pretty slick.
from what i saw of the changes, it's clear to me that they were trying to make it easier to use. it might require some ramp up, but the benefits of the new approach seem pretty obvious. it's pretty unlikely that someone or ones at microsoft just want to rule over everyone. they think that it's a better user interface and spent a lot of money to make it more usable, probably doing a lot of user research. the idea that someone just, at whim, decided to propagate changes on a scale this huge, to be able to lord it over users, is absurd in the extreme.
user experience and usability professionals might make bad decisions, but it has a lot more to do with complext organizational bureaucracy than it probably ever had to do with the shenanigans of individuals who get their jollies frustrating end users.
shag