Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

Change does not always equal improvement. Enough has been said about the bipolar personality of this OS, so to each their own. The bottom line is: there is absolutely no reason that MS had to strip out the Start Menu and not allow you to boot directly into the desktop mode. Zip, zero nada! And there would have been far less negative reviews. But the reason the Metro Start screen is baked into Windows 8 and Microsoft itself doesn't let you bypass it is that it is trying to turn all Windows developers into Windows tablet developers. Making Metro an integral part of Windows 8 is an attempt to force all Windows developers into writing apps that are suitable for mobile devices even if those apps and their UI conventions are unsuitable for the desktop (all Metro apps are full screen on my 2560x1600 30" monitor - really?). This is a cynical play where they are deliberately degrading the desktop experience for what the company perceives is the future. All their quadrillion hours of testing, data mining and user experience feedback must have clued them in that Windows 8 was appreciably worse for the vast majority of non-touch users, yet they went ahead with the changes anyway because taking care of the Windows user lost out to future mobile hegemony. I'm personally not going to voluntarily degrade my computer experience so Microsoft can take a shortcut to making its tablet and phone ecosystem more attractive. There is a reason why the Egg recently had this on promo for $39.95. I object to Microsoft deliberately making Windows worse for many existing users to suit a corporate goal that's irrelevant to my needs as a desktop OS user. I would have thought making your product better for ALL its users would have been the way to attract customer loyalty and developer interest, but I guess this is old-fashioned thinking unsuitable for the brave new world of Windows 8 courtesy of Ballmer and Sinofsky. Actually, I take that back - using your monopoly position in the OS market to leverage your way into another market is an old routine from the Microsoft playbook.