I can be 100x more productive on OS X or Linux than on Windows.
Both OS's have lots of little niceties that make day to day usage easier and more productive.
Sadly Win 8 is a step backwards in that regard.
Listen, forget about smartphones and tablets for five minutes, will ya? I want to talk to you about real computers, computers that do actual work, not just play Angry Birds and help you check in when you’re at Starbucks again.
In fact, I want to talk to you about Windows computers.
Windows. You remember Microsoft Windows, right? That’s the operating system, that as of January 2012, is used on 92.03% of all non-phone and non-tablet computers.
Windows is important. Very, very important. I’m writing this article because my colleague here on ZDNet, Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols, wrote Five reasons why Windows 8 is DOA. And that, my Dear Readers, is an assertion that deserves a response.
In this dissenting opinion, I’m going to approach this discussion from two vectors: the importance of “real” computers and the Microsoft Windows release cycle. I’m not going to go after SJVN’s individual points, because — while some of them are valid — it’s the assertion that “Windows 8 is DOA” that needs to be explored.
Also, I want to say that I really respect Steven. In fact, he’s one of the technology journalists I respect most in the industry. That said, here’s my considered rebuttal.
The importance of “real” computers
The market for processor-based technology is huge. It ranges from appliances like slow cookers, that use small processors to replace arrays of logic chips, to the giant server farms that power Facebook and Google.
When it comes to the very small processor-based devices and the very largest servers, there are teams of engineers that make operating system choices based on engineering necessity. And while there are versions of Windows that will work at both extremes, let’s leave those extremes out of the picture.
Instead, let’s talk about the computing devices we’ve all come to know and love these last 35 years or so: PCs. We’ve used PCs for a wide variety of work, a whole pile of office productivity applications, creative endeavors, vertical market specialty work, entertainment, and — with a huge surge in the last five years or so — a high level of social interaction.
We mix our use, so that one PC might be used for programming at 3pm and for playing Star Wars: The Old Republic at 9pm. On Tuesday, we might be doing bookkeeping, and on Thursday, we might be in Photoshop, editing an image for a Web site.
With PCs, anything has been possible. But that broad range of possibility has come at a price: complexity. Not everyone needs a PC that can do everything. My Mom, for example, only wants to do four things: email, writing, Web browsing, and checkbook management. That’s it. She doesn’t care about or need to do anything else.
My across-the-street neighbor has a pile of kids. All they want to do is tweet and text and log into Facebook to see if they’ve been mentioned by the cool kids. For them, an iPhone or Android phone is all they need. Of course, when they have to do their homework, they borrow their Dad’s PC (and download some tunes on the sly while they’re at it).
My point is that not everyone needs the power of a PC. For many people, a tablet with a keyboard is enough (although, in a future article, I’ll show you why it’s still not really possible to live with just an iPad as your sole home computing device). For other people, just a smartphone is enough.
