"But the Volt delivers on few if any of the original promises and is disappointing in so many ways it's hard to know where to start"
You say this, but I see no evidence. I hear this, but I haven't seen any convincing arugment that this is so. So please, find a way to start and explain HOW, because to me, it seems to be exactly what it always claimed to be: A gasoline extended range electric vehicle (completely unlike the "hybrid" cars that went before, notably the honda). It's a plug in, and can go quite a while on electric-only before the gas engine kicks in, and you can fill up at gas stations for long trips.
Everyone I've heard from that actually owns one, likes it. The only trashing I hear is from people who don't own one, which carries a lot less weight with me (especially when they tend to bash American cars in general).
And yet you've not cited a single fact to refute my position.
Note I separated out the start button from the start menu issue. The lack of a start button itself is a complete non-issue, and to throw a huge hissy-fit about it is pretty idiotic.
Again, none of your posts have had any substance beyond name-calling.
Meanwhile, calm, sane, rational people with brains who actually decide to use them realize that new Win8 hardware (especially tablet formfactors) will have a hard-ware start button... just like the iPhone, iPad, iOS and Android. So the elimination of the software button from the taskbar makes perfect sense. Never mind the fact that there are half-a-dozen ways to get to the start screen without it, including one that requires almost no changes to your muscle memory. And even old desktop machines haev a hardware button, right there on the keyboard. The "Windows" key.
So I still have no idea what you're actually ranting about, or why you feel compelled to spew obscene epithets at me like that.
Sorry, but the start button is completely redundant. How many different ways do you need to access the launching functionality?
You can move your mouse to ANY of the four corners to get to the new "start button" (lower-left-and-click, upper-left-drag-down-to-bottom-and-click, upper-right or lower-right and drag-to-middle-and-click). Or you can hit the windows key. OR, you can grab the top edge of whatever app you're in, and drag it to the bottom of the screen.
Why do you need ANOTHER way to invoke the same functionality?
So yes, this has nothing to do with fanboyism, and everything to do with being an idiot. In your case, an irrational name-calling idiot.
If anything, I think Windows 8 will be more deterministic.
Sure, the Start Screen is customizable... you will NEVER be able to say things like "click on the second tile from the top in the second group".
But with search, you CAN say things like "press the windows key, now type "XYX", and click on the top icon". Because search is woven all through, and works well. Or you can direct them to the "All Apps" list, which isn't customizable, and is therefore predictable.
I think you won't hate Win8 as much as you think you will. Though there is a learning curve up front ("Where did the start button go?" being a prime example).
Yeah, me too. Though it took more like an hour to really get comfortable with the new way of navigating around (metro vs. desktop, task switching around, getting used to not "closing" metro apps, etc).
There are still some rough edges to smooth out in the Desktop experiences, imho. But it's nowhere near as bad as so many are claiming.
It takes a bit of time to wrap your head around the new system, but if you actually make the effort to use Windows 8 as Windows 8, instead of trying to use it as if it were Windows 7... it actually makes sense and works well.
There are still a few rough edges, especially for mouse/keyboard users, but there's nothing like the world-ending disaster and gnashing of teeth that some people are making it out to be.
People screaming about the start button are, imho, idiots. People screaming about the start menu have a few minor points that are valid, but for the most part they're not interested in even trying to get used to the new system, and then make constructive criticisms about specific use-cases and work-flows that have degraded under Win8.
Of course, third parties will be there for the utterly change-resistant, giving them their beloved start button and start menu (several varieties it looks like, from old-style, to a new 'metro-ized' version).
So it's really a huge tempest in a teapot, as far as I can see.
The experience on the Developer Preview is a world away from the experience on the Consumer Preview. The Developer Preview UI wasn't finished at all.
And the "hot corners" are turned off in full-screen desktop apps. You have to exit full screen, or switch away with alt-tab, to get your hot corners back. They do this precisely to avoid the issues you've mentioned.
And the Start Screen tiles are there for you to manage (actually a regression to old XP days): Just remove any tiles you don't want there. There's still the "All Apps" section to find any tile you want. It's a pain to customize the Start Screen to be efficient to the way you work, but it's really a one time thing (and then a little maintenance after every new app you install).
So I've found the start menu almost unnecessry, and the new system to be pretty fast and fluid, whether using keyboard only, mouse only, trackpad, or any combination of the above.
The only thing I really miss is a "Recently used Apps" section on the start menu (that would be nice), and the jump lists of most recent documents on the start screen (used to be on the start menu... now I just pin apps where I want jump lists to the task bar and that works).
I'm not a GM employee. I honestly think it's superior in a great many ways... it'll drive significantly longer on electric-only as just a start, and most Prii aren't plug-in (the new one that is isn't available in my area yet, but the Volt is).
So your answer is to own TWO cars, while claiming the Volt is too expensive and nothing but compromise? Talk about paying a premium. Sorry, I don't want to pay for two cars, when I can pay for one.
Sorry, read the AC reply above you. I think it's a pretty good rebuttal to your claims.
But with the leaf, you range is 80 miles PERIOD. If you get caught out and run out of charge, you're screwed. if you want to take a road-trip that is longer, you're screwed.
The Volt is no-compromise. Drive just like any other car, without worries. Go any distance. Refuel anywhere you need to (gas or electric).
That peace of mind and freedom of movement and convenience is definitely worth a premium over something like a Leaf, which has a very limited practical use.
With the Ribbon, they were fixing the problem that they were constantly and consistently getting feature-requests for features that were already in the product.
The control panel really only changed once (in Vista), and in Win7 includes useful search. Once you actually stop clinging to the old (I did for a while) I find the new organization much better and easier to use. It takes me much less time to find the control panel applet I want in Win7 now, compared to the mess of icons in XP.
Keyboards: Every company is guilty of this. And yes, it's annoying.
In Win7, the networking and wireless controls are pretty much on the surface... so I'm not really sure what you're talking about here. If you're talking about digging down into the guts, that was buried in XP too, but since Win7 I've almost never had to go there.
And I'll just say that I've experienced what you feel enough times, and then ultimately have been proven wrong, that I tend to not jump to conclusions any more. What initially seems like "no performance gain" actually ends up being one once I stop fighting it, a LOT of the time. The thing is, sometimes it takes a mental shift, using a different model or way of thinking about the task, to gain the advantage, but ultimately the advantage makes it worth it.
Take The Ribbon. Oh god, I hated it so much, just as you do now. Then someone sat down with me and pointed out half a dozen things... basically "things to know" rather than specific tasks or controls... and suddenly my perspective changed a lot. Like realizing how holding down ALT showed the hot-keys to get to anything you wanted from the keyboard, explaining the Orb/back-stage area and how to find "options", how to customize, etc. Now I find the ribbon to be just fine. Still a few annoyances, but no more so than the annoyances I had with the old menus. I'm pretty productive with it now.
As for Win8 (back on the topic), you can still do MOST of what you do the same way as you've always done. The Start Screen is jarring at first (less so in Consumer Preview than Developer Preview), but for the most part you can ignore Metro if you want to. The only thing that still rankles is when you're going some where and when done, you're dumped back at the Start Screen instead of back at the Desktop. And some areas are missing some obvious hot-key support (like Escape and Backspace). Hopefully that stuff will get ironed out.
Look, it's clear MS is going this direction. You can spit into the wind, or you can accept that, and just try to give CONSTRUCTIVE feedback, with specific user scenarios, and ideas on how to make your workflow better. I tend to choose the latter these days.
There are a lot of ignorant posts on this article. I'm not meaning that to be insulting, just pointing out that a lot of the ranting is coming from a place of not really understading or knowing what's going on.
So I want to provide a link to anyone who is genuinely curious (rather than just being a knee-jerk basher or a person whose opinions are calcified and unlikely to change). It contains two videos.
The first video is just the 8 minute marketing video. But it shows things that answer a lot of the criticisms and questions leveled in a lot of these posts. So for less than 10 minutes of your time, you can learn and understand more than you do now. The second half deals with Windows 8 on laptops without touch.
The second video is the full 90 minute presentation from Barcelona at the announcement of the Win8 Consumer Preview.
From minute 23 to about 40, they cover desktop and non-touch scenarios. LOTS of interesting stuff there. And then there's even more at the end, when they show Windows 8 running on all sorts of hardware, including big game-rigs and beefy server class machines. I think the last ten or so minutes is really interesting.
If you really want to inform yourself, watching these videos is a good start:
If all you've seen is the Developer Preview, then you haven't really seen the User Experience... and assumptions you may have about how things work, about work-flow, about mouse and keyboard support, are just not true.
Someone in the technology world bragging that they use an interface nearly 20 years old because they're incapable (and unwilling) to learn and adapt to something new is... ironic, sad, and rather pathetic.
The Start Menu in Win7 wasnt' at all "messed up". It was a change. I was put off at first, but I started using it, and it was MUCH better than XP's. By a lot. All that micromanaging I used to have to do to keep the XP Start Menu looking like I wanted was gone. It freed me to do more work and less futzing.
Interestingly, the new Start Menu in Win8 goes back to letting you (making you?) micro-manage it the way you did in XP. So perhaps you'll actually like it more.:-P
(Of course, that would require you giving it a chance with an open mind, being willing to let go of old habits and learn new concepts and new ways of approaching tasks... which you've already insisted you Will. Not. Do.... So never mind)
You don't "LIKE" the interface of XP so much as that's what you're USED TO.
Win7 is vastly superior to XP in just about every way. But people confuse being "used to" something with that something being "better". They refuse to take the few hours to sit down and learn the new system... their minds (like yours) are closed to change, even if the change is ultimately better.
It's fascianting that the more "computer savvy" people like you (being sick of all those noobs, after all), are vastly more resistant to change than the average person. You're locked into what you learned first, and refuse to step out of your comfort zone even if the result would be something that is ultimately better (once you unlearn your old habits and discover new ones).
It's ironic, and kind of pathetic. Because the only constant in the universe (especially the universe of technology), is change.
It takes a few hours to learn any new system. You're being ridiculous. Much of it is pretty intuitive once you learn a few basic principles. This is no different than Win7, WinXP, Win95, OS X, the original MacOS, iOS, etc.
The problem is, you have to "unlearn" what you THINK you know (which no longer applies). This is standard in learning any new system. Your resistence to this basic fact is... weird (but all too common).
You can use the Win8 UI with the keyboard only. And with the mouse/keyboard combination. Or with touch.
You don't NEED touch. You don't NEED the mouse. They just give you some extra abilities and short-cuts.
And with the "share" charm, you can send almost anything directly to someone from within that app... much like you want. And the "Metro" design language is very text based.
You're aware you can configure the Start Screen the way you want, right?
You can specify large or small icons (rectangular or square), you can group them in your own defined and named groups, order them in the order you want, you can remove any tiles you don't want, and you can even turn off live updates completely so you don't get all those real-time status updates.
The Start Screen is really just a replacement for the old Start Menu, and you can use it in the saem way. You can pin anything you want on it... documents, apps, folders, control panel applets, and even link deeply into metro apps.
If you prefer to stay in Desktop, you can stay there most of the time... the Start Screen becomes nothing more than your launcher of less-used apps: the most used apps would presumably be pinned to your taskbar.
And Desktop has some powerful new features that shows MS is deifnitely aring about professional users: new mutli-monitor support for the taskbar and desktop wallpapers (extend either across multiple monitors, or replacte them on all monitors), vastly more powerful Task Manager, much better Windows Explorer (with integrated SkyDrive and *.iso mounting/burning support), better file management (copying, conflict resolution, and more), native USB 3.0 support, better network support (especially for laptops that roam around), better mouse support, more keyboard short-cuts, built in Hyper-V support, new virtual dynamic Storage Spaces for managing lots of disk-space, syncing across devices (keep settings and data synced between PC and laptop for example), and more.
The Windows 8 start screen takes a change of mind-set, and a little getting used to, but it is definitely not "god awful".
Well, in Windows 7, you had Win+0 through Win+9 to instantly launch apps based on their position on the task bar. nowehre near 20 (or 46), but still it's fast. Win8 keeps these short-cuts, by the way. And you can Windows key (to start menu), and then arrow and enter, to launch apps on the start screen. Again, more keystrokes, but they won't change on you once you arrange the start screen the way you want it.
One of the BEST things about Windows 8? They fixed this update nightmare.
Reboot updates will only be pushed once a month, on a specific day (First Tuesday, I believe?), and there will be a notification on the login screen for THREE DAYS prior to it doing anything automatically, to all you to apply them at your desired time and at your leisure. No more "nagging" with pop-ups or "10 minutes".
In fact, the OS has a whole lost less "nagging" in general.
They did an entire lengthy post on this new update system and how it works over on the "Building Windows 8 Blog" (google it).
Slashdot Mirror
It's not immediately obvious to everyone because it is not, by any factual account or logical reasoning, true.
Listening to this guy describe how he would change the first prequel is really interesting... it would actually make for a pretty decent movie.
I'd love see his take on the subsequent two movies.
This 12 minute video is totally worth your time:
http://www.gizmodo.com.au/2012/02/how-to-fix-the-phantom-menace-in-12-minutes/
Which doesn't change the fact that people complaining about the start BUTTON (as opposed to start MENU), are still, imho, idiots.
Clearly you have an opinion, or you wouldn't have bothered replying or hurling your first "fuck you" at me (completey unwarranted).
"But the Volt delivers on few if any of the original promises and is disappointing in so many ways it's hard to know where to start"
You say this, but I see no evidence. I hear this, but I haven't seen any convincing arugment that this is so. So please, find a way to start and explain HOW, because to me, it seems to be exactly what it always claimed to be: A gasoline extended range electric vehicle (completely unlike the "hybrid" cars that went before, notably the honda). It's a plug in, and can go quite a while on electric-only before the gas engine kicks in, and you can fill up at gas stations for long trips.
Everyone I've heard from that actually owns one, likes it. The only trashing I hear is from people who don't own one, which carries a lot less weight with me (especially when they tend to bash American cars in general).
And yet you've not cited a single fact to refute my position.
Note I separated out the start button from the start menu issue. The lack of a start button itself is a complete non-issue, and to throw a huge hissy-fit about it is pretty idiotic.
Again, none of your posts have had any substance beyond name-calling.
Meanwhile, calm, sane, rational people with brains who actually decide to use them realize that new Win8 hardware (especially tablet formfactors) will have a hard-ware start button ... just like the iPhone, iPad, iOS and Android. So the elimination of the software button from the taskbar makes perfect sense. Never mind the fact that there are half-a-dozen ways to get to the start screen without it, including one that requires almost no changes to your muscle memory. And even old desktop machines haev a hardware button, right there on the keyboard. The "Windows" key.
So I still have no idea what you're actually ranting about, or why you feel compelled to spew obscene epithets at me like that.
Sorry, but the start button is completely redundant. How many different ways do you need to access the launching functionality?
You can move your mouse to ANY of the four corners to get to the new "start button" (lower-left-and-click, upper-left-drag-down-to-bottom-and-click, upper-right or lower-right and drag-to-middle-and-click). Or you can hit the windows key. OR, you can grab the top edge of whatever app you're in, and drag it to the bottom of the screen.
Why do you need ANOTHER way to invoke the same functionality?
So yes, this has nothing to do with fanboyism, and everything to do with being an idiot. In your case, an irrational name-calling idiot.
If anything, I think Windows 8 will be more deterministic.
Sure, the Start Screen is customizable... you will NEVER be able to say things like "click on the second tile from the top in the second group".
But with search, you CAN say things like "press the windows key, now type "XYX", and click on the top icon". Because search is woven all through, and works well. Or you can direct them to the "All Apps" list, which isn't customizable, and is therefore predictable.
I think you won't hate Win8 as much as you think you will. Though there is a learning curve up front ("Where did the start button go?" being a prime example).
Yeah, me too. Though it took more like an hour to really get comfortable with the new way of navigating around (metro vs. desktop, task switching around, getting used to not "closing" metro apps, etc).
There are still some rough edges to smooth out in the Desktop experiences, imho. But it's nowhere near as bad as so many are claiming.
It takes a bit of time to wrap your head around the new system, but if you actually make the effort to use Windows 8 as Windows 8, instead of trying to use it as if it were Windows 7... it actually makes sense and works well.
There are still a few rough edges, especially for mouse/keyboard users, but there's nothing like the world-ending disaster and gnashing of teeth that some people are making it out to be.
People screaming about the start button are, imho, idiots. People screaming about the start menu have a few minor points that are valid, but for the most part they're not interested in even trying to get used to the new system, and then make constructive criticisms about specific use-cases and work-flows that have degraded under Win8.
Of course, third parties will be there for the utterly change-resistant, giving them their beloved start button and start menu (several varieties it looks like, from old-style, to a new 'metro-ized' version).
So it's really a huge tempest in a teapot, as far as I can see.
The experience on the Developer Preview is a world away from the experience on the Consumer Preview. The Developer Preview UI wasn't finished at all.
And the "hot corners" are turned off in full-screen desktop apps. You have to exit full screen, or switch away with alt-tab, to get your hot corners back. They do this precisely to avoid the issues you've mentioned.
And the Start Screen tiles are there for you to manage (actually a regression to old XP days): Just remove any tiles you don't want there. There's still the "All Apps" section to find any tile you want. It's a pain to customize the Start Screen to be efficient to the way you work, but it's really a one time thing (and then a little maintenance after every new app you install).
So I've found the start menu almost unnecessry, and the new system to be pretty fast and fluid, whether using keyboard only, mouse only, trackpad, or any combination of the above.
The only thing I really miss is a "Recently used Apps" section on the start menu (that would be nice), and the jump lists of most recent documents on the start screen (used to be on the start menu... now I just pin apps where I want jump lists to the task bar and that works).
I'm not a GM employee. I honestly think it's superior in a great many ways... it'll drive significantly longer on electric-only as just a start, and most Prii aren't plug-in (the new one that is isn't available in my area yet, but the Volt is).
So your answer is to own TWO cars, while claiming the Volt is too expensive and nothing but compromise? Talk about paying a premium. Sorry, I don't want to pay for two cars, when I can pay for one.
Sorry, read the AC reply above you. I think it's a pretty good rebuttal to your claims.
But with the leaf, you range is 80 miles PERIOD. If you get caught out and run out of charge, you're screwed. if you want to take a road-trip that is longer, you're screwed.
The Volt is no-compromise. Drive just like any other car, without worries. Go any distance. Refuel anywhere you need to (gas or electric).
That peace of mind and freedom of movement and convenience is definitely worth a premium over something like a Leaf, which has a very limited practical use.
I'm not sure I undestand the lack of demand, to be honest... unless it's purely about price.
With the Prius selling like hotcakes, why wouldn't the Volt sell? It's a superior product, made in USA, and only a bit more expensive...
I'm fully intending to buy one as my next car in fact. I'm due to buy in a couple of years, so I sure hope things pick up for the Volt.
They ARE fixing things that broke.
With the Ribbon, they were fixing the problem that they were constantly and consistently getting feature-requests for features that were already in the product.
The control panel really only changed once (in Vista), and in Win7 includes useful search. Once you actually stop clinging to the old (I did for a while) I find the new organization much better and easier to use. It takes me much less time to find the control panel applet I want in Win7 now, compared to the mess of icons in XP.
Keyboards: Every company is guilty of this. And yes, it's annoying.
In Win7, the networking and wireless controls are pretty much on the surface... so I'm not really sure what you're talking about here. If you're talking about digging down into the guts, that was buried in XP too, but since Win7 I've almost never had to go there.
And I'll just say that I've experienced what you feel enough times, and then ultimately have been proven wrong, that I tend to not jump to conclusions any more. What initially seems like "no performance gain" actually ends up being one once I stop fighting it, a LOT of the time. The thing is, sometimes it takes a mental shift, using a different model or way of thinking about the task, to gain the advantage, but ultimately the advantage makes it worth it.
Take The Ribbon. Oh god, I hated it so much, just as you do now. Then someone sat down with me and pointed out half a dozen things... basically "things to know" rather than specific tasks or controls... and suddenly my perspective changed a lot. Like realizing how holding down ALT showed the hot-keys to get to anything you wanted from the keyboard, explaining the Orb/back-stage area and how to find "options", how to customize, etc. Now I find the ribbon to be just fine. Still a few annoyances, but no more so than the annoyances I had with the old menus. I'm pretty productive with it now.
As for Win8 (back on the topic), you can still do MOST of what you do the same way as you've always done. The Start Screen is jarring at first (less so in Consumer Preview than Developer Preview), but for the most part you can ignore Metro if you want to. The only thing that still rankles is when you're going some where and when done, you're dumped back at the Start Screen instead of back at the Desktop. And some areas are missing some obvious hot-key support (like Escape and Backspace). Hopefully that stuff will get ironed out.
Look, it's clear MS is going this direction. You can spit into the wind, or you can accept that, and just try to give CONSTRUCTIVE feedback, with specific user scenarios, and ideas on how to make your workflow better. I tend to choose the latter these days.
There are a lot of ignorant posts on this article. I'm not meaning that to be insulting, just pointing out that a lot of the ranting is coming from a place of not really understading or knowing what's going on.
So I want to provide a link to anyone who is genuinely curious (rather than just being a knee-jerk basher or a person whose opinions are calcified and unlikely to change). It contains two videos.
The first video is just the 8 minute marketing video. But it shows things that answer a lot of the criticisms and questions leveled in a lot of these posts. So for less than 10 minutes of your time, you can learn and understand more than you do now. The second half deals with Windows 8 on laptops without touch.
The second video is the full 90 minute presentation from Barcelona at the announcement of the Win8 Consumer Preview.
From minute 23 to about 40, they cover desktop and non-touch scenarios. LOTS of interesting stuff there. And then there's even more at the end, when they show Windows 8 running on all sorts of hardware, including big game-rigs and beefy server class machines. I think the last ten or so minutes is really interesting.
If you really want to inform yourself, watching these videos is a good start:
http://www.engadget.com/2012/02/29/microsofts-windows-8-preview-event-videos-now-available/
And for more, you can always check out the Building Windows 8 Blog:
http://blogs.msdn.com/b/b8/
If all you've seen is the Developer Preview, then you haven't really seen the User Experience... and assumptions you may have about how things work, about work-flow, about mouse and keyboard support, are just not true.
Someone in the technology world bragging that they use an interface nearly 20 years old because they're incapable (and unwilling) to learn and adapt to something new is ... ironic, sad, and rather pathetic.
The Start Menu in Win7 wasnt' at all "messed up". It was a change. I was put off at first, but I started using it, and it was MUCH better than XP's. By a lot. All that micromanaging I used to have to do to keep the XP Start Menu looking like I wanted was gone. It freed me to do more work and less futzing.
Interestingly, the new Start Menu in Win8 goes back to letting you (making you?) micro-manage it the way you did in XP. So perhaps you'll actually like it more. :-P
(Of course, that would require you giving it a chance with an open mind, being willing to let go of old habits and learn new concepts and new ways of approaching tasks... which you've already insisted you Will. Not. Do. ... So never mind)
You don't "LIKE" the interface of XP so much as that's what you're USED TO.
Win7 is vastly superior to XP in just about every way. But people confuse being "used to" something with that something being "better". They refuse to take the few hours to sit down and learn the new system... their minds (like yours) are closed to change, even if the change is ultimately better.
It's fascianting that the more "computer savvy" people like you (being sick of all those noobs, after all), are vastly more resistant to change than the average person. You're locked into what you learned first, and refuse to step out of your comfort zone even if the result would be something that is ultimately better (once you unlearn your old habits and discover new ones).
It's ironic, and kind of pathetic. Because the only constant in the universe (especially the universe of technology), is change.
It takes a few hours to learn any new system. You're being ridiculous. Much of it is pretty intuitive once you learn a few basic principles. This is no different than Win7, WinXP, Win95, OS X, the original MacOS, iOS, etc.
The problem is, you have to "unlearn" what you THINK you know (which no longer applies). This is standard in learning any new system. Your resistence to this basic fact is... weird (but all too common).
True in the Developer Preview.
True if you're trying to use the Consumer Preview as if it were an unchanged Win7.
Not true after you get used to the Consumer Preview and learn how to use it as intended.
You can use the Win8 UI with the keyboard only. And with the mouse/keyboard combination. Or with touch.
You don't NEED touch. You don't NEED the mouse. They just give you some extra abilities and short-cuts.
And with the "share" charm, you can send almost anything directly to someone from within that app... much like you want. And the "Metro" design language is very text based.
You're aware you can configure the Start Screen the way you want, right?
You can specify large or small icons (rectangular or square), you can group them in your own defined and named groups, order them in the order you want, you can remove any tiles you don't want, and you can even turn off live updates completely so you don't get all those real-time status updates.
The Start Screen is really just a replacement for the old Start Menu, and you can use it in the saem way. You can pin anything you want on it... documents, apps, folders, control panel applets, and even link deeply into metro apps.
If you prefer to stay in Desktop, you can stay there most of the time... the Start Screen becomes nothing more than your launcher of less-used apps: the most used apps would presumably be pinned to your taskbar.
And Desktop has some powerful new features that shows MS is deifnitely aring about professional users: new mutli-monitor support for the taskbar and desktop wallpapers (extend either across multiple monitors, or replacte them on all monitors), vastly more powerful Task Manager, much better Windows Explorer (with integrated SkyDrive and *.iso mounting/burning support), better file management (copying, conflict resolution, and more), native USB 3.0 support, better network support (especially for laptops that roam around), better mouse support, more keyboard short-cuts, built in Hyper-V support, new virtual dynamic Storage Spaces for managing lots of disk-space, syncing across devices (keep settings and data synced between PC and laptop for example), and more.
The Windows 8 start screen takes a change of mind-set, and a little getting used to, but it is definitely not "god awful".
Well, in Windows 7, you had Win+0 through Win+9 to instantly launch apps based on their position on the task bar. nowehre near 20 (or 46), but still it's fast. Win8 keeps these short-cuts, by the way. And you can Windows key (to start menu), and then arrow and enter, to launch apps on the start screen. Again, more keystrokes, but they won't change on you once you arrange the start screen the way you want it.
One of the BEST things about Windows 8? They fixed this update nightmare.
Reboot updates will only be pushed once a month, on a specific day (First Tuesday, I believe?), and there will be a notification on the login screen for THREE DAYS prior to it doing anything automatically, to all you to apply them at your desired time and at your leisure. No more "nagging" with pop-ups or "10 minutes".
In fact, the OS has a whole lost less "nagging" in general.
They did an entire lengthy post on this new update system and how it works over on the "Building Windows 8 Blog" (google it).