Right you are,  Alan.   
    AZ> Seeing how you report being pretty happy with the Win 8 Desktop   
    AZ> experience - with no Start Menu at all, I suspect that you're not a big   
    AZ> Start Menu user. I suspect that's true of most Windows-users, who work   
    AZ> with icons on the QuickLaunch toolbar or the desktop rather that looking   
    AZ> in the Start Menu - and that's why MS can drop it from Win 8.   
      
   	I have been using the Quick Launch bar on all my Widows machine, where it was   
   available. I have 13 icons on it, all the stuff that I use daily, they are   
   easily running.   
      
    AZ> In the end, there is not really a 'more user friendly' system - it's a   
    AZ> matter of what you've gotten comfortable with. My son is a Windows-user,   
    AZ> my daughter a Mac-user; each has tried the other system and found it   
    AZ> less comfortable.   
      
   	This has always been my contention, the Air suffers from this. The next point   
   is the ease with which one can repair, upgrade or fix a PC. I mentioned before   
   that my son's paramour had a HD go bad on a Pro and would not let me have a   
   look, she maintained that only Wormy techs could do this, 3 weeks later and   
   $450 less, she got back on line.   
      
    AZ> iPhone + iPad - meanwhile, Windows PC sales are stagnant while Mac sales   
    AZ> are growing - but modestly. Very soon, most Internet access will happen   
   on mobile   
    AZ> devices, which already represent the majority of 'personal computing   
    AZ> devices'. Like it or not, it's the future!   
      
   	You will not believe this, in July, I cancelled both our cell phones, we   
   never used them, we had 40 minutes free each and some month, used 2 or 3   
   minutes. I got a call with an offer of a smart phone, free, yeah ! The girl   
   calling for Rogers was some surprised that not only I did not want the smart   
   phones but I cancelled the cells.   
      
    AZ> Me, I'm mostly using Android devices these days.   
      
   	I nearly got a Toshiba tablet, I forget its name now. Jeff had one and   
   thought the world of it. I just do not want/need this stuff. The THRiVE it was   
   called. No judgement on your opus operandi , you must need to be so connected,   
   I like being left alone. The Air does a lot of surfing, I do not.   
      
   	Have a great Autumn. We will be back in the boonies before winter hits here.   
   Do you miss the Sechelt house ?   
      
   --- Paul's Win98SE VirtualBox   
    * Origin: Quinn's Post - Maryborough, Queensland, OZ (3:640/384)