Has Microsoft Done it Again?

The consumer preview of Windows 8 has been out for a few weeks now. Long enough for users and reviewers to start offering opinions based on experience vs. rumor.

Here are some of the latest headlines:

“Windows 8 fails the 'dad test'” – Infoworld.com

“Here's what's wrong with Windows 8” – Zdnet.com

“Windows 8's Metro UI: 7 Things You May Just Hate” – Pcworld.com

“8 Things We Hate About Windows 8”? -MaximumPC.com

Not inspiring is it?

But it isn’t all bad. Here’s a headline from Cnet:

“Windows 8 could leapfrog Android to be the true iPad competitor”

And there’s where much of the frustration – and hate – comes in. Microsoft’s vision to have one unified OS across all devices is so far proving to be a bust. On the surface it sounds like a good idea – providing a consistent experience for the user no matter what they are using or where. But a desktop is not a tablet. People interact with them differently, they use them differently.

It all leaves us to wonder if Window’s 8 is just Microsoft’s vision poorly implemented (note the consumer release is not the final version so there is still time to fix things), or if they know they can get away with imperfection on the desktop and have a “fix it later” mentality. After all they control 89.7% of the operating system market as of February 2012. Perhaps they realize most of us don’t think we have a choice.

But we do have a choice. We can ignore Windows 8 and watch it go the way of Windows Me or Vista. Or we can go to the dark side and buy a Mac. Whether either of those choices is realistic depends on what the final version looks like when it is released later this year.

Have you tried the consumer release yet? Do you agree with any of the headlines? What would yours say?