Eric Limer
Hey remember Windows 8?
How could you forget? It was the biggest upheaval in desktop computing
in recent memory, and even if you're not a user, its big colorful tiles
are on your radar. Now, with Windows 8.1, Microsoft is giving its flashy
new OS a first facelift. The changes are minor, but they're more than
the sum of their parts.
What Is It?
The first
major update to Windows 8. A free upgrade for existing Windows 8 owners.
A $120 (or $200 for the Professional Edition) purchase for everyone
else. A collection of tweaks to tighten up some of the wonkier bits of
Windows 8. A resurrector of start buttons.
Who Is It For?
Everybody
who's got Windows 8 already. Everybody who's been on the fence about a
Windows 8 upgrade. Anyone who buys a new PC in the foreseeable future.
Why It Matters
Windows 8
was more than just a new way about thinking about the desktop interface
for Microsoft; it was a major bet that touch was/is the future of
computing. A bet that it could flesh out its meager Windows App store. A
bet that people would come around to Metro's dramatic changes and not
run screaming in the other direction.
It seems
that Microsoft may have underestimated the intensity of some of that
running and screaming though, particularly in regard to the lack of a
start button, and the lack of an option to boot right to desktop. The
moaning has been load enough, it seems, that Microsoft has seen fit to
acquiesce just a little bit, and just there.
Windows 8.1
matters because it represents dual opportunities for Microsoft: A
chance to double down, and a chance to backtrack before it's too late.
And it manages to do just enough of both to keep converts happy, and to
lure its share of skeptics over to the tile side.
Design
When you
first boot up Windows 8.1, you aren't going to notice many differences
slapping you across the face; the user interface is pretty much exactly
the same. Metro is still your colorful little landing page by default,
and the traditional desktop still lives behind it. You've still got your
Charms off to the right, your app drawer hiding away at the bottom.
Live tiles can be smaller now, little one-by-one squares that remind you
of Windows Phone, but other than that things look pretty much the same.
At a glance, anyway.
Which
frankly they'd damn well better. After an upheaval like the transition
to Windows 8, the last thing anyone needs is more wild design changes.
Windows 8 was/is Microsoft's future. The tiles are canon. There will not
be any retcons. Not now, anyway.
What's New
That
doesn't mean Windows 8.1 is just some Windows 8 rebrand. Tucked away
beneath the now-familiar veneer of the desktop and Metro screen are
pockets of beautiful new functionality. You just have to dig a little.
Here's what you'll find.
Start Button!
Hey, you
want a start button? Fine, here's a start button. But if you're pining
for start-menu-days-gone-by this is only half of what you're looking
for. Windows 8.1's new desktop start button launches you right to your
Metro screen, and really, it's just another way to accomplish something
you could already do with the Charms bar and the Windows key. But if your muscle memory still has you gravitating towards that lower lefthand corner, it's a nice addition.
Boot to Desktop
Boot to
desktop just barely edges out the start button as the biggest concession
in Windows 8. It does exactly what you'd expect; boots you right to
desktop with no Metro screen in the way. And unlike the start
button—which still involves Metro—boot to desktop is a pure bypass.
Bing-powered omnisearch
Search has
been elevated from a keyboard-centric way to select one of your apps to a
place where you can interface with a firehose of internet. Instead of
simply searching your computer, it now includes web search results as
well (via Bing, naturally). The result is that the Metro desktop now
doubles as your search engine, and a nice one at that.
If your
search returns an installed app, it'll boot up on hitting enter, but for
your average query (e.g. "puppies" or "when will sweet death come?"),
you'll be shunted not to a traditional page of Bing results, but rather a
carousel of screenshots from the web pages that were returned in the
search, and some images if applicable. It's a more touchy, splashy,
swipey way to search and it's lovely. Bing still doesn't have the best
results, but this somehow makes them seem more palatable.
But if you
search for a city, or a band, or any other number of things Bing has the
ability to recognize as things (e.g. New York City, Pavement, or Street
Sharks), you get a different sort of result. Windows 8.1 will serve up a
dashboard showing you the current weather and a list of attractions in
said city. A list of popular songs from said band, linked right into
Xbox Music. A list of YouTube clips of said show that was totally not a
rip-off of some other cartoon about turtles. And if that info isn't
relevant for whatever reason, traditional results are a just one swipe
away.
It's
certainly a fancy update, and one that's nice to look at. But most
importantly it does a good job masking that fact that you're using—and
are stuck using—Bing. Likewise you're stuck using Microsoft apps for the
quick-links the search returns. For instance, even if you change your
default music app, the links open in Xbox Music.
If
you genuinely just want to know more about a person, place, or thing,
this pretty little Bing spread is useful. But there are only so many
times you need to know the population of New York. More likely you just
hammered a query into the search without half a thought, looking for the
path of least resistance to a Wikipedia page. And in that
case, Bing's little "look what I can do!" spread is all but useless,
despite being both pretty and ostensible a good search result, even
though none of that's what you were actually looking for. Fortunately it's not hard to ignore.
More options for split Metro apps
Metro apps
are no longer restricted to a 30:70 split when you're using two at once.
How many option you have depends on the apps—some splits are scalable
virtually to the pixel, others scale in larger "clicks"—but you're now
free to do a 50:50, or a 60:40. That doesn't mean everything is perfect;
Sometimes apps will load up more horizontal real estate than you can
see in their sliver. Sometimes they won't resize to fit the block you
make for them, and you get disgusting gray space.
The issue
here seems to be that some apps just aren't ready for the increased
number of split options. And in the meantime they'll stick to their 30
or 70 sizes. It should theoretically get better with time, but it's
probably going to require updates from the app makers.
But still,
the option to resize here is a big improvement. It's particularly
helpful for multitasking where both halves of the equation are equally
important, like half-watching YouTube and surfing the web, or
paraphrasing something from a Wikipedia article. Stuff where relegating
one app to a lesser sliver just doesn't cut it.
The ability to maybe split three apps at once would have been even better, but we'll take what we can get.
A Metro background to match your desktop
A small
change that makes all the difference in the world is the ability to make
your Metro background match your desktop background. The effect is that
Metro feels like it's popping up in front of your desktop, not replacing it. That does a lot to anchor you to a sense of place.
Single best update in Windows 8.1? Probably not, but god it's close. Easily the most underrated.
A new way to move Metro tiles around
It's easier
to tweak your Metro screen now. Where changing the location and sizing
of tiles in Windows 8 could be a little non-indicative, 8.1 pushes you
into a more traditional—and mobile OS-feeling—"movin' stuff around"
mode. And once you've activated it by holding down a tile, you can drag
them all around the screen and resize them through the option bar at the
bottom. But most importantly you can't actually engage any apps from
here, so no worries of accidentally lunching into "Stocks" while you're
just trying to remove it.
Being able
to shrink live tiles all the way down to tiny squares gives you more
freedom to pack stuff in if that's your bag. You also get to name app
groupings. But you still can't change tile colors, and can make the
control freak inside you sad.
App updates
Most of the
Windows app suite is getting updated along with the new version of the
OS, but a few in particular are worth noting.
Xbox
Music has a brand new face. The framework behind the scenes appears to
be pretty much identical to the original app, but the interface is much
prettier this time around. Also, when you pull off a Bing omnisearch for
a musician, the links it pops up will open (and play) in Xbox Music if
you click 'em.
But perhaps
Xbox Music's fanciest new trick is that it can parse text-based lists
of songs and turn them into playlists. Just share an "OMG the 100 best
songs of 2003" webpage to the Music app with the Charms menu and the app
does the rest.
Windows
Store has a brand new look. There's not much in the way of functional
differences, but the layout's less dense this time around. There are
more, bigger images, and it's overall more swipey, like a lot of things
in 8.1. Hope you've got a touchscreen, or at least a good touchpad.
There are
new apps too. Our favorite is Reading List. It's basically a
Metro-style, read-it-later kind of app, and you can share webpages
directly to it from your Charms menu. Handy, and all the moreso for
being built right in. The only downside is that you can't share things
to it from the desktop; you've gotta be in Metro for that.
There are
also two new Bing apps, Bing Food and Drink and Bing Health and Fitness.
The first has some hand-wavy controls that could theoretically be
useful in the kitchen when your hands are covered in god-knows-what, the
second has health, diet, and exercise information. Theoretically useful
but basically bloatware.
More settings options in Metro
Last and
probably least, settings get a nice revamp in Metro. You can now see and
change things like the display resolution and mouse settings from
inside the Metro settings app. You probably won't have to do that often,
but the way Windows 8 shoved you to desktop to mess with a traditional
Control Panel window was jarring and disorienting. This is better.
There are
also a couple new options tucked away in the new Settings app. If you
don't like hot corners, for example, you can now turn them off without
the aid of any third-party software. Also you can finally give your apps
permission to auto-update instead of always waiting for your go-ahead.
You'll also find options to change your default apps for almost
anything, maps, mail, music, etc.
Using It
Using Windows 8.1 is pretty much the same as using Windows 8. Pretty
much. There are no huge overhauls. No changes to the logic of Windows
8. The small changes there are, though, add up to great additions for
the kind of people inclined to use them.
People
inclined to hide from the Metro interface as much as possible, for
instance, will be incredibly relieved to have boot to desktop options,
and to a lesser extent, a start button. These folks are the ones who
will fight the Windows 8 future tooth and nail. Microsoft has heard your
anguished cries, and it's thrown you as big of a bone as you can hope
to get.
But on the
other hand, Windows 8.1 seems more intent than ever to pull users into
the Metro interface, and into its suite of built in apps. Things like a
shared desktop-Metro background and increased control over your own
personal live tile layout make Metro seem less inhospitable. As does the
increased multi-app support, and the Metro-only omnisearch option. If
you haven't sworn off Metro yet, 8.1 is Microsoft's newest attempt to
lure you in, and it's a more tempting offer than last time.
Windows 8.1
is also designed to pull you deeper into Microsoft's suite of apps.
Metro searches for music will provide links that pull you right into the
Xbox Music app before you can say "Spotify." SkyDrive is now integrated
directly into the traditional File Browser like any other drive.
Reading List might win converts from Instapaper or Pocket out of sheer
convenience. There's a lot to be gained by diving right into all that,
which is exactly what Microsoft is imploring you to do.
Like
Windows 8.1 is Windows 8, but better. For everyone.
It's better
if you want your Windows to behave like its forebears. Boot to desktop,
use that start button, and you'll hardly have to notice the rest. You will still notice it, but it's easier than ever to shove it out of the way.
It's also
better if you're down to embrace Metro. Using two Metro apps at once is
now practical in virtually all scenarios, instead of just ones that lend
themselves to a 30:70 split like browsing the web and looking at
Twitter. Or watching a movie and looking at Twitter. You know, doing
anything and looking at Twitter. Specialized search results for cities
and people and bands and TV shows are striking, beautiful even, but they
also don't get in the way of finding more traditional results. Even
more gimmicky features—like being able to share websites that feature a
text-based list of songs to Xbox Music and have it generate an actual
playlist—are undeniably cool, and all the better for being built-in.
Literally at your fingertips.
So many of these improvements, though welcome, do feel a bit like they're late to the party. Like this is the rest
of Windows 8, rather than additional features. Why couldn't you just
have your Metro and desktop backgrounds match in the first place? Or
search the web from the desktop? It feels mostly like Microsoft is
addressing its oversights instead of staking new ground.
But that's all said and done. The fact of the matter is that Windows 8.1 is a better Windows 8 in nearly every way.
No Like
Nearly
every way. There are still gripes to be had. Windows 8.1 is noteworthy
for not explicitly introducing many changes, but there are still things
it hasn't fixed. Of course, as Windows 8.x progresses and Microsoft
refines its vision more and more, there are fewer "problems" in a strict
sense and more just "things you might not like." But here, with Windows
8.1, there are still both.
Windows 8.1
still has a problem with scaling, like Windows 8 before it. And in an
update that seems so keen on giving users more options, it's a bummer to
see this missing. Essentially, if you have one small but high-res
screen, you will run into trouble because Windows 8 (and 8.1) will
default to rendering things as tiny on these pixel-dense displays. You
can blow everything up in settings to fix it, and embiggen your OS on
the whole. That's fine, but it becomes a problem if you're rocking two
displays, like a very small but pixel-dense one (like a laptop), paired
with a larger, less-dense display. Instead of a good choice (which
scaling option do you want on each display?), you're left with a bad
choice (do I want my big display to look normal and my laptop tiny, or
my laptop normal and my big display like a Fischer Price toy?). It's a
problem that's only going to affect a subset of users, but it's a noisy
subset that cares a lot about this sort of thing.
So it turns out there is
display-centric DPI scaling, but the option is buried and rather
non-indicative. It's possible to actually change the scaling of one
display and then another by dragging a dialog box around and then
adjusting its slider inside the different displays while the option "Let
me choose one scaling option for all my displays" is unchecked or
selecting a monitor in the display menu, clicking through to the scaling
menu, going back to display to select the other monitor, and clicking
through to scaling again.
It's
unintuitive, but it works! The only downside is that windows will issue a
glitched-out flicker for a second as they're rescaling from one screen
to the other, but it's better than nothing. We just wish it was a little
clearer that this was actually an option somewhere in the window with
all the scaling options.
And then
there's Metro in general. It's more viable than ever—especially for
tablets, where it feels downright wonderful—but it's still just uncanny
as an interface for a desktop PC, where it feels like you should be able
to do more things at once. Splitting two apps however you want is a
step in the right direction, but the whole Metro thing is such a step
back multitasking-wise that it hardly even matters.
No, you
don't have to use Metro if you don't want to. But it's clear that this
is where Microsoft is devoting the lion's share of its energy. The start
button and boot to desktop are two big wins for hardcore revisionists,
but they're probably the last we'll see. Metro is clearly intended to be
the future not only for mobile but for desktop—to whatever extent
"desktop" continues to exist into the future—and it's still not clear
how well it reconciles both of those worlds.
Test Notes
- We did our testing on Windows 8.1 Preview Build 9431. So basically this is the meat of Windows 8.1, but not the absolutely final totally finished version that showed up in the Windows Store. Some features—specifically ones that involved Microsoft services, like sharing music lists to Xbox Music—didn't work on the preview build because Microsoft hadn't hooked up the pipes yet. We'd seen them in action though, and we're taking another quick sweep now that the final version is live.
- We tested Windows 8.1 on a couple of different devices, including touchscreen laptops, a tablet, and a more traditional non-touch desktop set-up. Windows 8 was always at its best when a touchscreen was involved, and 8.1 is no different. There's now a Help and Tips app that will explain some of the more arcane hot-corner tricks for mouse and keyboard navigation, but no matter how serviceable that option is (very serviceable!) it just never feels right.
- It's worth mentioning most of these changes are also coming to Windows 8.1 RT, the ARM-based version of Windows that's been all but abandoned by anyone who's not Microsoft. 8.1 RT will get all the same Metro-centric upgrades, but probably not boot to desktop because, well, duh. Still, you can expect most of these updates to roll out to your Surface RT if you have one, and Surfaces 2s will come with 8.1 out of the box.
Should You Buy It?
If you've
already got Windows 8 then there's no buying involved. You can go
download your 8.1 update from the Windows Store right now for free. And
you should! Windows 8.1 isn't any sort of revolution, but its collection
of little annoyance fixes are all well worth having, especially for
free.
If you've been hiding from Windows 8 entirely and ignoring the possibility of an upgrade just
because of Metro, now is a better time than ever to stop doing that.
With the start button and the introduction of a boot-to-desktop mode,
it's never been more easy to pretend that Windows 8 doesn't have a whole
bunch of tiles.
Moreover,
Windows 8.1 shows that while Microsoft is willing to make a few
concessions to ornery users—like that start button—the basic premise of
Windows 8 is here to stay. There's no avoiding it. So you may as well
get on the upgrade train now, or find another ride.
Whenever you hear of the Prophet’s (peace be upon him) life, you become amazed at his productivity. He
(peace be upon him) was a Prophet, a Messenger, a teacher, a governor, a
father, a husband, a friend and human. He (peace be upon him) had
multiple roles in his life, and excelled at each one of them without
exception. It made me wonder, did Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him)
uni-task or multi-task?
As
Muslims, we cannot underestimate the importance of reading, especially
when the first word revealed to our Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him)
was “Read!” Yet, whenever the topic of reading comes
up, although we recognize its importance we always excuse ourselves with
reminders of how busy we are, or assume that reading is a waste of time
compared to the other chores we need to perform during the day.
