Windows 8 (2012)
Development
Windows 8 is the successor of the Windows 7 Operating System. Windows 8 was developed by Microsoft and is part of the NT tree of the Windows franchise. It was announced at the CES event of 2011 and the first pre-release build was released in September 2011. In October 26th 2012, the first build of Windows 8 was released to the public.
Reception
When Windows 8 was released, users notably disliked the new Metro interface. The Metro interface is a full screen start menu comprised of coloured tiles linked to an application. Although there was still a Desktop application, many users can edit the registry to allow the computer to boot straight into the Desktop environment. It was criticized for being designed for tablets rather than computers.
App Store
A new feature introduced in Windows 8 is an App Store, similar to Linux environments such as Ubuntu. The store is linked to the user's Microsoft account, and there is a variety of paid and free applications and games available. Again, this seems to be designed for tablets rather than PCs.
Windows 8.1
An update to Windows 8 was released on 17th October 2013, it addresses some of the issues that critics had with the Operating System. However, the main issue, the lack of a Start Menu was never addressed. The most notable feature is a start button on the desktop and the main menu. Diana has yet to test this build, although it is very similar to Windows 8.
Metro Interface
The most controversial component of Windows 8, mainly deriving from its confusing nature, and somewhat unappealing design. Many criticize it as being designed for tablet use, of which it can be installed on a Microsoft Surface Pro. Pre-installed applications and installed programs, these can be organized to the users liking.
On the main menu, there are numerous Metro applications, including Internet Explorer [desktop version available], pre-installed games, News [of which has a progressing slideshow of recent news] and Desktop. You can link email accounts from popular services for use within the Email metro app.
OSFirstTimer Related
Diana has twice tested Windows 8, once on a physical PC, and again on a Surface Pro. The first Windows 8 video was the first video uploaded to the Phillip Adams' channel entitled OSFirstTimer. This was said to be an unfair attempt, and was redone in a second episode, at the top of this article.
Diana also ranked this as the third worst operating system she had tested.