On the plus side, the flat tiles look pretty good, the look of the window manager is better than goofy transparent 3D from Windows 7. Windows 8 looks a bit like Openbox on Linux. If I had a tablet I might like Metro.

On the minus side, pretty much everything else. There's a cost to re-learning all of your habits, and I'd like to have a good reason before I pay that cost. Windows 8 offers no good reason. Forcing people to use a tablet interface on a desktop was a bad idea. Pointing at random corners and sides of the screen to evoke commands is silly and hard to discover and remember. The awkward divide between Metro and the classic desktop is jarring.

Why did they remove the Start menu? Probably for business reasons. It probably benefits Microsoft but it surely doesn't benefit the user. It does force people to use Metro, so maybe if they're used to Metro, they'll go buy a Windows phone/tablet.

Overall I don't like how computers are giving users less choice. Why not offer Start Menu as an option? Why not an option to pick classic desktop or metro, turn one or the other off entirely? It's disturbing. I want a computer I can use for business and tweak and program and own. I don't want a locked-down toaster with all of the important choices made by the company selling the thing. Which is why Windows is still on my braindead gaming computer and Linux is on everything else.