The Windows 8 User Interface is Still Awkward

The Windows 8 interface is innovative, but
awkward to use.

For the past few years, Microsoft has been hard at work developing and distributing Windows 8 to the world, on smartphones, tablets, and conventional PCs.  The concept is admirable: develop a single (or nearly single) operating system and user interface that works across all computing devices, allowing users of any type of computing system to easily incorporate those devices into their lives.  In theory, this plan is brilliant.  While Apple has OS X for their desktops and laptops, iPads and iPhones use iOS, a somewhat similar yet different operating system.  Quite a bit of work has been put into making the two as compatible as possible, but in the end there are still differences that allow OS X to do things iOS cannot.  Likewise, Google has Android, which has taken the mobile computing sector by storm, but their foray into more fully-capable computing has been limited to a somewhat small assortment of Chromebooks running Chrome OS.

Windows 8 is a Great Concept...

Microsoft, meanwhile, has been relying on Windows to prop them up, but its span has been historically limited to desktops and laptops, a dwindling market.  The decision to create an operating system that spans all types of computing devices was the right way to go for them, without a doubt.  The idea that you could download one app, and it would be usable on your phone, your tablet, and your home PC, is a really innovative idea.  Sure, there are always things you cannot do on a mobile phone that you can on a desktop PC, but with a single app you could bridge the gap, allowing some functionality on the go, while the full power of the app would be relegated to your home computer or tablet.  In terms of productivity and easing what is still, at times, a difficult process to share files and functions between devices, this is the best solution to an ever widening array of computing devices.  With wearable computing ready to make huge in-roads over the next few years, the span of internet-connected computing devices is going to become much, much larger.

At least, this would be the best solution if Microsoft would fix some nagging issues that make transitioning to Windows 8 from iOS or Android such a huge leap.  Just last week, my organization at work continued with a project to reduce paperwork in the office, purchasing a Windows 8 tablet that will, in the coming months, start to replace the paperwork we currently use when not at our desks.  Aside from the obvious savings on paper itself, it is a huge time saver when, instead of creating a binder, filling it with the necessary paperwork, hauling it around while performing tasks, and making multiple copies for records, all the work is done on a tablet, where all the paperwork is always stored on the device, signature blocks and forms can be filled out using the stylus, and everything is saved onto the network.  We really are at the point where computers can replace the remaining bulk of paperwork in the office.

...but it is Implemented Poorly

Having never used Windows 8 outside of the store, I was excited to finally get my hands on it and see what can be done with it.  Because I also write programs for my organization during the downtime, we opted for full Windows 8 rather than Windows RT so that we could write programs that ran on the tablet. Windows 8, for all intents and purposes, puts the Windows 8 Metro interface on top of Windows 7, creating an experience that I can only describe as awkward.  To be clear, I am describing Windows 8.1, so this is the version of Windows 8 after they tweaked it to address user's complaints.  I feel like I am using a beta version of Windows 8 on top of my Windows 7 machine.  There are a handful of apps that are run within the Metro environment, but much of the core Windows experience is still in the old interface, including the file explorer and Internet Explorer.  The former is annoying because I feel like the new interface could work well as a file manager, but the latter is unacceptable in my mind as a core Windows app, especially more than a year after the release of Windows 8.  It seems absurd to me that Microsoft would go out of its way to push this huge change to Windows without providing new versions of even the core apps.

Windows 7 Interface

The awkwardness continued as I delved into the inner-workings of Windows 8.1.  I got used to the duality of Windows 8 fairly quickly, but its limitations on a tablet quickly became apparent.  The "Windows 7" side, as I call it, looks much like true Windows 7, except the start menu is missing.  It also behaves like true Windows 7, which is fine for desktops and laptops, but not so much for tablets without a mouse or keyboard (we have a type cover on order).  The default setting is double clicking to select a file, which just feels wrong using your finger on a screen.  I changed the mouse settings to be a single click on files and folders, which is an option in Windows, but why, Microsoft, why isn't this the setting by default?  You mean to tell me you thought it made sense to have the Metro interface be single click, but the Windows 7 interface be double click?

On-Screen Keyboard

Then there is the on-screen keyboard.  Yes, this is a full PC operating system that really demands an actual keyboard, but when you are carrying the tablet around, this may not be practical.  It is nice that an on-screen keyboard is provided, but after years of using smartphones and tablets running both iOS and Android, I expect, just like everyone else in the demographic you are trying to make inroads, that the keyboard pops up when I select a text box.  I expect it, and even after having used the tablet for a week, it still takes me a second to remember to click the keyboard icon.

The keyboard itself isn't too bad, and after I figured out a couple of the gesture shortcuts, I actually started to like it.  That was, at least, until I tried to close it.  I actually have two complaints about this.  The first is that it takes two clicks to hide the keyboard.  Not a huge deal, but it just feels slow to me.  I wish the swipe up gesture to access the numbers was incorporated with the keyboard layout button so there was still a quick was to close the keyboard.

The second complaint is that the keyboard doesn't auto-close when you leave whatever window you were using to type.  This is likely the same issue with it not popping up automatically, but I close the window I was viewing, only to be shown the top half of the desktop and the keyboard.  Why the hell is the keyboard just sitting there?  I feel like Windows is frozen.  And then it takes another two clicks to get it to go away.  Awkward and cumbersome.

Customizability

Windows 8 boasts a new interface that allows you to arrange your tiles any way you want, so that you can organize your desktop how you like it, in a more attractive manner than the old style Windows.  It is an innovative design, and does look somewhat nice on tablets or larger, but just feel messy on a smartphone-sized screen.  The live tiles are an interesting addition, as they are somewhat between iOS's no widget design ans Android's full widget design.  Overall I have gotten used to the design of the new interface, and the customizability is mostly what I expected, but the interface for customizing is clunky.

There are, yet again, too many button presses required to change the location and sizes of tiles,as well as to remove them from the screen.  I was disappointed to find out that the interface forces you to fill vertically before you create more than two columns, but this is a minor complaint.  Mostly I expected it to behave more how I have come to expect from Apple and Google, deleting by grabbing and sliding to a side of the screen, resizing by pinching or grabbing an edge and dragging, etc.  Instead I have to long-press to select the customization mode, then use the bottom menu to do things like resizing and deleting tiles.  It is only one extra button press, but it is less intuitive than iOS and Android tablets, and will be a roadblock to get people to switch over from either OS.  People like simple and intuitive, and this OS is neither.

Windows 8 does Have its Advantages

Even with those complaints, I like the direction Windows 8 is going.  I am really hopeful that Microsoft can improve on it to the point where it feels as intuitive as iOS while maintaining the power of a full PC.  Even now, the Windows 8 tablets, excluding the Windows RT models, are far more powerful than anything offered by Google or Apple today.  This was the reason we opted for Windows for the office.  I can do everything on this tablet that I can do on my work PC, and I love that.  For my purposes at work, there is no other tablet OS that can do what I need to do.  I would not get one for personal use (partially because I am firmly implanted into the Google/Android universe), but it is still a very good tablet.

I'd like to see more competition in the mobile computing environment because that will only force Google and Apple to put out better products at lower prices.  It is good for the consumer, and it is good for the advancement of technology.  Hopefully Microsoft is able to eat into the mobile computing market share more and more, because if they don't they are doomed to get pushed out of the personal computing market entirely.