In a word: 'Underwhelming'.....

Here's what the latest gossip is on Windows 8... and it seems that what I've been saying about its unspectacular features and characteristics has been about in the same 'ball park' as the so-called experts. Bearing in mind of course that an expert is defined as being 'anyone more than ten miles from home'. And it probably wouldn't hurt to also keep in mind the old Turkish proverb that says 'Whoever tells the truth is chased out of nine villages.' 

The general consensus of opinion being that Windows 8 and its related hardware isn't expected to set the computer world on fire, at least not until Mighty Microsoft spends a lot of time and money singing its praises, fluffing it up, and patting themselves on the back for it - and hoping against hope that there aren't too many of us like me out here drawing comparisons to their most recent fantastic flop, Windows Vista.

So, today's Question Everything would have to be: "Is this a pattern? Is every second O/S from The Windows Works now going to be a 'fixer-upper' and only the ones in between (like Windows 7) real gold, right out of the box?" If this had a corollary question with it, that would be "Why can't each successive one build on the best of the ones before it, instead of flying off into uncharted territory and frustrating the hell out of all concerned?" It's almost like there's two different Microsofts, taking turns at producing the next operating system, and each has seriously different views on how that ought to be achieved, and neither has the sense to simply ask the long-suffering users what they'd like to see in an operating system in exchange for all this bullshit and expense.

If you find all this a real turn off, there's an alternative, and it won't cost you a dime. You will however, have to spend some time familiarizing yourself with it, and becoming comfortable with its differences as compared to Windows or OS-X, both of which it seems to be similar to, in some aspects. I'm referring to PC-BSD 9.0 which is an open-source and free ( like Open Office) system that can perhaps get you away from the operating system wars, and back to having fun on your computer. Maybe you should try it. It's designed by and for its users (more or less...) and it is highly customizable once you know your way around. You can tune it to suit yourself, and that's not all bad. You can add the parts you like and remove any that you don't care for, within limits of course, and have a system that works for you - not one that's working for someone else.