Both Microsoft and Canonical seem to have the belief that users have no desire to know what applications are installed on their systems. Windows 8 desktop apps don't show up in the tile menu and Ubuntu 13.04 apps don't seem to show up anywhere. In both cases you have to start typing the name of an application to find it. This is a major pain if you aren't sure what it is you're looking for. I just installed a bunch of games to keep my kids entertained on the Ubuntu system even when the Internet is inaccessible, but I can't even find the games to demonstrate them because as soon as I install them they basically disappear into the system somewhere. I tried typing games into the Ubuntu search box and got a few entries, but only 3 of the 5 results were actual games. The other 2 were game engines meant to be used by games. Typing the same thing in the Windows 8 tile menu brought up a games app entry, which just led to some kind of games store that wanted me to create yet another account or sign in.
Every smart phone and tablet I've used has a button I can "click" to bring up a list of installed apps. If PC makers want to stop the migration away from desktop systems, they may want to have a serious talk with the 2 big publishers of Operating Systems for people new to computers.
Update: I may have spoken too soon. Apparently you can find all the games installed in Ubuntu 13.04 if you know to switch from the home search to the app search and then click filter results. So the menu is there on Ubuntu, but it's buried a few layers deep behind icons of questionable recognition and a search filtering system you may not realize has categories. At least you don't have to know the name of the app you're looking for from that point.
