I would say that I’m an expert on Windows versions XP through 7, despite the fact that I only use the Mac OS on my personal machines. I’ve been using Windows since the dawn of XP, and slightly before that. I’ve tinkered with the OS quite a bit and have worked my way up to being able to fix nearly every issue I encounter (at the very least, I am aware of the cause of the problem, but do not possess the programming knowledge to deliver a solution). I’ve gone through the last three Windows transitions, jumping on board as early as I could. I’ve suffered through the pain of Windows Vista. I enjoyed learning the new user interface of Windows 7. As someone who is interested in this, I can pick it up quite quickly. Unfortunately, many others do not.

I work in a retail store as a computer tech. I fix computers, sell stuff, and help customers. I could not tell you how many customers that are forced to get a new PC become immediately irritated that the user interface has changed. I am frequently asked if there is a way to install Windows XP on one of the new machines we sell, and every time I have to answer with a disappointing, “No.” The transition from Windows XP to Windows 7 is quite a big step up. Despite the major user interface change, things still work the same. For example: the Start button changed from saying the word “Start” to becoming a button with the Windows logo; the task bar no longer has words, just pictures; User folders no longer refer to a specific location on disk, they’re merely a centralized location where the files can be seen. These are only a few of the changes, but some of the most prominent.

Windows 8 takes that to a whole new level in a way that I’m not comfortable with. Here, I will present a few examples: (Disclaimer: I’m running the Windows 8 Release Preview in Parallels, virtualized on my Mac. Essentially, the same as dedicating a machine to it.) Where is the Start button? I spent several minutes trying to figure this out on my own. Guess what? There isn’t one. It’s gone. If you want to get somewhere from here, there are two options. You can either hit the Windows key on the keyboard to get back to the “Start menu” (more on that later), or you can hover your mouse over the bottom right corner for a few seconds, where you can wait for a sidebar to pop up that has a button that says Start. This is the Start menu. That’s right, those are all of my programs. As you can see, there’s a tile that can take you back to the desktop. Each tile opens its own full screen app. To get back to the Start menu from any of these apps, just push the Windows key on the keyboard. I like this idea, and I think its pretty cool. What I’m not looking forward to though, is the avalanche of customers asking how the heck the operating system works. There isn’t anything that explains how any of this works. I figured all of it out by trial and error. I have a lot more patience for this than most other people though. I don’t see how someone can figure this out without it being explained.

Microsoft is making a huge leap forward with this OS, one that I don’t mind. But I have a very strong feeling that this isn’t going to be very well received by others.

As an aside, I experienced this during the setup.