Uhmm,..the basic premise of Aces High is that it can be played any way you want to play it, which still stands
Skuzzy, that’s in theory only, the AVA , LW, MW and EW all play as they are set up and anyone entering them must play by the rules established for that arena. I have no idea how many one off arena are created and used, perhaps thousands, perhaps just a handful, but I think the majority of the playing public is drinking the piss and playing in the LW according to the rules established there. They have no way to alter those rules.
Personally, I think Windows 8.1 is a poor design, for a desktop operating system, as it ships. That does not mean it cannot be "gotten used to".
It may be, but from where I sit in the cheap seats it works for me as is and I think I use the tools of my machine much like your spouse uses her machine. I use outlook, word and excel, powerpoint and viseo. All OTC software packages that I use to support my business. I make one click on the icon on the desktop and I’m there. Not sure what all the clicking your talking about is for. The only OS environments I support are all mainframe, big iron ZOS IBM assembler systems .
. Where your comparison fails is the way Aces High plays is a known quantity and has been so, since it shipped. From Windows 7 to Windows 8.1 a great deal changed and for most it was not a good change.
Like I said, not much has changed in the game since it was first published, it still basically plays the same, players had to, as you say “drink the piss” and like I said, your statement of “can be played any way you want to play it” , is in theory only.
You can also stop playing Aces High any time you like. There are other games.
When it comes to getting a job done, there is little option for operating systems. You are stuck with Windows. Some times you do not have a choice as to the version you would like to run.
Did Apple go out of business? go out to google and do a search for PC operating systems, There are others, they are just not preinstalled on every machine sold.
Actually, I have never had to use Windows 8.1, except at work. The basis for my statements has been from listening to my Wife and helping her with it. She is a great designer, but her computer skills are pretty basic. She just wants to run her applications without all the added inputs required from Windows 8.1.
Like I said, I run all the software I need off my desktop and they don’t or didn’t require any additional inputs. I link into mainframes and run and receive reports, I develop software offline and run it on the mainframe. With no issues.