You wrote that comment with your mouse? LOL I'd like to have seen that!

Agree. But I'd also like to say, why put the responsibility on the user? The user has nothing to do with writing the apps, and the vast majority of users have no idea what apps suck and which don't, especially when it comes to resource usage. The responsibility is squarely on Microsoft to square this away, not the user.

This is actually right on the money from my experience (and maybe it is a regional thing as one commenter stated). In the Seattle area, many cyclists ride as if they own the road, while at the same time slapping "Share the Road" and "Give Cyclists 3 Feet (a picture of three footprints) of Space" bumper stickers on their cars (usually big gas guzzling SUV's it seems, interestingly). However, they don't obey the traffic laws, and don't share the road the way they want drivers to share with them. "Share the Road" around here rather seems to mean, "Give Us The Road" to many of the cyclists around here. It's actually very refreshing when I do occasionally see cyclists who actually stop at a traffic light, or who aren't riding as far to the left of the cycling lane or shoulder as they possibly can. Many ride mere inches from the line, while asking for 3 feet of separation that doesn't exist when they ride the line.

This is absolutely on the money. Well said.

Oh for some mod points to give here! LOL

Agreed. And in Win7, I put my most commonly used apps in the first 10 spots on my taskbar. Win+1-0 is my first order of business after logging in.

A 'sane manner' is an objective thing, and totally dependent upon the user. A sane manner for one might be completely useless to another. Don't even try to say that your method is the only sane one, because there are about as many sane manners of using the Windows UI as there are Windows users.

I can't help but picture what it would look like if half the people on a bus/train/plane/name-the-public-place pulled out their phones and unlocked them at the same time...

By the way, the last I checked, the latest OS and SQL versions are 2012 for both, so you can get started with the latest tech on both counts! Also, if you happen to be into programming, or want to learn some, you'll also have access to Visual Studio Pro, Expression Studio and more.

You can also see if you can get some of this software through Dreamspark for free. They have Windows Server editions, SQL Server Std editions, and other software that is at no cost to you as a student (or former student). You might have to check with your school first to see if they've set this up, but if they have, it's a great resource. You won't be able to get Exchange this way, but full versions of WinServer that you can use to set up a sandbox VM with a full version of MSSQL.

Nah, I'm pretty sure most numbers are real.
1... 2... 3... 4...
See? All real. There are however, imaginary numbers, but let's not get into those, shall we?

The point is that you should NOT have to buy a (or even install a free) third party program to force Windows to behave the way you want it to. If you have to do that, then the design is flawed to begin with. It's great that third party developers are doing what they can to help Windows users cope with W8, but it's an environment that should never have needed to be created.

The fact that all the feedback they received during development pointed to the OS being a steaming pile of donkey doo doesn't mean a thing apparently. "Let's just dress up this donkey doo and tell people it's great! It'll work. They do the same thing with music all the time! Get some crappy band who plays crappy to mediocre music, dress 'em up, make a couple good music videos, pay for some good radio play, and promote them on iTunes/Rhapsody/etc, and people will think they're great! We'll sell more than enough to make up for the money doled out to promote them!" "Wait... what? It didn't work? What the F***?!?!?"