Metro Desktop
The live tiles on the desktop really are nice. Here is a screenshot of my Desktop in Metro.
I can see that I have a 1pm appointment, that the Cleveland Indians won the last four games and are in first place in the American League Central (Go Tribe!), what the weather locally and in Honolulu is, whether friends have posted anything to Facebook lately, current stock quotes for stocks that I am tracking and what the current exchange rates relative to the US Dollar are. This is really useful to see what is going on at a glance and is a really nice interface to deal with when accessing the computer. I already feel at home with the Metro home screen.
Availability of the Legacy Desktop
For applications that have not yet been ported over to Metro, Windows 8 gives you access to the legacy desktop. Here is a screenshot of mine:
I added that clock widget from the good old Vista gadget days as my daughter complained about the lack of a clock in the Metro desktop. She has a point; how about a Metro app that turns a tile into a clock? Anyway, if you are running full Windows 8 and need a legacy app like Windows Live Writer or Photoshop, you can invoke the legacy desktop and off you go. Of course, this will not be available if you are running Windows RT, which is a major drawback to running that version of Windows 8.
Store
The Store app is where you find and download new Metro apps. On balance, I really like it. However, it needs a search option so you don’t have to wade through app groupings hunting for apps. There are not many apps there yet, but as the app library grows, the need for search functionality will grow. Here is a screenshot of the Store app.
Use charm bar (win+c) to search in store app
Thanks for the tip…still think they need to have a Bing Search link in the store app as most folks won’t want to use a keystroke combo, especially in a touch scenario.
While I like the underlying platform of Win8, the current state of Metro Apps is pretty abysmal. There are also some significant gotchas in the fact that the Win 8 environment and the Photo App don’t play nicely with WHS.
See http://gcoupe.wordpress.com/2012/06/07/whats-not-to-like-in-windows-8/ for more bugs, quirks and WTFs.
I also find it somewhat ironic that I had to post this comment using Google Chrome running in Win8. The Win8 desktop IE10 doesn’t work properly with Disqus.
Wow Geoff did not see that Disqus is not working. Another issue is that the FX app in Win8 may not be bringing in the right data…these are beta apps and those holes need to be closed.
I think there will be plenty of people who sit out this upgrade cycle. Personally, if they do a good job on the Surface, I’ll take the plunge. I can’t see most businesses going with this version though.
Overall, I like the Metro interface, and really expect it to play well with touch…but your point on unresolved issues with apps is a good one.