There are two problems with a lot of reviews about Windows 8.
First, they assume Windows 8 is designed for tablets. They come to this conclusion because in their narrow mind, only tablets would ever have touch features. What such a perspective fails to take into account is that touch is not necessarily only something that will be found in tablets.
Sure,
right now it is a prevalently tablet only feature. And
right now most of us cannot imagine trying to use, say, a desktop monitor with touch features. But there is something very important to consider; right now, we use a mouse.
The mouse, and specifically any pointing device is merely an abstraction- touch screen removes this abstraction. it is now direct. The mouse and pointing devices exist because the technology to create affordable reliable touch-screens was simply not available at the time.
However, on the horizon, this may not be the case. Touch-enabled monitors are available at a premium not unlike that seen when LCDs were first introduced. It is not beyond reason to surmise that Touch-enabled monitors will become increasingly prevalent, and it additionally makes a lot of sense to have Operating Systems available that take advantage of those capabilities. In some respects I consider the touch-oriented features of Windows 8 not unlike Cleartype; Cleartype was designed for use with LCD monitors, and was introduced back when LCD monitors had a price premium over CRTs. Not unlike Windows 8's touch features in relation to standard pointing devices, Cleartype was quite usable on CRT Monitors.
And now, it's hard to find a machine that doesn't have a LCD Monitor.
many of the issues people raise could be considered one of perspective; they are looking at how Windows 8 works in the here and now rather than in the then and later context. Many of the same parallels could be drawn to other "fringe" technologies that became mainstream. Much of the contributing factor that helped push those products into the mainstream was their falling price, but it could also be argued that early support for those technologies contributed to it immensely.
I've stopped thinking of touch as some exotic, add-in technology contained in specialized devices. I belatedly realized that I love to touch computers. And why not? We constantly point and gesture at everything in our lives, including our screens. It's completely natural to want to interact with computers by touching them.
There are a lot of myths about Windows 8 that are perpetuated around the web, and the idea that Windows 8 is designed solely for use by touch users is one of them.
For example: what is one of the biggest changes to Windows 8? The removal of the start menu, or, more appropriately, the changing of it.
Many decry this as a bad change; however, much of the same could be heard from the switch to XP's start menu and then to Vista/7's start menu.
But one has to consider the most common usage of the start menu, particularly with Vista and 7. Now I cannot speak to anybody elses usage habits, but I can say that personally the absolute only reason I ever use the start menu is to start programs (this is not surprising) but more importantly, I don't use the "All Programs" Menu. I simply type it into the Search bar. In fact, when I've had to go back to XP or earlier for one reason or another, I almost feel like I am missing a limb (figuratively, of course) or that I'm trying to do work looking through a straw, simply because I don't have search available. For example, in Vista/7 starting, say, Paint, is as simple as pressing the windows key, typing paint, and pressing enter.
With XP and earlier you either create a desktop shortcut (which is why so many people had lots of the things all over the place) or you navigate through the start menu All Programs list. hardly time effective. People that have moved to Vista and 7 eventually learn and leverage the search functionality and find it indispensable. (Same for similar functionality provided in other more recent OS versions).
How has this most typical use case changed in windows 8? Well, functionally, it hasn't. The exact same motions will do the same thing. It does look a lot different (personally I like it's new look) but it does the same thing.
For those that want the Windows 7/Vista style start menu, you really have two options- on is to buy something like Start8 from StarDock, which returns the start menu... or, the more intelligent option, simply stick with Windows Vista/7.
