you sure noticed how easy the uninstall was. some Windows desktop apps on the other hand are very hard to get rid off. some desktop app installers even install additional software such as toolbars or even spyware and troyans.
such things aren't as likely to happen in a (well maintained) app store.
but at least in Windows 8 you can still install software from any source you like.
For as long as win32 exists. They are trying to move everyone away from the desktop paradigm and win32 and on to windows runtime via the marketplace (I hate the word app btw.. because of what it has come to mean in this day and age. I have even stopped using the word application and only refer to "apps" as things that have not alot of capability or are managed by some form of drm or store tied to an account. I exclusively refer to tradition Applications as programs for distinction,)
Anyway what will happen in the future if we stay silent is more deprecation of the windows desktop platform and win32 and more restrictive nature of everything. As Windows 8 will be forced onto every OEM computer and ridiculously low upgrade prices will see high adoption by the general public. Microsoft is indeed trying to kill off win32 and the desktop and will in the future remove it completely.
That is what the refactoring project and minwin project became aimed twords a complete computerization and rediscovery of how Dave Cutler's NT works in order to start swapping out and replacing large chunks of the foundation. Originally this was done because Windows had grown so complex no one really completely understood the platform and the experience with longhorn proved that windows was starting to collapse under it's own weight and alot of optimization and retooling was necessary to get us to what we eventually got in Windows 7 with the sacrifice of most of everything Longhorn promised and actually would have been fulfilled originally with Cario.
However this process and the goals have been perverted by this mobile centric paradigm and we are seeing the start of it in Windows 8. Yes some of the NT stuff has been optimized even farther than it was in Windows 7 and from a traditional stand point the system is better for it but on the darker side we are loosing our ability to control our systems.
Where exactly is the settings for the lock screen stored? What about those "apps" you will download from the store? Why does everything have one look that you can't really change and who's idea was this?
These are all questions that should be asked by the masses not just the power users. A "Just Works" attitude though convenient can be very detrimental to a number of segments in technology. One of which is the IT industry or simple computer support and repair. It also affects the user in ways they don't even know because why learn about something if it "Just Works"?
How does this relate to the current discussion and the original intent of this thread?
As I previously stated Stardock was founded on the principle that your computer should look, work, and be how YOU the user wish it to be.. not what the vender (Microsoft) says it should be. You pay the money for the hardware and you pay for the license to use the software. Shouldn't your system be set up to YOUR specifications?
The "Just Works" mindset is in direct conflict with personal choice and desire. Stardock works to mitigate that as much as possible and with the sad state of the UX in Windows 8 I am sure Stardock is working extremely hard to bring that power that was taken from you and place it back in your hands.
If the current trend keeps going the way it is currently then not even Stardock will be able to save us.
So I say, spread the word and make your voice heard and although this sounds extremely marketingy (that's a word?).. Support Stardock by using their products because they are helping us in their own way to take back control of our technology in extremely innovative and elegant ways in-spite of efforts from many sides to take it away.
I am Matt A. Tobin of Binary Outcast and I approve this message. (let's go with that as a closing)
