http://www.techspot.com/article/554-windows-8-start-menu-is-irrelevant/
IMO notable only because Techspot should know better...
As I've come to believe, the problem with MS removing the Start Menu is that they [I believe needlessly] removed a choice or option. MS could have put much angst to rest had they cited poor ROI [Return On Investment] like they did with Media Center -- that's no different than a fast food chain dropping an unpopular menu item, or a retail chain [in the N hemisphere] stocking few if any winter coats in June. But knowing their semi-official & official statements are subject to fact checks, Microsoft hasn't said that [AFAIK].
Techspot's DeCarlo takes yet another look at superficial concerns, mimicking the *Emperor has no clothes* arrogance typical whenever someone trumpets Metro's superiority... it annoys me, a LOT, when anyone says in effect "you just don't [maybe can't] understand", especially when their argument is plainly false. [DeCarlo (& similar) actually annoys me more than Metro ever could, because Metro as a problem can be fixed -- DeCarlo purposely misstates objections to fit his talking points.]
At any rate, the Techspot editorial points out that win8 is still perfectly usable out-of-the-box, you just have to use Metro instead of the [now missing] Start Menu, no worries. Yes, yes you can -- and as has been famously stated [to the point of being overused/abused cliche] you can put lipstick on a pig as well. TO cut to the chase, **IF** huge icons worked well on the monitor, surely Windows would have evolved to use huge icons long, long ago. No matter how far we travel with our mouse, we don't get frequent flyer miles -- we get to visit the doc for wrist ailments.
Metro may do some cool stuff, but a Start Menu replacement on a desktop/laptop it is not. That's Not saying the Start Menu was/is ideal, without problems, nor that the Start Menu was/is the most efficient way to fire up whatever apps/games -- just that Metro is very obviously not designed for use with a mouse. The Metro GUI IS a knockoff of what's proven successful on touchscreen cells & tablets -- MS has tried sticking their traditional GUI on those devices & it failed, big time. Metro itself is a layer of code sitting on top of the traditional Windows base, that'll run [so far] simpler apps/games, stuff you'd likely access now with a web browser.
Ballmer, Microsoft's CEO, has recently, famously said Microsoft wants to compete with Apple everywhere. When he looked at the iTunes App Store, he decided he wanted a piece of that, & so today Metro is forced. Assuming he also looked at Macs & OS X, he knew, knows a touch interface isn't optimal on a PC/laptop http://www.apple.com/osx/ . When MS [& surrogates like DeCarlo] go so far overboard praising &/or making excuses for Metro, their not putting lipstick on a pig, their giving it a full facial. :)
