It has been a little over a week since Windows 8 Release to Manufacturing (RTM) made its debut and reviews so far are mixed to negative.
According to Computer World, Windows 8 is "essentially the same" from its predecessors. However, when used as a tablet interface, the new operating system serves its purpose "beautifully."
"Designed from the ground up to display information, it provides a significantly different experience from using an iPad or Android tablet -- information-centric rather than app-centric," says Preston Gralla of Computer World.
When used on a traditional computer, Gralla noted Windows 8 "feels like a kludge," due in part of the Start screen and its apps have a more natural feel when on a touch interface rather than the traditional keyboard and mouse.
V3's review gives Windows 8 a fairly popular review of four out of five stars. Their pros to the new operating system are the touch interface, recovery tool, and "wealth of built-in apps."
The negatives are "Modern UI a major upheaval, legacy apps confined to desktop."
According to V3's Daniel Robinson, they tested the RTM on several products such as the Samsung Series 7 Slate PC and Lenovo ThinkPad X201.
"Our impression is that the new user interface will discourage many Windows users from upgrading, as it delivers little improvement in user experience for users on desktops and laptops over existing versions of Windows," noted Robinson.
In an interview with Laptop Mag, Nielson Norman Group's Usability Expert Raluca Budiu is quoted saying the "usability is worse" for PC's using Windows 8.
"There are things that you can do more easily in Windows 8. For instance, it's easy to share a news story through email or with friends on Facebook. But, I am not sure that these are the tasks that people do most often on a PC," said Budiu, adding Windows 8 is best for content consumption rather than "content production and multitasking."
Slate's Farhad Majoo's review is titled "You'll Hate Windows 8."
"In my time with Windows 8, I've felt almost totally at sea-confused, paralyzed, angry, and ultimately resigned to the pain of having to alter the way I do most of my work," reviewed Majoo.
Majoo, as does other reviewers, note the changes Microsoft has done is to compete with the iPad and agree that for the most part it performs better on a tablet than on a PC.
As Latinos Post reported, if you bought a Windows 7 PC on June 2 or later, Microsoft is offering a discount for the upcoming Windows 8 on Oct. 26 for $14.99. The original price will be $39.
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