There is a Quick launch toolbar on Windows 8 but keep it quiet in case MS take it out as they did the hack to dump the Metro-o-o-o interface. Between this and Vi-Start or Start-X, Windows 8 might approach being a desktop OS after all.

Vi-Start and Start-X both need more development, but even now they give functions which MS is feeling too spiteful to include. That and Quick Launch gets you access to applications and basic functions way better than jumping through the desktop/Metro-o-o-o interface.

I still find it hard to believe that the company which brought affordable computing to the people via millions of desktop machines can honestly defend the Metro desktop. It is a hybrid phone/gaming console operating system and Microsoft are well aware of this.

The only hope comes from remarks by a Softie that some of the features are ‘previews’ and may change slightly. I think that some need more than ‘slightly’, but it will do until we get ‘slightly’ more in SP1..

Trust me, I would be way more upset were it not for Windows 7. I am glad that the choice having to be made is NOT Vista or Windows 8.  Despite initial misgivings about the reduced Windows 7 Start menu functionality, it has a lot more than Windows 8.

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My step-daughter uses her Blackberry phone for her work and she also has a Blackberry Playbook which is used for video calls. I asked her if she could see herself using the Playbook or similar for all of her work, and her answer was a ‘no’. She told me that some of her friends in University were using tablets and Playbooks to take notes, but it seemed to be quite an intense way to do it.

I would imagine that something small would be great for note taking, but one would have to be very adept at typing using one hand on an onscreen keyboard, almost in the same class as a stenographer.

Presently, there is a rush to buy tablets, but what happens when people get tired of keeping up with the latest colours and gimmicks? It stands to sense that tablets etc are on the ‘must have’ lists, but I suspect that these people already have a laptop or desktop computer at home. They are not using tablets in place of laptops and desktops. They are using them alongside the older platforms.

I also don’t subscribe to the notion that computer users need the same OS on all devices.What they need is an operating system which makes best use of the machine being used. For small portables, a swipey full screen is easy to operate with one hand holding while the other moves stuff around. A laptop or desktop is a much more relaxed environment where you can sit back, easily multi-task, still be aware of what is happening around, chill out..