Windows 8 is not hard to use
TG2, I'm having trouble following your reasoning. I need to turn my computer off about once or twice a month. Most of the time I just walk away, and it goes to sleep after ten or fifteen minutes. If I need to lock the screen, I just press Windows + L. When I do shut down my machine, I don't usually make three mouse clicks, I do it all with the keyboard. In general, I run the whole Windows 8 interface from the keyboard, and use the mouse only rarely. Since I'm not running surface, all the business about gesturing and swiping that you talk about makes no sense. I can't swipe with a mouse, so I don't have to worry if it is efficient or not. Yet it seems I can always get where I need to go in about half a second with the keyboard.
The Win 8 OS boots faster than Windows 7, and faster than Linux. It handles things like updates and system scans automatically, and reliably. The new start screen is much easier to navigate than the old start menu, which made starting applications like hunting for a needle in a haystack.
And best of all, Windows 8 provides great integration with the cloud and great support for virtual machines.
I spend about half my time on Linux and half my time on Windows 8, and I think they are both great. Linux doesn't have the smooth, this is like flying, ease of use of Windows 8, but it shines brighter when it comes to networking and web deployment issues.
