Windows 8 Review : Day One

So I decided to take the plunge. Bought a brand new shining version of Windows 8. The 2GB download took some time but got over post lunch today and I decided to test ride it. Here are my experiences with various aspects. Remember this is day one and I am not too fond of reading tutorials so I might not have figured out everything.

The Install

I think it took approx. 2 hrs. I choose the option of retaining my settings and apps. Maybe I should not have done that but anyways I thought it was taking too long. One good thing of that time was that I was able to call some friends and talk to them during that time. Overall the process was smooth and I just had to uninstall some Bluetooth software for compatibility. Everything else just worked.

The UI

Ok there is no start button and you start with some tiles. But that is OK. I guess mobile devices have already got us used to different ways of interacting with our machines. BTW I use Android not Windows. I did get used to it in some time and ya did figure out how to see all apps after some mouse moving. Since the other apps look pretty much the same, did not need much time to pick up things.

The Browser

So we do have a new IE which does look different. Overall I am loving the new interface. Like the fact that it occupies the whole window. Like the concept of private tabs as it enables me to login to another adwords account. The right clicks have changed but that is OK. Sometimes it takes some effort to figure out where to right click but that is ok. Speed is fine as long as you don’t have too many tabs. My usual number of tabs is 10-15 which includes 2 Gmails, FB, Hootsuite, Analytics and Adwords. It becomes sluggish when I added youtube also. When a single window hangs, all go down. And then I found the most irritating bug. I use an internal tool which uses HTTP auth and my browser just refuses to remember the user id/password here. I am sure MS will fix it but annoying for me at this point.

Social Hub

I did all my social accounts but still not sure if I will use it much. I did see that it did not have a simple way to update multiple accounts which is almost a basic need for me now. I use Seesmic or Hootsuite for that. Yet to find much use but time will tell if this is usable. I am a heavy social media user so this better be good to make me migrate.

The Performance

So far so good. This was one of the main reason why I migrated from Win 7. Looks fine as of now but I won’t jump to conclusions at this point. Will cover this more in my next review.

Moral of the Story

I am OK right now. Not very excited but not disappointed either. I will write another review in few days. So stay tuned…