Does the desktop really matter?

I don’t really understand why everyone is making so much fuss about the Windows 8 desktop.

Don’t get me wrong, it looks great on a PC and it looks even better on a phone, I love the tiled approach that the designers have called Metro, and the flat icons are a saviour to the eyes. It all seems to make sense. Either way it looks better than the current Apple OS with it’s mid naughties glossy buttons and coffee shop wallpapers.

The thing is unless you own a Windows phone,  Windows 8 is unlikely to make much of an impact on your digital experience. If you have a tablet then it’ll probably be an iPad or a Nexus which just leaves the desktop PC and laptop, and this is where Windows 8 falls over.

The tiled interface is perfect for the touch and swipe experience but seems of little use to the keyboard and mouse. I spend all of my day in front of a PC and rarely see the desktop, which on a side note is a gaudy light blue ThinkPad affair. Everything I need to do in terms of opening and navigating through applications can be done with the keys at bottom left.

The same can be said for my Jolicloud install on my old T43p that sits in the front of the TV, once all my browser based apps are open then I’m just using the shortcuts to get round. Moreover, most of what I do seems to be in the browser now anyway.

That said, sooner or later I’ll probably end up using a Windows 8 PC and probably love it. I’ve spent most of my life being indecisive, no point changing now.