Windows 8 Review (On the ExoPC)

I've been in the technology game too long to not realize it's bad being an early adopter. It wasn't an impulse buy and I've never bought a Microsoft product until at least a year after it aired. Unfortunately, I had to buy Windows 8 on the first day.

Last Christmas, I bought myself an ExoPC slate(they now call them surface tablets) that ran Windows 7. The device was painfully slow on Windows 7 and the touch screen virtually useless. It was probably one of the worst tech buys I ever made. If it didn't run the normal Microsoft programs(albeit slowly), it would have been the worst.

The reason I bought it was because I needed a business machine. Android and IOS are useless for most business users. They are excellent for games, getting email or going on the web but their business shortcomings are too many to list.

So after Windows 8 was promised to be faster and easier to use in tablet form, I thought I'd try one last ditch effort to save my poor little tablet. I downloaded and installed Windows 8 shortly before the storm. The tablet seemed snappy. The comparison wouldn't be tortoise and hare, but rock and hare. All of the programs ran and ran fast. All of my old programs worked brilliantly. Shockingly, Microsoft had released a product that seemed, gasp, efficiently coded.

Well, Sandy came and without power, I did not have a chance to use the tablet much. After power was restored, I found my old windows 7 laptop was a casualty of the storm. It had multiple disk errors and took forever to do anything. With work to do and vacation coming up, I was royally screwed.

That's when I remembered the ExoPC. It booted up to Windows 8 quickly. I began downloading all of the programs I needed; attached my blue tooth mouse / keyboard and was up and working in no time flat.

After working with Windows 8 for several weeks, I've gotten to know it pretty well. The speed is excellent, but there are several drawbacks to getting or upgrading to a Windows 8 machine.

Cons:

1. The learning curve. I am a very advanced tech user and the learning curve sucked. Nothing on Windows 8 is intuitive. Finger gestures and the mouse work differently for most functions but not for all. Swiping from the right edge brings up a menu that allows you to search, share, start and change some settings. Swiping from the left edge cycles through open programs. Using the mouse, there is no swipe and you need to point to hotspots in a right corner for the above menu, but pointing to the left corner, does not cycle through programs. It shows you a small icon of the next running program. If you have more than one other program running, you have to slide the cursor upward to see all running programs to choose from. To close a program, you can swipe or mouse from the top to the bottom of the screen.
2. On the ExoPC and I'm sure other hardware, there are still some items that do not work. In my case, it is the auto screen rotate. Microsoft recognizes the sensor but will not work with it. I have to manually rotate the screen via button to change orientation, a minor inconvenience. The OS is still young and I'm sure will take a while to mature.
3. The Microsoft App store is horrible. The complaint is not the content but the layout. I could not find the Nook reader without doing a search. Even after following the store to 'all readers' and then looking through 'every program' available. I had this problem with several other apps too.
4. Though the Metro Layout looks great, it is designed for large tiles, so when small tiles are used, weird configurations of tiles occupy the screen.
5. Goes back to number 1. Learning the smallest hints and tricks takes experimentation. I don't think the average user will experiment enough to find practical procedures that should be intuitive.
6. The OS was definitely designed for touch screens. More things(but not all) are easier to use for touch screens than with a mouse.
7. Not per se, an issue for me, because my machine runs normal Windows 8 Pro. The issue is that Microsoft made two versions of Windows 8. Trying not to get technical, one version is designed to work on tablets, laptops and PCs. This version makes a tablet a laptop/PC replacement. The second version is for phones and certain tablets and is called Windows 8 RT or Windows 8 phone. This version looks and works like the pro version except for one thing. It DOES NOT run the typical PC programs. Actually, there are similar versions of Microsoft products like Office for RT, but legacy Windows programs or Windows 8 programs will not work on it. This version is a tablet/pad replacement. Where this becomes a big problem is customer expectation. Microsoft doesn't seem to explain what RT means to the customer. They simply sell it as a Windows RT device. If you shell out the money for a laptop replacement and it can't even replace your current phone, pad or tablet. You should be pissed. Due to the technology, devices can only run one OS or the other.
8. No Clock. Well, not no clock, but in the metro view, there is no static clock. If you want to see the time, you need to go through mouse or gesture gyrations. The only other option is to get an app that will display time on a live tile.
9. There is a desktop view that looks a lot like Windows 7. This desktop view automatically pops up whenever you run a legacy program or change a system setting. This could be a plus for some but certain applications, like Windows Explorer browser, are different applications then the ones that run in the metro view.

Pros:

1. Speed. I've seen several articles that say Windows 8 is a little faster than Windows 7. That may be true for a super hetrodyne processor and memory beast, but on a slate or tablet, Windows 8 blazes. Boot up is quick and programs starts fast.
2. Looks very cool and live tiles(buttons that change their pictures) work very well especially for news and weather.
3. Windows 8 Pro version runs all programs that run on Windows 7 and runs them faster.
4. There is an easy to get to Airplane mode. Easy to get to once you figure out where it is. Hint: It is in the side menu under wireless.
5. Touchscreen is amazingly snappy and accurate. I would not say the ExoPC has the best hardware, but it's touchscreen can keep up with the best of them and I give Windows 8 credit for that.
6. Once you get to know how the system works using the mouse, keyboard and finger gestures in rapid succession really makes navigation fast.
7. Only real OS that runs on a tablet form factor or touch screen. You can play, work and watch a movie all from the same machine.
8. Multitasking. When I said you could play, work and watch a movie all from the same machine, I meant, all at the same time.
9. FLASH/ all video and audio can be played on it. Any IOS or Android 4.0 user knows what it's like to not have flash as well as have video or audio files that will not play on your device.
10. Real web browsing. No mobile browser 'cut down sites' when surfing the web.
11. Though navigating the 'App Store' sucks, there are some excellent apps. Old time favorites (like the Ebay App) as well as all new touch apps.
12. Handwriting, Voice and Keyboard input.  The choice of inputs is great.  I can use my blue tooth keyboard, the on-screen keyboard, the accurate handwriting recognition or voice input.  Now if I want to write my blog, I can actually write it.

When I first dabbled with Windows 8, I liked the speed but was frustrated with the lack of intuition and difference in mouse and finger controls. After learning it though, I think it is a damn good OS. I would not tell someone to rush out and buy it but I would not recommend someone avoid it, if buying a new machine. Does Microsoft have a ways to go? Yes, but they have already made some great strides with the way the interface reacts. Like all Microsoft products, in time I'm sure they'll get it right. Probably right before Windows 9 comes out.

 

I think I need to take a moment to apologize for the review being all over the place. I have a tablet, so that was the functionality I was most interested in. Due to my laptop crashing though, the tablet now does double duty as a tablet and a laptop. When I originally bought the ExoPC, I had replaced my IPhone with an Android phone and had several android tablets. My initial goal for the machine was to replace my various tablets with this device. I now realize with Windows 8, the device is much more than a web browser/ gamer/ email getter. It is a full fledged business machine. That being said, my goal was not accomplished because even though this device could easily replace the others, those devices are still usable and have there place.