In RT, you're prohibited from installing Windows apps. You can only install Metro apps. In WIn 8, there is nothing to stop you. But if it's a Metro app, it will only run n Metro mode. In WIndows 8, every Metro app runs in full screen mode. As a user you can split the screen into 1/3 2/3 and run two apps side-by-side. Desktop apps run just as they always have.

In 8.1 you can split it however you want and if I saw the Build keynote demo properly, you can have lots of Metro windows open.

The issue most people have, IMO, is that humans are creatures of habit. Microsoft changed the way you've been using your computer since 2001 when XP came out. No hierarchical menu was confusing to people. Plus, installs were flat. If an install on WIn 7 would have created a menu hierarchy, each item would appear on the metro screen. There is no nesting of items. IMO, the key is to go to the Start screen and just type the program. Search will kick in and find what you want.

Also, I think the switch from desktop to Start screen was too glaring for people. You had the desktop background and the Start screen was just a solid color background. In Windows 8.1, your desktop background is also the background for the Start Screen, so it looks like the tiles are just placed on top of the desktop (minus the desktop icons and task bar).

FYI, I haven't installed 8.1 yet because if you install the preview, you can't go directly to the 8.1 RTM, you have to reinstall everything at that point. However, I may change my mind when I get back from Mexico in mid-July.


>I do have a dumb question about Windows 8 though - people are complaining about the multi-window problem. What's to keep a user from going to the desktop and running multi-window apps just as we do now from there? I've only messed around with a preview version of Windows 8 and at the time there was a hack to bring back the start button (a workaround that Microsoft quickly squashed) - but anyway other than the start button - what's the big deal? Like how hard is it to click on "desktop" tile on metro interface? Maybe I don't understand the problem - but to me it seems like no big deal at all.