Windows 8 has its problems. We all know there are new user-interface issues to sort out and for Microsoft and its wide-ranging collection of customers it must be one of the most difficult challenges of 2014. There are new features under the hood in Windows 8 too but despite the fact that they help to make it the best Windows operating system yet, no-one gives those features any consideration. Windows 8 is not a broken OS. Windows 8 is an HDR-Computing OS with some truly inspiring features, if you stop to take a look.
Windows 8 is not Windows Vista all over again and don’t let anybody tell you that. Don’t dismiss Windows 8 without considering features that are truly ground-breaking and one’s you probably won’t want to give up once you’ve experienced them.
These are the features that don’t get half as much air-time as they should, and so we’ve listed them below. Send it to the next person that moans about the Windows 8 UI.
32 Windows 8 Core Features That Don’t Get Enough Credit.
- Always-on, always connected support. (InstantOn) E.g. 300hours screen-off WiFi connected on a single charge in the same way as a smartphone. (An Alarm Clock on a PC – Think about it.)
- A Sharing subsystem. App-to-app, app-to-service.
- Free hardware accelerated full-disk encryption on consumer PCs with TPM2.0 (E.g. all Intel Baytrail-T PCs)
- An application store. It works but needs better economics.
- Close architectural relationship to phone OS platform. (Reduced cost-to-port might actually reach zero-cost to port in the future.)
- High dynamic range of processor states and usage mode support. E.g. Haswell SoC S0ix state support.
- Best digital pen support in the business (business, education) including best handwriting recognition.
- Cloud account for settings, files, security information. Cross-device settings sync.
- Sensors support. GPS, NFC, etc. (I’m a big fan of NFC Tap-And-Send!)
- Fast boot, fast resume.
- Multi-DPI font scaling across extended desktops.
- Integrated web+system search.
- Simple 3G hotspot setup.
- Better system monitoring tools.
- New product boot to user-account readiness in under 10 minutes
- Xbox music and video integration. Smart glass Xbox integration. Xbox game account integration.
- Simple recovery and repair options.
- File history.
- Multiple on-screen keyboard/language support.
- Hugely improved on-screen keyboard for desktop.
- Metered connection support.
- Quiet hours support.
- Notifications system (that needs a lot of improvement, granted)
- Save user files (music, photo’s, videos) on removable media.
- Activities available from lockscreen. E.g. Skype, Camera.
- Windows Defender (it’s not the best AV, but it can help consumers and could improve in the future.)
- Tiles UI. It’s a good structure for a touch user interface.
- Swipe down to close. Use it enough and you wonder why desktop apps don’t close when swiped down.
- Split screen apps. This is going to be much more useful when (if?) Windows Phone apps can run under Windows 8.
- IE11 under Modern. It’s a very good touch-enabled browser.
- Free apps such as Reader (which supports annotations), Bing News (yes, Bing News), Weather, Maps (Please add Nokia Here, Microsoft!)
- Integrated Family Safety accounts.
Got more to add? Want to continue Windows 8-bashing? Your comments are welcome.