The Next Web’s Alex Wilhelm says next version of Windows will feature the return of the Start button and booting to the desktop.

I’m outsourcing this one to Craig Grannel:

“No compromises!” yells Microsoft, frantically welding more compromises to its compromised operating system.

Over at Macworld I get pedantic about wording and show off some of my t-shirt collection.

I’m buying stock in Marco Arment and demanding a dividend.

Congratulations to both my evil overlords.

I love it that David Chartier is still keeping track of these. Remember when this was the biggest Apple scandal ever? Ah, we were all so young then! You had that horrible ironic mustache, I remember.

Adrian Kingsley-Hughes on results from Soluto concerning Windows 8 app usage:

So, it seems that despite being thrown into the Start Screen, Windows 8 users are, on the whole, turning their backs on Modern apps and instead using traditional applications.

Of the apps that users run the most, nine out of 10 of them are made by Microsoft, the only exception being the Netflix app, which takes the #8 spot. This will come as worrying news to third party app developers who were hoping that Microsoft’s app store will help them rake in cash.

This could be a transitional phase. We Mac users didn’t immediately stop using all Classic applications when we switched to OS X, either. I wonder, though, based on current reports of Microsoft retooling Windows 8.1 to make it less “Modern” (which is apparently the new name for “Metro”), if they have the stomach to see it through.

Dan Frakes at Macworld gives a great tip on how to make navigating your Apple TV easier. Not that I really like any remote in the house, but the stock Apple TV remote is not a great user experience and I wonder why Apple hasn’t improved on it yet.

The key to this “switching from the iPhone” story for me seems to be this:

The most important thing was that the transition, which I’d sort of wanted but feared for several years, was seamless, mostly because I already used so much Google stuff.

If you do, it doesn’t seem like that much of a shock that an Android phone would suit your life better.

If, for some reason, I had to give up the iPhone — let’s say I was asked to leave, that seems like the most likely scenario — the HTC One would probably be the first phone I’d look at (the writer bought the HTC One S).

I regularly hear from switchers how wrong we are about phone size, that bigger phones simply are better. I’m not completely opposed to a larger screen, but I don’t want a larger phone. The iPhone 5 works for me because it’s physically smaller than the 4 and 4S. At the same time, I never really feel like I’m missing that much when I go back to using my iPhone 4. The iPhone 5 is certainly better for reading, but I don’t consume that much media on my iPhone. Maybe I would if the screen was even bigger? Or in my eye?

While for some it seems to be the factor, screen size is just one of several for me. This is probably also why I have a laptop with an 11-inch screen. This is not an invalid lifestyle choice.

As an aside, why do all switcher stories always have so many exclamation marks?

Finally, I thought, someone woke up and made what I’ve been dreaming of! And it’s HTC! … Thank you, HTC!

Really with that?

Seems like a long time ago we were complaining about Apple’s ad campaigns. They sure turned that around in a hurry because these new ads are just magic. Although the ones we complained about were Mac ads, not iPhone ads.

Anyway, totally doomed.

Great name from a great company. It’s too bad iCloud doesn’t work for developers the way it should, but it’s nice that others are filling the void with their own services.