Windows 8: Windows 7 In Disguise?

Home > Computer Help, General, Technology, Windows 8 > Windows 8: Windows 7 In Disguise?

Windows 8: Windows 7 In Disguise?

7 December 2011 Kirrin

Don’t spam me and don’t send the MS assassins to get me either. I will be the first to admit that my very cursory glance at Windows 8 is in no way a true representation of some of the more in-depth reviews of the developer preview that’s out there for all to read, however, I believe that a new product, whether hardware or software, should “wow” you straight out the gate. And Windows 8, did not wow me!

Now let me state first and foremost that I tested Windows 8 in a virtual machine, and on standard Windows 7 laptop hardware, that has no touch capability whatsoever (except me touching it), which I believe would be the type of hardware that would be seeing the Windows 8 installation, as neither corporations nor individuals who just invested in new hardware for Windows 7, is expected to now go and change hardware again to facilitate Windows 8 (unless you’re offering a trade-in scheme). So my experience with Windows 8 is not from the touch side (which is where Microsoft is headed with this new release).

I will admit that the new tiled interface of Windows 8 is rather appealing and your eyes will be grateful for the experience. However, then what? Now remember that my hardware is standard Windows 7 hardware and there is no touching or swiping, so mousing all over is still the way to go. My immediate issue was that once you selected a tile and it filled your screen, there was no visual indicator (using the mouse) to get you back to the “home screen”, I eventually found out that pressing the Windows key on your keyboard gets you back to the “home screen” as well as using the keyboard combination of Windows key+Tab to cycle through open applications. In some of the applications (to unlock the screen or Copper), clicking and dragging the mouse, acts as a “swipe” touch command. The Developer Preview that I have install came with a few default applications and games (see Fig. 1). I went ahead and installed Microsoft Office Professional 2010 and it looked and behaved just as it does in Windows 7. Although Microsoft was very explicit about the ability of the Developer Preview

- The Windows 8 Developer Preview is a pre-beta version of Windows 8 for developers. These downloads include prerelease software that may change without notice. The software is provided as is, and you bear the risk of using it. It may not be stable, operate correctly or work the way the final version of the software will. It should not be used in a production environment. The features and functionality in the prerelease software may not appear in the final version. Some product features and functionality may require advanced or additional hardware, or installation of other software. -

I found that it was very responsive and performed very well in my virtual machine that had Windows 7 as the host OS running along with a lot of other programs.

After you get over the initial Windows 8 interface which is at best just, aaahh, eye-candy, I have to conclude that for me so far, Windows 8 is just Windows 7 in a new outfit and a few added feature for touch and performance enhancement. I am in no way discounting the many new features, security changes, and performance enhancements crammed into Windows 8, but whereas the difference between Windows XP and Windows 7 (or Windows Vista for that matter) in all areas was extensive, the difference between Windows 7 and Windows 8, is “window dressing”. I shall be doing a bit more “digging” into the new Windows 8 OS to see what features and changes are buried. It is expected that an official beta version will be released in February 2012, at that time I recommend you download a copy and give it a try.

Have a look at some screenshots taken during the installation process and a few after.