24 Hours with Windows 8

Metro is still the dominant part of Windows 8. even on a non-touch laptop

Once upon a time a new version of Windows was something to get excited about. Be it the low level support for new hardware technologies, new features and ways of interacting with one's PC. there was a reason people lined up outside Harvey Norman stores to get their hands on Windows 95 the moment it was available. (Yes, I was one of those crazy, crazy fools).

This all came to a crashing halt with Vista, when a long and relatively public phase of operating system development resulted in a bloated, intrusive operating system that most people felt best ignoring. Vista not only killed the clamour for the new, but it meant that Microsoft ended up needing to support Windows XP well beyond its intended use by date.

The mistakes of Vista were largely erased with the launch of Windows 7, and that has been the operating system many long term PC users have settled down with. Gone was the unnecessary bling and in its place was an operating system that was less bloated than Vista, without throwing out some of the better features brought on board.
For many Vista was Microsoft moving away from its traditional audience, and in the process alienating them. It is important, because this wrong step with Vista hangs heavily over Windows 8, which has Microsoft making even more drastic changes to the way in which we have learned to use our PCs.

We've had an All-In-One in the labs running the various versions of Windows 8 released so far. but it has been a largely academic exercise. While it gives us an opportunity to explore the operating system at our leisure, we aren't forced to use it - and hence don't, for anything beyond investigating the operating system itself.

With this weighing on the back of our minds, the consumer preview version of Windows 8 needed more committed testing. Which is the moment that 1 thought it a good idea to go all-in with my laptop.

Hours 1-3

The upgrade process begins

 

The upgrade finds a few issues which need fixing before it can continue.

 

It was a process driven by a degree of nerdly bravado. "Screw it!" I cried when talking with my friends about our plans to cover the new operating system. "I'm going to install it right now!" I then got as far as the installer download page before sanity kicked in and 1 started wondering about the currency of my laptop's backup.

So after transferring a few gigs of miscellaneous data to my NAS. I downloaded that little SMB installer and proceeded to turn my Windows 7 laptop into a Windows 8 machine. This was done with full awareness that upgrading is perhaps the worst thing to do with a pre-release operating system. The point was that it was a defiant show of slightly spontaneous commitment to learning the ins and outs of Windows 8.

Oddly enough, the upgrade process went incredibly smoothly. The installer ran some scans and presented a list of programs (now reduced to being described as mere Apps) that the upgrade would break, while also pointing out that I had virtually no free disk space on my C; Drive (the installer needed 20GB free). So I moved the 35GB of Steam files sitting there in the hope that I could work some magic with Symlinks to unbreak Steam once the upgrade happened.

With the space freed up the Install could proceed. It really is one of the most polite processes Microsoft has ever delivered, with reassurances that I could continue using my computer while it downloaded, which was probably the slowest part of the entire procedure thanks to my wireless router being midway through dying at the time.

Once the files were downloaded it was the point of no return - that moment where you cross your fingers and hope that the next shutdown won't result In some sort of ominous user error. Thankfully it didn't - if anything the experience of going from Windows 7 to Windows 8 ended up being the smoothest transition between operating systems since 1 first booted up Windows 3.1.

Once installed you need to give the usual locational details and are then asked to login with a Windows Live account. Here we hit the stumbling block of trying to remember just what our Windows Live password was. After a brief flirtation with password recovery the system booted up, now sporting that very identifiable Metro interface.

This was the point at which Windows 8's inherently schizophrenic nature started to really show itself. Make no bones about it - Windows 8 is an attempt at a happy compromise between PC and tablet software that ends up feeling like two operating systems that have been bolted together. The bolting is less awkward than it was in the developer preview from last year but it is still apparent, and also governs interaction with the operating system way more than we want to admit.

It is hard to tell whether it's the general feel of the interface or the fact that I've been using Windows Phone for some months now. but my first reaction to seeing those metro tiles was to paw the screen. It was a moment when the handful of touch enabled laptops shown to me over recent years actually made sense for the first time, and the first indication that Windows 8 was going to really mess with my head for a while.

Hours 4-6

Resigning myself to not being able to flick through the interface, it was time to start working out just how the touchpad and keyboard translated to navigation in Windows 8. It was around this time that a few things became dear: firstly, that while most of the Windows 7 drivers on my laptop worked, the bits and pieces of Samsung software that helped with quick booting and system updates were not working. Not the end of the world, but this did mean that the instant return from hibernation that I loved so much under Windows 7 was gone.

Finding the device manager involved the realisation that the Metro-based settings screen bears little or no resemblance to the desktop-based control panel in Windows 8. Some settings hide in each area, again making Windows 8 feel like two operating environments mashed into one. Thankfully Windows Key + Pause still brings up the System menu from which I could get into the Device manager and check what drivers were missing.

Display drivers seemed to be my major issue. Thankfully though, the wireless connection was still operational after the upgrade so it was a simple case of checking both the NVIDIA website and Intel's one in search of new graphics drivers (my laptop uses a Core i5 and a GeForce GT520M). Intel's driver detection java widget just plain failed to play nice with Windows 8, while NVIDIA already had Windows 8 as an option in its driver selection page. So while downloading the GeForce drivers I checked Windows Update - or at least vainly searched for it in Metro then went to the desktop and searched for it in the control panel.

Pleasingly there was not only an Intel driver to download but also a Microsoft-approved NVIDIA one and drivers for the Broadcom wireless chip in the laptop {even though wireless was working fine right off the bat). I started this downloading and hoped that just maybe the drivers would actually support NVlDIA's Optimus technology for graphics switching (one of my favourite things about the laptop's configuration).

Curiously, while going through this process I noticed that I had a) forgotten to disable Norton Internet Security and b) it didn't actually matter because it was patched and working fine with Windows 8.

This in and of itself is a bit of a miracle, given how Antivirus in general and Norton in particular has had a shaky history of coping with operating system upgrades.

Finally my laptop was transformed. I'd managed to survive the transition with very little hassle. My major issue was that the Samsung software on the laptop looked broken enough that my battery life wouldn't be as impressive, but apart from that I was pleasantly surprised that the upgrade process had gone so incredibly smoothly.

Hours 7-12

 

Metro based Weather App

New enhanced Task Manager in Desktop mode

Now it was time to try to get my head wrapped properly around the Metro way of doing stuff. For anyone used to using Windows, this largely revolves around living with a start button-free desktop. One of the major issues 1 had during earlier Windows 8 experiences was that the notion of the desktop no longer being the absolute bottom of the workspace screwed with my brain a ^ little too much. Coming to terms with the notion that the desktop was now an App, hiding in the slick Metro tile layout was the next big challenge. It was around this time that it started coming clear, the sheer number of mechanical changes made to Windows in order to make it touch friendly. One of the great advantages of Windows 7, when using a keyboard and mouse on a large screen, is that it is a pixel-perfect operating system The fine nature of the buttons and other interactive objects on screen works well with the precision control that a mouse offers. But the big problem for moving Windows to a tablet is dealing with the shift from mouse pointer to decidedly imprecise finger control.

Not only is the shift to the tile-based Metro UI an acknowledgement of the clunky nature of poking a screen with a digit, but the general way in which the operating system deals with concepts is designed to get around these touch limitations- Most noticeable of these is the inherently horizontal nature of the Metro interface. Because it is designed to be swept through by hand, the Metro tiles run left to right. This means either constantly dragging a scroll bai on the bottom of the screen as I had to do with the laptop, or using the up and down scrolling of a mouse scroll wheel to move the interface left or right.

While it's an interface that feels quite natural when used on a touchscreen, the translation to keyboard and mouse control is somewhat confusing. Even worse, 1 suspect it will be more confusing the more familiar one is with Windows XP and 7.

Hitting the desktop tile brings up the 'almost familiar' desktop - sans the start button. Not only did this make for several hours of accidentally opening Internet Explorer every time 1 wanted to run a program, but it meant the habit of bashing the Windows key to run programs kept throwing me back into Metro hell every time. Thankfully, the Windows key operates as a 'switch to last program' button so as long as 1 didn't hit a tile in Metro I could press the Windows key a second time to bring up the desktop again.

Actually working on the desktop was pretty easy, once the Windows key-hitting habit subsided. Windows Explorer is at least visibly similar to Windows 7, with the major addition: the use of the notorious Microsoft Office Ribbon bar at the top. This only appears when you select an item however, and ultimately it is quite a handy way of controlling stuff, even if there was a degree of needing to triangulate what functions from Windows 7 are now called, and where they have been hidden.

A few other interesting things emerged in the time spent trying to work on the desktop. Namely, the new 'Charms' that Microsoft has added to the interface. These are basically hot-corners of the screen - move your mouse over them and a context menu will pop up. Bottom left takes you to the Metro Screen, top left enables you to open a menu of currently-active programs {or you can just alt-Tab like the days of yore), while the right hand side opens a contextual menu.

This contextual menu gives you several options, which change based upon your currently active App. These are Search, Share, Start, Setting and Devices. It is always present on both the desktop and the Metro interface, and while occasionally useful my main annoyance was that it meant settings were smeared across several applications, making what should have been simple a lot more confusing than intended.

After a bit more exploration a few other things became dear Namely that Windows key shortcuts were even more important than ever (and some of the ones that I'd carefully trained myself in, such as snapping applications, still worked on the desktop, but not in Metro). Microsoft has also added perhaps the best ever shortcut for a very narrow slice of the Windows-using public - hit Windows Key and Prtscn and a .png file of the current desktop is dumped straight to the pictures library.

I was at least comfortable using the desktop now, even though I still kept occasionally opening Internet Explorer as I went for Start. So it was time to see if Metro offered me anything on my very non-tactile laptop screen.

Hours 13-18

Metro based version of Solitaire asks for an Xbox Live sign in

As I mentioned at the start of the article, I have been a Windows Phone 7 user of late, which means that I'm already familiar with the basics of metro. But while the easy customisation and pinning of tiles makes sense with touch, it's a somewhat fiddlier procedure with a mouse. Add to that the fact that non-Metro programs end up as somewhat ugly blank tiles with the icon at the bottom and it made customising my once Windows 7 install both frustrating and aesthetically unpleasing.

The native Metro Apps that do ship with Windows 8 were pretty slick though. 1 added my Gmail account to mail with little hassle (although Win 8 does seem to lack support for multiple Gmail accounts), and had an enjoyable play with the slick Weather App, which was so much more convenient than with Windows 8 were pretty slick though. 1 added my Gmail account to mail with little hassle (although Win 8 does seem to lack support for multiple Gmail accounts), and had an enjoyable play with the slick Weather App, which was so much more convenient than looking out the window.

Unfortunately a lot of the media-based tiles have only partial functionality, due to the inability to sign in from Australia This means no Microsoft video or music stores - which makes the Apps appear somewhat naked. I did have limited success accessing the DLNA based video library on my NAS but the video player application just felt a little too lightweight for my needs. I can't wait until VLC comes out with a more Metro-friendly look.

The Xbox stuff looks quite interesting, bringing a similar level of integration as seen in Windows Phone.

I eagerly hit sign in, so my meagre Xbox 360 achievements made in 2009 would appear, but this is yet another service not available in our region. I was still able to play some of the games at least, but I still think that Solitaire asking me to sign into Xbox Live is some sort of indication of an impending Apocalypse.

As for standard Windows games, once 1 got my Steam files symlinked properly things worked fine. I tried a few of my guilty pleasures, like Star Wars: The Old Republic and Saints Row the Third and they ran without a hitch, just as well if not a little better than they did under Windows 7.1 suspect this is largely due to the relatively unchanged nature of the DirectX 11 graphics API used in Windows 8.

Hours 19-24

With that the journey from Windows 7 to Windows 8 was complete. There are a few general observations though that kept coming up during this learning phase that are worth mentioning. The escape key really needs to work in Metro Apps. Rather than backing out of an erroneously opened program, it did precisely nothing; the Windows key or are a few general observations though that kept coming up during this learning phase that are worth mentioning. The escape key really needs to work in Metro Apps. Rather than backing out of an erroneously opened program, ft did precisely nothing; the Windows key or mousing to the bottom left comer was the required way of getting out of the program.

Secondly the operating system is going to be light years ahead of Windows 7 when combined with a touch interface. However, for those using a keyboard and mouse/touchpad the learning curve is steep, annoyingly unsignposted and often goes against years of ingrained habit. One of the most frustrating things is that there appears to be two sets of rules - one for the Desktop and one for Metro, which can make some navigational attempts frustrating at best.

Overall though I enjoyed Windows 8 a lot more than 1 would have if I hadn't taken the plunge. Don't take this as a recommendation to jump in wholesale -I still have a work desktop for working and a home desktop for gaming, so committing my laptop to Windows 8 wasn't me totally giving myself over. What it does do, though, is make me excited for all the new generation of touch-enabled Windows 8 laptops, which if done well could make the two-operating-systems-in-one aspect of Windows 8 a lot more attractive.