I don't understand why you say "A company like Microsoft... has really, really carefully thought through its plans... [but?] the desktop-metro split... was handled clumsily in Windows 8."

I'm connecting whole thoughts of yours unfairly to show how fundamentally contradictory those two thoughts are. The desktop-metro split was, in my opinion, absolutely the most important part of Windows 8, that they HAD to get right, and upon which its entire success or failure would be based.

Do you disagree with my assertion that the desktop-metro split was the most important aspect of Windows 8? Isn't Microsoft the kind of company that "really, really carefully [thinks] through its plans"?

So then why was it handled clumsily?