Here is an interesting point of view from Bloomberg news columnist Rich Jaroslovsky who reviews Microsoft Corp.'s new Windows 8 operating system. The opinions expressed are his own.
His conclusion is that unless you have a specific need for touch-screen and mobile devices it's not worth it.
Moreover, Jaroslovsky points out the steep learning curve (not a particular concern of mine as it only has to be learned once) and peculiarities such as having to deal with two different browsers, one for touch screen applications and one for the desktop.
The normal windows desktop is hidden and must be launched from the start screen.
I have no touch-screen applications on my computer and have no idea when or if I will ever have them. For what I do, touch screens would be more of a hindrance.
Windows 8 starts faster than 7 but that is the only advantage I see for me, and it's a small one. My computer runs constantly and I seldom boot.
Why Bother?
Addendum:
Reader "DH" writes ...
Hello MishMike "Mish" Shedlock
I completely agree windows 8 as one to skip for most people.
I have two windows machines for charting. One runs Windows 7 the other, Windows 8. (All the rest are Macs and iPads)
I will upgrade the Windows 7 machine to 8 for one reason only. Boot speed. It's up in seconds.
However, the metro interface in 8 is so bad, that I almost went back to 7.
I was going to switch back until I found the opensource classic shell start menu at http://classicshell.sourceforge.net
It makes Windows 8 behave like XP or 7. Microsoft will get no businesses to adopt 8 until they back off of metro.
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