I felt the same way for about 2 weeks of continuous use. While I am still not fond of metro I have found all the nuances of charms, right clicks, and shortcuts.
It seems that everyone is focusing on the GUI and not the OS underneath. I am sure there will be 3rd party work arounds for the elimination of metro and all the clamor on MS Answers will die away as people begin to use it. It is faster in just about every comparison test, doesnt BSOD as often and when it does it frequently doesnt even need a reboot, has a much more effective task manager (where ending a task really does and quickly), and much more. Yes I am a fan.
I doubt it will be as popular as win 7 but dont think MS would have invested so heavily in Win 8 if they weren't sure.
The problem will be the legacy systems that are attempting to jump from XP SP-0 to win 8. Just cant be done. The minimum resolution that win 8 will run is already "encouraging" new hardware.
See for me, I love the Metro look, just not really a fan of the way they use and incorporate it. The animations of it are good, but the functionality that comes along with the metro concept is not great for me. Development time on Windows 8 from my testing has been significantly slower, and not for the reason that I don't know how to use Windows 8, but for how the navigation goes with it. I've found lots of shortcuts that speed things up, but still not as fast for me to get around as for if I was to compare with my Windows 7.
Metro is good! I honestly think it would have been more successful if they didn't change the navigation and layout though, and just moved over from Windows 7 with the Metro look all by itself...
This was a bit of a leap in terms of change, LOTS of people didn't like that. I think it's good for Microsoft to get the truth in the feedback they request though so that they don't end up going too far in a wrong direction. That's the worst thing that could happen to that company, especially for how far in the game they are right now.
I doubt it will be as popular as win 7 but dont think MS would have invested so heavily in Win 8 if they weren't sure.
I agree and disagree here, it's a gamble for them, I can say that. They may have invested more into it, and as shown to me, they've become heavily reliant on the tech communities to provide support for them because of how unsure they were about Windows 8 here. Being that they are this far into it though, they want to get something out of it at the least, Microsoft has the money, without a doubt, they could do whatever they want. Perhaps they think it really will succeed, or perhaps they think more invested into it will encourage more people to support Windows 8? Without an interview from Bill Gates lol, I don't think we could possibly know the answer to this right now until later :)
Perhaps it's a better OS, and I can agree from a developer standpoint, as well as an efficiency standpoint in that regard, HOWEVER, not from practicality/ergonomics point of view, or the development for it. Development for Windows 8 has become more of a chore for most nowadays than a hobby. It was like they started us off with core stuff, and now it's like them giving us lego blocks where all the core stuff is embedded within the lego blocks, and we just need to piece them together. That's not fun.
Although the idea of the fullscreen metro apps, not sure, i'd rather just build basic desktop applications for Windows 8.
In summary, Windows 8 as an operating system, GREAT! AMAZING! but they ruined it by the functionality of Metro... Which is a shame.
It's like buying a Lamborghini, and then having somebody paint it with rainbow colors and flowers. That's my best description of Windows 8 here as an analogy.
The problem will be the legacy systems that are attempting to jump from XP SP-0 to win 8. Just cant be done. The minimum resolution that win 8 will run is already "encouraging" new hardware.
Indeed, some businesses and schools still haven't even moved to Vista / 7.
This is true as well, I still work with businesses that use XP. I have yet to see one with Vista, although I have seen a few with Windows 7, and with the current company I work with, they really enjoy Windows 7 as much as I do. It's one of their best official operating system's to date.