Forsaken
Well-known member
Problem is... like history has dictated thus far, by the time Microsoft get it right, Apple and Google will have again surpassed this modality to something far catchier and innovative again.
Apple set the benchmark with app based mobile phones, Google copied, Microsoft are still behind the times. That same app approach has been incorporated into Mac as standard, and Google's proposed OS will be something similar. Microsoft once again, trying to be different, tiles, not apps... lots of scrolling information, confusing for older persons... they just effectively drove a large portion of their market, IMHO, to Apple and Google OS (when it hits the scene)... who have a pretty picture as an app icon, you get to know that picture, you click it, then you access the program.
Nothing worse than having a screen constantly changing on you with information when you haven't even gotten past the home screen.
Then Microsofts audacity, believing every home is going to change their home computing to touch screens.
Apple didn't set the benchmark for app based phones, they were existing long before Apple even entered the phone market. Nokia and phones that are popular in asia have had apps for a long ass time.
The metro UI isn't all that confusing, the issue is that its not that usable without touch screens (Needs more keyboard functionality, but older people still have issues with keyboards as well). The way Metro is set up is so that people can do a fully custom dashboard for available information... Compared to OSX Lions App launcher, the Metro UI is amazingly more intuitive.
The desktop is still there in Windows 8, however it isn't the first thing you see. Metro is the primary information center, so you can still access things from it.
How is the screen constantly changing? Its a static screen unless you choose to move it. The information might change, but the apps that are available are the same unless you re-organize it. That goes for any app group (Which are customizable).
Touch screens are getting more common, the issue is that they're not common enough at this point to make Windows 8 a huge success. Chances are though with the launch of Windows 8, Microsoft will partner with a lot of screen makers and OEM to include touch screen monitors, making this a more viable method.
Touch is really only required for Metro UI (You can use a mouse, but it just isn't as intuitive, though it does get a bit easier to use as you use it). The desktop is unchanged really (Though the start button is gone and takes you back to the Metro UI), and most things really are just the same as they would be with Windows 7.
As for all your Apple comments... At least Microsoft is doing something different. Most Apple 'innovations' come off the back of previous implementations (Blackberry, Nokia, Samsung, HTC and many other companies were doing all this touch and app based phones long before Apple)