Microsoft has declared Windows 8 a tablet operating system "without compromises" because it runs on tablets and desktops and and can run desktop applications on any Intel-based hardware. Surely any operating system that has can't be compromised, right?

But running Windows 8, it often seems that what's been compromised is your sanity. Metro tiles seem analogous to app icons in iOS, but unlike iOS, there's no persistence with the tile scrolling. Launch an application in iOS and close it and where are you? Right where you were. Launch an application in Windows 8 and close it and where will you be? Well, it depends on the application. If it's a Metro-enabled app, you'll be back in Metro, but at the first set of tiles because it operates like a menu. If it's a traditional Windows application you just closed, you'll be in the traditional Windows desktop.

To access Metro from the desktop, you use your mouse to drag your cursor down to the lower right hand corner and click the Start button which takes you back to the Metro interface, an action that is easy for the first-time user to figure out. You can also just tap the command (or Windows) key. I find it strange that in implementing a touch-friendly interface, Microsoft seems to have sacrificed the mouse in favor of the keyboard.

Metro and desktop applications also behave differently. You can minimize a Metro app by moving the cursor to the top of the screen and clicking and dragging it down, which is a fairly intuitive motion and one I got the hang of pretty quickly. But this doesn't work for traditional applications.

This is the pig of Windows 8 that resists any attempts at applying all forms of lipstick. There's simply no getting around the fact that this is a confusing dichotomy. Additionally, Windows on ARM--now saddled with the mock-worthy name "Windows RT" for "Run Time", which has much meaning to consumers--won't run traditional desktop applications other than a core set provided by Microsoft. (Please refer to the matrix, thank you for calling.)