I can't say I ever really tried 8 in any depth (driver issues BSOD etc) but 8.1 is terrific. Appreciate what you say about an office/workplace environment where functionality is paramount. One of the better features of W10 for me is the way in which the snipping tool works on pdf's. On 8.1 it was a bit messy.
Some people simply won't be happy with Windows as long as there is any vestige of a touch interface present in the OS (whether or not it's something they can disable or not even see, they somehow "know" it's there, and it eats at their soul).
This is the Princess and the Pea syndrome. Just the idea that the OS might have something they don't want is galling... nevermind the fact that Windows has had stuff they didn't use since it was first created. Microsoft could take all the metro stuff out completely, but tell people it's still there and the complaints would still come in about how terrible it is.
Your optimism in MS is far greater than mine, I think they fool people into thinking their feedback is valuable, but in the end, really just ignore it.
I also think that if they are going with this unified Windows approach, that they have already decided that this is how it will be, and minor changes will only come about.
The Start Menu is a good step towards putting back some of the stuff Microsoft removed. Even if I hardly ever go there to find that obscure thing I need once in a while, at least it's there for when I do.
BUT instead of removing the needless complexity of the Windows 7 Start Menu, and reverting to the XP style, nice and simple, the Windows 10 version has the 'all apps' area and doesn't cascade.
That makes it extremely vertical, and scrolling up and down will, I think, be a nuisance if one needs to drill down a few levels. At some point users are going to say, Isn't there a better way, like if the subfolders opened up at the side...
Lol, sure... The problem with that suggestion is that Win32 (and thus the desktop) is dead. It is on its way out, with each new release of Windows Metro will subsume more and more of its functionality until at some point it will be on life support.
Right now, Metro is a subsystem of Win32, in the not so distant future that will be reversed.
I think the speed alone is compelling and it has kept me from going back to 7 for over a week now.
Now if they will enrich the interface by reconsidering Aero and gadgets, keep the App interference minimized....
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I would really like to be able to turn the transparency OFF.
< wish we had the little thumb's up smiley, I like it better.
