Windows 8: Yes or No?

Windows 8 is visually different from earlier versions of the Windows OS we've all grown used to. After spending several weeks testing it to decide whether or not to recommend it to our clients, our engineers have reached a consensus: Don't upgrade unless you need to.

To be fair, many of the changes "under the hood" boost speed and performance, especially on laptops and aging desktops. On the other hand, the new Metro user interface is confusing and counterintuitive to anyone who isn't already familiar with it from using a Windows tablet. We're expecting lots of support requests from users who get lost trying to perform basic tasks like exit, shutdown, and restart.

If you do need to upgrade, we can disable Metro and configure Windows 8 so it works more like Windows 7. However, we can only think of a handful of reasons to upgrade:

• You're currently running Windows XP and want to be able to use Office 2013.
• You plan to deploy Windows tablets, and you want to use the same OS on your laptops and desktops.
• You plan to add a large number of computers with Windows 8 preinstalled, and you want to upgrade your existing computers for consistency. 

If you're still not sure whether Windows 8 is right for your business, give us a call. We'll help you sort it out.