Computers are supposed to be about productivity. Spending time learning how to use a new operating system to do the same tasks in a different way is not productive.
IMHO, Windows should be more like Linux in one way. Upgrade the underlying software base, but keep a WinXP shell, Win7 shell and create a new Win8 shell like Linux has KDE, Cinnamon, XFCE, etc.
That way, I can upgrade to the latest Windows to support new hardware and get all the latest security fixes, but don’t have to re-learn basic tasks that shouldn’t change from version to version.
How many millions (or billions) were lost re-training experienced Office users when they went to the “ribbon?”
So very true. That is one major advantage of Linux and why I prefer it so much. Once you decide on the particular Window manager you prefer, whether it be KDE (My personal favourite), Gnome, LXDE, Step 9 (NextStep), or whatever, upgrading to the next release is not a major headache and things work pretty much the way you expect them to.
I mean, I am quite attracted to PC-LinuxOS although I do not like to depend upon .rpm files for some programs. But it really is a very nice-looking interface, I must admit.
Also you do not have to pay about 125 dollars each and every time you upgrade in Linux. More for the MS-Office products, I believe, while the Linux system offers their version(s) as defaults on pretty much every distro. AND backwards-compatible with the previous versions of MS-Office files, no thanks to MinisculeSquish who refuse to help with compatibility concerns.