Microsoft's Windows 8 has yet to be released, but ITworld’s Sandro Villinger has been exploring since the Windows Developer Preview came out in September. He has some gripes, 10 to be exact. He writes, “I've jumped into Windows 8 with both feet. I installed it on all my machines, put all my important files on it and made it my day-to-day work operating system. Of course, being both a major step forward and a very early (pre-beta) release, I ran into some issues. The following list shows the top 10 annoyances that other early adopters and I have experienced with Windows 8, as well as some explanations, solutions, and workarounds.”

• 1. The new Metro-style Start screen, which dumbs down the entire experience.
• 2. You can't close apps, which will really bother pro users.
• 3. The green Start screen can’t be changed.
• 4. It’s almost impossible to figure out how to shut Win 8 down.
• 5. Side-by-side multitasking doesn't work.
• 6. Running Windows 8 in a virtual environment doesn’t really work.
• 7. Metro apps don't work anymore.
• 8. Windows 8 requires a product key, which is silly for a pre-beta release.
• 9. .NET Framework 3.5 is missing.
• 10. Some programs and drivers won't run because Windows 8's version number jumped from 6.1 (Windows 7) to 6.2.

Luckily, Villinger has found workarounds for most of these annoyances, so if you’ve been perturbed, check out his helpful hints.