Wow, there's a LOT I can still say on this subject!
And, as tempting as it is to respond to more of the posts in here, so far, I don't have time for that now.
My general advice is to install a Start Menu replacement, such as Classic Shell or Start8 from StarDock. It will get you back the Win7-like interface you know and love.
how did so much suck happen?
I suspect the answer has more to do with
management problems inside Microsoft, rather than any technical progress they were trying to achieve.
Sure, the "technical progress" of having to build a tablet-friendly interface was a
significant part of the problem. I am not denying that!
But, there is NO REASON their new interface needed to
suck so much, except for the fact that its management sucked.
In most previous incarnations of Windows, the user experience was improved incrementally, or sometimes dramatically (ala Windows 95), based on sound science in user interface design. In the case of Windows 8, it was pushed out the door with radical changes, that were barely tested in the real world. And, its problems were glossed over with animations and instructions saying "move to this side for this, or that side to that".
For example: The concept of icon/title pairing had already been proven to be the most effective way to convey an application's identity, in a graphical interface. Alternatives had been tried before, and failed. The Windows 8 team decided to ignore that case history, almost completely. The Live Tiles, for example, are inconsistent with how applications are presented: Sometimes with large icons and text; sometimes with flipping images, small icons, and no text. The Quick Launch menu (that few people know about) contains many of the old Start Menu items, but without the icons, making it more difficult to find things on it.
There are TONS more examples where that came from. But, I don't have time to get into them now. Suffice it to say that it is really rather embarrassing that Microsoft could not get something as simple as Application Identification right, in their new operating system.
why did they change this? Why did they do that? Have they not heard of multitasking? Did they think everyone just loved the clunky interfaces of smart phones? Who possibly thought any of this was a good idea?
Few people at Microsoft thought it was a good idea, but it was enthusiastically championed by the lead of Windows 8 development, Steven Sinofsky. And, everyone decided he knew what he was doing. He then left the company shortly after Windows 8 launched. Presumably, that was a mutual decision by both him and Microsoft.
So many things I used to do on Vista (itself notorious for being clunky) are now harder. How did this happen?
Windows 8 was NOT made for YOU!! It was made for kindergarten students, who will grow up getting used to that sort of thing. Why would you assume a giant corporation, building an interface for EVERYONE, would care about YOUR needs?!!
Perhaps the NEXT version of Windows will be more for you. They are, according to rumor, bringing back the Start Menu:
http://techcrunch.com/2013/12/09/mi...he-start-menu-in-the-next-version-of-windows/
If you can't wait that long, install Start8. It's only $5.00 or less, after a free trial. (I saw it was on sale for $4.00 recently.) Or Classic Shell, which is completely free, but not quite as good, and apparently support might be going down.
Start menu always existed - it just went fullscreen.
Fullscreen, yes. But, with LESS on it!
Gone from it are: system settings (such as the Control Panel), documents (and images, etc.), the Run command, the Search box*, Help and Support, and the Shut Down options, etc.
(*Yes, I know you can search by typing at the start screen, but who knows to do that, unless they were told?)
All of those are in different places now. They went from a compact, full-featured menu; to a full-screen, limited-use, distracting-tile interface; making it substantially less productive for most computer users.
Some people, such as yourself, Icerat, might enjoy it. But, as you can see:
Most do not. Your defense of Win8 has had very little impact on anyone's opinion of it. And, this is a problem Microsoft has to deal with. They, objectively, screwed up, here!
And, embarrassingly, there is NO REASON it had to be that way! If ONLY they had kept the Start Menu as an
option, a lot of this nightmare would have never happened. Perhaps they were scared that the Modern UI would be largely ignored? But it is being largely ignored, anyway.
Remember: There was nothing wrong, in principle, of Microsoft building a tablet-PC-friendly interface. That is, after all, the way of the future. The problem, here, is that they just SUCKED at doing so!
