*feh* I’d like some of what this guy’s smoking, because the Start Screen is ugly, in a “Aw, isn’t that cute” kindergartenish way. (Get out the primary-colored wooden blocks for the mentally challenged kindergärtners still operating in toddler mode.)
I did put Win8 Pro on an older HTPC, along with WMC. The Start screen is completely useless in that application, since WMC is still a “Desktop” application. That computer boots directly into the Desktop, and I’ve added a Start button/menu, since none of the Tiled apps have any use whatsoever on that machine.
On the desktop, minor improvements in memory handling make Win8 a nice change for the older computer operating as a HTPC; minor tweaks to Explorer and Task Manager are welcome, though better apps have been available from Sysinternals for years. But that’s about it. While I don’t really miss the eye candy earlier Windows versions offered, I do miss the option to have it if I want. Reverting to a pre-Win2K dullness without an option to spice it up a bit built in seems more Mac “do it our way or else” straitjacketing, but maybe M$ thinks it’s time to get with the Mac lockdown attitude toward users.
Seems M$ has determined that its future lies with users who are using tablets only, or desktop users who are still in “special ed” kindergarten, hence the Tiled interface of the Start screen. *shrugs* Time will tell if M$ is right or not. Frankly, I cannot see much use at all for Win8 for most desktop users, and there are a lot of those still left in the pool, many more than there are tablet users. Maybe Surface Pro can make Win8 make sense to more people who need to do more than just consume content.