Hands on: Windows 8 review
In Depth: Up close with the developer preview of Microsoft's new OS
Windows 8 has new and improved touch features that make using it on a tablet more like using an iPad than a Windows 7 tablet PC (although an iPad that also has a desktop operating system).
But what about all the millions of users who don't have a touchscreen and will be driving Windows 8 with keyboard and mouse?
That works pretty well too, both for the 'classic' desktop view - which is almost but not quite the same as in Windows 7 - and even for Metro (though without the intuitive fluidity that only comes from touching the interface directly with your finger rather than at one step removed).
If you're used to driving Windows primarily from the keyboard you can still do that, and in some cases it's more efficient than using the mouse.
The Lock screen that you see when you turn on your PC is easy to slide out of the way with your finger so you can type in your password; it's easier still to press the up arrow to do the same thing - and certainly easier than clicking and dragging with your mouse.
Windows key plus C is the same as dragging your mouse into the far left corner to bring up the Charm bar (Settings, Devices, Search, Share and Start) in the form of a simplified Start menu - that's the same charms as you get on the touch charm bar in a different layout that's easier to use with the mouse or arrow keys instead of the finger-friendly side bar.
Windows-Z to open the app bar in a metro app is as easy as swiping up from the bottom of the screen with your finger.
On the other hand, getting the screen split between two Metro apps (or between a Metro app and the desktop) is easy to do with your finger (slide and drag from the left) or with a mouse (hover the mouse at the very left edge of the screen and a thumbnail of the next app in the stack appears ready for you to drag across into position).
MOUSE START: The Start screen works with a mouse but touch or keyboard shortcuts are faster
You can split the screen and cycle through full screen and split screen with the current app on the left or on the right using the Windows key with the full stop to go in one direction and with Shift full stop to go in the other direction.
But we're not sure if it actually feels natural.
That could be faster and more efficient than dragging the bar but also more awkward for most people, and the key combination is neither memorable nor easy to hit with one hand (it's a shame it is something easier to remember like Windows-arrow key, which doesn't seem to do anything).
Having to cycle between apps one at a time in the order you launched them isn't ideal, but you can also pick what app to show in the current pane the standard way, with Alt-Tab.
When you have the desktop snapped to one side of a Metro window, multiple desktop apps show up as thumbnails you can click to open that app in the larger full view.
Pressing the Windows key cycles between the new Start screen and your current screen layout and Windows-Y gives you Aero Peek with desktop apps minimised, or you can use existing shortcuts like Windows-E for Explorer.
This is a more powerful and flexible way of handling windows on screen; that also means it's more complicated and takes more getting used to.
You can drive the Start screen with the mouse too - move your mouse and you immediately get a scrollbar at the bottom of the screen.
That's a slow way of moving through a long list of tiles but using the Ctrl key with the left and right arrow or PageUp and PageDown keys zips through the screen, and holding down Alt as you press the arrow keys moves tiles around.
The key to navigating the Start screen with the keyboard is to remember that you don't have to browse through it looking for the tile you want; you can just stat typing the name of the application, file or setting you want and Windows will give you a matching list that the mouse or arrow and Enter keys work perfectly with.
MOUSE CHARM: With a mouse the Charm bar looks like a basic Start menu
We find the busy, colourful, lively Start screen a bit more distracting than the simple Windows 7 Start menu, but using the direct shortcuts is less intrusive (Windows-F gets you straight into file search,
Windows-Q pops up a search sidebar set to search within your apps, Windows-W lets you search settings (in control panel and apps).
Yes, you get a lot more options and the results of search are far richer as you can swap from results on your hard drive to results from the Web to results from your favourite photo site or Twitter, but this is an experience we hope to see evolve before release.
In general, you can do everything in Windows 8 with the mouse and keyboard that you can with touch. In many cases it's just as effective but first you have to learn a lot of new moves and shortcuts and only a few of them are intuitive, so expect to spend time with a cheat sheet to get up to speed.
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