Discussion on:

Poll: Is the lack of a Start Button in Windows 8 really a big deal?

Can you wait for the Windows 8 beta patiently and quietly or do you feel the need to vent about it even though you have little facts on which to base your rant?

I feel that a technical preveiw is more than just a "little facts". A technical preview is designed to produce feedback so the developers know what the customer thinks about the product before it is more solidified into a beta release. Without "venting" the developers wouldn't know that customers don't like the changes being made. Waiting until the beta to give the feedback make it more likely that major UI changes wouldn't make it into the production release because it is cheaper and easier the earlier you make changes in the release process and by the beta release the UI should be pretty firm.

Bill

I'm sure a developer somewhere can come up with one! I used a shell replacement
for Program Manager in Windows 3.1 called Calmira...it gave a Win3X machine the
same desktop look of Win9X, complete with taskbar, trashcan, start button, tray area
and even a "My Computer" icon! Did I mention it was free, and open source?
"Necessity is the mother of invention"

So far (I've been tinkering with the developer beta release) I really have nothing but love for Windows 8. Why? The lock screen and new start menu are aesthetically pleasing, functional, and dare I say "fun." The desktop tile takes you to a traditional Windows desktop that most of us are familiar with and have grown to love about computing. Typically, folks don't like change with things they work with everyday or use in their spare time, which I understand, but the *only* noticeable difference is the start menu in Windows 8 and to gripe and complain over something like that is nothing more than, as you said, "is to feign angst."

Windows 8 has some other interesting features like a revamped (not overhauled) windows explorer, which I won't go into here because like you mentioned: it's beta! Plus, the official beta hasn't even been released! We've been testing the beta beta, so there's no need to get in an uproar over something that isn't even official yet.

I found W8 Developer to be frustrating as a 'traditional' desktop user. I only ran it for a week, on a docked laptop I had available as a test system. I remember being highly annoyed each time the 'Start' button returned me to the 'Metro' menu, which I found cumbersome and unwanted for my use. I remember being vexed by the management of multiple applications - the behavior of the Alt-Tab keystroke, the apparent inability to close some of the Metro demo apps or to have more than one on the screen. I remember posting that Metro's large, clunky tiles reminded me of Windows 3's Program Manager. I found no way to configure a 'clean' desktop; only that starting another app required me to minimize running ones or return to home screens instead of clicking a Taskbar or Start Menu icon.

I decided it was too radical for me to digest. I set it aside, hoping the beta will improve the behavior and appearance on 'traditional' desktop and laptop systems. From what little I've seen, we'll probably deploy it like we did with Windows 2000 or Vista - strictly within the department while waiting for its more polished successor.

The behavior of the key commands was "radical" to digest. After continued use, I grew to love it. I don't think users will adapt as quickly to Windows 8 as many did to Windows 7 because of the key commands and the start menu\screen.

Did you use the 'charm' menu? Hover your mouse over the lower left corner of your desktop, until the Charm menu appears. The Windows + C combination will also bring up the Charm menu. The basic idea behind charm, besides removing noise from the interface, is to make users use the taskbar and the new charms for all the things they are doing on the desktop.

Metro reminds me of Windows 3 program manager too.

I remember seeing it, but I don't recall finding any advantage to it. I don't recall grasping exactly what it was for, but it's been months. Documentation was lacking, but it's an alpha release and I don't expect any instructions this early in the game. Hopefully the beta will have more information on how users can exploit the features.

When everyone was on 95 they complained about XP. (Another Me, they said.) I got a XP beta and never looked back. I secretly installed it at work and did everything with it, except printing - missing drivers. I recommended it and our office switched. Complainers complained but last year they switched up to Win7 without a wimper. They were moved from Lotus to MS Office and from personal inkjets to multi-user lasers. They even gave me a hard time with the network, preferring floppy disks as the reliable and more intuitive file transfer method. People are idiots until they're taught.

PS: I have one coworker that HATES MS Word. Mostly because he memorized the commands for Lotus WordPro... that he had used between '98 and 2003! He still curses at the machine but says NO to free Office courses in our building. Folks, don't be like that coworker.

"People are idiots until they're taught." is wrong. People are ignorant until they're taught.

By definition, idiots can't be taught.

It ought to be just a question of loading a simple macro, so write him a macro that lets him use Lotus WordPro commands.

AngelD.... You had an entertaining comment until you felt compelled to insult the person who has a hard time seeing the benefit of "new" software.
Personally, after 30 yrs of experience through upgrades and re-vamping of User Interfaces, I have had enough learning and relearning to perform the same tasks. All I see now is a lot of money going out, and a period of inefficiency until I've learned the new "way" to perform the same ole things at the same rate as before. The only efficiency gain that I've perceived over these decades is that I type faster than I use to.

The programmers preview is not really useful in production, no printer management in there for one thing. They needed to get programmers to grok Metro. We went to Windows Phone camp right after Mango was released. The presenters comment on Win 8 on the desktop was that every corporation has their own standard desktop and they will be able to make Win 8 look any way they want it to, next question.

One of the major changes for metro programs it that programs appear to be live all the time. You don't have to start things to use them and put them away when you are done. Don't get frustrated because you can't see how to do things that no longer need to be done.

Regarding the desktop you have two choices. First, click on the Desktop tile and you get back to something more like what you are used to. Second, edit one field in the registry and you will never see metro.

There are already Win 98/NT/XP skins for Win 8 so don't waste your time worrying about that. If you don't want to take advantage of the higher productivity of the later user interface you can party like it's 1999.

Is it big deal? No, is it symptomatic of what is wrong with programmers in general and Microsoft in particular? Yes. Why change fundamental keystrokes to start and run programs unless there is a good reason to? Those of us who touch type and have had, over the years, to change from Wordperfect to Word to the different fingering of subsequent Word versions are fed up. Mousing breaks the rhythm of typing slowing down the flow of thoughts from our brains to the page.

... the mobile marketplace until it can address the energy consumption and the hardware requirements of Windows. Hopefully, Windows 8 will be smart enough to to configure itself to run efficiently based upon the hardware it is running on.

Microsoft's strategy of Windows compatibility from the cellphone to the desktop on ARM or x86/x64 is a brilliant one -- if they can pull it off!

Being able to deliver the traditional desktop to those who want it will be the key.

Nobody is breaking in your house and stealing all your Windows 7 copies form your house!

Microsoft in particular? Apple, Linux developers, basically everyone is running on the UI created by Xerox. I don't understand the focus on MS. Apple changed their system twice in such a way that literally forced users to buy new machines if they wanted the new features. WordPerfect 5.1 was HORRIBLE. For the kids out there, this was a program with no visible menu and you had to keep a plastic "cheat sheet" next to you to do things like save or bold or print. You didn't bother trying out other layouts because it was just not visible in regular typing mode - IT HAD A TYPING MODE. You had to hit preview to see what it would look like on paper. Allen, you are SO old and not in the hilarious and wise way either.

WordPerfect 5.1 horrible? Your experience was vastly different from mine.

When I was converted from Wordstar 3.3 to WordPerfect 5.1, I sounded just like your post: no visible menu, cheat sheet, typing mode, the whole nine yards. I was told it didn't matter, that's what we were now using, here's your command template, put it down over your function keys and get to work.

Within a month, you couldn't have forced me back to Wordstar at gunpoint. IMO, WordPerfect 5.1 was the Gold Standard of word processors and I've measured everything since against it.

WP5.1 became intuitive with use, and it could do everything.
I often have the problem of trying to get MS Word to NOT do something stupid, but since I can't reveal the codes that cause it, I can't fix it.
I know you can show the codes, but that doesn't reveal the stupid crap, only the obvious stuff like line breaks - and line breaks I can fix without the code, duh.

Why would you need a GUI for editing text? You don't need icons for "bold" or "italic", you just need to know how to toggle these. In fact, once you get used to MS Word, you start to get pissed off every time you have to stop typing to wave the mouse around pointlessly, just because they couldn't be bothered to make a keyboard command to toggle this or that "feature".

WP5.1 could've easily been modified to output XML, for instance, and would've been a great way to work in that format.

Send a hand written letter to Corel via snail mail. They can probably accomodate your request. I don't think they're doing much of anything else.

Corel buried WP

Something is intuitive if a person with no previous exposure to the interface is able to work out how to use it. Learning dozens of F? and shortcut keys is not intuitive. It's almost the reverse.

If you put this person in front of WP5.1 and Word 2010, with no training or assistance, which would they be able to use most easily and quickly?

WP got real fast once you accustomed yourself to it.
Word 2010 is slow at first, and remains slow no matter how much one practices; and as I said, certain functions simply are not available in Word : In Word you don't have a text that you impose certain layouts onto; in Word you have an unholy tangled mess of half-text and half-layout.
And you are mistaken; keyboard shortcuts are fast, since you never have to stop typing to layout; you simply type the text, typing the needed codes as needed. With Word you have to stop typing to move one's hand to the mouse, refocus one's eyes onto the toolbar, find and click the silly icon for a task, then going back to typing. Slow and annoying.

You are wrong. Not only are you wrong, you're lying to yourself. WP5.1 doesn't have layout until you print-preview it. But before you even get to layouts and whatever. A new user would just be staring at a mostly blank screen with minimal hint as to what it can do for you. What WP5.1 is really asking is "What can you do for WP5.1?" Because you're going to need a manual and plastic template first. And then you're going to learn this and hate everything else to avoid betraying of all the synapses you dedicated for this single application.

The opposite of "intuitive" is: calculated, meditated, reasoned, taught. Pick one or all of them because your reply used each word (subtext) to explain your obsession with a dead app.

WP5 was an instrument, once you learned how to use it (and if you had half a brain, you would, coz it's not that complicated) it was easy and fast, second nature.
Meanwhile, you're criticizing it for not having a "macarena demo".

.. say it was slower to use? I said, for a person who has never seen either and who is given no training Word is far easier to figure out that WP5.1.

For me, that's what defines "intuitive".

If you spent as much time learning Word as it took you to learn all the shortcut keys in WP5.1, you would not have the problems you have with Word.

Hard to keep a normal argument going with a Chihuahua on meths yapping at me the whole time.
Of course, In WP I only needed to learn the ones I used.
And WP didn't attempt to be so smart... "smart" is nice when it works perfectly, but if it's even a bit quirky, it's better to have a well-designed manual function.
And Word's "smart" is a bit quirky, mostly.

include the name of the person you're address in the Subject. This will prevent confusion.

You are forgetting that Word used to have menus on the bottom of the window back when WP was king. Word got better, but is still much slower and screws up often. The fact is at the time, WP was the choice of those without training or assistance.

If you want to compare Apples to Kiwi Fruit to make your argument sound well structured that's fine but it's not really correct or even close to true.

WP 5.1 was a DOS Only Application can you honestly expect Word 2010 to even look like working under DOS or WP 5.1 to work on Windows 7?

If you want to compare Word to Word Perfect you need to compare like Programs that where in direct competition to each other.

Now however if you want a fair comparison compare Word 2010 to Word Perfect X5. You'll find functions in X5 that will appear in Word about 5 years after WP introduced them. Is there a Make it Fit yet in 2010?

I've been using that in WP since the 8 version where you can expand or shrink an entire document to a set number of pages within reason. The original idea was if a document went a few lines over a page you could shrink the thing down with 3 clicks or if it was under a full page and you didn't want a lot of wasted space you could expand it up with 3 clicks.

Try doing that in Word and see how long it takes.

Col

You do not need a mouse for bold / italic etc in MS Word - just simply look for the keystrokes to do these tasks. In our organisation the one that feature that turned users from Wordperfect (as there were a few who advocated it) was tables. It was so simple to insert a table - which a number of our typing pools had to do a lot of, as compared to WordPerfect. Wordstar I liked, never really used WordPerfect - and when Word came out with WYSIWYG it really was a big step up. For many users who had used dedicated word processors everything was a big step up - and all the typing pool users who used both WordPerfect and MS Word ALL preferred Word - and they quickly learnt that CTRL-B was bold on/off and all the other major keystrokes. I suppose some just feel that anything Microsoft is bad - I do not like all the changes that they have made - but many of them are in response to it's user base. If you bother to really learn the product and how to turn some of the features that you may not like off then it isn't an issue. Granted it would be nice to have an extra level of detail that you could look at when you were trying to understand why your bullet numbering wasn't quite right fter you have added/removed paragraphs, but would I ver want to see a ctrl code to show that is where bold is starting or ending - NO, I can see that by the text. Word processing has moved on frm green screen and daisy wheel printers, many of the documents that can be produced so easily now would have been almost impossible then.
Many users who could not use Wordstar, the dedicated word processors (e.g. ICL 8801's) easily coped with Word without any training and producing good quality documents - and that is why it was such a success, professionals who all learnt the advanced features of other products just could not believe that it was so simple to produce documents with tables, text boxes, columns etc., and could be done by normal users. WordPerfect had their chance - and blew it, if you do not change quick enough and give users the features they need you lose the race.

@NikeNielsen @AnsuGisalas But let's forget about the natural selection angle. WordPerfect like all those that can from the text-based era forced the user to bend for it. Users practically had to get a degree to use WP (any version). The only -ONLY- reason anyone thinks fondly of it is because they invested major brain power to using it. And when it was replaced by programs that everyone else could learn these WP acolytes just did not want to learn anything else. Instead of the elaborate keystrokes memorized the new app had a button to do that function. If you miss it go to Corel... ah, no one goes to Corel. Corel was made by like-minded people. They never caught on and now their stuff generally ends up in the bargain bin at the office supply store. You can wax nostalgic but don't live in past. Outside that period between 4 and 12 years old it was not as (word) perfect as you remember it.

This is a case of the rotary dial versus push button all over again. I recall grown-ups complaining all the time about that... "What was wrong with the telephone before? I don't like these tiny buttons!" Gawd, so OLD!

First of all, your Corel crap reveals your ignorance: Corel didn't create WP, they just bought and buried it.

Second: Among the remaining avid users of WordPerfect are many law firms and academics, who favor WordPerfect features such as macros and reveal codes, the ability to access a large range of formatting options such as left-right block indent directly with key combinations rather than having to click through several layers of submenus as MS Word often requires. -quote: Wikipedia

WP was fast. You could *edit text* quickly, *layout text* quickly and *automate text handling tasks*... MS Word, to this day, CANNOT do these things. MS Word tries to be able to do everything equally poorly, and sometimes succeeds. WP tried to do what it was supposed to do, and do it well, and it succeeded.

Corel is the main reason more people don't use WP, as it is still the best tool for the job (which, admittedly, is kinda sad - you'd have thought some progress would have been made since).

Now go sharpen your hair or something, your MBA rhetoric fails to impress.

But what I love here is they the person Trashing WP 5.1 hasn't said a single word about M$ Word.

If WP was Horrible Word was much worse and a Disaster. As a WP user from way before 5 I didn't have a single issue with it at the 5 level but I did run into difficulties with 6-1 for Windows.

5 and previous versions where all DOS applications not Windows Applications just like the early versions of Word which needed a lot more Brain Power Invested in Learning and in my personal experience even caused one big Issue with IBM who made word so widely used.

Owing to a error in the Destruction Manual supplied to IBM by M$ a new IBM PC owner following the manual to the letter couldn't do something I can not longer remember the exact thing now as it's so long ago, and after being told by the Idiots at the IBM PC side of the business to Read the Manual he grabbed his 12 Gage and gave the unit both barrels out of sheer frustration.

I had to deal with the Warranty Repair to that unit as the Accountant who ran the PC side of the business ran away and hid after peeving off the customer so they had to grab a Ranking Tech to deal with the by now Super peeved off customer.

Hardly intuitive if you ask me but on a more sensible note when I first started this business all the staff laughed that I still used WP and said all sorts of nasty things about it and how much better word was.

Seems that after needing to use WP8 a few times they stopped using word and every one complains bitterly just how nasty Word is and that was before the Ribbon Appeared.

This year I'll most likely be moving from WP 12 to X5 if I get motivated enough or what is more likely I get peeved off enough with the way that the newer versions of Word do not open the files the way that they used to.

Col

I didn't say Corel created it. They do own it. WordPerfect is the main reason (more?) people don't use WordPerfect. I get it, you're a paralegal who only uses one program and types all day on an IBM AT. Some folks just like to go retro all the way. If I would walk into a law office using WP I would walk right out unless Matlock was representing me.

All the other word editors "edit" and "layout" and "automate" text. I had set up WordPro and Word to replace coworkers' industry shorthand with full construction terms. We used WP for a year before they asked me to find a Windows alternative when 5.1 was the standard. Not even our OLDER clerks asked for a return to WP.

Seriously, that tells me so much.

Like any tool, you set it up to suit your usage. Once done, it is very helpful.

and Word's autocorrect works well - once you rip out the inane defaults that try to be "smart" but really aren't.

Your vaunted 'button' requires that I remove a hand from the keyboard, find the mouse, find the cursor, find the button relative to the cursor, move the mouse to place the cursor over the button, then click. Then I have to move my hand back to the keyboard, find my position and resume typing. Why do that when all I had to do was use a function key without ever leaving the keyboard? Other than the graphical interface, Word for Windows added nothing in capabilities over WP5.1, and even took away capabilities. The people that miss WordPerfect today are the touch typists that were (and are) able to use hotkeys effectively and efficiently.

WordPerfect Software made the same mistake WordStar did. They created THE state of the art application, then rested on their laurels. Then they had to sell out to Novell.

Are you taking dictation? Because there's an app for that. No one is a Typist. We can't afford someone who just types fast all day long, with all due respect to the Donnas and Peggys of the world. I don't even think folks who write contracts and manuals do hotkey formatting as they go. That's usually done after most of the content is on the page already.

There are few pure 'Typists' any more, but plenty of people use the keyboard as the dominant input device. Donna and Peggy are now called "Executive Assistants". And yes, many technical writers do hotkey formatting as they go; it's faster than taking your hands off the keyboard. That doesn't mean they all do it in all situations.

Command Name Shortcut Keys
------------------------------------------------------------------------

All Caps CTRL+SHIFT+A
Annotation ALT+CTRL+M
App Maximize ALT+F10
App Restore ALT+F5
Apply Heading1 ALT+CTRL+1
Apply Heading2 ALT+CTRL+2
Apply Heading3 ALT+CTRL+3
Apply List Bullet CTRL+SHIFT+L
Auto Format ALT+CTRL+K
Auto Text F3 or ALT+CTRL+V
Bold CTRL+B or CTRL+SHIFT+B
Bookmark CTRL+SHIFT+F5
Browse Next CTRL+PAGE DOWN
Browse Previous CTRL+PAGE UP
Browse Sel ALT+CTRL+HOME
Cancel ESC
Center Para CTRL+E
Change Case SHIFT+F3
Char Left LEFT
Char Left Extend SHIFT+LEFT
Char Right RIGHT
Char Right Extend SHIFT+RIGHT
Clear DELETE
Close or Exit ALT+F4
Close Pane ALT+SHIFT+C
Column Break CTRL+SHIFT+ENTER
Column Select CTRL+SHIFT+F8
Copy CTRL+C or CTRL+INSERT
Copy Format CTRL+SHIFT+C
Copy Text SHIFT+F2
Create Auto Text ALT+F3
Customize Add Menu ALT+CTRL+=
Customize Keyboard ALT+CTRL+NUM +
Customize Remove Menu ALT+CTRL+-
Cut CTRL+X or SHIFT+DELETE
Date Field ALT+SHIFT+D
Delete Back Word CTRL+BACKSPACE
Delete Word CTRL+DELETE
Dictionary ALT+SHIFT+F7
Do Field Click ALT+SHIFT+F9
Doc Close CTRL+W or CTRL+F4
Doc Maximize CTRL+F10
Doc Move CTRL+F7
Doc Restore CTRL+F5
Doc Size CTRL+F8
Doc Split ALT+CTRL+S
Double Underline CTRL+SHIFT+D
End of Column ALT+PAGE DOWN
End of Column ALT+SHIFT+PAGE DOWN
End of Doc Extend CTRL+SHIFT+END
End of Document CTRL+END
End of Line END
End of Line Extend SHIFT+END
End of Row ALT+END
End of Row ALT+SHIFT+END
End of Window ALT+CTRL+PAGE DOWN
End of Window Extend ALT+CTRL+SHIFT+PAGE DOWN
Endnote Now ALT+CTRL+D
Extend Selection F8
Field Chars CTRL+F9
Field Codes ALT+F9
Find CTRL+F
Font CTRL+D or CTRL+SHIFT+F
Font Size Select CTRL+SHIFT+P
Footnote Now ALT+CTRL+F
Go Back SHIFT+F5 or ALT+CTRL+Z
Go To CTRL+G or F5
Grow Font CTRL+SHIFT+.
Grow Font One Point CTRL+]
Hanging Indent CTRL+T
Header Footer Link ALT+SHIFT+R
Help F1
Hidden CTRL+SHIFT+H
Hyperlink CTRL+K
Indent CTRL+M
Italic CTRL+I or CTRL+SHIFT+I
Justify Para CTRL+J
Left Para CTRL+L
Line Down DOWN
Line Down Extend SHIFT+DOWN
Line Up UP
Line Up Extend SHIFT+UP
List Num Field ALT+CTRL+L
Lock Fields CTRL+3 or CTRL+F11
Macro ALT+F8
Mail Merge Check ALT+SHIFT+K
Mail Merge Edit Data Source ALT+SHIFT+E
Mail Merge to Doc ALT+SHIFT+N
Mail Merge to Printer ALT+SHIFT+M
Mark Citation ALT+SHIFT+I
Mark Index Entry ALT+SHIFT+X
Mark Table of Contents Entry ALT+SHIFT+O
Menu Mode F10
Merge Field ALT+SHIFT+F
Microsoft Script Editor ALT+SHIFT+F11
Microsoft System Info ALT+CTRL+F1
Move Text F2
New CTRL+N
Next Cell TAB
Next Field F11 or ALT+F1
Next Misspelling ALT+F7
Next Object ALT+DOWN
Next Window CTRL+F6 or ALT+F6
Normal ALT+CTRL+N
Normal Style CTRL+SHIFT+N or ALT+SHIFT+CLEAR (NUM 5)
Open CTRL+O or CTRL+F12 or ALT+CTRL+F2
Open or Close Up Para CTRL+0
Other Pane F6 or SHIFT+F6
Outline ALT+CTRL+O
Outline Collapse ALT+SHIFT+- or ALT+SHIFT+NUM -
Outline Demote ALT+SHIFT+RIGHT
Outline Expand ALT+SHIFT+=
Outline Expand ALT+SHIFT+NUM +
Outline Move Down ALT+SHIFT+DOWN
Outline Move Up ALT+SHIFT+UP
Outline Promote ALT+SHIFT+LEFT
Outline Show First Line ALT+SHIFT+L
Overtype INSERT
Page ALT+CTRL+P
Page Break CTRL+ENTER
Page Down PAGE DOWN
Page Down Extend SHIFT+PAGE DOWN
Page Field ALT+SHIFT+P
Page Up PAGE UP
Page Up Extend SHIFT+PAGE UP
Para Down CTRL+DOWN
Para Down Extend CTRL+SHIFT+DOWN
Para Up CTRL+UP
Para Up Extend CTRL+SHIFT+UP
Paste CTRL+V or SHIFT+INSERT
Paste Format CTRL+SHIFT+V
Prev Cell SHIFT+TAB
Prev Field SHIFT+F11 or ALT+SHIFT+F1
Prev Object ALT+UP
Prev Window CTRL+SHIFT+F6 or ALT+SHIFT+F6
Print CTRL+P or CTRL+SHIFT+F12
Print Preview CTRL+F2 or ALT+CTRL+I
Proofing F7
Redo ALT+SHIFT+BACKSPACE
Redo or Repeat CTRL+Y or F4 or ALT+ENTER
Repeat Find SHIFT+F4 or ALT+CTRL+Y
Replace CTRL+H
Reset Char CTRL+SPACE or CTRL+SHIFT+Z
Reset Para CTRL+Q
Revision Marks Toggle CTRL+SHIFT+E
Right Para CTRL+R
Save CTRL+S or SHIFT+F12 or ALT+SHIFT+F2
Save As F12
Select All CTRL+A or CTRL+CLEAR (NUM 5) or CTRL+NUM 5
Select Table ALT+CLEAR (NUM 5)
Show All CTRL+SHIFT+8
Show All Headings ALT+SHIFT+A
Show Heading1 ALT+SHIFT+1
Show Heading2 ALT+SHIFT+2
Show Heading3 ALT+SHIFT+3
Show Heading4 ALT+SHIFT+4
Show Heading5 ALT+SHIFT+5
Show Heading6 ALT+SHIFT+6
Show Heading7 ALT+SHIFT+7
Show Heading8 ALT+SHIFT+8
Show Heading9 ALT+SHIFT+9
Shrink Font CTRL+SHIFT+,
Shrink Font One Point CTRL+[
Small Caps CTRL+SHIFT+K
Space Para1 CTRL+1
Space Para15 CTRL+5
Space Para2 CTRL+2
Spike CTRL+SHIFT+F3 or CTRL+F3
Start of Column ALT+PAGE UP
Start of Column ALT+SHIFT+PAGE UP
Start of Doc Extend CTRL+SHIFT+HOME
Start of Document CTRL+HOME
Start of Line HOME
Start of Line Extend SHIFT+HOME
Start of Row ALT+HOME
Start of Row ALT+SHIFT+HOME
Start of Window ALT+CTRL+PAGE UP
Start of Window Extend ALT+CTRL+SHIFT+PAGE UP
Style CTRL+SHIFT+S
Subscript CTRL+=
Superscript CTRL+SHIFT+=
Symbol Font CTRL+SHIFT+Q
Thesaurus SHIFT+F7
Time Field ALT+SHIFT+T
Toggle Field Display SHIFT+F9
Toggle Master Subdocs CTRL+\
Tool SHIFT+F1
Un Hang CTRL+SHIFT+T
Un Indent CTRL+SHIFT+M
Underline CTRL+U or CTRL+SHIFT+U
Undo CTRL+Z or ALT+BACKSPACE
Unlink Fields CTRL+6 or CTRL+SHIFT+F9
Unlock Fields CTRL+4 or CTRL+SHIFT+F11
Update Auto Format ALT+CTRL+U
Update Fields F9 or ALT+SHIFT+U
Update Source CTRL+SHIFT+F7
VBCode ALT+F11
Web Go Back ALT+LEFT
Web Go Forward ALT+RIGHT
Word Left CTRL+LEFT
Word Left Extend CTRL+SHIFT+LEFT
Word Right CTRL+RIGHT
Word Right Extend CTRL+SHIFT+RIGHT
Word Underline CTRL+SHIFT+W

Direct shortcuts are very useful.
Now if only they'd let me access the codes their failed stupid "smart" features add in... like "smart" indents which never work when you need them, but always trigger when you don't.

To much to remember for no rewards.

Free fitness and exercises so you do not have wrist's troubles.

It depends on how you look at it. I personally do not like it as I would have to flip (Change panels from the app desktop to the start desktop) things around to get to it and found it very annoying. Either way I am a very experienced user and could deal with it if forced to and do so rather easily. The thing is I see this as XP/Vista! In 5 years many will be using 7 still as 8 is made into 9 to be more fluid and usable by a general user. I have had the BETA since it's release last year. Of course I had also been using Windows 7 prior to a year before it's release as well.

You have to do that now with the Start menu. Whatever you don't use frequently stays in its nested folder (submenu?) on the Start menu. Now if you place your frequently used tasks on the first screen isn't that the same thing?

I mainly deal with non-techs. These are not nerdy people and they don't seem to know things like UI and NTFS and whatever. I do know that a LOT of them place their frequently used apps on the desktop... you can feel the clutter in your bones right now. Some place them on the taskbar. I think Metro will be a godsend to these folks. It won't just be a tile for Word or Excel. They'll have tiles for their Facebook wall and their bank login screen and their MSMoney dashboard. That's now the normals use computers.