Windows 8

So old Microsoft has given us a good look at the upcoming Windows 8. If your not the reading type of person you can check out a video!

So the start menu is now a full screen series of tiles including the "Windows App Store". Of course its all just in a full screen (I'm guessing DirectX) window that shows us web pages instead of real programs. Now I've worked in those retail stores what that sell the shitpile computers from HP and DELL and what not and I see a theme here. Take a look at some pics.

Now this here is a picture of the HP Touchsmart PC. Notice the big, full screen interface that takes over everything once Windows boots. From this interface you can look at pictures, brows the web and launch programs. Of course once your program launches it minimizes this interface and you get to see your typical Windows interface. Now look at 3:05 in the video. Exact same thing.

Now whats real interesting here is that picture is from a computer released in 2008. If you head to Best Buy today you will see HP Touchsmarts without that interface and in its place a handful of touch friendly applications. The big overbearing interface was not accepted by Windows users.

Now take a look at another one, this time from DELL:

This contraption is the DELL Duo. It's a not-quite-a-netbook-not-quite-a-tablet convertible thing. When you flip around the screen to "Tablet Mode" you get that bullshit interface you see in the pic. I can tell you I've never seen one in the wild, I've never sold one and the one time I saw someone express any interest in it they asked if the tablet interface could be turned off.

I've said for years that Windows is great. That if installed from the disc on a computer you built Windows installed on a machine with even mediocre specs will outshine high dollar HP and DELL machines because of all the bloated crap they insist on putting on it. Sadly it looks like crippling bloat will now be built into Windows.

I understand the desire to build a product that works on phone, tablet, laptop and desktop alike, but I'm not sure who told Microsoft that something like this is a good idea. Who decided that a desktop with icons and a menu full of the programs you have installed was to be removed?