HN user
This must be pretty nerve-racking for the Americans and Russians on the ISS. I'd like to believe that they care more about the science than the politics of it all. And judging by the quote from a NASA scientist in the article, that seems to be the case.
That's great and all, but like they said, unless you're running a niche website with super tech-savvy users (this site, for example) you're not going to have to worry about the JS-disabled folks. When the % of users with JS disabled viewing your site is super low, it's not really a concern to cater to them.
#2 has been my biggest issue with Win8 since beta. One of the first things I noticed was how weird it felt constantly switching between the two UIs. I could probably adapt to a metro-only UI (Lord knows I'd throw a fit along the way and it would take forever), but there is ZERO incentive to use it when the classic UI is there.
I don't know if I really mind the metro crap being there. Some of the "at a glance" stuff will be really useful (weather, mail, social, etc.) for quick views. In some ways that stuff already is useful, but having to roll out the big start menu that incompasses my entire screen to view was a bit silly, imo.