Windows 8.1: Can convert skeptics? - ZDNet

Business: The ambitious release of Windows 8.1 is faced with a difficult challenge: to rehabilitate the tarnished its predecessor image and convince users and companies that new PC Windows are always a smart choice.

If it were possible to synthesize an entire year of mixed tests in just a few words, you could probably summarize Windows 8 these three disorienting adversarial and incomplete .

Today, almost a year to the day after the release of Windows 8, Microsoft has released its successor. Windows 8.1 is now faced with the daunting challenge of rehabilitating the imaged tarnished its predecessor, and convince consumers and businesses that the new Windows-powered computers are a smart choice.

I spent several months using the pre-release of Windows 8.1 and later versions on a number of devices: traditional PC, workstation or laptop type of all-in-one with touch screen , tablets and touch devices of all shapes and sizes.

Last week, while I was preparing to write this article, I gave a number of these machines to their original state, and went back to Windows 8 for a few days. This experience was enough to convince me that the changes in Windows 8.1 were substantial, and responded in much the objections of the first users of Windows 8.

new features, new applications and enhancements of Windows 8.1 will probably not be sufficient to change the minds of critics incorrigible Windows. If you think the design of Windows 8 was a turn in the wrong direction, you should stop reading now. But for those who think that Windows 8 was in principle a good idea poorly executed, Windows 8.1 deserves paying attention.

Windows 8.1 has the advantage of land in a more eco friendly than its predecessor. At the launch of Windows 8, most touchscreen devices for which it was designed were still under ongoing projects. Those available for sale were generally too expensive. Today, a wide selection of touch screen notebooks, tablets, PCs All-in-One is available from manufacturers at aggressive prices.

Today’s launch does not contain too many surprises. Most of the new features already included in the Preview, available for more than three months. Some additional features have been added in the RTM version, available via MSDN or Technet and for volume license customers in early September.

Windows 8.1: improvements in image

real novelty this time lies in the very broad update availability. It should be published to all Windows 8 PCs in the next 30 days. And next to this update, Microsoft strengthens its ancillary services, such as the Windows Store and a few additions to the applications supplied with Windows 8.1.

daily, Windows 8.1 is much more refined than Windows 8. Most (but not all) Windows 8 faults have been corrected. The unfinished parts, most have been filled. Most (but not all) of the controversial decisions made by Microsoft with Windows 8 has been canceled, the most notable being the return of the Start button, and online tutorials to help new users to take their camera in hand.

In reality, however, the return of the Start button is only a small part of a much larger story. The design choices of Windows 8.1 are a textbook case for those who want to know how to respond to criticism.

The Windows 8 user experience is confusing, especially for non-touch devices.

The most obvious answer to Windows 8.1 is the return of the Start button, which calls the OS familiar elements to the user. There is also a tutorial on the home screen, as well as tips that appear at startup when you register a new user account.

In Windows 8.1, the home screen is completely redesigned, with increased ease of customization, more sizes of tiles and place to put applications shortcut. And of course there is the option to bypass the home screen and go directly to the desktop …

What you will not find is a Start menu. At least not from Microsoft, which does not let anything on this decision and leaves the field open to third party developers.

The transition between the old and the new Windows is unpleasant.

a larger unfinished in Windows 8 parts concerned the application management settings, which contained many options but required a high level passage through the Control Panel desk for most settings. In Windows 8.1, the list of options available in the Settings app Modern UI is much more fulfilled.

The result is that you can choose which interface you want to use everyday. On a PC where you have a keyboard and mouse, or a trackpad, you can use the Control Panel desktop mode. On a tablet or other touch device, you can use the Settings. The second is often easier to use, even on a traditional PC:

There are not enough applications.

You can not convince developers to work on apps for a platform that does not sell, which is why Microsoft has been marketing Windows 8 with a fairly frugal panel of third-party applications and developers expect s ‘put there.

The problem has been compounded by a rather feeble collection of pre-installed applications, including Mail and Music. After a year of development, the selection of third-party applications is much better, although still low compared to that of the iPad.

But at least with Windows 8.1, the applications they are uniformly good. The Mail application, for example, is fully completed, with the support of IMAP and the ability to drag and drop messages into folders. The Music and Video applications are greatly improved, and although they remain slightly worse, Xbox services work well enough products apart.

far as third-party applications of good quality are expected in the next release of Windows 8.1 days. Facebook, for example, highly anticipated, arrived in the Windows Store a few hours before the official launch of the new version of the OS. You’ll even see the wholesale tile Windows Store after updating.

And now

Most initial development effort for Windows 8 focused on devices for the general public. Not surprising, since consumers are generally prods market, while companies are still slower to embrace change.

But there are some interesting new features for businesses in the Windows 8.1 days. The list includes a new feature called “Workplace Join” allowing personal devices (tablets and PCs) to be stored on a Windows Server 2012 network.

security side, too, is encouraging. The wide adoption of UEFI and secure boot puts all the tools of infection before starting the moment out of harm’s way, and it is unclear how the developers of malware can circumvent. Similarly, support for authentication by fingerprint reader is now fully assured.

Windows has supported this technology for several versions, but Windows 8.1 adds a user interface level. Biometric technology is advertised as more sophisticated than Apple in the iPhone 5S. We’ll see if hackers manage to get into Windows 8.1 with a copy prints.

In fact, there are plenty of new in Windows 8.1 that should interest the professionals, enough anyway to write a 140-page ebook on the subject. If your job responsibilities include managing a corporate network, deployment or management of BYOD, you should go for a ride on the side of the Presentation of Windows 8.1 for IT professionals (Free PDF) .

However, the fate of Windows 8.1 will ultimately depend on the strength of manufacturers Microsoft partners. The latest Intel processors (Intel Core and Intel Atom Haswell Bay Trail) offer a range much greater than their predecessors, which is essential for mobile devices. Dell, Toshiba and Lenovo are all market shelves 7 and 8 inches well designed this fall, and will launch the Iconia Acer W4, a 8.1-inch tablet with a CPU and screen are much better than in his first test , the W3-810. And, of course, Microsoft has renewed its shelf area last week.

For anyone already using Windows 8, the upgrade to Windows 8.1 is an imperative. The big question of course is whether these new materials and the improved Windows 8 can convince other consumers and businesses.

Note: this blog is translated from The Ed Bott Report on ZDNet.com