Why I prefer Windows 8

I wrote a post recently about what could have saved Windows 8 and I touch on some things I like about that operating system.  Now I like to go into why, even if it's not what I wanted from it, I prefer it to Windows 7 & 10.  

I use a multiple monitors with my desktop computer.  When I was using Windows 8 on my main desktop, I would have the Start Screen remain open on one screen while I worked on another.  The benefit for me was being able to glance over to see the latest weather news, headlines, current email, newest message on Facebook, and so on thanks to Live Tiles.  You can do this on Windows 10, because as soon as you mouse on something on the other monitor, the Start screen/Menu (depending on what you chose) will immediately retract and disappear.  On Windows 8, it remains up until you remove it.  Windows 10 solution to that is the Action Center where notifications are stored.  Press the Action Center icon and up comes all your notifications along with other options such as going to Settings.  It's good, but I still prefer the Live Tiles on a Start Screen that doesn't retract.  If I can have both... well, I'd be in happyville.

The desktop experience is better as well.  One of the things that appealed to me about Windows 8 was its use of flat icons and lack of transparency effects, which Microsoft did bring back into later versions of Windows 8...  Aesthetics aside, this contributed to what I saw as an increase in speed of the operating system.  That was one factor, the other was due to the amount of legacy code that was stripped from Windows 8.  Much of the OS was built from scratch, because of all the new touch elements and use of Windows Store apps.  

I have a Microsoft Surface Pro 3.  When Panos Panay showed it off for the first time, I was intrigued.  This was finally the device that would make Windows 8 make sense.  If everyone used this device with Windows 8, the hate would die.  In fact, when Microsoft was offering the Windows 10 upgrade for free, I refused to do it on my Surface Pro, because I would lose all those touch elements that make having this thing so nice.

So I guess you can say I prefer the Metro-style typography/layout, Start Screen, Live Tiles, and speed of Windows 8.  I would install it on my main computer if developers and Microsoft were still supporting it (technically Microsoft still supports it, but they're not adding features).