Disclaimer: I knew almost nothing about Windows 8 until yesterday, and still don't. This post is intended only for those who have already played with the app screen on a Windows 8 computer, but haven't yet bought one, but plan to buy one in the near future.
Below is a link to a new caving video that was just uploaded to YouTube. I stumbled onto this caving video using a Windows 8 app called PrimeTube. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EmeRQahVUhw What I am getting at here, is that if you are using a new Windows 8 computer, you can click on a "free" video app such as PrimeTube, and search for caving videos. Prior to doing this, I was not familiar with the video app problem, and was expecting there would be an easy to find "free" YouTube app, and that it would be no big deal to watch a video. This past week, I built a Windows 8 computer and have been tinkering with it this weekend, trying to figure out what all the hoopla is about. There are free apps that are easily downloaded from the "Windows Store" that let you view YouTube caving related videos in a touchscreen environment, or by clicking on them on the screen in the so-called, "Modern" environment. These apps are not YouTube, but they interface with YouTube in different ways. My initial experience with Windows 8, is that Google products crash on an hourly basis. There are only 2 Google apps, and I like to use Google apps. Neither of them work. One of them, the Google Chrome browser is not on the Windows Store, but you can find it on the web. You can still access Google products the old fashion way ( like in Windows 7 ) by clicking on a app that takes you to a different environment, that closely mimics Windows 7. But all of the web-sites ( not just Google ) have major issues, like not being able to cut and paste from the Modern environment, and crashing, so bad that you have to turn the computer off by unplugging it, or flipping the switch on the power-supply, if you have a switch. The biggest surprise to me by far, was that our 8 year old daughter loves the free game apps on Windows 8, and had zero problem trying to learn to play them, and soon she had no desire to ever go back to Windows 7. She now wants her own Windows 8 computer. I can see now by watching her use the new computer, that this is her generation's way of computing, and there is no turning back. Their mind-set is different from those of us who grew up with a graphical-user-interface environment, such as Windows 95, and entirely another world from the generation that learned computers by typing DOS commands. One of the annoying features in Windows 8 is that you have to charge 50 cents to your credit card to put someone under 18 on the computer as a user. This is some kind of safety feature related to their Family Safety software built in to the product. I am sure there was a workaround, but after 2 hours I got fed up, and just paid the 50 cents. There is a feature called HomeGroup, that supposedly allows everyone in the household to access all the videos, photos, music, etc on the computer's drive. I found this to be confusing, and it took lots of head-scratching to just add the facial profile photos of my wife and kid to the user screen. Anyone installing this OS on their computer is very likely going to say, "WTF," a dozen times in the first hour or so. But the OS loads fine if you have everything like the internet set up already, by tethering to your cell-phone. But out of the box, the OS has almost nothing included that is useful. You are required to go to the Windows Store and sift through all the free apps to see if there are things you need. But they download in seconds. You have to download for each user, but that is a blessing in disguise, because I don't want my kids apps on my screen, and she doesn't want my commonly-used apps on her screen. And you can't download anything from the Windows Store, without first giving MicroSoft all your personal info, and setting up an account. You will be typing this account log-in, so often that it will drive you bonkers. Unfortunately, I had to send this email, using the "desktop version" of Gmail, and somehow I managed to type the whole message without Windows 8 crashing. Windows 8 is not going to simplify your computing life. But there is a ray of hope for the product's future, if the annoying parts become more user friendly. I guess they will call that Windows 9. David Locklear Ref: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c1v74XP-Xb8
