I work in IT, its simple, without banging on about Nm processes and 3d transistors or Moore's Law PC's double in Power every 18months to 2 years, If its 4 years old its not work using/fixing. Everyone presses the start button clicks the big blue E (its called Internet Explorer) the Green X (Excel) or the blue W (word).

Now the start menu is the baby in that lists its only been with us for 17 years - or eternity in computing terms. Hell half the planet's using XP - aka windaz 2000 in a teletubies outfit.

Simples sell 'em the new PC - granted windows 7 blurry transparent desktop is a bit ugly, and its got bigger icons, but its just windows 95 with with a facelift.

Now under the hood there's been a few changes - nothing that effects the end user, 32v64bit - do you know which version you have? Or Care?

However, a few years back a poky little fashion outfit called apple made a smart phone that actually worked*, more importantly it worked without a manual. It could read email, browse the web and so on and so forth. Up to this point your needed a PC and despite some sterling work by Firefox and the Like, Internet Explorer if you wanted to use the Internet, the limits of a small screen phone are still there today. Fine, Start > Blue E

What ever happened to the Paperless office? Well the PC, printers etc just made it easier to make MORE paperwork so that I dear was rooted from the start. You made it using the big blue W, or the Green X.

Meanwhile on the Internet.... More and more bandwidth was being made available.  First came the photo uploads(flicker) then the video upload(youTube) then the contents of your bowels for all to see (FaceBook)

The Internet got cloudy, and sharey and simple, I wrote the code for this site with my bare hands and a lot of work, apple + social networking and its done for you, a monkey can share.

many people love this, and for that Apple supplied them with iPads, it can watch tv and video's go in facebook, and do all the social interaction baby pics BETTER than a PC. You don't have to wade through legions of spyware and naggy windows dialog boxes it just works. Everyone's happy. It will talk calendars with your office (If your IT Guy can beat exchange active sync into submission- no mean feat believe me).

Unfortunately there it stops, it can't print it can't run photoshop, anything other than the home/social tasks its as usefull as a chocolate tea pot.

Useful work?

Microsoft is killing off the Windows as we know it, its killing off the start menu as we know it, and the Mouse and Keyboard. Windows 8 is aimed fair and square at the iPad, I've now tried it on a PC. Its weird, really weird.

No in summary, windows 8, Start Menu gone, desktop gone, replaced by metro. Which is basically window phone 7 look a like. For the record Windows phone 7 has been out sold by chocolate tea pots. If you want a look at your new PC, google it. Oh and while your looking, see if you can find anybody doing any useful work in any of these videos? I can't. Can you imagine doing your company's books like this, writing health and safety docs, printing, architechs designing a building, managing stock levels. What the reviews agree on is, its shit with a mouse, and its shit on a desktop PC. Probably great to add sepia effects to your baby pictures and upload them to face-book, Likewise its great as a Star Trek tricorder.

Microsoft does provide a desktop compatibility mode. In which normal Apps can run. Because there are no Metro Apps yet. Its really going to town on it though, the desktop mode is having all the pretty effects cut out of it, in fact the 3d effect that's been with us since the dawn of time is being removed. I do mean removed - they're deliberately taking it out - its there now, they are removing it. So no start menu, you have to go back into metro for that, no 3d effects, much less transparency. OK so its metro or windows 3.

I notice (and there have been suggestions and rumors going back years) Apple have not merged iOS (phone and Pad) with OSX(desktops and laptops) Not M$ they're going full steam ahead, its one thing to try and compete with the iPad - they've failed on the iPhone, but taking functionality out just to make life worse for your core market (business) seems insane. Oh and M$'s other products - Its just announced its in house tablets "surface" - Yes now M$ thinks its a hardware company. Will have office on it (free). Now normally they charge $270 for the cheapo version, discounted with a new PC. Which is frankly robbery. By Pushing people off the Desktop, which I suppose is happening anyway, they're gonna sabotage that cash cow. And what about the desingers? the People who need a precision interface? Well I guess they'll by a MAC with OSx?

"Computers" as most know them, desktop start menu, etc are gone people. Linux has been going through this debate over several years, the whole Unity/Gnome 3 interface thing.  It even made Linus Tovald loose his rag suppose people doing real work, and the irritating bureaucrats who don't but generate all the paperwork, think Win8 is an Unholy mess? Which since they're not going to do their jobs on a tablet and the shops aren't waht you'd call full of touch PC's. Or they think that the Ipad is better(M$'s "surface" will be way more expensive than the Android Equivalent, maybe more than an iPad). Where does the world go from there?

* all smart phones before the iPhone were a bit shit