Don’t Run Out and Get Windows 8

The new version of Windows – Windows 8 – is officially available to consumers as of today. There are some great additions to Windows 8, such as a “one-click” system reset, built-in support for ISO files (I know all of you consignment software users are just DYING for that feature!), and faster boot times.

One of the most controversial changes to Windows 8, is the lack of the Start button/menu:

OMG! Where's the Start button!? — OMG! Where’s the Start button!? | Click to Enlarge

Many feel that Microsoft are attempting to make a “bold” move and push consumers to something they don’t know they want yet – the touch/tablet interface. With no Start button, once you get to the traditional Desktop, you’re seemingly trapped. How to you launch a new program? How do you shut down the computer? There are invisible “hot spots” in the corner of the screen, which is where Microsoft anticipates YOU will be able to find quite intuitively. Checkout our post, Shutting Down Windows 8 | The Long and Winding Road… to see just how “intuitive” it is.

Windows 8’s UI is clearly more touch friendly and similar to Apple, Microsoft is attempting to unify their operating system across multiple devices – e.g. Windows Phone, Windows Surface, etc.

With many people still running Windows XP, which is now 11 years old and reaches its end of life in 2013, Windows 8 is not the version of Windows we recommend running out and buying.

Windows 7 is a huge leap above Windows XP in terms of security and for business systems – even personal systems – I can’t faithfully recommend Windows 8 just yet. Windows 7 is slated for end of life in 2020, so we have plenty of time.

Another big problem is consignment software compatibility. We’ve tested each of the major consignment programs on Windows 8 and we’ve found that Liberty’s database management system, MS SQL Server 2008 Express Edition, is not compatible with Windows 8:

Liberty4 Consignment & Windows 8 — Liberty’s Database, MS SQL Server 2008, Is Incompatible With Windows 8

So for anyone running Liberty, as of right now Liberty is not compatible with Windows 8.

The way it’s looking, it might not be a bad idea to skip every other version of Windows. 🙂 Windows ME – problem ridden. Windows XP – solid. Windows Vista – not as horrible as some think, but still not an OS I would recommend for my worst enemy. Windows 7 – fantastic improvement. Windows 8 – let’s see. Windows 9…

If anyone has any questions, let us know!

Shutting Down Windows 8 | The Long and Winding Road…

Microsoft has done us a favor and doubled the amount of steps it takes to shutdown/restart Windows 8 (as compared to Windows 7). There’s been a bit of criticism of Microsoft’s new Metro UI – i.e. the new ‘tablet-like’ interface which sits on top of the normal Desktop and Explorer interface you’re used to seeing in Windows.

I’m not here to gripe about change and while I’m not personally a fan of the Metro UI aesthetic, I get it. Microsoft is going to be pushing their Microsoft Surface hardware and the general ‘touch’ experience on Windows Phone 8.

So, once you get through Metro and make your way to the Desktop, the fun begins.

Where do we go from here?

We have the familiar Windows Desktop we’ve used for years and years, but what do? The Start button is gone and I don’t see any visual queues as to where to go. What do we do!?

Well, isn’t it obvious? Clearly you’re supposed to move your cursor to the far right-hand side of the screen’s top or bottom corners! 😀 When we move the cursor to the right-hand top and bottom corners of the screen, it reveals

Hmmm, I want to power my computer off, which one of these buttons seems to be the best choice. Well, I guess power is a setting, so let’s try Settings! Oh, yay! I was right! Looks like we found the Power ‘setting’:

Yep, we have a winner! The Power setting lets us Shut down or Restart our system:

Windows 8 Shut Power Settings | Click to Enlarge

Woohoo! We’re finally shutting-down Windows 8!

Windows 8 Shutting Down | Click to Enlarge

To recap, in order to shutdown Windows 8 we:

Hovered our cursor over one of the ‘hotspots’ at the top and left corners on the right-hand side of the screen.
Clicked the Settings icon
Clicked the Power icon
Clicked Shutdown

Now, let’s compare that to Windows 7. First, we click the Start button at the lower-left:

Then we click Shutdown – amazing! 🙂

Yay! Two clicks and we’re shutting-down!

Windows 7 Shutting Down | Click to Enlarge

So, to shutdown Windows 7 we:

Clicked Start
Clicked Shutdown

For those of you out there already testing Windows 8, let me know if I’m missing something @ shutting-down Windows 8.

Windows 8 Is Almost Here…

Windows 8 is officially scheduled to launch on October 26th, 2012. The Computer Peeps are actively testing and evaluating Windows 8. Windows 8 brings a new look or ‘layer’ to the mix and that is the Windows Metro interface. New security features promise to make Windows 8 a more secure operating system.

With change also comes the potential for applications to break. We’ll be testing each of the major consignment programs on the market:

[checklist]

ConsignPro
Liberty4 Consignment
Consignment Success/Ease
ConsignmentTill

[/checklist]

We’re excited to see new features such as the ability to perform a clean OS installation, while keeping a user’s personal files – without having to backup the files to an external drive. We saw the compatibility issues that came about with Windows Vista and UAC though and we’re evaluating the installation of each consignment program to see how they handle (or don’t) Windows 8.

Follow our blog for new posts that cover Windows 8, consignment software, consignment hardware, etc. We’ve created a category just for Windows 8 posts, so you can quickly filter out posts related to Windows 8.

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We’ll go into more details in subsequent posts, but thus far, we’re already seeing consignment applications fail to install on Windows 8.