Firstly, welcome to FOSS and Linux :-)

To my mind, it is unnecessary change that causes irritation; if there are clear advantages to be gained by making a change then a little bit of temporary discomfort along the way can be tolerated, because the payback after the discomfort is that things will be better than they are now.

The cost/benefit has to be clear though: why else would we go through the hassle of learning to walk vs crawling, riding a bike without stabilisers, or getting braces on our teeth.

Microsoft's problem with Windows 8 is that potential buyers just can't see enough benefits to justify to themselves the cost of a new PC only to then have to struggle with an unfamiliar interface that doesn't let them do as much as their current PC. It is completely understandable if they decide to stick with what they already have.

By trying to force people to use the new interface whether they like it or not MS are just encouraging people to make the even bigger change of switching to a completely different system - the learning curve might be larger than moving to Windows 8 (although that is debateable!), but at least they can perceive the advantages of switching away from a supplier who is clearly confused as to what their customers want.

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