Listen.
I don't work and play with computers much these days.
I started in DOS and worked in the computer industry for many years and I have a lot of respect for all of your opinions and understand why you feel negatively towards the new interface.
I also work in an office environment with many older less computer savvy people, some who can't even figure out how to zoom in on a Powerpoint presentation.
The bottom line is, these touch style interfaces are the future.
One thing I've learned from working in a large corporation is, sometimes, a good solution now is better than a perfect solution later.
This is why MS does some of these things.
Think about what's important here.
To me, if the new interface is intuitive, it will be adequate. To me, where MS fails in these progressions is to create "smooth" environments. A pretty interface that isn't too complex and has plenty of functionality will eventually succeed if it's not slow/clunky and doesn't require a quad core with tons of RAM and dual 3D cards to run.
Many of you are gamers and computer gurus.
In the end, I feel, most would trade off the old interfaces for performance.
If Windows 8 will not "feel" bloated, slow and clunky... who cares?
Apple wins most often because it "feels" smooth and fast.
The point of the metro UI is to unite a common "feel" across MS platforms.
Consider Xbox 360 alone:
January 2012 CES: MS claims 66 million Xbox 360's sold worldwide (18 million Kinects)
The world's population is around 7 billion.
If you divided that by 5 (assuming 5 per household) That's 1.4 billion households. Xbox 360 is in 5% of the worlds' homes.
If you've used one lately, the dashboard is much closer to the look and feel of this metro style UI.
If they get Xbox, Windows PCs, tablets and phones all using a similar style interface.. it becomes united across platforms.
Even as successful as Apple is, and while their iPads,iPods,and iPhones are unified... they still offer a different experience on their PCs and Apple TVs... both of which do not even come close to holding a candle of market penetration versus Windows.. even if you're looking at people still running XP..
I work for one of the largest companies in the world.. we're currently upgrading to windows 7.. many, including myself have already been running Windows 7 for months.
Consider that, this is a smart move for Microsoft.. it's bold, but smart.
Trust me, when Windows 3.1 was king and MS was about to release Windows 95... SO MANY people complained and said it was unnecessary to switch to 32-bit, and the interface would never work... blah blah blah..
Touch screens are the future..
Motion input and voice input are the future..
You're denying the inevitable and restricting innovation by b1tching about it..
If you have ideas for improvements, become a MS developer/tester, submit your ideas, etc.
This is a huge time for MS because the landscape of computing is changing..
They gave you the ability to switch to a classic UI, take that as good enough and stop b1tching about the Metro UI..
I'm sure 99% of you never shut your PC off and likely reboot once every 6 months-1 year.. so, you boot up once, press "Windows key-" and you're there if that's where ya want to be...
Microsoft is attempting to innovate again because the competition finally offers competitive products once again, so, let them do their thing.
People like you, and me, are the ones average Joe's come to for computer advice and this is a necessary evil.. Our opinions will make or break OS's and these people NEED dumbed down UI's... not because they are stupid people, because they are convenient. Don't worry... as soon as they get spywared up, they'll call you and throw you some ca$he to clean up their box, then you can drop back to the classic UI and hook them up..
In the interim, as your attorney, I advise you to go talk to girls.. they're mad at you right now for playing games instead of noticing that amazing work they did to get prettied up knowing they want you to undo all that work in the backseat of her Dad's pickup truck while he's sleeping.
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