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Comment by Bill_Dimm | Hacker News Reader

I haven't used Win8, so maybe I'm completely off-base here, but from the article it sounds like removal of the Start Menu has made it difficult to do a lot of things without either typing in commands or memorizing special key combinations (see, for example, the section called "Run Power User or Administrative Tools - WinKey+X is EVERYTHING").

So, how does anyone get anything done using Win8 on a tablet that doesn't have a keyboard?

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Just out of curiosity, does anyone try to get things done with a tablet? With the exception of pen-based note taking and drawing, all the activities I do on a tablet are consumption based (reading, web browsing, etc.) and easy to accomplish using Windows 8's metro interface. With that in mind, I think the added keyboard shortcuts really help clean up the interface for tablet users while giving desktop and notebook users a fast way of getting things done.

But to answer your question, I think the real plan is that you don't try to do your work on a Windows 8 tablet without a keyboard. Instead, you get a lightweight, convertible Windows 8 tablet. That way, you can have your cake and eat it too.

Actually, you can even get around the need for shortcut keys for admin tools if you really need to. Admin tools can be added to the start screen from the settings menu on the home screen: Settings -> Tiles -> "Show administrative tools".For other applications, if you don't want to interact with the tiles, you can hit the Win key and just start typing to search for applications, just as you could in Win7.

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