seleuceia, without the sd software it would probably be a couple of WEEKS of training sessions for each employee including the managers (and the managers would probably NEED an additional month or two) and several months of heavily (3 to 4 times) increased support desk workload due to the major change of interface.
harpo
I think you are exaggerating...
In the workplace, IT is responsible for most of the setup and settings tweaking...employees are simply using software already on the computer and working with a file explorer...sure, they may want to add a few shortcuts and thus will have to know how to make a shortcut on the start screen, but that is a trivial thing to learn...going from the start screen to the desktop, adding shortcuts to the start screen, and learning how to search for programs in W8 is fairly low level, the kind of thing that gets taken care of in a memo (that's what we do here at least, and it seems to work)....
Most employees are not going to need instruction on advanced startup options, setting up networks with the charms bar, cool gimmicks with a touch screen, how to install with UEFI, etc as all those things all fall under IT...they also aren't going to need to know how to use any metro apps since they, being in a workplace, will be sticking to desktop apps (right?)...again, as long as they know how to get to the desktop and know how to find programs by typing their name at the start screen (just like you can do in W7), they will be fine....you can argue all you want that the start screen is ugly, unnecessary, or inefficient, but it is definitely not hard to learn for an employee who simply has to use desktop apps on the computer...
For personal/home use, learning W8 may be an issue since the home user will need to know how to setup a network, change their settings, and install programs....but none of those things are relevant to your typical employee, that all falls on IT...I can see you arguing SD software will help with efficiency or that it simply looks better, but avoiding weeks or months of training is a gross exaggeration...
Now to be fair, I certainly can understand IT personnel needing extended training...that, however, is their job and it happens every time their employer introduces or upgrades to a new OS...going from XP to W7 was a big change, going from W7 to W8 is not any more special....furthermore, training IT people in IT is a far cry from weeks/months of training for all your employees....
Why do I think W8 is easy to learn? My wife learned how to use W8 in a few hours, and she isn't even used to Windows since she used Mac in the past....as much as I love my wife, she isn't exactly the most technologically adept, yet she didn't need weeks or months of training...but that's just one example of a family member, could be a little biased I suppose....so.....
This past summer I was involved in a training that taught half a dozen different pieces of engineering and scientific software as well as basic programming....the training was 10 days, and most of it was spent on engineering and physics, not software or programming...I witnessed in ten days people with no prior experience with computer programming or physics learn college level engineering concepts, basic C++ programming, and how to use multiple pieces of software used in the engineering workplace...ten days...yet you think most people are going to need weeks if not months to learn how to use a start screen? I think not....
I know all I've provided so far is anecdotal evidence, but I have a feeling that what I'm going to get back is something like "I work in IT and I see how much people struggle with W8 *wave hand* and thus it will take months to train them"...that's the argument that has routinely cropped up before on these forums...that and youtube videos of people "struggling to learn W8"....
