Configure, personalize, tweak to your heart's content

The ability to configure and personalize Windows has always been a signature feature of this operating system and obviously Windows 8.1, with its new "modern" or "metro" interface, plus the traditional desktop, allows you to play with colors, images, parameters, etc. The Personalization Gallery is where you get free wallpapers, languages and themes. Try it. It's fun.

This time there is more help and guidance available

Windows 8.1 is user-friendlier in many respects including in its Help + Tips utility, not to mention that the first time you run the software a big orange arrow, on top of the "Start screen" will be pointing to the upper right-hand corner advising you of the existence of the charms (Search, Share, Start, Devices and Settings) and not a moment too soon another one, at the lower left-hand corner will let you know that there is a "Start button", some sort of the reincarnation of the one that had been there since the times of Windows 95 and was absent in Windows 8.  Help + Tips offers really useful indications, with sleek animations, about what you can do with this operating system and which may not be so obvious for first time users or simply for regular folks: Start and Apps, Get around, Basic actions, Your account and files, Settings and What's new... For a more comprehensive Help utility, press F1 while in the Desktop mode (click anywhere on the wallpaper first).

Get Windows 8.1, install it, enjoy it!

Only through the App Store, apparently...

It's already a week since Microsoft released to the public the Windows 8 upgrade known as Windows 8.1. For starters, you need to do it through the App Store, within the "modern" interface, i.e. the Tiles. Though if you do it while browsing within the Desktop mode, the Meet Windows link will take you there at any rate. That's how I did, and I figure you could probably get the ISO file through some sort of TechNet subscription. Please, also note that the upgrade is free for Windows 8 users, whereas if you want to upgrade from Windows XP, Vista or 7, you will have to buy the software. My personal verdict: it's definitely worth the upgrade, whether from Windows 8 or from previous Windows versions!

Windows 8 surpasses OS X, in spite of "ubiquitousness" of latter

In a note full of charts and figures, ArsTechnica informed last week that Windows 8 is more widely used than OS X, while Internet Explorer 10 is on the rise. The worldwide operating system net market share indicates that Windows 7 holds a slice of 47.3%, whereas Windows 8 has a 7.43% and Windows XP 33.66%, with the rest of the pie shared between Vista, OS X and Linux, according to ArsTechnica. What I find surprising is the steady adoption of Windows 8 in spite of the ubiquitousness of Apple computers. Yes, they are visible everywhere but mostly in cafes and out in the wild, a striking contrast with what you see when you go into most corporate offices where Windows still rules. There is no denial, however, that Apple computers, iPhones and iPads are very popular now but that applies mostly in the consumer world. I particularly like all of these gadgets, but Microsoft Windows (both 7 and 8) are my favorite operating system.

Windows 8.1 consolidates, reaffirms Microsoft brave new world

Windows 8.1 Preview showing four windows at once in the "Modern" UI.

Amidst a choir of misinformed dissenters, who arguably are hooked into other computing platforms and who regularly spew nonsense about the newest iteration of the ubiquitous Microsoft operating systems, comes Windows 8.1 (preview) to shut them up all with hard facts. Someone once said, I'm trying to remember, that criticism is the art of finding reasons not to admire, and that's exactly what I believe has happened to Windows 8 vis-à-vis its detractors. You can download here the ISO file of this updated version of Windows. The product key is right there as well (you will need it). You can also find the Windows 8.1 Preview product key in the FAQs page. Bill Snyder, author of the insightful Consumer Tech Radar column in the CIO.com website, writes that the "constant dissing of Windows and Internet Explorer might lead consumers to think that there's something wrong with the software and that they better switch to something else. But that's nonsense." In its column, Snyder, not a big fan of Microsoft technologies himself, shoots straight when he writes "Sorry Fanboys, Windows and IE still rule" and explains why Windows has 91.51 percent of the overall operating systems market and IE 56.15 percent, with the other 43 something percent shared between Firefox, Chrome, Safari and Opera, in that order. But it is not only a matter of statistics and a bigger user base, it is also sort of a new paradigm in computing in the making, as D.B. Grady, another highly regarded author, puts it: "Windows 8 is a vision of computing that is not only thoroughly re-imagined, but in many ways superior to anything else out there" and that was back in the fall of 2012 when Windows 8 RTM was officially released.

There are lots of people who also love Windows 8

I just happened to run into an article in the Huffington Post with a headline exactly as the name of this blog: I love Windows 8, though the author adds immediately "and No, My Account Has Not Been Hacked." The points made are basically that Windows 8 is more than meets the eye and in the process "Microsoft has taken the mantle of innovation and good design away from Apple." Regarding the widely publicized "criticism" of Windows 8 I just have to say two things: those who criticize this new paradigmatic shift are usually Apple or Android users and/or "journalists" who don't exactly know what they are talking about, since they don't use it, and, most of those rants are bordering in childish tantrums, no substance... Talk about "impartiality in journalism..."

End of retail customer service as the weakest link for Microsoft products?

Not an unusual view in some Best Buy stores: empty displays or
misplaced merchandise, not to mention frozen PCs. This is my experience.

Microsoft has finally decided to be on top of things to guarantee that its latest PCs with Windows 8 get to more customers, taking a page from the Apple stores. Needless to say Apple sells more and more computers and software thanks to a well greased retail system where the customer service reps actually know what they are talking about, let alone the quality of their products. Contrast that with the poor experience you get when visiting a retail store like Best Buy or a similar chain. First of all, the reps kind of elude you and if you finally get their attention they may talk down to you and try to get rid of you as soon as possible. Or even worse, they don't understand your questions if you happen to be a more educated consumer. The other day I asked one of these young fellows "What is the computer with the best quality, the best materials?", I said that referring to some flimsy plastic HP laptops and looking for something better. Though I had to rephrase my question, the fellow replied "I don't understand your question" (!) with an unequivocal expression of annoyance. I don't think this is just my personal experience. Let's hope that, now that Microsoft and Best Buy are teaming up to open 500 Windows Store locations inside this big retailer stores, things get better. On the other hand, I hope that Microsoft Retail Stores improve as well. I remember very well when I visited the one in Times Square, New York (is it still there?) to find a very nice place with nice reps but not too well versed in Windows 8. I was showing to some of them how to use Windows 8... (!) Retail will continue to be the weakest link for Microsoft as long as they continue to hire at lower wages people who are not exactly experts in their wares (unlike the Apple guys). Why don't you hire people who really know IT and who appreciate Microsoft products? The caveat is: you will have to pay them higher wages... That's small potatoes for the deep pockets of Microsoft, so why not?