Coke, what you and a bunch of Metro lovers don't seem to get is that not everyone uses Windows the same. I know you think you know this, but you and others can't fully grasp that people don't always see it your way. For example, you write:
When faced with a new screen of icons of which can be arranged simply and easily and can be used to quickly access items, complaints roar from everywhere.
That's great you think that, but I don't subscribe to anything you put down right there. I see Metro like this:
1.) A screen full of crap in my way.
2.) Said crap cannot be arranged like I want them to be. I have to arrange them how MS allows me to and I'm not a fan of that. I don't like big boxy tiles. Sorry, just don't. MS is embracing a concept it spent 20 years fleeing? I'm sure it will be easy to change the icons in the tiles, but I doubt it will be as easy to finagle the tiles completely or get rid of them, or order your icons in ways other than cascading rows, etc.
When I turn on my computer I don't want a full-sized start screen in my face. I like virtually nothing on my screen. That's why I like the start button, because it's compact and piles all the junk I use out of the way. That's why I like the task bar because it has my most frequently used programs pinned about as out of the way as you can get. I like stuff tidy. Why? So I can see my wallpaper photo. Why? So my machine doesn't scream at me - YOU ARE USING TECHNOLOGY! As much as I love it, I don't need to be reminded of it every nanosecond. I like to be in full control of the tools I use, not the other way around.
But the thing that gets me is that people complain about the Start Screen because they say the mouse is useless or ineffective for it. How?!
Who is saying this? Maybe people are, I have no clue. My chief complaints with the mouse in Metro:
1.) Horizontal scrolling. That's so counter-intuitive on a desktop. It really is. People have been using the up/down middle mouse scroll wheel forever because it works, because people read more efficiently when the top-to-bottom ratio is larger than the left-to-right one. It's been like that since human beings started reading and writing. I hate having to scroll horizontally with a mouse setup. On the phone or tablet it's fine. Why? The reason is practical - the screens are tiny. Scrolling L-R on a desktop? Total PITA. I don't want the width to go past my monitor. If I did, I'd get two monitors. Some people use two monitors, some people actually need more than one. That's awesome. Most people use one. I know you don't have to scroll horizontally a lot in Metro, but it's enough to be annoying as hell.
2.) The Start Menu packs as much information as Metro does, in a fraction of the space. I like that I don't have to roll my freaking mouse all over the screen to get stuff from the Start Menu. Maybe you and others don't prefer that method. But guess what? We're not alike. No, the Start Menu doesn't have live tiles. Whoopdy *bleeping* do.
There is significant blowback against this 8 OS - heck, look at this site. This very thread has about twice as many replies and as many total views as the thread that announced the release of the 8 CP! I'm not saying 8 will be a flop. It may not be. All I'm saying is that a significant number of people are not happy with it, and the reasons are as valid as yours.
I realize people don't use Windows the same way, but people need to actually know HOW to use Windows to know how to use Windows their own way. Like, the Start Menu should be used to have your MFU programs and a neat list of non-frequently used programs in the All Programs list, not folder upon folder upon folder of a mess. There is a reason why Microsoft decided on a Start Screen so people can ACTUALLY get rid of their crap, and not let it bloat up one way or another. As for tiles not being arranged the way you want them to, you don't want them organized in groups that go left or right? This part I don't get fully.
People, notably "power users", have been saying that the mouse and keyboard are useless and ineffective on the Start Screen because it somehow gives a notion that having a mouse, that is precise and accurate, on software that doesn't really require precision makes it useless and touch first only.
People have been scrolling up and down because that's how it's always been. And people really don't read up and down, they read left to right or right to left depending on the language. The only reason why text ever went up to down is because there wasn't any room left so the logical thing to do was to shift the text a line under. Then, the GUI made up and down scrolling. To me, there really isn't a difficulty, scrolling is scrolling. It's a panorama. I don't have difficulty with it, but that's just me.
Well, this site is mostly composed of power users, people that go for practicality and power versus design and adaptation. Many on this site wouldn't care for eye candy of Aero design, some might have disabled that. There are some that even make Windows 7 look like elder versions of Windows. There are some that have command prompt pinned on their start menu or Start Screen. There are some that even tweak Windows' settings as to gain more performance. If left to the devices of said power users, we'd still be using the classic design of Windows that Microsoft gladly left a good decade ago I'd bet.
Then there are the rest of the Windows users, people that enjoy a pleasing, visual experience that works, that is smooth, and is easy to use and easy to work with. Take a look at this thread and you'll see people that just don't like Windows 8 because of reasons that they don't want Start Screen in their face or the Desktop already does all that. Then, take a look at some other threads and you'll see people posting their customized Start Screens and speaking of the best parts of it, notably Start Screen. Windows brings in a whole plethora of different users. And it seems a vast majority of the Windows crowd would fare well with Windows 8 based off personal experience. The rest might not because they don't want to see radical change. But then again, people are different.
