I hear no end of non-techie people cursing Windows 8 and its metro interface. As a latest example, one of my friends said he wanted to buy a new Windows laptop,

I hear no end of non-techie people cursing Windows 8 and its metro interface. As a latest example, one of my friends said he wanted to buy a new Windows laptop, but walked out of the store after being really confused using Windows 8 (quote was: "I don't know how I will be able to get work done in this."). Personally, just the sheer learning curve to help someone set up a new Windows 8 laptop was ridiculous. I had to search the web for answers on things like locating the control panel. Whereas Vista had quality and "annoyance" problems (new security UI), Windows 8 seems to have all the quality, but behind a blunderous user experience. This tells me that Microsoft has really screwed this up. We techies quickly learn the new UI and adapt to it, figuring out how it works. It seems like the new UI was developed with a techie mindset, and but people outside of tech don't get it. Or perhaps there's a simpler explanation. The Windows 8 UI really is an awkward meshing of "tablet-like" and desktop-like experience, with both experiences compromised. And it's filled with bad decisions, such as Metro-only Skype that requires you to convert your existing Skype account to a Windows login. Don't want to mess with your Skype account? Then you install "desktop" Skype. Two Skypes. Two different experiences. Seriously? You have gotta be kidding me. How could you ship that?