Monday, November 19, 2012

Windows 8 Compatibility

Now that Windows 8 is here, I'm sure there will be questions about whether our software is compatible.  I have tested the new operating system and Groundwater Vistas, AquiferWin32, and GW3D all seem to work fine. 

Windows 8 appears to be Windows 7 with an annoying app layer added on top of the normal desktop.  Most of us will likely just need to hit the "desktop" button on this layer to get to our normal software, data, etc.  For those of you thinking of switching to Windows 8, here are a couple of my first impressions:

  • Only Microsoft could screw up something so basic as turning off your computer.  It now takes several mouse clicks if you can even find the shutdown in the first place.  I had to do a Google search for it.  You have to mouse over a little button in the lower right corner of your screen, pull up a weird context menu that sort of hovers over everything, then select Settings, and then shutdown.
  • The boot time seems to be much longer than Windows 7.  It always amazes me how fast a Mac boots compared to Windows and this new operating system is definitely a step in the wrong direction.
  • The Start menu is gone.  I'm not sure how you are supposed to find all of your software.  It seems to just put a link to it on the App layer.  That is where the Vistas icon was installed anyway.  You can pin it to the taskbar, so at least that is the same as Windows 7.  This is going to take some getting used to.  It's like Microsoft is trying to emulate a Mac and not doing a very good job of it.

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