Windows Aint

I have always been an early adopter of Windows OS changes. I have paid attention to the Windows suggestions on preparing for a new OS, always checked my hard- and software versus the expected usability charts (and, later, used their widgets to do the same), and have even used Release Clients and Beta Clients for OS changes I was really looking forward to. I was one of the few that had good things to say about Vista when it was released, as I paid attention to the changes, knew what to expect, and upgraded my system in the areas I knew I might have issues.

Windows 8 released this week and I couldn't care less. I understand that the company has to change its tactics and its focus in order to stay relevant in a world that is rapidly switching over to hand-held devices, but I am a PC gamer and those changes appear to make my use of the new OS more difficult. I do not want and I do not own a touch screen for my main, gaming PC. My system is built to allow gaming as fast as I can afford to and to provide me with a means of working on documentation using Office and FrameMaker (and other) tools. These are applications that, for the most part, don't run or don't run well on a tablet or phone and, as for the kind of gaming I do, cannot be done on most tablets or mobile phones.

I have yet to read about the size of the Windows 8 OS once installed. XP, Vista, and 7 all are monstrously huge to a degree I do not think is warranted, and I would love to see Windows actually make a leaner OS with a much smaller footprint on my hard drive.

I have yet to read an article on how Windows 8 fairs for games and gamers. In Vista, we lost some of our hardware support and had to upgrade. Many of our older games had issues or wouldn't run at all. Windows 7 fixed some of those issues and we could game with most anything again (I did still have a sound card and a gaming headset that wouldn't be recognized in 7, but they were pretty old so it was worth upgrading even though they were both solid and functional devices). Windows Vista (if properly set up) and 7 were both remarkably stable; I have run each for years at a time without the need to rebuild or reinstall from scratch.

Windows 8 runs primarily using Apps. However, most articles admit that PC users don't need the lions-share of these Apps, as they are mostly designed and built for the tablet or mobile phone user. Windows 8 doesn't come, for example, with the clock showing in the lower, right-hand corner of the OS any more. Instead, you have to click the "Charms" to display the clock. If you want to see a clock by default, you have to install an App to see it -- on any interface. This seems short-sighted to me, as one of the primary functions of mobile phones and tablets these days is as a time-keeper and organizer. You shouldn't have to install an App to see something as basic as the time/date.

Most of the reviews I've read have been, overall, positive of the new OS. However, they all admit that Windows 8 is best used with a touch device; most PCs are not touch devices. Most of those reviews admit that the way the OS switches between the touch-enabled, new start up screen and the legacy-style desktop is jarring. Most gamers and hard-core users will likely have this jarring effect happen often. Many of the neatest new features are, strangely, not enabled in the desktop mode.

All in all, this just doesn't seem like an OS for one of the biggest groups of PC users on the planet: gamers. Gaming is one of the biggest deals in any type of computing, and to have Microsoft appear to ignore that segment strikes me as strange. Until and unless I can find some reviews of Windows 8 that talk about it as a gaming platform, talks about its compatibility with newer and older games and hardware, and discusses how solid it is for video and networks, I will be sticking with Windows 7 for the foreseeable future.

ADDENDUM
I did find this site with a review for gamers, and it shows that Windows 8 has some "quirks" that may mean fewer of my games may function. It also shows a lack of support for Steam (quickly becoming a platform of choice for many gamers) and no significant improvements for gamers in terms of connectivity, speed, or performance. This does not make me want to go out and get the new OS.