I went from XP 32 bit (which I hated leaving) to Win 7 64 bit.

I am happy with the jump.

Clifford

Well, judging by some of the prices I have seen mentioned for Win 8 upgrades ($39 ?) which are a lot less than WIn 7 upgrades it looks like MS is keen to really push this one out. Will that mean they drop sales sooner? who knows.

Looks like third parties are already developing work arounds for those that do not like the new interface  http://www.stardock.com/products/start8/

I can't see corperate customers been over the moon about the Win 8 interface so maybe it will hangaround for a while.

As far as scuttlebut goees in the gossip column, Windows 8 has a kill switch in it, and if the government or anyone wants to stop your computer from being on the Internet due to some security event they can shut down your computer or something like that. I fail to see why Microsoft still thinks that it owns your PC. Sure there is priracy but I and a lot of other people do not do that.

I'm holding out for Win 9.

Can't stand the color scheme of Win 8.

why did the cake guy in the blog seem to imply win8 was going to be more efficient, etc?  After reading that, from his perspective, it'd seem like you'd want to have win8 over 7

http://blog.cakewalk.com/windows-8-a-benchmark-for-music-production-applications/

Let us know how it works out.

:-)

Win 7 is available to purchase now, in some cases it is already being discounted, or offered with a low cost upgrade to Win 8 when that becomes available. It will likely run on new systems for some time in the future unless some really revolutionary hardware changes get introduced and nobody will write Win 7 compatible drivers, which is unlikely. So the sure way to avoid sleeping through an end of Win 7 marketing is to buy a copy now, and install it yourself when you buy a new system even if that system ships with Win 8. A dual boot or removable drive would let you run both.

I really think Microsoft is planning to drive Windows off a cliff, and Windows 8 is just the first attempt. They seem really committed to this new model, and have said that backward compatibility to the old (Windows Vista & 7) model is going to be phased out. Since all your old software will not run under Metro, this will require a huge investment in new "apps" just to follow the upgrade path. The computer as a  toy is the new paradigm, and an interface for the illiterate masses is just the tip of the iceberg. An app store is looking like more of a profit center than a stodgy site licensing model for businesses. For the unimaginative who still see the computer as a tool, there will always be Linux. 

For serious work (like audio editing), Metro (the programming platform not the stupid touch screen illiterate interface) has a very long way to go. But Microsoft has been watching Apple clean up on the computer toy market for years, and has decided to join the party. I am waiting for Cakewalk to realize that they have no future unless they can get Sonar to run on a smart phone.

By slart's reckoning my copy of win 95 is worth a fortune, no?

"Apple clean up on the computer toy market for years"

I hardly think my MacBook Pro is a toy! It's a powerhouse that does nothing but pound out video after video and oh yeah, NEVER crashes. 

I do tons of video editing, music production, web development, and much more and it is rock solid. With an SSD drive, i7 processor, and 8GB RAM, the thing just works, and it's fast! 

I switched over from a PC and little over a year ago and have never regretted it. With programs like Parallel, I can run my Windows only apps on the same screen as my Mac apps (no dual booting)...it is really very impressive. I couldn't have imagined it would be so slick (Parallels just put out a new version...not sure what it was like before that).

Toy? Not a chance...Workhorse, absolutely!