Windows 8: Good for Touchscreens, Not for Business

During my summer internship at fisoc I set up at least 10 PC's for incoming employees. Startups like fisoc move very quickly and we rarely have time to buy custom-order PCs, so many of our new Dell XPS towers came with Windows 8 pre-installed. I quickly learned that Windows 8 is a poor fit for the business environment in comparison to its predecessor.

Microsoft designed Windows 8 as a touch OS that also happens to work on traditional PCs. Most businesses use traditional PC's for good reason: productivity applications (think Excel, AutoCAD, and Photoshop) use the efficient keyboard-and-mouse interface. Touch interfaces are better for consumption and entertainment applications like web browsers and media playback where typing speed, pointer precision, and keyboard shortcuts are not important. By creating an OS that works better on touchscreens than on keyboard/mouse, Microsoft has essentially sacrificed its place in the business world to follow the current consumer trends.

User Interface:

Windows 8 was designed with touch in mind, to the extent that traditional keyboard and mouse usage is hampered. In order to access the "Charms" bar where most functionality lies, one must hover the cursor over the top right corner: this is slow for mouse users compared to just clicking the start menu icon.

Buried Functionality:

Presumably to make the OS more consumer-friendly, Microsoft has made some essential business functionality hidden. The Control Panel, for example, must be searched for. I missed easy access to "My Computer."  Traditional OS troubleshooting tools like System Restore and Disk Imaging are hidden in favor of the less potent "Refresh" option and the overkill "Reinstall" option. 

Desktop/Tile Modes:

Microsoft designed Windows 8 to support traditional windows programs, but forces users to use the metro interface to launch those applications. This is jarring and inefficient. All new applications must be started from the "metro" tile interface. "Metro" apps will stay in the Tile interface, while traditional apps would open in the Desktop. A better option would be to place all traditional apps as well as all essential functionality on the desktop interface so that users do not have to switch should they choose not to.

Conclusion:

For many business users, Windows 8 is a de-optimized Windows 7 without significant added value. All Windows 7 functionality is there, but it takes more interaction (hovers, typing, clicks, etc) to get to them. In Windows 7, for example, it takes 2 mouse clicks to get to "My Computer," in Windows 8, it takes mouse hovering, typing into the Search Bar, and then clicking to get to the same resource.

Of course, Microsoft is likely not too worried about Windows 8's adoption in the business world. It knows that businesses tend to upgrade IT slowly and a significant portion of businesses are still running Windows XP, an operating system more than 12 years old that MS is desperately trying to kill off. Microsoft will therefore need to prepare to support Windows 7 for as long as they have supported Windows XP. What Microsoft is not considering, however, is the threat of alternative OS's replacing Window's platform role in the business world. As more applications become web-based, Windows loses leverage and alternatives like OS X and Linux become more attractive.

Why I'm BULLISH on AMD As A Result of the Current Radeon GPU Shortage

I recently read an article on the Motely Fool concerning AMD's future in light of current Radeon GPU shortage. Timothy Green, an investor in Nvidia, says this short term demand will not last and in the long term this will hurt AMD's market share in the PC gaming market. I wholeheartedly disagree:

The current shortage of AMD GPUs is a sign of long term strength for AMD. The shortage in high-end AMD GPUs will easily be resolved by contracting more production, and AMD is now positioned to gain hugely in the GPU supercomputing market.

1. Both AMD and Nvidia are "fabless" chip designers. Therefore they can quickly ramp up production by contracting more capacity from chip manufacturers.

2. AMD is uniquely positioned to increase production of its GPUs due to its close cooperation with GlobalFounderies, a chip manufacturing company spun-off from AMD in 2009. Nvidia, meanwhile, has had capacity issues with its main manufacturer TSMC.

3. AMD's GPUs have a raw performance advantage is not limited to mining cryptocurrencies. AMD's chip design makes it significantly more efficient for the calculation of one way cryptographic hash integers: these hashes form the basis of modern cryptography. Combined with the long time it takes to create a new GPU core design, it it safe to say that AMD GPUs are more powerful and will remain more powerful in a variety of computational applications including but not limited to cryptographic calculations.

4. Nvidia's cards and the proprietary CUDA language have long been preferred for GPU based scientific computation because CUDA has been easier to program for. AMD uses the OpenCL language, which has now matured to a point where programmers are opting for OpenCL and AMD due to performance advantages.

Things I Learned From Building My First PC

• Invest in a good case: it looks nicer and makes the rest of the build easier
•  You probably don't need a Optical Drive.
• You probably don't need a (huge) Hard Disk Drive.
• Invest in a good Motherboard.
• Buy the biggest SSD you can afford.
• Play it safe when buying PSUs.
• Test your overclocks with multiple benchmarks.
• Don't trip your circuit breaker.

Many computer builders opt for a small SSD as a boot drive and buy a HDD to store documents. I opted to save the money from the HDD and bought a bigger SSD instead. You can always put big files in an external hard drive or even the cloud. If you require fast access to large files, this may not apply.

Before buying a DVD/Bluray player, ask yourself, how many times last month did I use optical media? If the answer is less than two, you're probably better off saving that money for something else. There's almost nothing today that a optical disk drive can do that an internet connection/USB drive can't do better. Most video games, software, and movies can be downloaded as digital copies. Booting from a USB drive to install Windows is way faster than installing from a disk.  If you have a slow internet connection and can't buy digital goods, an optical drive may be necessary for you.

A good computer case will have built in fans and extras that you will find handy, like removable hard drive slots, tool-less entry, and good cable management. Unlike other components, a PC case can last you through multiple PC builds. I opted for the NZXT Phantom 410 case for my build.

Lastly, I would recommend that PC builders take a careful look at their goals/requirements for a PC and recognize the limitations of such goals. For example, I knew I wanted to play games and run certain applications on my desktop, but I didn't know exactly which games and what applications I wanted to run. You may build a PC with one goal in mind, but don't forget that you will likely own the PC for more than a year and may have different needs then. Make sure your rig is adaptable to your future needs.