Actually the version of Windows 8 out right now is only a Developer Preview that was demoed at the BUILD conference. It isnt that actual Beta. They have made a lot of changes to the UI since then. If you want to read about the many changes, check out the
Building Windows 8 Blog. There they discuss the many changes that have been made that are not yet available.
Yes this version of Windows is going to be different. They are taking the approach to unify the Windows devices to have a common interface. So you can go from your PC to your Tablet to your phone and get the same experience no matter which device you use. This way there is less of a learning curve for users since they will have the same experience no matter which device they use.
So for some it will be a blessing. I used a Windows Phone 7 for a period of time and I liked the Metro UI. It allowed me to do some things that I cant do on Android. The biggest issue was lack of App support. But the big difference while there may only be 30,000 apps in the Windows Marketplace, there are more quality apps available that I have found than on iOS or Android. Doesnt mean I left my Android device for the WP7 device. I have over 140 different apps installed on my Android phone and I find myself using upwards of 50 a day if not more depending how work goes. Most of these apps are not available for me to use on WP7 so it wasnt worth me keeping the device.
Yes I know everyone's biggest complaint is about the interface being built for touch screens. Yes that is a flaw in the logic as touch screen monitors are not main stream, yet. So using the mouse can see over bearing and the size of the icons are much larger and most of us like to keep smaller icons. But from what I was reading, there will be a way to get the Start Menu back. If they live up to that claim is yet to be seen but the promise is nice.
I have used Win8 DP for a long period of time. It was my main OS for almost 2 months. I only left cause the support for some apps that I needed are not completely there yet. I wasnt able to burn CD's or DVD's properly. Something that will be fixed with the newer builds but right now is a major stepping stone for the DP being a daily driver for people like me. Other than that the whole aspect of the Metro UI is something that can be troublesome, but you can ignore it by using a normal desktop just like you would in Win7. you can have all of your icons and shortcuts like you have them now. The only flaw is the lack of the Start Menu forcing you to go into the Metro UI if you need to access a specific app. But if your like me and know where the executable files are for those programs, you can add them to your normal desktop and access them without touching the Metro interface at all. All in all in the 2 months I used Win8, I seen the new interface only when I had to reboot and that was the first thing that came up. After that I clicked on the desktop and never seen it again.
So for those who say that they wont upgrade cause of the new interface, I saw you dont know what your missing. Cause while Metro can be bothersome, so was Aero when it was first released compared to XP. but we got used to it and wanted to find ways to get it on XP. The same will be said once this comes out. There are things you can do to make it work for you, you just have to take 10 minutes of your time to figure out what is best for you. Something that has had to of been done with every new version of Windows released. XP was different than the versions before it, Vista was different than XP. Win7 was still different than Vista. So yeah there will be some learning, but nothing that can be worked around.
