0 Windows 8: how I plan to get my life back

There's a few things I need to get off my chest; its hard to talk about, and I'm sure you'll all give me with the help and support I need. Here it goes.

Hello, my name's Rebecca, and I'm addicted to Apple.

I know, I know, its shameful. I use iTunes, I lust after the iMac, and thanks to my iPhone I can't remember the last time I made eye contact (or, as I like to call it, iContact) during a social outing.

It is important to point out that this isn't my fault; my dad bought my mum an iPhone for Christmas in 2010. They went out to register it, and my own phone mysteriously stopped working. They came back and handed me the iPhone with the words, "This is yours now". I had no choice! My phone number was transferred without my permission, and I got no say in whether or not I actually wanted it. For the record - I didn't. I didn't like the limitations imposed on iTunes users, the incompatibility with the Windows OS I had been raised on, and the sheer pretentiousness of every person who owned an iPhone.

Suddenly, I was one of them. I went from begrudgingly using this phone as a temporary measure, to the type of idiot who says 'there's an app for that' with no irony. I was hooked, I am hooked, and it's damaging. I can't hold a conversation without simultaneously checking all my social network feeds. I have over 100 apps on my phone, and probably use about ten of them.

This only really struck me as a problem when I considered getting an iPad. My mum has one but rarely uses it, and she's threatened to let me have it a couple of times; so I started thinking - what do I actually want it for? Ideally, I'd like to type stuff up on it, but also use it as a digital portfolio of my work. I want to be able to use Wikipedia, the internet, and maybe listen to music. I considered these points in line with the iPad, and found myself looking at £800 of stuff I didn't really need. I don't want to play games or have loads of pointless little distracting apps. You can't really type on the either. Touch-screen keyboards are a thing of evil, and my chubby little fingers can't deal with them. I don't have an apple computer either, so I wouldn't be able to use the same file formats.

After weeks of research I think I've settled on the Eee Transformer Prime, which despite sounding like its going to save the world from the Decepticons is actually a very clever piece of tech indeed. It's a touch-screen tab, but it comes with Android or Windows 7 a an OS. Oh, it also does this other thing, where it docks into an external keyboard. I could have both! A tablet I can show all my work on, and a fancy little notebook for typing. Wow.

However I also noticed a couple of articles about Windows 8, almost all of which were quick to point out the improvements for the tablet OS. Windows 7 looks and acts almost exactly the same on a tablet as it does on a computer which is a problem if you're working on a 12 inch screen. It doesn't match the fluidity of the iPad's OS, which I think is why people always go for them. You don't want the same system as a desktop, or you might as well just buy a net-book instead. Windows 8 will base its tab OS off Metro, the system currently used for Windows phones. It looks smooth, clever, pretty, and above all, its very much Windows.

I've always used Windows, and I miss it. I like being able to switch out my video card for a better one without having to buy a whole new machine or send it back to the retailer for a few weeks. I'm enticed by the possibility of my tab or even my phone being created by people who embrace home upgrades. Ultimately, I plan to phase out both iTunes and my iPhone, and replace them with Windows products.

My only challenge now, is holding out until the Windows 8 tabs are released; they're slated for Q3 of this year, some time around June, but I think it'll be more likely they release in Q4 with just enough run up time to Christmas.