Can Windows 8 Conquer Mac OS X Mountain Lion?

Windows 8 wants to be your favorite OS. But does it have what it takes? For the past several months, Apple AAPL and Microsoft MSFT have continually hyped their latest operating systems. Apple may have released OS X Lion last year, but that hasn't stopped the company from pushing ahead with another upgrade – this time in the form of OS X Mountain Lion. Microsoft has yet to release Windows 8, but techies everywhere are finally getting their hands on the new OS with the launch of the Windows 8 Consumer Preview. At first glance, it doesn't look like much. The overhyped layout – which consists of a series of bland squares and rectangles – doesn't look like much. It doesn't feel like much either. Whereas the official Microsoft-produced videos show off an operating system that is quick and seamless, the Windows 8 Consumer Preview does not offer any cool transitions when loading a program. (Oh, I'm sorry. Thanks to Apple we must now refer to programs by their cooler and more modern name: “apps.”) Instead, the program just fires up…like it did with older versions of Windows. On my first experience, this was a fairly disappointing revelation. It may not sound like much to get upset about, but this is a new OS we're talking about. I expected to be wowed on some level, if only by the presentation. But after experiencing the lame presentation for myself (and after encountering one too many glitches), I threw in the towel and walked away. Upon returning this morning and giving the PC (a pro-grade Hewlett-Packard HPQ laptop) a proper reboot, my opinion drastically changed. The new layout slowly began to grow on me. While there wasn't much of a point in moving the tiles around (other than to see how this feature works), it has become clear that there is real value in Microsoft's design choices. While the bland color palette could be detrimental to the operating system's success (one of my colleagues made a good point: Windows 8 shouldn't use the same colors across multiple apps), it doesn't take long for your eyes warm up to its appearance. Since you can drag and drop any app onto any location on the screen, and since you can group apps together and name the group (and then zoom out from the group to see all of your apps together), this layout works surprisingly well. I'm not thrilled by the limitations of the tile shapes (you can make a square or a rectangle, nothing more). But it works. And in a tablet environment, it might be kind of brilliant.

Make no mistake: Windows 8 is very much a touch screen OS. I will refrain from referring to it as a “tablet OS” because I don't think that's what Microsoft is building. The Windows maker knows that more and more laptops are using touch screens, and tablets are slowly replacing laptops. The two will eventually clash and merge into one. If Windows 8 was too much of a tablet OS, it wouldn't be powerful enough to handle PCs. But if it was too much of a PC OS, it couldn't power the future of portable computing. That may be where Microsoft excels in the next five years: in touch screens and portable devices. In the short-term, however, Windows 8 might be somewhat confusing to the average user. It's intuitive, but it's not instantly intuitive. It's fun, but it's not instantly fun. It's cool, but it won't “wow” anyone in five minutes. The removal of the Start button will frustrate many Windows users, as it produces an unnecessary learning curve that will annoy consumers who were used to turning on their PCs and getting down to business without having to think about what they're doing. As an operating system that's meant to be touched (not clicked on with a mouse), Microsoft has produced an OS that would actually work better with Apple hardware, most notably the Magic Trackpad. By being able to seamlessly scroll between the tiles (which are aligned horizontally), Windows 8 would be a lot more fun to use. However, users with a standard laptop touchpad will either have to move the cursor over to the scroll bar and drag it left and right (how lame! How dated!), or point their cursor to the far left or far right side of the screen, which automatically scrolls through the tiles in a less cumbersome matter. Those who are using a mouse will quickly realize that the click wheel can be used for smoother scrolling. The same is also true for touchpads that feature a scrolling function, but none of them compare to Apple's trackpad. Speaking of Apple, Microsoft borrowed a page from the Mac playbook by implementing a “corners” feature that gives users four key points of interactivity. When you mouse over to the top right corner, you get something called “charms,” which includes five key elements (Search, Share, Start, Devices, and Settings). To be clear, the new “Start” button does not provide you with a traditional start window. Rather, it takes you to the area with all of your tiles, which is known to many as Metro. The bottom left corner can also be clicked to start Metro. On the bottom right corner you will find a tiny icon that allows you to zoom out and take a distant look at your tiles. Finally, you can click the top left corner for your most recent apps. These features aren't revolutionary, but they work pretty well. In fact, the best thing that Windows 8 has to offer might be its simplest: by pressing the Super key (AKA the Windows key), users can instantly jump back and forth between Metro and their most recent app. This is fast, seamless, and downright impressive. But it's also the kind of simple feature that will make many wonder, “Why didn't someone think of this sooner?” Windows 8 also came out of standby in an instant without a solid state drive. Using an SSD, Windows 8 should be even faster. There's still a lot more to explore within the Windows 8 Consumer Preview, but I am already impressed. I'm not blown away like I had hoped. And I don't think Microsoft is doing itself any favors by forcing users to re-learn elements of Windows that were standard for more than a decade. (Take a few minutes to watch these Windows 8 intro videos before starting the preview. They will teach you most of what you need to know.) But I do feel that Windows 8 could be the beginning of something phenomenal. Even in beta form, its stability is already impressive. If Microsoft can add more features, perfect those that are already included, and continually polish and upgrade Windows 8 post-release, it may very well be the best version of Windows yet. And, in time, Windows 8 could pose a serious challenge to Mac OS X Mountain Lion. Follow me @LouisBedigian