The Windows Ecosystem

It's been a while. I've meant to write more here, and even started writing a couple of posts, but other things have taken priority. No matter, here's something that's been on my mind lately.

I've always been a Windows user. I grew up with computers all around me, and Windows has been the obvious choice most of the time. I don't want to be biased, but I can't help it. With that in mind, let's look at how things have progressed the last couple of years:
Apple has built a solid ecosystem of interconnectable devices, and Microsoft wants in on that. The "Microsoft family" consists of the Xbox 360, smart phones, tablets and desktop computers.
I've been using the Xbox 360 as a media center for a long time, and while I still think the UI is an abomination, I still use it because it works (and buying a Playstation 3 would be kind of a hassle).
They've been on the right track, the users had the opportunity to connect their computers to their Xbox via Windows Media Center (although I never got it to work myself, and started using a NAS instead). At least they had the right idea.
Now Windows 8 has been released, an operating system built for both desktop computers AND touch-based devices like phones and tablets. An operating system designed for touch-based devices, where support for keyboard and mouse feels like an afterthought.

Somewhere along the way, something must've gone wrong. Someone's making all the wrong decisions.

One thing that's annoyed me for quite a while is the Xbox360 interface. The latest version of it, that is. The interface is bloated with ads, to such a degree that it's actually hard to find the functions and menu points that you actually want to find. This feels like reason enough to replace the box with a Playstation or something similar.
The funny thing is how they've gone ahead and done the same thing with their Windows 8 applications! Some of the primary selling points of Windows 8 are the great new applications, such as the music player that shows you ads instead of providing quick&easy access to your own music, and a video player that apparently acts the same way.

I won't pay for a product that shoves a ton of ads in my face. Interfaces should be designed for the user, for ease of use.
What the fuck, Microsoft?

Note: I was planning to get into development for Win8/Metro, because they've always been nice to their developers and Visual Studio is an amazing IDE that I miss working in. Now that I've seen what their real focus is, however, I'll rather start making iOS apps.