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Not speakiing for the GP, but I also kinda like it:
1. I like the visuals more than the glassiness of Vista/7. I'm a fan of bright, bold colors.
2. I like big buttons better than I like lists of things for selecting stuff. Functionally, it still is searchable/filterable so there's not really much of a downside. And the big square buttons are easier to hit with a mouse than little items on a list.
3. I like the way Windows 8 organizes programs better - they seem to be stopping the vendors from creating 9 million folders and icons for everything that you install.

Are these silly short sighted reasons for liking Metro? Yes, of course. But the thing is, the entire controversy against Metro is silly and short sighted. It's a 5 minute install and setup to get the start menu back. For the record, I do think that MS should include this option built in, but everyone's complaints of Metro are completely overblown.

One thing I do NOT like are the hot corners - they are finicky and pop out all the time when I don't want them. they also are confusing with multiple monitor setups.

http://www.classicshell.net/
Should perhaps come standard though.
I install this on all my Windows machines.

Lots of people are too lazy to setup an HTPC.

This is exactly the problem that PCs that ship with SteamOS are intended to fix, by providing a home theater PC in a box.

Lots of people actually like Apple's walled garden

Why? Is it a perception that restrictive developer qualifications are correlated with higher median quality of applications, or is it something else?

or accept that Windows (8) PC as that's the only thing the big name store carries.

That and their pragmatist friends and relatives have told them that Windows 8 can be tamed. Windows Vista too had become acceptable after Mojave (Windows Vista Service Pack 1) shipped.

and when they say "I want to play games in the living room, the LCD response is PS4/XBONE or even the Wii U

So what is the response to "I want to play game X with mod Y in the living room"? For example, third parties have made mods to Oblivion and Skyrim that make the experience much more enjoyable than vanilla versions by nerfing certain annoying mechanics. But the console versions tend not to allow mods to nearly the same extent as PC versions. The only recent console game I'm aware of with thorough mods has been Super Smash Bros. Brawl, and that's because security on the original Wii was cracked so quickly.

Linux/SteamOS will be a more viable option alongside the other platforms, hopefully at least more viable than... the Mac (oh god the pessimist in me is now even more skeptical)

I was under the impression that a port to Linux would make a port to OS X more viable because both Linux and OS X use OpenGL graphics.

(1) Install the start menu.
(2) pretend it's Windows 7
(3) ????
(4) profit

Never go into metro and you'll be fine. With the start menu back (freeware), it's just like win 7 but with a better task manager and access to everything admin-related via the Win-X key combination. I have a new Sony Flip hybrid, and ~90% of the time its practically indistinguishable from my W7 desktop. I usually keep the desktop even when I go tablet (it has a real digitizer pen), but the full-screen pdf reader, Plex media player, and some tablet games (okay, Minion Rush...I admit it) are very good. Seriously...take a day and putter around, delete/hide all the MS crapware tiles and install http://www.classicshell.net/ . After working with it for a month, I kind of wish I had W8 on my desktop, but the actual upgrades aren't worth the effort to reinstall the system from scratch, which takes about 2-3 days with all my workstation applications.

Just install Classic Shell. Integrates perfectly.

You don't have to buy anything. Use Classic Shell instead.

Classic Shell is better and doesn't cost anything: http://www.classicshell.net/

Classic Shell is free and works in Windows 8.1 Preview.

a sortable list of all your apps

A categorisable list.

I suffer from domestic blindness. That means that too much information just becomes a jumble. It's not something I get over, as it's the way my brain works. So one of the first things I do to a new Windows setup is to arrange the start menu into folders of 8-12 items, and nest those folders 2-4 folders deep. That way I can always find what I'm looking for. Sure, other people think it's more complicated, but for me that works.

If Win81 allows me to something of that ilk then good. If not, then for me (and I accept that I might be in a very small minority) a configurable start folder with nested sub folders simply works best.

Thank goodness I can fall back on ClassicShell. But don't be me wrong. When there are new options that work well, I do adopt them.

It's /. so I can be pedantic. If you're running Windows XP 64-bit edition then you probably don't care about games as you're on an Itanium system.

Now, if you're running Windows XP x64 edition then that's a different story. In either case, you're likely used to not having drivers for your system as this has always been the bastard of the XP family and general availability of usable drivers weren't widely available until after Windows 7's release.

Microsoft is killing XP whether you like it or not. This isn't something like GNOME3 where you can take GNOME2 and fork it either so you are screwed regardless of what AMD does. I'm biased as I never did like the Fisher-Price interface but you should have a migration strategy RIGHT NOW. Find out what you need and get to it because the end is near. Move to Windows 7 and run Windows XP mode. (It sort of works on 8 as it's just a VM) You can run something like Classic Shell if it's a UI thing. For that matter, you could just run Linux and make it look like XP. There's even an entire distro designed around that! They even make you pay for the "professional" versions.

In short, get out. Get out now. XP is the Titanic and you should get to a lifeboat pronto.

No, ClassicStart and Start8 have pretty much saved Microsoft's ass on this release. If I were them, I'd be asking for a reward or something...

D'oh, ClassicShell , not ClassicStart. My bad.

It's done. If you want a Start menu, pay $5 to Stardock.

Why pay anybody anything? Classic Shell is free.

Maybe you have a like to a trustworthy one? Downloading random executables to add something the OS manufacturer should have included is a poor substitute.

I'll go ahead and recommend Classic Shell. It's nerd-gasm-ly customizable. It's even worth using on Windows 7, too.

http://www.classicshell.net/

It's called Classic Shell, and the executable parts are free software under the MIT license.

Free is even better.

It's not hard. Which is why free solutions such as Classic Shell exist. It's bizarre that Microsoft continues not to get it even when other people have already gone ahead and implemented what Microsoft failed to provide in the first place: the OPTION to use a "classic" UI or the new one. Not one or the other exclusively, but simply the choice. Hell, I'd even be content if the new-and-improved UI was the default, as long as the choice was there. Microsoft seems to have forgotten important things they already knew from previous versions of Windows: provide a "classic" theme. It's the same mistake they've made with the "ribbon" in Office, which some people like and others do not.

If you want the look & feel of Windows 7, 95, (shudder) Vista, or even 3.1 or something custom you make up, download Classic Shell - http://www.classicshell.net/ - and you will have more control over Windows than you've ever had.

Here's part of it: http://www.classicshell.net/

Classic shell http://www.classicshell.net/ is a free, open-source fix for Windows 8. It brings back the proper windows 7 or windows xp start button and menu. It allows you to boot straight to the desktop so you never see the metro interface, and it can disable all the 'hot-corners' mouse-over elements that might bring you back to the metro stuff. Essentially it allows you to get all the benefits of Windows 8 (faster bootup, great task-manager and improved desktop UI) without any of Microsoft's botched experiments.

I recently bought a Dell touchscreen all-in-one PC, which you'd think would be the ideal platform to use the Metro UI, but in fact I've completely disabled it, firstly because many other people use the computer and I don't want to have to explain to them how to use Windows, but also because the Windows App Store where you buy/download Metro apps is completely useless. I tried to install QQ messenger by clicking the link on the QQ website, and instead of opening the store at that app, it opens on the front page. Searching in the store for QQ brings up no useful results. I was almost tempted to install the Metro version of Skype instead of the desktop one, but the pages and pages of one star reviews convinced me otherwise.

I feel sorry for anyone who bought one of the budget Surface tablets that can only run the Metro UI. Windows 8 is great, once you turn off Metro and the giant start menu.

Every single level? That's a bit over the top. I hit Windows-D to see the standard desktop and suddenly things are more familiar. When I want to launch something that I don't have a link for already on the traditional desktop, I hit windows and start to type the name of the program. It quickly finds it, I hit Enter and it launches. Maybe I'm more keyboard-centric than the average user, but I've found Win8 to be non-issue. If users are simply shown how to get away from the metro interface, it's really not so different.

Yeah...especially if you install Classic Shell*, so you don't have to ever deal with the 'Start Page' at all.

After getting my new laptop, I played around for a couple of hours, honestly trying to give the Windows 8 interface a fair shake. Sheer frustration drove me to find something that would stop Windows 8 from dicking me around, found and installed Classic Shell, and voila! Suddenly Windows 8 is useful, sleek (well, mostly) and intuitive again (as long as you don't want to work with any sort of system settings, that is...). No more jarring, uselessly-full-page-how-the-f$&k-do-I-get-rid-of-this-crap-again-aaagh! accidental mouse clicks, no more need to memorize a ridiculously long list of incredibly non-intuitive keyboard shortcuts just to be able to navigate in the basic interface, I know at a glance what applications are open or minimized and can close them easily, I have (mostly) full control over my screens real estate again, etc.

I don't think that Windows 8 performs better than Windows 7 for the most part, but it's at least comparable (and bearable) with that little bit of outside help. No way would I ever buy a standalone copy of Windows 8 in its current condition, though; it's simply not ready for production yet. If this laptop starts getting goofy, I'll throw Windows 7 on it instead of even trying to piss around restoring 8...

*That's right, forgot to donate to the project! Now where'd I put my PayPal login again? Ahh...there we go. More than worth it!

http://www.classicshell.net/ I recommend this to everyone who's complained to me about Metro. For a bonus it customizes the Start Menu and Explorer. No Windows 8 isn't bad, just the forced mobile GUI was a bad choice. You lost the mobile war M$. Foisting your mobile GUI on desktop users isn't going to increase the love.

Windows 8 isn't that bad.
Just add the start button back.
http://stardock.com/products/start8/ is my fav but does cost $5, http://www.classicshell.net/ is free.
5 more dollars to put all those "apps" back in a window with an icon on the taskbar http://stardock.com/products/modernmix/
And here is a great article for switching default apps back, getting rid of the swipe screen, etc.http://reviews.cnet.co.uk/software-and-web-apps/how-to-make-windows-8-look-like-windows-7-50009546/
Tell people you are a Consultant and you can charge them to do this stuff for them.
And just when you think you've charged everyone money for fixing what Microsoft broke, Microsoft will do you a solid and sell them all something else they hate and will pay you to "make work like it used to."
Oh and if you think Microsoft is desperate and just burning money to be like Apple, you're right. They are offering a $100 an app for up to 15 apps for college students to write pretty much anything and fill their apps store with crap for Win8. Google for one of their App Camps and make yourself some quick cash.

> the Search charm in Windows 8 are infinitely superior to the Start Menu navigation or the Start Menu search in Windows 7.

I find that classic shell does a better job of searching for what I want, than the Windows 8 (or Windows 7) search.

http://www.classicshell.net/

Oh quit the whining already!

Get Windows 8, install ClassicShell from http://www.classicshell.net/ and you're set. You've got your Start button back along with the menu and you log in straight to the desktop instead of the Metro interface. From now on it works just like Windows 7.

And about moving options around, just how often do you really change those? If all you do all day is change your prefs, then yes - Windows 8 is not for you. If OTOH you just configure the OS once and forget about it, than finding the settings is not such a big issue, even if they are moved to some other place.

I'm loathe to admit this, but Windows 8 + classic shell isn't terribly bad.

So, what you're really saying is that Windows 8 minus Windows 8 isn't terribly bad? Is this like reading Garfield Minus Garfield?

I'm loathe to admit this, but Windows 8 + classic shell isn't terribly bad.

You certainly cannot do this but waste half of your life trying to undo the metro system and have to do some registry changes and even that does not work to get rid of the offending system. There was a report on slashdot about M$ blaming manufacturers about the failure of Windows 8.

Here are some links below that will help you out;

http://www.classicshell.net/

http://windowssecrets.com/forums/showthread.php/149299-Method-to-hide-the-Charms-Bar

But that only helps so far as the damn thing does keep on appearing the only thing you can do after booting up is to run the metro killer

http://www.softpedia.com/get/Tweak/System-Tweak/Metro-Killer.shtml

The metro system is that intrusive that one might want to think about downgrading and you can get help with that from;

http://forums.mydigitallife.info/threads/36726-UpDown8-Windows-8-Upgrade-Downgrade-Helper

hope that helps and if all else fails just get hirens boot cd; reformat and start over from scratch

Official untouched links to windows iso's Digital River here http://www.mydigitallife.info/download-windows-7-iso-official-32-bit-and-64-bit-direct-download-links

Have a look again, because it's there - as an option.

I'd pick Win7 over Win8 any time. Hopefully Win9 will bring back much of Win7, including an upgrade/migration path from Win7 (are you listening, MS?).

I'm trying to get this information out there: Microsoft told me they are not selling Windows 7 anymore to consumers. Period. End of story. Anything you see right now (like a retail copy of Windows 7) is simply overstock by that store. Very shortly, consumers really will have no choice but to get Windows 8. To grandparent: As others have said, install classic shell: http://www.classicshell.net/. I have been using Windows 8 for several weeks on my main computer and it is so much better with it. Among many great things it does is gets rid of the charm stuff unless you specifically want to go back there. You choose to go there, not the computer.

If you absolutely hate Metro you can download tools to can it and give yourself a reasonable replacement Start Menu, though the best ones cost money.

What are you talking about? Classic shellis free.

http://www.classicshell.net/

Windows 8 is fine, its pretty fast, and with one simple third party UI extension is actually usable.

Yup Classic Shell is the ticket. I've been using it for most of my clients now and nobody's missed Metro even a little bit. Now if we could just get an Office 2013 color scheme that doesn't make your eyes bleed...

http://www.classicshell.net/

Windows 8 is fine, its pretty fast, and with one simple third party UI extension is actually usable.