A Windows 8 - A Nightmare In Waiting?

Who says the young take to the new easily? My daughter (almost literally) threw our new Windows 8 laptop back at me yesterday complaining that after two days of trying she found it too complicated.

This is the girl who took to PC's, Facebook, Blackberry's, iPods and iPads with no training or trouble, yet she has, at least for now, given up on Windows 8, and with that access to a shiney new toy. You have no idea how important it was that the laptop "look good"!

I restarted the PC from scratch. I do wonder why it takes four or five hours to restore factory condition, but hey ho, that is what it took. I then fired it up and started the process of making it usable with the software we wanted on it.

By way of introduction I should say that I have worked with personal computing for over 30 years, using the classic "C:\" DOS interface, the early graphical one's such as GEM (Graphical Environment Manager - out of XEROX, I think), early Apple and Windows editions and then through Windows 3.1, 95, 98, XP, Vista, 7 and now 8. I have even got into the Android interface for my phone.

I have to confess that earlier switches seemed easier. Maybe there was less in the system, or the changes were small enough to be simple steps or intuitive enough when they were larger ones. With the move from 7 (or XP or Vista) to 8, the steps are large and far from intuitive.

It feels like it might be good on a tablet or smart phone with a touch screen, but does not work as well on a desktop or laptop and a mouse. The mix of apps and a more traditional windows "desktop" is not an easy one, especially without the familiar Windows launch button at the bottom left. Closing an app requires pulling the it from the top and off the bottom - OK on a phone, but a pain with a mouse. Oh yes, you can still "Alt-F4", but isn't that missing the point.

The openning screen seems bright yet clumsy. I have yet to find how to nest the app icons so that I don't keep scrolling to find things. And should you want to do anything similar to the old Control Panel, well good luck!!!

I know I am sounding all fuddy duddy and I am sure I will become more familiar and adept in time, but I can see a nightmare.

The nightmare is when(?) it hits the corporate world. Now I know this is some way away as many businesses are only now upgrading to Windows 7, but there will come a time when that goes out of support. At that point the nightmare starts. Not only is it usually hell on earth for an IT department to "build" a new set up and test all the applications, but they have to train all the operators. I have lived through three of these now as most companies I have worked for have gone from Dos to 3.1 to XP and now to 7.

All of these took longer than expected and cost far more than was ever budgetted. Most recently I have been taken from XP to 7. For me it was pretty easy as I have been using 7 at home for a while, but even for others the differences are not that great. Despite this there has been two hours of training per person!

As I sit here today I am convinced that the upgrade to 8 would be the project from hell; one to leave to someone else.

Of course there are alternatives. It may be that Microsoft offers and alternative upgrade path that is more like 7; It may be that other software houses write shells that sit over 8 and make it more familiar or it may be that the corporate world just skips 8 (like much of it skipped 95 and Vista)?

I will persevere with the laptop as I don't want to seem like Canute, but I think Windows 8 will be an interesting journey to both observe and be part of.