>As I said, it's easier and faster than navigating a hierarchical menu and there are
>times I still can't find what I want there.


Back in the days of DOS I could run Xtree and begin typing and it also would find my file for me. A very handy feature utility.

>I've talked to many people that have used Win8 and agree with me. Some of those
>people are die-hard Apple users and some of those even thinking they may want to
>switch to Win8.

Everyone I've talked to says the Win8 interface was:
(1) difficult at first
(2) unexpected because by default it completely does away with familiar things like the start button
(3) isn't so bad once you get used to it
(4) can more or less do everything as before, just differently

What very few people do recognize, however, are the dangers in having all metro apps available only from Microsoft (except for high-end OS versions and complex manual installations). Most people don't seem to care even if they do know. Baffling.