Review Suggests Windows 8 is Tablet-Friendly, but Confusing on PCs

By emeadows
September 4, 2012

While Windows 8 is receiving high praise for its tablet experience, “many feel that the operating system’s ‘Modern-style’ UI makes life more difficult for PC users,” according to a Laptop review.
Usability expert Raluca Budiu of the Nielsen Norman Group “has used the new OS enough to conclude that, for productivity tasks on the PC at least, Windows 8 is less user friendly than its predecessors,” notes the review.
“Windows 8 is optimized for content consumption rather than content production and multitasking,” says Budiu. “Whereas content consumption can easily be done on other media (tablets and phones), production and multitasking are still best suited for PCs. Windows 8 appears to ignore that.”
Budiu goes into further detail throughout the Q&A, explaining her issues with start-up menus, displays and functionality.
“Users will need to remember two different interfaces,” she notes. “They will learn Windows 8, but won’t be able to forget Windows 7. And they will need to keep track of which app goes with each framework. [It’s] definitely a cognitive burden, but not an insurmountable one.”

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