This actually makes me hopeful. It was looking a lot like Windows 8 was the first step toward phasing out the desktop entirely. Certainly providing the simple

This actually makes me hopeful. It was looking a lot like Windows 8 was the first step toward phasing out the desktop entirely. Certainly providing the simplest, most streamlined default experience for casual users makes sense, for the reasons specified. If they're explicitly thinking that that will then allow them to provide more advanced tools for power users as well, since they will no longer be right on the surface to confuse casual users, that's fantastic. Makes me hopeful that Windows 9 will continue the trend shared by Microsoft OSes and Star Trek movies.