So... What do you think of the horse?

Ah, crap. I live in Tennessee. One of the few times I do not enjoy living here.

It *is* illegal. They're just enforcing the law. If you don't want to get put in prison, don't commit a crime.

I'm not saying I don't like things looking nice. I'm just explaining the sort of "dumbed down" UI. Personally, I think simpler is better, as long as it offers the same functionality.

XP's been XP for the last ten years. It deserves a break. Windows 7 just happens to offer the same amount of compatibility as Windows XP did, which gained it its claim to fame.

The first rule of software design is "Your audience is dumber than a sack of hammers." I'm sure, seeing they've got the old UI in place as well, that the smarter of us will be able to switch between with registry edits and .dll files at will.

I'm sorry, sir, but did you actually read the article? I'm gonna have to call this one in for #TrollPatrol.

I'm probably going to dual boot with Windows 7. It's what I did with XP. And Vista.

Agreed. I'm not entirely certain what I'd do without Steam...

I'm more worried about the cutscenes and voiced dialogue than I am voice chat. Live around a very "Super-religious" family, and those cause quite a bit of embarrassment on my behalf.

This is getting me worried now. Really, really worried. Why? Because, if IE is used for all the webapps and everything, unless there's a way to swap the main rendering engine out with Chrome or Safari or Firefox, the system will have a critical vulnerability at its heart...

Which is also the desktop. It's a launch pad. What Spaceknight was thinking, I believe, was that this was the login screen, which it is not.

Exactly. Just like the Android Marketplace or the iOS App Store or the Mac OS X App Store or the Ubuntu App Repository or, heck, even the Synaptics Package Manager. Windows Desktop is really the only OS without some sort of an application marketplace. No reason it shouldn't have one either.

Okay. Who else wants to go find a white whale in Lake Ontario now?

That's not a "Start Screen" like you're thinking, mate. It's more easily likened to the iOS Springboard, or the Windows/OS X "Desktop".

I'm sorry... Would it be wrong to want a sort of UI like this, or at least the choice for it, with a keyboard and mouse? It just looks nice.

I'm actually looking into a pair of Turtle Beach headphones specifically for that reason. I don't enjoy hundreds of profanities blaring over the surround sound while I'm trying to play a game. Yes, it is a first world problem, but it's enough of one that I'd rather shell out $50 for a cheap pair of decent headphones…

So... What you're saying is, use a waterproof film camera instead?

I'm gonna have to agree with the OP. It just crashes Chrome.

You may have to go PC for a while... Luckily, most PC games do not require the use of a thumb to play. Pick up an MMO, a good RTS, or even a shooter. Anything that allows you to click on things, instead of mashing buttons with your thumb.