Windows 8 proving less popular than Vista

For Christmas I bought my wife a Windows 8 Ultrabook with a touch screen.  Since she isn't exactly a tech savvy user it fell to me to figure things out and then show her how it worked.  I didn't use any references or guides, instead I just played with the machine.  The first half hour was very frustrating.  By the end of the second hour I had figured out most of the basics.  By the end of three hours I had pretty much mastered everything I needed to know to use the machine and to teach her how to use it.  At that point, I set it up on our home network and was easily able to access our wireless internet, other computers, printers, scanners, and our external drive back up systems.

Basically, its just a matter of figuring out where everything went and how to access it.  After continuing to use the machine intermittently over the last couple of weeks I am convinced that Windows 8 is nothing more than Windows 7 with a revised GUI.  I say this because all of my wife's software and hardware, as well as our networked devices, worked perfectly with no need to upgrade to new drivers.  Plus, all of the Windows 7 pieces are pretty much still in place and once you find out how to get to them they work the same as they always did.

The new start menu is just a bunch of tiles instead of a list of programs under the start button.  The control panel is under "settings" and settings can be found with a small drag from the right side of the screen, where you will also find the on, off, sleep options along with many other standard Windows options.  "My Computer" can now also be accessed through icon that looks like a file folder on the task bar, and so on and so fourth.  Adding and removing tiles is a simple matter than can be done with right clicks and choosing options.  Once you are in your programs they operate like they always did except that most will give you the additional option of using a touch screen selection instead of the mouse (although the mouse still works fine).

So, all and all, I don't see Windows 8 as being all that complex or difficult to use.  All you need to master is a few basic smart phone like gestures (if you are using a touch screen), and then figure out where they put the stuff you need to run your machine.  After that, it is really pretty simple.  My wife uses her new computer with no issues at all and seems to like it very much.  The whole point, as far as I can tell, is that microsoft wanted to develop a touch screen GUI that could be cross platform compatible IE: usable on phones, tablets, ect.  While I see no need to upgrade from windows 7 at this point for the average user, I do understand what Microsoft is trying to do.