1. No Start Button – Metro UI
Never liked the Start Button? Well, it’s gone in Windows 8 by default. It’s now replaced by the Metro UI. Yes, Microsoft has said there will be a way to revert back to the traditional desktop we are all used to (thank god), but by default it’ll be set to the new UI interface. I’ve played around with Windows 8 on a few test machines and I have to say that even though I think it’s a great interface for a tablet, I was not at all excited about using it with a mouse and keyboard. It looks a little nicer, but that’s about it. And clicking at the bottom left and not getting my typical start menu pop up was just too much change, even for me.
2. Simpler Task Manager
Ever noticed what tabs you actually used in Task Manger up till now? Probably just Applications and Processes. That’s about all I ever use and normally just to kill off some processor hungry rouge program. What you see above is the new Task Manager! Yeah, that’s it. Just a list of apps running that you can kill with one click. What about processes you ask? Well, click on More Details, and you get a nicely split list of applications and background processes along with a heat map of CPU and memory usage.
Pretty nice actually! That’s one change I am looking forward too. The
current task manager was too detailed and overly complicated for the
average user. This one makes it a breeze for anyone to use.
3. Improvements to Copy, Move, Rename and Delete
Yes, this may sound trivial, but if you really think about it, you probably move, delete, rename or copy a file/folder several times a day, if not more. These four basic operations have pretty much been the same for years and through all versions of Windows. In Windows 8, they get vastly improved!Firstly, when you copy stuff around, especially when you perform multiple copy operations, all of the info is consolidated into one dialog. No more doing 10 copies and having 10 different windows pop up. Now it looks like this:
What you’ll also notice is the new pause feature. Finally, you can pause
a copy operation in the middle of it! Yay! What’s really cool, though,
is if you click More Details, you can see the speed of the data
transfer, the trend and the amount of data left in the transfer.
4. The New Windows Explorer
Say hello to the ribbon
interface! You’ve probably already been introduced to it in Office 2007
and Office 2010 and now it makes its way into Windows itself. Love it or
hate it, it’s there as a permanent fixture. Here’s what the new UI will
look like:
What do you think about this change? Like it or not? Like I said
before, Windows 8 has been completely reimagined and you can clearly see
that with all the major differences.
5. Fast Startup Mode
Boot
times have always been an issue with Windows and they have tried their
best to fix that with new power states like hibernation and sleep.
Unfortunately, those have their own set of problems. In Windows 8, there
is a new fast startup mode (probably going to be called something else
later on), which is a combination of a cold boot plus hibernation.
Basically, this will be like “restarting” your PC without actually fully
restarting it. You’ll still get a fresh user session with everything
closed, etc like you just restarted Windows, but it’ll take
significantly less time.
6. Plug-in Free Browsing
Not only does IE 10 significantly change the UI, it also changes the
way you will be browsing. IE 10 is favoring HTML 5 over the traditional
plug-in architecture and will actually run by default with no plugins.
If you need to use something like Adobe Flash for a site, you can switch
to a “desktop” view, but for the most part, they are phasing plugin
support out. WOW! That is huge. And pretty bad news for Adobe Flash.
Even though Apple doesn’t support Flash on their devices, Microsoft also
moving in that direction is a major paradigm shift for the entire
Internet.
7. Reengineered Boot Experience
Haven’t we all
gotten sick of the same tired list of “Safe Mode”, “Safe Mode with
Networking”, etc, etc when booting Windows with advanced options. It
still looks a DOS command prompt, even in Windows 7. With Windows 8,
that all changes. The boot experience is now very pretty and reminds me
of setting up my iPhone when I upgraded it to iOS 5. You get nice
screens to help you join a wireless network, pick your settings, etc.
8. Sign in using Windows Live ID
With Windows 8, you can now
sign into your PC using your online credentials at Windows Live. That’s
right, Windows 8 is moving to the cloud (a little). With SkyDrive
integration also coming in Windows 8, you can sign in using Windows Live
credentials and have your files, settings, apps, etc stored in the
cloud. You can log into another Windows 8 machine and all of that will
follow you automatically.
It’ll keep track of all your favorites
in IE, your desktop wallpaper, and lots more. You can buy extra storage
and store your files on SkyDrive and access them online or on your
mobile device including the iPad, iPhone, and Android devices.
9. Refresh/Reset Your PC
Two cool new features of Windows 7 are the refresh and reset options.
Reset will remove all your personal data, apps, and settings and
reinstall Windows. Refresh will keep all data, apps and settings and
reinstall Windows. If you ever had to do this before in Windows XP or 7,
you know what a real pain it is to try and restore Windows without
deleting your personal data. And what happens if your PC doesn’t boot at
all? Well, you can now refresh or reset from the boot screens
10. Scaling for Different Screen Sizes
Along with the new UI
interface, there have been many improvements in Windows 8 for scaling to
different screen resolutions, screen sizes and pixel densities. Even
though this may seem minor, you will be able to use Windows 8 on
everything from a small Windows phone to a giant 30 inch screen with a
2560×1600 resolution! A lot of the apps in Windows 8 will be designed to
automatically adjust to these different screen sizes and provide
more/less content based on the size.
Overall, the Windows 8 team
has spent a lot of time trying to get things right and Windows 8 will be
a huge step forward for PCs. What are your thoughts about Windows 8?
Are you excited or not? Let us know in the comments! Enjoy!