Honestly: This is one reason I’m not drawn to boot into 8 each morning (and I have dual boot on the system I’m doing my main work on). I recall once I put 7 beta on a box back in summer 2009, I just kept using it and then figuring out to fund it for all my systems when it came out…not my experience with 8 at all….while “light” and poratable device users may appreciate the simplicity, those with many applications and utilities they are in and out of all day long will not want a tile for every installed program…they’ll have to scroll way too much just to get to the one(s) they need, even when you try to arrange the most used ones closest to the main screen.

I know it’s not 1995 anymore (actually, the statement should have been 1984, but I digress), much of the windowed layout has been time tested, and works. Remember, the Dvorak keyboard never replaced the QWERTY one, even if QWERTY was designed specifically to be the least efficient to prevent typewriter keys from jamming….

Going to be a boom to tablet surface users, for sure, but I’m predicting the corporate world will stand back, not wanting to have to retrain millions of people all at once….just to replace XP on all those desktops without touch screens. Son of Vista, but not because of security? We’ll see….

mashable.com

When Microsoft users launch Windows 8 this fall, they’ll notice getting started with the OS may not be as familiar. The ever-present Start button, a Windows staple since 1995, is going the way of the dodo.

In a report for industry site PC Pro, Microsoft executives reveal that Windows users have already largely abandoned the Start button. An increasing number rely more on pinning favorite apps to their taskbar or simply using keyboard shortcuts to access frequently used applications. As a result, Microsoft will now present a tiled Start screen as part of the new Metro interface.
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