Windows 8 is great

After using Windows 8 for about a week I have to say I really like it. It takes some time getting used to the start screen because it is unlike any previous version of Windows. It’s a very modern take of a start screen with all these brightly colored tiles. The new start screen is obviously geared towards users that will be using a touch-screen tablet or an ultrabook which is a laptop that converts to a tablet. It’s a little strange not having a start button that has been there since I can ever remembering using a computer. You can hover in the lower left corner and a start button will appear, but it takes you to the Live Tiles screen, not a long list of programs like in the past. There is still a desktop which you can have program shortcuts as usual, but I like using the Live Tiles for the most part. The mail and calendar apps that come with Windows 8 are pretty slick, but I already have calendar I use on my iPhone (Informant) and I can’t imagine using anything but Outlook for my email since I have so many different accounts. I also love that I can auto sync my photos directly from my iPhone to my PhotoStream, kind of like iCloud. There is so much I haven’t even begun to explore yet, like the games and tons of apps that are available for download. So far, so good and I love how fast my new laptop is running as well.

I always mixed emotions when getting a new laptop. While I love the speed and freshness of the whole thing, it takes me forever to get all my documents and programs moved over. We ended up purchasing the new version of Act for our work database and it functions pretty quickly as well. It took me awhile to get through this list…