Windows 8 is the next Vista
- Windows 3.1 (1992) – Good
- Windows 95 (1995) – Mixed Responses, started bad
- Windows 98 (1998) – Good
- Windows Me (2000) – Bad
- Windows XP (2001) – Good
- Windows Vista (2006) – Bad
- Windows 7 (2009) – Good
- Windows 8 (2012) – …
As much as I want to tell you the pattern is broken.. your suspicions are true: Windows 8 is probably the next Vista… only worse.
We’ve been through this before.
When Windows Vista came out, we saw people waiting in lines and celebrating with friends. Microsoft had a powerful marketing campaign, using the slogan “The Wow Starts Now.”
Months after it was released, the actual reception of Vista took a bad turn. Here’s a small list why:
- People didn’t like change
- It was slower, not faster
- It was too new
- Most users had to buy a new computer to really use
- Windows XP was a really good Operating System (so why change?)
Sure, Vista was a step toward the future with new features under the hood, better security, and more… but came with a very rocky road that introduced change, many performance bugs and required users to buy new computers. This big change paid off year later with Windows 7.
Which leads us to Windows 8.
Same crowds.. just a bit more cautious. This time, Microsoft is really changing everything. Windows 8 is a radical departure from the 20 years of everything we’ve ever known about Windows. It’s a fresh, new design with faster load times and pretty graphic, but the change is overwhelming, even more so than the change from XP to Visita.
Any user to move to Windows 8 is going to be along for a very bumpy ride. First, overwhelming feedback from users are showing it’s confusing to use (we agree). Windows took everything we know and love about Windows and tossed it aside. There’s no start menu, search is fragmented, it takes up to six clicks just to shutdown, the list goes on.
Second, Windows 8 is intended for touch screen devices (tablet-like computers that you can control with your finger). If you have a keyboard and mouse, like most of us do, there will be a lot of moving your mouse. For example, if you right-click any object in any version of Windows, a small menu comes up right where you clicked. In Windows 8, the right click menu is on the very bottom of the screen. Right click, then move your mouse to the very bottom of the screen. Again, the list goes on.
You’ll likely have to go out and buy a touch-screen computer just to be able to use something like this. Microsoft is taking a big gamble with Windows 8 and we feel this is a good step in the right direction as more devices and computers are enabling touch capabilities. Of course, Windows 9 will be a better version, but Windows as you know it will never be the same again.
For now, we’ll need to give Windows and the computer industry time to adapt to these new changes. The first wave of new touch screen computers with Windows 8 are already on the shelves. Then there will be a second wave, and a third. The best we can do is let Windows take a few years to evolve through this gamble of a change. It’s a good gamble sure, but until then.. hold on to Windows 7 until you’re comfortable to take the plunge, whether that be Windows 8, Windows 9 or Windows 12.
