Windows 8: how it affects the traditional desktop computer
Table of contents:
- Disappearing Elements
- New Items
- A mouse with more features
- Screen Sharing
- Dual Monitor Setup
- A necessary change of mentality
- Special Windows 8 In Depth
Windows 8 represents the most radical change in Microsoft's operating system since the release of Windows 95. The first personality trait of the new installment is that it is designed to work on more devices than the traditional PC. Touch screens, conventional portable machines or with modern touchpads, as well as tablets, are now natural scenarios for the product. This versatility has a direct impact on the desktop, which substantially changes the way you work.
Disappearing Elements
There are two classic elements that disappear, to which we are very accustomed in working from the conventional desk: the start button and the taskbar The first has been replaced by the start screen, where a tile of icons, which can be customized, gives access to applications and the conventional desktop
In Windows 8, the desktop we know is treated like just another app To access the start screen when it's not present, we have to point the mouse to the lower left corner of the screen, press the “Windows” key, or through the system panel that I explain a few paragraphs later.
The taskbar has been replaced by a panel located on the left side of the screen, which is normally hidden. The running applications are arranged vertically on it.To access the applications panel, place the mouse in the upper left corner of the screen. All applications running on the traditional desktop remain grouped within the icon that represents it.
New Items
In Windows 8 there is a new panel, also hidden, which is accessed by looking for the corners on the right side with the mouse. There we have familiar functions and new ones There are five accesses in total: “Search”, “Share”, “Home screen”, “Devices” and “Settings ”.
A mouse with more features
While the mouse continues to perform the tasks of clicking, dragging and dropping, it has to replace the functions performed by the fingers on touch screens. We now have the scroll function to slide elements vertically or horizontally.
The right-click also incorporates new context-sensitive functionality. On the home screen, for example, it displays a lower band that gives access to all applications. In the Contacts application, it displays that same band with three functions (main page, only online and add new contact).
Screen Sharing
In a sense, the concept of “window” disappears in Windows 8 in favor of the concept of “screen”. It is no longer possible to arrange the windows in stacked or parallel tiles (except in the traditional desktop application), but we can display two Modern UI applications running on the same screen at the same time, being able to alter the proportion that each one occupies and quickly jump between them.
Dual Monitor Setup
If we use Windows 8 with more than one monitor we are going to find a behavior of the system that we are not used to. Only the main screen will work as Modern UI, the other shows the traditional desktop.
As soon as we tap on the conventional screen, the Modern UI interface disappears, taking over the “old-fashioned desktop” application. Of course, on both right sides we can access the system panel The screen configured as main will be the only one capable of displaying the Modern UI interface.
A necessary change of mentality
Unless we have a touch screen on our PC, to work with Windows 8 we need to change our mentality We have to acquire skills with the mouse as a slider and not just as a pointer.Also keep in mind the absence of many elements in Modern UI applications, which have the necessary ones, although they are usually hidden.
Native and traditional applications are handled differently In the first we are going to interact with elements that are displayed with a previous action and in the conventional ones have many of their options grouped in menus, a concept that almost disappears in the new interface.
Keyboard shortcuts, often forgotten, gain a new utility. It's easier to trigger a function this way than to snap the mouse to specific areas of the screen. The system itself requires learning, the visual formulas of new applications too.
Working with large screens, with the high resolutions they use, implies great precision with the mouse, so we have to think about using it less for certain functions and give more prominence to the keyboard.
Whether we like it or not, Microsoft has opted for unification, which has advantages and disadvantages like everything else. Windows 8 is very fast as a system, but working with it can be slow if we intend to use the system as if it were an older Windows with animations. Windows 8 thinks in touch and the conventional PC is not, so we will necessarily have to unload resources that we normally do not use.
