Why would Microsoft remove the beautiful Aero Glass effect and replace it with flat colors and cheesy translucency?

A return to Program Manager - I agree, but I think that is a very good thing. I loved Program Manager and hate the Start Menu concept introduced in Windows 95. I'm rather liking this back-to-basics style.

And I'd argue that you have even more flexibility with Windows 8 than ever before. You can continue to use all of your desktop programs exactly as before, even adding a Start Menu if you want it. You also have the new Start Screen and Metro apps, which you can use or ignore as you see fit. IMO that's more options, not less.

Yes, the Metro side is more locked-down, but you're as free to do whatever you want on the desktop side as you ever were.

Yeah, it might have been nice if Microsoft had retained Aero Glass as an option, but IMO that's just a cosmetic issue. Glass looks nice, but IMO it doesn't add anything to the functionality. If no transparency means more CPU cycles for my video editing project or the game I'm playing, for me at least that's a worthwhile trade. I've got my slideshow of Jennifer Lawrence wallpapers to make my desktop pretty. :-D

I think you do not remember Windows 3.11 as well as you think you might.  :-)

I actually installed it in a VM the other day for nostalgia's sake and...  Wow that's difficult to navigate when you have gotten used to the modern Windows interfaces.  It's not even the look, really - it is the functionality.

As for this flexibility with Windows, it's still there, you just aren't getting the built-in choices you 'want' necessarily.  There are third party solutions (as there have always been) to make your "desktop" look like you want...

As for Apple's GUIs - I saw the last change they did to their iPads...  That really 'flattened' things out, in my opinion.  I don't know why everyone moved from the bubbly/rounded format used for the last decade to a more flat look - but I know I have heard most of the same complaints about the stuff being introduced now as the stuff it replaces.  Aesthetics and taste - different for everyone.

The diffusion in the Glass borders helped me focus attention on the active window, causing it to pop in "front" of the other windows, along with the beautiful aesthetic. Metro is really a return to the Windows 3.1 Program Manager, and the underlying desktop straight out of Vista/7 Basic, IMO. Who knew that Program Manager would boomerang back at us? The formerly great thing about Windows was the flexibility to use it the way we wanted to, and with Win7 in an elegant and logically executed GUI, versus being drone in Apple's one-trick-at-a-time-pony world, using it the way Apple wants. As Windows becomes less user-friendly and more locked-down in functionality, with a two-dimensional aesthetic using a color palette reminiscent of 4-bit 16 colors , one starts to look to Apple--at least their GUI is tastefully executed.

Aero has no value for full screen apps or Crysis.

When it appeared in Vista, few liked it at first because it used up screen space for no good reason.

Only fully supported video cards could manage Aero. Budget machines with low end integrated video couldn't manage it.

Screen effects have always taken a sizable toll. Windows 9x was ok with the default task bar, but if it was changed to ANYTHING else, it slowed Win 9x down and would cause the very small amount of screen resource to crash out.

Windows XP ran very much better in 512mb RAM if the Fisher-Price colours were turned off.

Screen effects were just one of the reasons why Vista was slow.

It must be nice to own a $10,000 computer which can handle anything..

I've been running Win8 (and now, unfortunately, Win8.1) at home for about 6 months now. I only just got my first taste of Win7, because we finally upgraded to it at work.

So, I'm seeing Aero for the first time.

Which led me to search for "Why the %#@* would Microsoft keep Aero out of Windows 8?" ... and I found this thread.

There's no good reason. Power savings, battery, performance, yada yada. Nonsense.

AT LEAST KEEP IT AS AN OPTION!

I have a desktop system worth about $10,000 (neither exaggeration nor typo). This is not bragging, it's pointing out that I should not have to use lame visuals just so people who run Win8 on their stupid tablets feel like they're not missing anything. I ran Crysis 3 with max settings with nary a slowdown, with a GPU to spare. I'm pretty sure my hardware can handle Aero.

I wouldn't mind if Aero was disabled by default. I wouldn't even mind if I had to search for how to enable it and then use some stupid registry hack. But to omit it completely? Stupid!

The same goes for the Start menu!