You do not have to use the applets. you use your own software. I don't know where people are getting the idea that you have to use metro app's.

The start menu is nothing more than a start menu that's all. The only time I see the start menu is when I open a program that I do not have a shortcut for it on my desktop.

Every program I used on windows 7 "except windowblinds" I use on windows 8. when you click a program icon it takes you back to the desktop just like the old start menu. unless you are using the applets. Me I uninstalled every applet as soon as I installed windows 8. so nothing on my computer runs but real software.

windows 8 runs the way you choose.

I'd never trash 7, it was great.  Maybe Vista deserved the hate, maybe it didn't.  I liked it.  It had a rough start though.  XP though?  The amount of features it's missing now and the amount of work since into using more than one core, networking, app/driver/OS stability and new features like D2D/D3D11...long past time to ditch XP.

Exactly right, Win 8 is a great OS and betters Win 7 in both speed and stability.  Trouble is, it suffered the same fate as Vista, with media and various 'experts' shooting it down in flames during the beta versions, and from there Win 8 had an uphill battle to gain ground with a public that had taken the so-called experts words as gospel, many of them without even trying it.

As for being too lazy to learn new software/new ways of doing things, a lot of the time it comes down to: "I've been doing it this way for x amount of years now and I'm not about to change for anyone."  Sometimes it comes down to a fear of change, but more often than not it comes down to arrogance: "What I got ain't broke, so don't bother trying to fix it for me."

I will admit there are aspects of Win 8 I'm not fussed about, the stripping of Aero, for example, but on the whole it is a solid OS and I've learned to live with those small inconveniences... they do not prevent me from doing anything important, so obviously they're not deal breakers.  In fact, I've heard numerous complaints about what Win 8 can't do.... bla, bla, bla, but there isn't anything I could do in Win 7 that I can't do in Win 8.

Okay, So I can't apply WindowBlinds as yet, but I recall there being waiting periods for Vista and Win 7 compatibility. I can still perform all the tasks I could in Win 7 so it's not like the end of the world and I can wait.

It's really good there's some people who actually like 8 .

It'd be quite sad if all that hype and effort was for nowt.  Poor little MS....diddums.

Thankfully it wasn't a total loss....

...oh, and Stardock likes 8 quite a bit too...

I'm going to preface this with a note that I really don't like Windows 8.

And while my own personal experience has been poor with Windows 8 (basically fighting through the new UI to get things going how I or those I'm helping want it), I have to say that article and the claim is pushing things a little.

I mean, the very article itself mentions a pile of other legit reasons why the numbers are down:

"Increased demand for mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets have also played a role in this decline"

"PC demand for business users has declined as well. According to Chou, companies now buy computers every four or five years as opposed to every three years."

Those sound like some serious detriments to PC purchasing right there... it's hard to turn around from that and say "But yeah, Windows 8 totally slowed the market."

"Not buying PCs this year" and "Buying new non-PC technology" are some pretty serious sounding contributors to me that would deserve more focus than the LOL M$ sucks! vibe I read in that article. And I'm normally keen for M$ finger pointing...

Win 8 seems to be a total bust with the exception of Starkers and a couple of other people who find it appealing.

As Kaisoku posted just above you, there are plenty of more legitimate reasons for the decline in PC purchasing than suggesting Windows 8 is the reason.

That article is filled with more bias than the views of the users on this forum, of course nothing else is to be expected from a source such as FOX NEWS (aka 'the comedy network' as we Canadians refer to it!  hehe).

You and others who dislike Windows 8 because of the UI are obviously entitled to your opinion and can choose to not like/use it all you want, as long as the detractors of Windows 8 also understand that the advancements of the new OS under the hood (and no I won't link articles to those advancements since I've already done so in 3 different threads with no real responses) do make it a worthwhile upgrade for others.

I don't buy a new OS because of the look/feel of it.  I buy a new OS because it genuinely has 'advanced' in x, y or z area.  The UI of an OS is really the least important thing to me (and I suspect there are others out there like me).   Since the first Windows versions on through 3.11, 95, 98SE, XP Pro, Vista Business, Win7 Pro and now 8 I have never customized even one aspect of the UI of the newer OS.  I have been a command-prompt guy since before Windows and remain so.  For tasks I happen to perform within the UI I have simply adjusted my way of doing so from OS to OS.

But feel free to carry on........Windows 8 has failed......M$ sucks ass.......down with windows......down I say.....    Hey I know.....we should all move over to Linux, where the UI is the most user-friendly, most visually appealing and so intuitive.  Hell....maybe if we all started running Linux, PC sales would rebound gloriously and we could all laugh at M$ even more!  

The command prompt is usually half of the screen so even changing the wallpaper seemed pointless.  Also in windows versions pre Win8 I found myself using the desktop as little more than a dumping ground for misc files.   So I really like an OS that allows for performing UI tasks without the desktop (ie. running the apps like mail etc.)......not tempted as much to just dump crap there (on the desktop).....hehe

EDIT:

The complete truth is, I just can't be bothered to change the UI in any OS.  I can't explain it other than I have never felt the need/desire to 'make a system my own'.   I have various systems I use on a day-to-day basis and I just use them for what I need them for.  I guess I just don't make a personal connection with my computer system.  To me it is just a tool running another tool (the OS) with which to get certain tasks done.  I don't really know how else to explain why I never even bothered to change that cloudy sky and field default wallpaper (bliss I think?) for XP to something else for the years when I was using XP.

   It's funny that you say that Roloccolor because there have been times I've actually been looking for files only to realize the command-prompt window which I usually keep on the left was covering them up!  hehe

Terry, Terry, Terry, what am I going to do with you?  All this "epic fail" talk, and "people telling Microsoft that with their wallets", yet no mention of the many contributing factors as to why Win 8 hasn't done so well from a market perspective. 

One vital point that must be mentioned is the piss poor state of the economy in those countries hardest hit by the GFC... with the US being high on that list if not at the top.  Fact is, the US economy still hasn't recovered and unemployment is high, so is it really a case of people [in any country] rebuking MS over Win 8 and voting with their wallets, or is it a case of having nothing in their wallets to consider purchasing Windows of any flavour? For mine, the latter has the greater air of truth about it... and does not prove Windows 8 to be an epic fail.

Another vital point is the ongoing craze for mobile/portable devices, and how two companies have the mobile market pretty much sewn up with their IOS and Android operating systems. So, if people have money to spend on computing consumables, they are more likely to go with products that have been tried and true.   Now while Microsoft has entered this market and made some inroads with Windows 8 devices, it is a late comer and is competing against proven performers, therefore sales are not going to be ideal at such an early juncture.  However, this does not prove Windows 8 is an epic fail.  It merely suggests a market shift and that other platforms have the greater market share due to pre-existing popularity.

Now this is what really peeves me, that Metro is the reason Win 8 supposedly sux.... why so many people say they hate it.  Frankly, anybody who flat out condemns Win 8 purely on the basis of Metro hasn't bothered to investigate or navigate the OS properly.  With a bit of common sense and a bit of effort, Win 8 can be set up to do everything Win 7 and previous OSes could do.... and that's without having to keep going back into the Metro UI.... AND without having to resort to installing 3rd party start buttons/menus. 

Yes, I have Start8 installed, but I rarely use it nowadays because I have Win 8 set up to suit my needs, with shortcuts and icons for my most used programs, with Winstep's Worshelf containing all the places I need to go within the OS.  I rarely see the Metro UI, and if/when I do it's because I call it up because I want to access the store and/or an app.

So, all this drivel, baloney and bullshit about Metro being the reason to hate Win 8, it's pathetic and whiney assed nonsense, just a piss weak excuse for some to mouth off because they have eff all else to whine about.

It's a bit like it is here... up and down like Mary's pants.

We have these statistics that say one week employment is up, and another week the statistics say unemployment is up.

Then other weeks it's neither up nor down.... cos Mary forgot to put any on, and thus cannot join the jobless queue.

For mine, employment/unemployment figures are used by governments to deal whatever fiscal/economic cards they see fit to inflict

Undoubtedly, and Windows 8 isn't the only OS to suffer.  Apple's OS-X has seen a decline in sales also.

True, portable devices are flavour of the month right now, but they're not going to take over completely from the desktop PC.  Companies like Intel; AMD; Nvidia; Creative; Asus; Gigabyte and other hardware manufacturers are still developing for the desktop market and do not appear to be slowing down any time soon, so it's most likely that desktop PC's will be with us for a few more decades yet.

On a site called 'Wincustomize.com" you are definitely within the minority.

The whole point of people's [here] displeasure with 8 is exactly its GUI.  Even its avid LOVERS grudgingly yearn for WB8 to improve things...and yet it's this very GUI "advancement" that prolongs its [WB] release.

IF there were actually no real issue with MS' direction they have taken with the PC OS GUI then such programs as Start8 and ModernMix would NOT be as popular as they are.

To suggest those who ARE dissatisfied with 8 are simply sheep following bad press is quite demeaning [and wrong].  Each PC USER uses his/her PC through/via its GUI.  Most care little about whether or not the underlying OS itself is better or not [provided whatever it is is reasonably reliable and idiot-proof].

Yes, there ARE other reasons contributing to poor sales....though comparatively the same factors have always generally applied.  The reality is said factors do NOT explain the magnitude of the 'fail'ed success, and it is patently obvious the product itself is blameworthy.

As a microcosm of Computer users Wincustomize.com will be heavily prejudiced towards an importance directed towards GUI design/implementation/success - where it's-OK-I-can-adapt-to-anything-because-I-am-good will actually be few and far between.

Flaws in an OS GUI have always led to outside 're-thinking' - a conscious attempt to better an interface.  All versions of the MS OS have led rise to this....from Dos vintage to today.  Whether it's a GUI for Dos...or for Win3 or Win95/XP, 7 or 8 they have ALWAYS been there.

The difference is...in 7 there was a decline in actual 'need' but in 8 there's a resurgence.

Colour it any way you like, but the fact remains in this area of the woods concensus will see 8 as an error of judgement...