The Windows 8 demo from the All Things Digital conference left me kind of confused. More accurately, it left me thinking Microsoft is kind of confused. Perhaps most important, it left me thinking that most end users who pick a Windows 8 device are likely to be confused.

Don't get me wrong -- despite the fact that I primarily write about and work with Apple technology, I think Microsoft has a lot of good ideas going on in Windows 8. (It's worth noting that I said the same thing last fall about Windows Phone 7 as a potential iPhone rival.)

Let's recap the really good ideas that we've seen