[citation][nom]velocityg4[/nom]Really I think to most people the lack of a Start Menu means very little. The average user when they want a program closes open window then open the program or file they wanted and do the same thing every time they want to change a program. Because they have absolutely no idea what is going on with a computer. The only way they can get to anywhere on the computer is from the same blank slate of a desktop. They can't switch between windows let alone a start button.If the screen does not look exactly as they expect it to they can't do anything on the computer. Without at least a great deal of effort.The much bigger deal is booting to Metro. For the average computer user. They will have absolutely no idea as to what to do. They will be completely lost and not be able to do anything until someone shows them a procedure of screens and clicks to memorize.Which is something I think people that understand technology don't get when dealing with most users. They don't understand how anything is working. All they know is the procedure they memorized. Then they can work in a very limited scope outside of what was memorized. Which is why I don't understand what Microsoft hoped to accomplish with Windows 8 and alienate a great deal of customers. Whom now may look at Mac OS X since they have to relearn everything anyways. It won't be Linux even the easiest Linux is far too complex for the average user.[/citation]
tl;dr warning for the less patient readers.
The simplest Linux Distros are easier than Windows and OSX for installing and for using. Linux's problem is that it can be more difficult to get some Windows programs to work on it for the average user (and even many above-average users who aren't familiar with Linux), not difficulty with which to use for basic things, especially since most popular distros such as Ubuntu come with most of the software that the average user and even most others could ever need as well as a very easy to use repository for pretty much everything else.
Furthermore, any average user who doesn't see the IE button and such for a few other basic programs in the Metro screen is pitiable. Not seeing the desktop button is almost as bad. I've had some family members (most of which are average or even below average users, some of which were little kids) give Windows 8 a try (not on their own computers, just on a test VM on my laptop) and none of them have had any trouble with Windows 8 nor Ubuntu, Mint, and a few other Linux distros.
Even some more basic distros such as Tinycore are fine to use for most people after either installing some basic programs such as office apps and a web browser and most people have no trouble using even it's extremely basic but large repository for programs so long as they know what to look for (IE, looking for Firefox and know that it's called Firefox).
I'll never understand how any supposedly computer-savvy programmers and such have so much trouble with any common Linux distro or Windows 8 when even the least computer literate people whom I know to be hardly capable of opening a web browser and browsing the web can do it in less than a minute or two without even needing any help. I can understand somethings such has difficulty shutting Windows 8 down without knowing where to look, but taking long periods of time and still not figuring it out or at least just looking it up is laughable. I'm a little sorry if that offends anyone, but I just don't get how it can be considered difficult.
Also, I even less understand how people could think that anyone will turn to OSX over this... Windows 7 is still an OS commonly seen in prebuilt systems and even then, as someone who has experience with several recent versions, I don't see how anyone could say that it's any easier to use. It's no more difficult for the most part, but it's most certainly not any easier except for a few things that are easily rectified (IE I like some of the shortcuts such as how it does screen shots with functionality that I thought I'd need third party stuff to do).
Really now, let's look at Windows 8... Sure, the full-screen aspects of Metro can be annoying, but what does it lack in functionality that the start menu has (well, at least that is commonly used and not present in the sidebar)? What I see as the main complaints, application launching and searching, are no more difficult than with the start menus are previous systems. Just type like you did with the start menu and the search dialogue appears and any application that isn't in the main menu is right in the "all applications" tab.
Also, what do you think is difficult about Linux? With Ubuntu, anyone who can pop a disk in a DVD reader and boot from it can install it because the installer is extremely simple and literally walks you through it, arguably better than even the Windows 8 installer (it's a little less complicated) and launching most programs that average users would use such as a web browser (usually Firefox by default, but sometimes Chrome and more rarely, another browser in my experience) are incredibly easy to use.
Now I'm not a fan of Ubuntu's new interface, but you don't even need to use it and you can simply use the arguably even better Linux Mint instead anyway. What's so difficult about quite literally popping a DVD in a DVD reader (assuming that you have one) and letting it mostly install itself without need for user input other than what to do (install in dual-boot with Windows, install by itself, boot but don't install, etc, also the installer clearly explains what each option is IIRC) and stuff such as user name and password? What's so difficult about just clicking on the Firefox icon (assuming that it defaults to Firefox)?
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