Windows 8
I often say, "That's a topic for another day." Well, it's time for today to be another day, and I want to cover a topic that's been on my mind for a while, that's pretty controversial. So here go my odd opinions.
I like Microsoft. (I also like Apple, Windows happens to be more suited to my needs... A topic for another day?) I also, and here's the bombshell, like their newest release of Windows, Windows 8. (Ok, Windows 8.1. Same thing.) I like it better than Windows 7. (Disclaimer: This is on a PC with a Mouse, not a Trackpad. I'm not sure how it is for Trackpads. Or a Trackpoint Style Pointer.) First of all, Windows 8 has all of Windows 7 within it. So right there is proof that it's better: it's just the older version plus more. And besides, the "more" is some great stuff. Windows 8 heavily relies on the mouse for obvious reasons, and it's really quite fun to use. You swish up to log in, you can click an image to type a password, with a parallax scrolling, highly organizable Start screen which also increases productivity. It also has some great functional features, including being faster overall, better file explorer and copy dialogues, and streamlined driver maintenance. The search features are wonderful, adding a settings search and a files search that searches faster than any other version of windows, easily accessible by just typing what you want on the Start screen. Windows 8 is a huge improvement to Windows 7. That being said, I'm not so fond of some of the choices Microsoft is making, such as selling hardware, but that doesn't dramatically affect me. For now, I'm just happy to play around with the fun, easy-to-use OS that is Windows 8.