Windows 8.1 - 9 months later

Back in August I authored a post on Windows 8.1 Preview describing my initial thoughts and asking the two key questions.
  1. Can I use this day-to-day ?
  2. Would I recommend this to others ?
Nine months later the answers are yes and no.  

So yes I do run Windows 8.1 everyday.  My primary desktop still dual boots to Windows 7 as well, but I rarely go back now.  So what has changed ?

Actually not much.  MS has updated many of their Modern apps, but I still find a lot of them to be average at best. 

I have been able to install W8.1 versions of all of my key Windows 7 apps - DVDFab, Handbrake, VirtualBox, VLC, Meta-X, etc.  They all seem to work perfectly fine, but they are all Desktop versions.  

I will say I am impressed my Windows 8.1 speed and stability.  But then again I really never had any issues with W7.  

There are still the same general navigation issues I mentioned back in August 2013, but I think I just got used to them.  Windows 8.1 Update 1 due here in early April may improve that a little but I am not expecting it to change the experience that much.

What has been surprising to me is the lack of "Modern" apps.  So while there are some out there like Mint, ESPN, Flipboard, etc.  Most are pretty lackluster and limited in functionality compared to their desktop, mobile and/or web versions.

In my opinion the same can be said for Office 2013.  Do I see any dramatic differences between 2013 and 2010 - to be honest no.  In fact 2013 to me is pretty bland from a UI perspective, it doesn't load any faster or provide any real compelling reasons to upgrade.  

Bottom line is A) I got used to the multiple UI scenario, B) use the Modern apps occasionally for quick news reads, etc and C) see some speed improvements over Win7 - so yes I do run 8.1 everyday.

But now to the second question - Would I recommend this to others ?  

And the answer is no.  

I decided to experiment with my daughter's laptop.  I switched her to Win 8.1 and attempted to add a few Modern apps to give her access to the content she used to get from a single web page with iGoogle.   The goal was to try and keep her in the Modern UI environment.

So was the experiment a success ?  Kind of.  

The good news was W8.1 ran well on her HP Pavilion Laptop and compared to Win 7 does do a better job of managing a laptop.  Things like lid close actions and recovery, Wifi, etc worked better under W8.1   

From a user experience perspective, my daughter was pretty much underwhelmed. Sure the Modern UI apps were prettier, but not compelling. She can navigate okay using the Windows key and her touchpad - but again pretty much a yawner.   Was it a compelling change from W7 - no.

Based on her experience I am not going to upgrade my wife or grand-daughters PCs to W8.1 - there is simply no reason to do so.  My wife and granddaughter basically live in the Chrome browser.  They could effectively run on any OS and there is nothing they do that would require W8.1.  And even though my wife has a touch device - she doesn't use those capabilities at all. Like many she hates the finger smudges and constantly having to clean the screen.

To me - W8.1 is a conundrum.  The touch oriented Modern UI really only makes sense on a tablet device like the Surface or one on the new mini-tablets from Dell, Lenovo, LG. etc.  But then many of the cool touch oriented apps are simply not available.  

Would I buy one of those devices over an iPad or Samsung Tab device ? 

Probably not.

The w8.1 desktop side to me has actually lost efficiency over w7 by not having a normal start menu and since most of the real productivity apps are desktop and not Modern based, you end up spending most of your time there which is actually a poorer experience.

If your portfolio of machines are more traditional desktop and laptop devices - then there is little value in W8.1 over W7.  If MS had not produced the various Bing Apps (i.e. News, Sports, Weather, Travel, etc) then there would be practically no reason to have the Modern UI in the first place.  The quantity and quality of Modern UI apps is poor when compared to what is available for iOS and Android.  And while some of the new mini-tablets are priced very well it is really a limited experience.

So unless you are seriously looking at a Surface and I mean a Surface Pro - not RT, there is no real value is going to Windows 8.1.   

If you buy a new traditional device like a desktop or laptop - can you live with 8.1 - sure.  It will boot quickly, run solid and should be able to run just about every app you'll need.   But if you live in the desktop - you may want to invest in some of the start button replacement tools like Start8 or ModernMix.   Even with 8.1 Update 1 MS still has some work to do.












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