I’ve been intrigued by discussions and blogs relating to Microsoft’s new tablets, the latest Google tablet and how they will all change the world.
The debates get very partisan – people do seem to get very attached to their preferred software!
I’ve recently been thinking about the need to upgrade or replace some of our equipment. We have a mixture of Mac OS, Windows XP, Vista and Windows 7. And we run three different versions of Microsoft Office – depending on when we aquired the various computers.
Not ideal, really! We could do with a bit of rationalisation around here.
So I’m looking at Windows 8 to try to decide whether to get everything (except the Mac) onto that or whether Windows 7 would be a better option. My main PC runs Windows 7 and it’s been a great improvement over XP. That said, my old Toshiba laptop still runs XP with no problems and does everything that’s required of it.
So now I have Windows 8 running on my Acer tablet, with a trial of Office 2010 for good measure! I forgot to mention that tablets figure prominently in my thinking as I really want to end up with lightweight, easily transported equipment. We’re out and about a lot delivering workshops and could do with making everything as transportable as possible!
So, how’s Windows 8 doing so far?
Initial impressions are very favourable. It’s noticably faster than Windows 7 and the Metro interface works really well on a touch screen. The live tiles look like they will be interesting for a while but I wonder if I’ll get fed up seeing everything constantly updating. Don’t know, time will tell. One interesting thing is how much the system now relies on having an internet connection – that’s how it keeps all the tiles updated. Might be an issue. Or maybe not? Time will tell, I suppose.
One slightly odd thing is how often you get dropped back into what looks just like Windows 7 when you need to do things like browsing the local network (all our systems are networked, so we can share stuff). You go from an interface designed for a touch screen to one better suited to a mouse. Not a major issue – it still works! – just a bit odd.
Overall though, Windows 8 makes using the tablet so much smoother. It wasn’t exactly hard work with Windows 7 to be honest, but Windows 8 just makes using a touch screen that much easier.
So it’s looking as though I might end up using a tablet to deliver workshops, especially if I can find a decent, affordable wirelsss projector. Now that would be really good!