Greetings, Alan.   
    AZ> I miss the old-style Start Menu.... I guess the question needs to be if   
    AZ> you're running it entirely in Desktop mode, why bother? Are there any   
    AZ> improvements over Win7 that make you prefer the newer OS version?   
      
   	You can not stop progress and W-8 is part of it. Why bother ? It makes   
   greater use of RAM thus is quicker, it uses RAM in a more logical way. On my   
   Acer desktop, it boots in 31 seconds to the Start menu, I hit Enter and I am   
   in a quicker mode than W-7.   
      
   	Lots of users on the W-8 forum have also voiced this opinion, miss the Start   
   menu. Granted, one has to know the spelling of the command and type it in when   
   one wants to run an app, anywhere on the Start menu, type Word and it comes on   
   screen. Not beyond the average bear and surely not you as I can do it. All in   
   all, an improvement over any previous OS even Vista that I was quite happy   
   with. In the old Start menu, one had to click on a line that was like an icon   
   for a shortcut to an app.   
      
   	The W-8 forum is full of either opinion, you like it or not. I am on the   
   "like" side as W-8 runs all my old programmes. I will keep W-7 on my older   
   laptops, G41 Thinkpads. A matter of cost as W-8 is $39.90 per machine, hey ! I   
   am on a pension.  ;-)   
      
   	Then, the main argument is that it should lead one to buy a smart-phone, a   
   touch screen or a tablet. None of these I own. I just canceled both our Rogers   
   cell subscriptions, see how backward we are ?   
      
   	This being said, I think that the Surf Ace is interesting. Just this   
   afternoon, I was watching somebody type on an i Pad, tee ! hee ! She was for   
   ever backspacing and not able to touch-type, that does not feel like a   
   keyboard at all, I had a go at one a few weeks ago, the Surface has a clicking   
   KB, tactile.   
      
   	Sorry for being so verbose, you asked for it. :-) My last argument is that I   
   need a challenge lately. W-8 was not, Surface might be.   
      
   	You be good, Alan. It is always a pleasure reading you.   
      
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