[sc:windows-category ]I’ve been using Windows since, well, before it was really Windows 
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When the developers preview of Windows 8 came out a few months ago I downloaded it and it was quite apparent it wasn’t meant for anything but development, which was fine.
The consumer preview on the other hand came out on February 29th and obviously it was meant for the masses to take a look at.
It’s no secret I’m a big fan of the Metro interface on both the Zune HD and Windows Phone, but does it translate to a desktop PC?
Kinda, I guess…
It does work, and Microsoft has spent a lot of time between the developers and the consumer preview’s working on the keyboard interface.
It looks VERY lovely, I have no doubt that on a tablet PC it’s going to be a killer OS. On the PC, I’m less convinced.
I had an older Acer Aspire 751 netbook/notebook lying around so I decided to see how it would run on that. The hardware more than meet’s MS’s minimums, but even so, the interface felt a little sluggish.
Microsoft has been in the last few years really been pushing the boundaries on its interfaces (from the ribbon bar to Metro) and it’s worked out well for them so far.
I suspect on a desktop or more powerful PC, Windows 8 will do just fine, but on the lower end hardware it may struggle to give that smooth Metro experience we’ve all come to expect.
Of course there’s still lots of time for Microsoft to optimize before Windows 8 is release .
The biggest grip I have with the consumer preview is the “consumer” part. No domain membership is supported so I won’t be converting any of my day-to-day PC’s to Windows 8 until we see a final version.
