Microsoft Windows Phone 8 vs Microsoft Windows 8

So it's October 2012 (for a while still) and Microsoft has finally unleashed it two "new" operating systems on the World - Microsoft Windows 8 and Microsoft Windows Phone 8, but exactly what are they?  How are they different or similar for that matter?

First up Windows Phone 8 (code name Apollo):
This is the new, "next" generation/version of the Microsoft operating system for smartphones.  Unlike Windows mobile 6.x which felt more like a laptop/desktop OS, Windows Phone 8 is all about the smartphone and user-friendliness.

This OS is based on having "live-tiles" (formerly called the metro design) as your main interface where your apps are displayed as squares or rectangles (tiles) and can update themselves as often as you set them to or as they were designed to.

Of course Microsoft first introduced this user interface/concept (Windows Phone 7) in October 2010.  Since then there have been several incremental updates to the original 7.0 release (Mango, Tango) which has now led to it evolving into the bigger, better, "badder" Windows Phone 8.

Now in my opening sentence for this post I mentioned new in quotation marks ("new"), simply because in my mind I do not see Windows Phone 8 as a completely new OS, to me it is what Windows Phone 7 was intended to be from day one - it is the grown up, more mature and business-like version of it's earlier self.

Now Windows 8
This is a brand new OS for tablets, laptops and desktop computers, but it is not a completely new concept either.  This operating systems has borrowed heavily from Windows Phone 7 or 8 (based on how you look at it).  It is all about tiles, live tiles for that matter and although you can get the user interface to bear some resemblance to the earlier Windows versions (like XP, Vista or 7) it was designed to be different, more touch and user friendly and a whole lot more fun.

Unfortunately, unlike it's predecessors, Windows 8 was not designed to be installed on old legacy hardware without compromising its beauty, power and flare.  On laptops for instance, not having a multi-touch trackpad will rob you of experiencing the OS as it should be experienced and though having a touch screen is not a must, it definitely will add to the element of fun and productivity.

NB: I must admit it took me a while to find the shut down button on Windows 8 the first time I used the operating system, but that did not make me love it any less.