I recently tried out the new Windows 8 preview in a virtual machine. I won't be covering performance since I am running in a VM, and don't really consider that fair. First we'll discuss the good points... The install was easy and quick. It has solitaire...
Ok, now that we've got all that over with lets discuss the bad points. Now every one knows I've always dreamed of having my desktop be a giant start menu display, and since I can only focus on one thing at a time of course I would rather have the OS only display one program full screen at a time... I'm not one of those weird people that run two monitors so I can have space for the five things I'm tinkering with at the same time, this will work out great! Now yes I know I can click on the nice little desktop icon and get what appears to be a standard old school "this is what I'm used to" type interface, but its still limited, feels like it was thrown in to appease the jerks that complain about GUI's online... don't look at me like that... I have a life... stop laughing...
Was the classic start menu that annoying that now I have to move my mouse to the lower left hand corner to get back to the Tetris blocks? Or move to the extreme upper right to access settings? This wouldn't be that annoying on a touch screen but with a mouse its too out of the way to be intuitive or useful. I tend to use XFCE in Linux for the simple fact that pretty much everything is in your right click, its quick, its easy to adapt to and your standard old style menus are still there. Anyone who has ever done tech support knows, you move one little thing and you're getting calls left and right asking "Where is this, that or the other?" Major overhauls are not a good idea unless you're moving to something far more user friendly.
Windows 7 restored my faith in Microsoft making decent OS's, I maintain its the best they've done since XP, version 8 is making wonder if they suffer from the Star Trek curse, where every other release is horrible.
I also started looking for a new Linux distro to dual boot with. I've been using Xubuntu primarily for desktop applications and vanilla Debian for server based, but I like to try out new ones from time to time to see if I'm missing out on anything. I'd heard that Ubuntu had released version 12 and decided, hey I like their offshoots, might as well give the original a try again.
I've had a few issue with the way Ubuntu handles things, I usually refer to it as a "Granny" distro, or the one you would give your grandmother to be able to check her email and facebook on. I don't like a system that comes with root disabled by default, and being a Debian fan, I'm used to a rock solid experience and I feel they roll out a changes a bit too soon in some cases. That being said they are one of the most popular distros and kind of a "gateway drug" into 'nix.
I loaded up an iso on a usb drive and fired up the 64 bit version.
... Its pretty... kinda... with big icons... It hit me, this isn't a new advanced well thought out revamp of the desktop, this is a tablet interface crammed on a desktop. I realize that Ubuntu is supposed to be Linux for the masses, easier to use and make the OS more appealing to the average person, but your average person doesn't even know what 'nix is unless they're friends with nerds... they buy a Mac if they're trying to get away from Windows. It is easy enough to install another frontend, but new users trying out Linux for the first time probably aren't going to be willing or even able to go about installing a new gui. Unity should have been included as an option, but not as the default interface. Do a google search for Ubuntu Unity, you'll find thousands of threads either bashing the hell out of it, or asking how to switch to gnome 3, or 2.
PC gamers have been dealing with the issue of Consolitis for years where a developer makes a cheap quick port of their console game to the PC and doesn't bother to make the interface work with the hardware. Skyrim is the latest greatest example of this, while a great game, the menu system is designed to be used with a controller, not a mouse. I see this new trend as Tabletization, or we won't bother to make two versions of the front end, we'll just throw the same thing on both and you'll eat it and like it. In the auto industry this would be like putting a steering wheel on a motorcycle, it don't fit, dangit.
Item 2: List of Offenders
Microsoft... again, Ubuntu
Item 3: Suggested Course of Action
If you're using a tablet grab Windows 8 for it, if not hold onto Windows 7 as long as possible. You'll notice they extended XP support until 7 came out since a lot of people wouldn't adopt Vista. Hopefully changes will be made before it hits the shelves, or 9 will be decent. For Linux users, SalineOS is nice, and Xubuntu and Kubuntu are still pretty sweet. Linux Mint is getting a lot of downloads here lately as well.
