I’ve been testing out the consumer preview of Windows 8 during the past week or so and I can say that it’s OK. It definitely needs some work. I think that using a touch screen monitor or a tablet would make the Windows start menu more useful, but not everyone has a tablet or touchscreen monitor.

      A few things I liked was the start menu.  I like the metro UI, but I found myself not using it as much as I’m sure it was intended to be used. I like the idea of still having the Aero side of Windows, but the Start menu and the Aero desktop need a lot better integration. If Microsoft would allow re-mapping functions to your keyboard or mouse, I would probably use the start menu and other functions more often. For example, mapping the search button to a key on the keyboard or even your mouse if you have a compatible mouse. Mouse and Keyboard manufacturers like Logitech should have software updates so that the consumer can use one of the buttons on the mouse for the start menu. For example, the Logitech Performance Mouse MX has a large thumb button that you can map for application switching and other functions, but I found myself never using the button. If Logitech updated their Set Point software for Windows 8, I could map the large thumb button to launch the start menu, hense using the start menu more.

     Several things I didn’t like was the application multi tasking and right side slide out “Charms”. I would enjoy those options a lot more if Microsoft wouldn’t have made the launch “hot area” so precise. By hot area, I mean the area of the screen you need to hover over for the “Charms” to slide out/ appear. I personally think that Microsoft should add in options so that consumers can adjust the “hot area” in which they need to hover over for the “Charms”to appear. Options like size of the “hot area” and length of time you must hover over the “hot area” for the menus/Widgets to appear.
All in all I think Windows 8 is ok so far. It needs work, but it’s only a consumer preview right now, so hopefully it will improve tremendously. Check out my video below that goes over what I do and don’t like about Windows 8!   Thanks for reading and watching!