Windows 8 Oct. 26 Release Approaches: This Could Be ‘Exactly What Microsoft Needs,’

Microsoft's Oct. 26 release date for Windows 8 is quickly approaching, and fans of the long-time PC software creator have seen some new devices that will utilize the OS. At Berlin's IFA 2012, hybrid style laptop-tablet gadgets were unveiled such as the Sony VAIO Duo and the T-Series 13 Ultrabook.

These crossbreed style gadgets may represent exactly what Microsoft needs to make Windows 8 work in the competitive mobile market: something completely new and different, unable to be defined with just one label.

This correlates with exactly what the Windows 8 operating system does, as the new software contains interfaces catered to both tablet and PC devices. But traditional Windows users may need to adapt to Microsoft's new direction if they plan to upgrade to Windows 8. According to Greg Kostello, who has been developing the video sharing app Givit for the Windows 8 platform, Microsoft found a way to make this transition smooth for users.

"Change is hard for a lot of people," Kostello said in an interview. "The Windows interface has stayed largely consistent. You can go from your traditional Windows environment to Windows 8 and go back and forth; I think that's going to solve the migration path for them. They can easily stay in their Windows world if they wish to."

Kostello is the founder, President and CEO of VMIX, a provider of online video publishing and communication solutions. Previously, he was President of Vivendi-Universal Net Technologies where he integrated MP3.com audio technologies into the commercial music industry, and has worked on a team that developed an engine that has become the foundation for Mozilla-based software.

As a developer, Kostello has had experience creating apps for both iOS and Android platforms, and said that Windows 8 relies heavily on its touch screen experience just like these mobile operating systems.

"It is much more like an iPad experience," he said. "But it is an interesting combination now having played with Windows 8 for [several] months. I find myself using both the keyboard and mouse interface and the touch interface when I have a device that supports both. The mouse gives you a lot of precision that you're fingertip does not."

The VMIX president added that Microsoft succeeded in delivering this dual-functionality with Windows 8, emphasizing the importance of being able to switch between interfaces.

"I think what Microsoft tried to do was to blend the best of both worlds, giving you the ability to use your mouse if you like but to migrate to a touch interface if you like. And I think they've done a fine job of blending those two together."

Although Windows 8 may be a new stepping stone for the company, Microsoft does have a tough act to follow. Windows 7 and Windows XP are the most popular operating systems running on PCs as of August 2012, according to w3school.com, a web development site where users learn how to create and code content for the Internet. In October 2011 Windows 7 overtook XP, claiming 40.5 percent of the global web market share, reports website analytics company StatCounter.

But Microsoft's Windows 8 will add a revamped user interface to the OS that users have grown familiar with in these previous iterations. Formerly branded as "Metro," the new layout will tile applications on the Home screen and will cater to the use of touch screen interaction. This is clearly an attempt by the Redmond, Wash.-based company to claim a more aggressive presence in the mobile industry, where Apple and Google reign supreme with their respective iOS and Android platforms.

However, users aren't the only ones that will have to adjust to Microsoft's shift in perspective. According to Kostello, developing for Windows 8 requires a drastic overhaul in creating an application.

"We actually re-did the UI from the ground up," said Kostello when discussing the development of Givit for Windows 8. "I think one of the challenges for people who are coming into the Windows 8 world is that when you're doing your design [for Windows 8], you probably want to throw away all your preconceptions about how you want to develop for it."

Kostello continued to say that the development team for Givit initially had trouble deciding if they should brand the app as a web-based entity or mobile experience.

"Obviously you’re not a professional, power PC user. I am. I program for a living. I open dozens of programs dozens of times each during development. No way, no shape, no form does Metro UI allow that quickly. That’s what quickstart, desktop shortcuts, and the Start Menu are for."

Dozens? Really?

Press the Windows key and start typing the name of the program and it shows up instantly.

As far as desktop shortcuts and quickstart? Didn't you notice they are all STILL there?

The reality is that you need not even use Metro Start for much of anything if you dont want to. You can unpin everything other than the Desktop tile.

"I, and thousands of other power users tried W8 and we have all given it thumbs down. I was unable to work until I hacked the registry to disable Metro UI and installed Classic Shell to restore the Start Menu."

So now you clicked Start, and moved a mouse around through sub folders? THAT is what a "power user" does?

That's not being a power user. Those people can work effortlessly in new environments and quickly pick up on new methods. What you are describing is the equivalent of the office hen that writes her supervisor because they upgraded the web browser and she cant figure out how to get to her "email webpage" and thus needs it changed back.

If "thousands" of those types cant use their power skills to wing it, well then there are plenty of others coming up that will and they will have your job eventually who will take to it.

"And don’t tell me I can’t adapt. I’ve worked with computers for 42 years, the last 17 years with PCs. I worked in a corporate environment as the chief network engineer for a corporation with over a 1000 employees. There’s simply no way that Windows 8 as it’s currently configured will be adopted on PCs by anybody except people who have no other choice but to buy their next PC from bestbuy. And even then, i’m guessing most will be taking them back."

And I bet I could have heard the same rant from you when you went from command lines to a desktop GUI as I hear now. In this case that 20th century paradigm that older programmers are rooted in is coming to a close. The age of the pretend desktop is over.

Governments and corporations are simply not going to retrain millions of their employees to use an interface designed to work well only on touch screen devices that have screens the size of a credit card.

They trained people to use a mouse. They trained them to use the internet. They trained them to use tablets and smartphones, and they will do so here as well because technology is always progressing.

My advice? Drop the curmudgeon act and start practicing because the kids coming up are going to be skilled in using this stuff and will be the ones setting the pace in your workplace very soon.

And besides, if it is just that terrible, then just keep using Windows 7. No one is forcing you to upgrade, just dont expect everyone else to stay there with you.

Here’s the problem with ctrl-key combinations: you have to use the keyboard. Any time I have to take my hand off the mouse and transfer it to the keyboard (except when I have to actually type a text string) and then transfer it back to the mouse, I’ve been defeated. I’ve been WAY slowed down on the work I do. I want to just click, click, click and NEVER EVER touch the keyboard for anything other than typing.

I’m a true power user and if you talk to any other true power user, they’ll probably tell you the same thing.

I’m a true power user and if you talk to any other true power user, they’ll probably tell you the same thing.

You say you write code, and having to touch the keyboard slows you down. Really? Hmmm, I write code too, and my hands are typically on the keyboard so the CTRL-Key functions work very well for me. Every "power user" I've ever met in my career has been keyboard centric and typically abhor's using a mouse to switch windows, much less requiring it's use to 'write code.'

BTW: What kind of coder simply clicks the mouse to write code without hardly ever having to touch the keyboard? I may need to switch.

I’m a true power user

Right. I think that's the fourth time you've made that statement on this thread. Not sure what your definition of a "true power user" is, but most "true power users" I know don't have to brag, they have confidence in their skills and are highly adaptable to learning and exploiting new environments in their craft.

If you're anything in I.T. you know it's a "change or die" environment. Some change, some die. Some assert four times on a thread that they're "true power users" as if that makes them better than everyone else while they whine about not being able to adapt to a new environment.

Change or die. Either way, move on.

I’m running full Enterprise version Windows 8 and Windows Server 2012 Datacenter version on several dozen machines now, and I love it!

Practical and modern, fast, reliable (haven’t had a crash yet - since install on Aug 16 and Sep 4, respectively).

The Start Page (formerly known as Metro) can be modified and any program, application, administrative tool, control panel and associated item, etc can be put there for instant access.

My monitors are all HP 22” Touch screens, beautiful but I have one big, big problem: The Bezel is too deep and my finger too large to activate the pixels that do the swipe commands, so I have to use the mouse. If you’re going to go to touch screens, make sure they have no bezel, just a smooth surface like a tablet.

Windows 8 can do Hyper-V!!! I actually have virtual machines running on it that are themselves running Windows 8, Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows 7, Windows XP, Windows Server 2012, and Red Hat Linux Fedora 17. I have 16GB of RAM and a six-core processor on my main machine—wish I could add more RAM but I am maxxed out. This OS and Machine is a Geek’s dream machine. Ultimate developer and tester of all things.

“Obviously you’re not a professional, power PC user. I am. I program for a living. I open dozens of programs dozens of times each during development. No way, no shape, no form does Metro UI allow that quickly.”

This was your assertion. I told you all the ways to quickly open these “dozens” of programs you supposedly use in one day. 2/3 of that are already existing methods while the third, pressing the windows key and typing the name of the program, works the same way as it does with the current Start menu.

And yes I do use a number of programs myself, SDKs as well as graphics programs on windows 8 without a meltdown.

Then again, I’m able to embrace new tech far easily than some.

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