Annoying to most, cool to some
I know all these missing features that are standard, especially in Windows 7, and more so since Windows XP, are annoying to almost all users that use Windows 8 (and obviously those that just complain about it, yet haven't used it) - but I find myself back in time, sort of.
I'm from the old DOS days and the explosion of Windows 3.1 that became mainstream, and I seem to remember A LOT of configuration to do back then (fun e.g. : tweaking the config.sys and autoexec.bat). But, that was expected! Whereas today, with the lazyness that most users find themselves entitled to, they scream, yell and stomp their foot in protest "give me back my simple features! I'm lost without them! Why did you take them away?!". And for most reasons, they're right - user experience should be simple and have minimal impact.
But, come on, it's not the end of the world, and to us programmers and real IT pros, it's definitely a huge opportunity in some many ways; most notably in the professional sphere : why would I want an application and/or an OS that does everything for me like a robot? I'd be rendered useless and discarded, whereas on the other side, because of the amount of years in IT, I'm not lulled into a mundane routine of single-clicks-the-job-is-done-without-knowing-what-really-happened-in-the-background.
Whatever happened to the adventure (albeit nerdy adventures to non-geeks) in computers? The need for discovering features, making it and shaping it to work the way YOU want it, not how someone else decided it should be for the rest of us (and like it or not, the Windows marketplace is still strong and won't be going away any time soon).
I find myself liking Windows 8 because it brings me back to those golden days of being a power user with the ability to shape my day-to-day experience the way *I* want it, instead of today's dumber/average user that complains when even a simple menu option is removed, yet requires a mere swipe/mouse click to render the same effect.
With Windows 8, I can develop myriad applications that will bring back those old functionalities and that can be rewarding (both personally and financially when it can be sold within the Windows Store).
I'm not trying to bash anyone, but all in all, you don't need to be an Einstein genius to create shortcuts and change a bit of OS habits, but it can go a long way.
