Believe me, I thinks it's insane, too. And MS thinks Windows 8 is a great step forward in interface design? Have you seen that pile of dung? These huge buttons take over the screen at every turn. I can't think of a bigger waste of screen space. Launch an app? It also takes over the whole screen. Where is your desktop when you want to copy files between folders or devices?
The whole "Let's turn your work computer desktop into a practically useless and difficult to maneuver tablet like interface" is nuts. The worst part about it is that it's not driven with any type of thought given to usability and efficiency. It's all about "looks". Hate to tell them, but looks is not what gets work done.
I read a similar account on a car radio in Motor Trend, or some other car magazine. People who had purchased a particular model Japanese car (this is at least 5 years back, and I can't remember which model or make) were complaining about how small the buttons were on the audio system. The response from the company was that they didn't want to use bigger buttons because it wrecked the look they wanted. Huh? You were more concerned about looks than the driver's ability to see what the heck they were pressing, using buttons so small that taking your eye off the road for a dangerous amount of time was basically required?