When I set up my first Windows 8 system back when Microsoft released the
Developer Preview, I was somewhat irritated by the removal of core operating system features like the Start menu that I had been using for over a decade in different versions of Windows. Even more alien was the new startpage that Microsoft had added to the operating system which felt like a new interface that had nothing to do with the desktop and the way Windows used to be.
I too believed at this point that Microsoft was making a huge mistake, that it was betting big on touch and that touch-enabled devices would become the de facto standard in computing. While I believed that they got it right for the mobile computing market, I could not see myself using a touchscreen on my desktop PC. Sure, the startpage and Charms menu did support mouse and keyboard as well, but it somehow felt like something that Microsoft added on top of the native controls.
The release of the
Consumer Preview did not change my perception of the operating system and I joined the chorus of Windows users who felt that Microsoft was neglecting the desktop in favor of a system that did not work on the desktop, which after all was Microsoft's core home market.
