Jakob Nielsen takes a very critical look at Windows 8 from a user perspective. If you're in the market for a new OS, you should read this.

I know people often want Apple to get away from the static icons on the home screen and the fast app switcher tray. That seems nice in theory, but in practice it can make usability suffer. In theory, I like the simplicity and taste Microsoft has displayed. But that elegance comes at a cost:

Icons are flat, monochromatic, and coarsely simplified. This is no doubt a retort to Apple's overly tangible, colorful, and extremely detailed "skeuomorphic" design style in iOS. For once, I think a compromise would be better than either extreme. In this case, we often saw users either not relating to the icons or simply not understanding them.

When it comes to design, I think the happy medium lies somewhere between Apple's pretty icon and Microsoft's flat one.

Hat tip to Daring Fireball