Microsoft Windows 8

Pros: Its pretty and colorful. Its also finally got touch working the way it should have on Vista. 8 looks great. Its "faster" lol because its new.

Cons: Flipping from metro to desktop is to chaotic. Its like living in America you are under a dual citizen ship. You have to obey the laws of Metro and the laws of Windows like state and federal laws. It destroys legacy apps and forces you into metro.

Summary: Its 7 under a touch UI. Dont get me wrong for a tablet or touch screen desktop it works well. As in the review look at the guy hes "touching" the monitor. Problem is I dont have a touch monitor, and for a desktop constantly touching a screen 2-3 feet away is more work then most people would care to do constantly. Its not ergonomically correct for the desktop user. The mouse and keyboard is the best UI for interactions with the computer interface.

With a mouse and keyboard configuration windows8 is a let down. I would willfully give Microsoft a 5 star review if they would just allow us to turn Metro off.

Me being a IT professional with all types of degrees and certs could care less about the new touch interface. I know this is just a play by Microsoft to stay relevant and I cant fault them for trying but forcing your new UI on the entire tech community will do nothing but drive users further into the arms of Mac, Android and their bigger brothers Unix and Linux.

I know this is their last gasp for breath, but this will be just like Vista. Most consumers will not know what RT is and why if it looks so much like 8 it cant do what 8 does. This is just a fail on so many fronts.

Why would they get rid of the start menu? The start menu is the fastest way to get to applications. Even vs a Touch screen pc the Start menu is just more robust.

Merging desktop and mobile is a great idea, but not for most people. Just like living at work might fit some people, but not all of us.

I would accept Windows8/RT/Pro if I could cut Metro UI off and default to the classic UI. I would forget Metro exists until I got a touch screen.

Microsoft never even considered that for most people with desktop computers there are not even any USB touch screen monitors on the market. That is at-least 80 percent of the desktop population that is alienated and forced to use a Touch interface with a mouse. This makes the UI feel very clunky.

Swipe up to get to the unlock screen is not easily translated into a mouse gesture. Stupid! Yes trolls I know there are other ways to do it, but after using smartphones for so long the swipe gesture is the common reflex for opening this type of start screen.

In conclusion stay away from 8 unless you just feel like forcing yourself to learn something new. Buttons dont even stay put on this thing 8 is a guessing game. You can easily get lost in an app and say dang how do I get out of this? Buttons will be hidden and you will never know they exist. Just look up some of the videos of people using 8 for the first time and trying to simply send an Email.

Metro is great for a touch computer I give it a 10, but for people who plan to upgrade from 7 to 8 on a current desktop that does not have touch do yourself a favor and don't. There are other reasons I hate 8, but they also revolve around primary desktop applications like MS trying to corner the market on all software going on and off the PC like Apple and IOS.

In time this new nature of trying to close and own the entire software end is another fail on MSs part. It will downgrade your pc and not upgrade it. In light of this I have a 7 install disc in the mail. There is no reason to get the 8 downgrade if you have a perfectly good 7 computer. MS is also killing media center :( not a biggie, but it still sux.