The thing is I do understand what a technical preview is. I just have very little faith in Microsoft's ability to change things in time for the launch. Windows 8 changed very little from technical preview to rtm and the 8.0 UI was quite awful it wasn't until 8.1 that things improved. A lot of W10 looks to be changing things for the sake of changing them. There are hamburger menus everywhere, and large parts of the UI completely ignore Metro Design.
Considering the gargantuan amount of work ahead for the mobile team, I do feel my concerns are justified.
My wife sure doesn't like change with her programs, yet after a week of playing around through Windows 8 Pro when I first got it, she liked it better than Windows 7.... As did I.
Windows 8 (PC) UI was quite awful until 8.1?
It's pretty much the exact same UI as what was in 8 except they put a little Windows Icon to help people know where to click for the Start Screen..... In case they didn't bother following the start up tutorial when they first made their account on the OS where it specifically showed you where it was..... Or they didn't know what the Windows Key on the Keyboard did (there's two of them to try and see what happens) or the other ways you can bring up the Start Screen.
Yup, that little Window Icon on the Taskbar was such a major change. Oh there was a few minor tweaks to the Start Screen, but otherwise identical. Your comparison of Windows 8 & 8.1 of how the UI improved so much is like complaining that your sprinkles on top of your lat? aren't laid out right, but as soon as the waitress rotated your cup 15 degrees clockwise, it's perfect.
Changing the minor details of the UI icons/graphics will not take very long at all. More or less, it would be similar to changing the layout & graphics of a web page or a Flash application, etc.
You open the existing layout you are designing from, in my case it would be my layered PSD in Photoshop, changing the graphics to what I now prefer, exporting that specific change and then replacing the old graphic with the new in my library & re-export.
I am more than sure the process for Windows OS's has some very different processes, but the principal is the same. I have been able to edit, replace, re-export and re-release an entire UI (by myself) in less than a day.
Now obviously the process in Windows OS's will be different in many aspects, but the principle remains the same. Microsoft is a big company with a lot of money and a lot of people at their disposal, if they sat down and crunched hard over what they want done with the existing UI, they could have it all done and ready within a week, including internal bug testing.
As for the current UI and changes from WP8.1.... I like them. There are a few minor tweaks required here and there, such as having Cortana find the apps/programs on my phone like Cortana does on the W10 PC/Notebook I am using.... Or a search function within the settings to find what I want, but otherwise a good improvement over 8.1.
Even my wife who just put W10 on her 1320 likes the UI better than before, and she's the one who doesn't like change....... Yet liked it right away. The Calendar was very different from what she was used to, but after a few minutes of playing around with it, she admitted it is an improvement but will just take a bit of time to get used to.
Myself? I agree, although I am only testing on my 625 as my 930 is left out. There are many improvements despite a few things still needing to be improved such as performance on lower end devices, etc... which is all obvious at this stage.
And the Hamburger menus?
My God, if I have to hear people moaning about those things again it'll be too soon.
There is nothing wrong with them and again, they are an improvement from the old Metro style. I no longer need to swipe and swipe and swipe multiple to get to where I want to go in an app & then swipe multiple times to get back to where I was..... Or worse, have the app jump to another section after I select something despite me not being finished.
Now I can just press the menu and press a section I want to goto. That's an improvement.
And some people have been going on about "But the Hamburger Menu is too far away to use with only one hand..."
I haven't had any problems with the 625.... Or my wife's 1320, which is the same size screen as the 1520, which are both the largest screens you can get right now, and I haven't had any issues on that..... My wife using her 1320 with her much smaller hands hasn't complained yet and she's what you would consider as "an average user" of a mobile device. She doesn't get a ruler to make sure the fonts and their kerning are all correct in the UI.
If it was really difficult for her to use, she would have said so right at the start. She is one to complain about something first before getting used to it.
I am one to try something out in detail to make sure I didn't miss anything before I complain.
There isn't anything wrong with Hamburger Menus other than people using the name "Hamburger"
On my 930 I have been using hamburger menus often in other Apps, many web pages including these WC forums, and even Cortana has this Menu and has had it since the start.
Nobody has complained about any of those things until now.... Which to me seems like a vocal minority.
But there are piles of online petitions with oodles and poodles of names on them?
Petitions amount to squat because only those who support the petition will sign it while everybody else in the world doesn't.
So what about the Metro Style and Pivot system?
It's all still there, just modernized a bit.
The new Calendar seems to use the pivot system far better than anything else and for what is needed to be done with the calendar it suits. There is still a "hamburger" menu but again, it is designed to serve a specific purpose and does its job.
While I liked the Metro style since Windows Phone 7.0/7.5, it was very basic and bland.... A little too bland and basic the more I used it.
For me, the Metro style of black backgrounds, plain white text and very basic sliders with no imagination involved in their design other than a delayed pan effect between menu and title when you swiped, reminded me of an over glorified MS-DOS UI.
It was alright and did what I needed it to, nor what it as convoluted as Android, but it didn't blow me away and I found faults right away.
It would seem that in W10, MS is taking the Best of Both Worlds and creating their own Locutus. As Win10 adapts and improves, you will be one with the Borg....
You will all become one with the Borg... Resistance is Futile.
You will disarm yourselves and escort us to Sector Zero Zero One, where we will assimilate your technological and biological uniqueness and add it to our own.
Your obsolete Apple products will become redundant.
Your obsolete Android products will become redundant.
We will have Windows 10 on every device, in every room, in every house, on every street, every block, every town, city, Province, State, Territory, Country and Region.