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.