Windows 8: that amalgamation of a desktop / tablet / laptop that we’ve all seen previously before. Microsoft previewed the alpha and beta builds to the public and they in turn, scrutinized the new operating system by installing it on their current computers, which as we know now is only half the picture.
Sales of Windows 8 hasn’t picked up in comparison to Windows 7. And I attribute that to two things: (1) the fact that Windows 7 came at a time where Microsoft needed a remedy to Vista and (2) Windows 7 didn’t require any new hardware. The jump from Windows 7 to a brand new Windows 8 system is like an Olympic triple jump: you’ll need to buy new hardware to fully realize its potential, you’ll need to get re-acquainted with a bizarre new ecosystem and you’ll need to make new use of your Live account (which a lot of people really ignored before). Yes, Live. That’s kinda like how you use your GMail account to log into Drive, GMail, Anaytics, etc.
I’ve used Windows 8 on a number of devices for extended periods of time. I’d like to present a short guide on what it actually feels like to own a Windows 8 machine. This will help you decide if upgrading to this new ecosystem is worth it now (because eventually, you’ll really have to upgrade later on if this works out for the enterprise market).