limited to me, especially when Windows 8 machines can do so much more. 

The thing to keep in mind

Windows Developer Preview is a very early development milestone of Windows 8, Build 8102 Milestone 3 (M3), to be more specific. As a pre-Beta release it has its fair share of problems, but they’re to be expected even for at least one additional development milestone. 

The quality of Windows 8 will surely improve as the platform gets closer to Beta, Microsoft is already hard at work on this Build, but there’s still much to do. 

Just as it’s the case with bugs, the company will also address additional issues, and take into account feedback from early adopters. So testers need to make sure that they make themselves heard and potentially influence the Windows 8 development process for the better. 

Conclusion

Don’t use Windows 8 on an NUI device. It will change your perspective on computing interaction in a way that no OS available today has done. I for one was unable to settle for anything currently on the market. I’d rather wait for Windows 8 to launch. 

The way I see it, packing both Metro innovation and the traditional desktop, Windows 8 is to iOS and Android as a Bugatti Veyron to a pair of circus tricycles used for cute tricks, one pink, the other one light blue. Its biggest fault so far? It’s not here yet. 

Windows 8 Developer Preview Build 8102 Milestone 3 (M3) is available for download here.

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