OS

[Snowreap]

I've been using Windows 8 for a couple of days now, on a convertible laptop/tablet (Dell XPS 12). so I finally feel qualified to weigh in on this.

learning to use Windows 7 is easy if you're coming from Vista or XP, or even Windows 2000. learning to use Windows 8 is much, much harder.

if you are going to learn to use Windows 8 (specifically the Metro UI), the best way is to use a computer with a touchscreen. it doesn't matter much whether it's a full-blown laptop or a tablet. even a Windows 8 phone would probably be ok. if you can't get a touchscreen, consider getting a new mouse or touchpad that has full support for Windows 8 gestures (e.g. one of the new Logitech or Microsoft touch mice).

the touchscreen gestures do make some sense once you (a) find out that they exist and (b) get used to them. the mouse equivalents for the touchscreen gestures do not make sense in and of themselves -- they only make sense if you think of them as substitutes for the corresponding gestures. using Windows 8 without knowing how to access the "charms" menu (which slides in from the right side of the screen) or the context menu (which slides up from the bottom) will be an exercise in frustration for anything except the most trivial tasks.

also, I don't know if this is specifically an XPS 12 hardware / drivers issue, but Windows 8 locks up a lot for me. in particular, I installed the Microsoft Solitaire Collection (to get FreeCell) and the system consistently locks up midway through the Klondike Card Challenge for December 23 (in the Daily Challenges). most other challenges work fine, or if they do lock up the first time I can retry them successfully. once the machine locks up, it seems like it will eventually restart itself if I let the machine sit. as usual with a new Windows release, it's a good idea to continue to use the previous operating system until the first service pack at least. but it's my understanding that Microsoft has made Windows 7 hard to get at this point.

Windows 8 does boot up *very* fast. this might be because the machine I'm using has an SSD.

-ken