The desktop is the same, and the start menu acts the same: Press the winkey, and start typing. Are you really saying as an advanced user, you spend a lot of time using the mouse and clicking around the start menu? Really?
The only time the new UI really sucks is when using remote servers via RDP. Someone should be sacked for the decision to metro-ize Windows Server. It just makes you do complicated mouse movements, as the winkey gets sent to the host box except in fullscreen.
The part I'm hesitant about is the ugly "flat" look. In Win7 and Vista, Aero was a premium feature you had to pay extra for. Now they just stripped that, and we're left with window chrome that looks like your palette just took a bit depth reduction.
Honestly, the metro interface is a bad and the people who made it should probably not work in design any more. But from the typical power user perspective it offers identical functionality to Win+"program_prefix"+Enter. I haven't found it impedes me significantly.
The start menu has been essentially remapped to a metro layout. It still behaves just like the old start menu, it's just metro in layout and appearance.
(Yes, it does take over the screen when you call it, but it disappears once you launch something)
I've never used windows 8, but everything I hear about it makes me not want to. Is it true it covers the screen in tiles? My approach to windows 7 and osx is to have constantly changing screen backgrounds and as few icons as possible. Why would I want to cover that up?
Put another way, why would I want to go from this:
Think of Metro as a "mode", and Desktop as a "mode", similar to the same way that Linux has virtual terminals and X. You can generally use whichever you please, though Desktop applications don't run in Metro, and Metro applications don't run in Desktop- just like how X applications don't run on a terminal.
If you operate in Desktop mode, when you hit the Windows key, yes, you will see a full screen menu like your second link. That's the one place where, without extra software, Desktop defers to Metro. I'm undecided on how I feel about it. The transition back and forth is virtually seamless & instant, so it isn't a thorn, it's just different.
One upside- because it has much more screen real estate than the traditional Start Menu, you generally don't have to dig through submenus for programs other than your handful of pinned "most-used" list.
That's interesting. I think I need to go to a computer shop and play with it for myself. I'm not too fond of the way Apple are going at the moment, so if there's an alternative for when my imac dies I'm going to consider it seriously.
The only time the new UI really sucks is when using remote servers via RDP. Someone should be sacked for the decision to metro-ize Windows Server. It just makes you do complicated mouse movements, as the winkey gets sent to the host box except in fullscreen.
The part I'm hesitant about is the ugly "flat" look. In Win7 and Vista, Aero was a premium feature you had to pay extra for. Now they just stripped that, and we're left with window chrome that looks like your palette just took a bit depth reduction.