Allen says he likes the new operating system, except for a few things

Oct 3, 2012 06:37 GMT  ·  By

While Bill Gates explained yesterday that Windows 8 is a pretty “big deal,” Microsoft’s co-founder Paul Allen said in a blog post that some of the features integrated into the new OS are a bit “puzzling.”

Microsoft will officially roll out Windows 8 later this month and company executives expect to sell millions of copies before year’s end, mostly thanks to a wide array of features and improvements available in the new operating system.

Allen on the other hand finds some of them a bit confusing, especially when it comes to the Modern GUI. Offering two versions of the same app doesn’t seem to be such a good idea, says Allen while emphasizing that users may be confused about this particular feature.

“The bimodal user experience can introduce confusion, especially when two versions of the same application – such as Internet Explorer – can be opened and run simultaneously. Files can also be opened in either of the two available modes,” he blogged.

“A manual switch is then required to return to desktop mode. Thankfully, you can alleviate these switching problems by changing file and program associations in Windows, as I will explain later.”

Overall however, Windows 8 is a good operating system, Allen writes in the blog post, but he admits that those less experienced may need some time to get used to it.

“Windows 8 does certainly require a brief adjustment period before users become familiar and comfortable with the new bimodal operating system,” he explained. “Touch seems a natural progression in the evolution of operating systems, and I'm confident that Windows 8 offers the best of legacy Windows features with an eye toward a very promising future.”

Microsoft will roll out Windows 8 in New York on October 25, together with the Surface tablet that’s going to sport a dedicated tablet version of the new operating system.