[Windows 8 General] fed44:
Well kainppc6700, Windows 8 has a bunch of additions and sure it may seem like all they cared about was tablets but this is simply not true. Metro has been designed with all interfaces in mind and if you were to try to embrace it you would see that this is the case. It can be very much seen by the arguments you have given, that you did not try the os and certainly not for long. Let me go through your arguments one by one:

Windows 8 has had many improvements concerning Memory usage, and if you leave a Windows 7 machine and a Windows 8 machine to idle for a Long time Memory usage in Windows 8 will be lower than that of Windows 7, even with the Default antivirus enabled. They have also tried to minimize the amount of Services running in the Background and CPU usage certainly shouldn't be higher.

In Desktop mode you are still able to click in the bottom left Corner to Access the desktop. From anywhere in the operating System a right click in the bottom left Corner will open a context menu that will give you quick Access to the Desktop too. I beleive neither you nor your friend bothered to learn the system, this context menu gives you the quickest possible Access to the device Manager as well.

Left click in the bottom left corner, ist quicker to hit in any case.

It's new therefore harder, possibly a tad more difficult for beginners but the learning curve is acceptable and I'm hoping for a good tutorial by Microsoft in the RTM version, for people like you…

Anyone who has used Windows in a productive Environment knows of the Ctrl+Alt+Delete unlock Combo and is used to it. I don't know why this is supposed to be so bothersome but I'll be guessing one will be able to deactivate it, at the very least through Group policies.

You are joking right?

Apart from the fact that I doubt this, this can be caused by anything from Drivers to installed apps… I'd be careful with such statements. It could even be due to the new taskmanager in comparison to the old one.

This first of all proves my Point you have not embraced the operating System and as I have explained you click in the bottom left corner…

Either Ctrl+Alt or middle mouse button I beleive, I use a Password in any case and only use the Keyboard shortcut.

It's beta software, it's new software, I don't know what else you expect. Program compatability and Driver compatability (more important) has been exceptional in my view. Your friend sounds nearly Computer illiterate… I can think of atleast 3: Context menu bottom left, start Screen search (under Settings though), win + r mmc... 2 of those are nearly identical to the old methods...

It's Performance improvements are brilliant and noticeable. I also like the fact that UAC now is immediate. Other improvements include but are not limited to new way of handling localization, ribbon toolbars in many applications and this has the advantage of many new functions (think of cmd and powershell launcher), improved taskmgr, improved powershell cmdlts, an improved hyper-v for Client Systems, improved GUI os selector, the new WinRT Framework and Support for new devices/device Scenarios (think NFC, direct wifi), Support for ARM, Profile synchronization … and much more.

Sounds like he barely tried it, sounds like hes not the most advanced pc user, and who the hell actually replaces their old OS for a beta OS, he does know it was beta, what beta stands for etc right? Windows 8 like 7 supports VHD boot and that is the Setup I recommend as it can be removed the easiest.

Famous last wise words: Try the os, learn the os, embrace the os.