You can goto update history to see what has been installed Alex. You can find it in the Windows Update in the control panel. I have it as a quick start. 

Yup.

CakeAlexS
Disagree. The code in Win8 could be more stable and performs better. My experience would confirm this. Code is hidden from the user. Win 8.1.1 is definately faster and more stable. Whether it is significant enough to upgrade from Win7 is another thing. It took a year for MS to convince me to upgrade my DAW environment and I'm really glad I did. On the other hand if I was still running Win7 I'm sure I would still be happy.

The touch functionality with 8.1.1 is not bloatware and does not need to be executed if the start screen is customized correctly and you know how to right click a start button.

Btw there ia a huge difference between 8.0 and 8.1.1 the criticisms have been dealt with.

I totally agree with you Alex on this point. Though Windows 7 was a great OS when I previewed it I did not notice any difference from Vista. I'm sure others did I just didn't. 8 was a very different thing. It was and is much faster. 8.1 has made it even better.
 

Btw I never search MS I always use google. Seems to do a better job. More often than not I find third party sites give a better overview than MS as they aren't involved in their internal politics (the developer vs marketing divide they seem to have).

Also please note whilst MS marketing seems to be poor at release titles (so it's windows 10 next year, and in 2016 it will probably come out as Windows X ;) ) the website developers are very good at search/replacing out of date keywords or phrases, or removing old articles.

@John, @CakeAlexS,
 
I did a fair amount of searching to increase my comfort level before committing to Win 8 about the time the update to Win 8.1 was released. At the time it was referred to as Win 8.1.1 by the pundits and maybe even MS. IIR it contained a few key "retrofixes" to placate those who preferred to use their existing patterns. I believe MS now calls it Win 8.1 Update and as mentioned it now is up to Update 2. 
...
FWIW, I understood Win 8 to be a major strategy move by MS to dominant market share by providing a common user experience across multiple platforms (smartphones, desktops, tablets). I guess it's reasonable to expect user complaints when your workflow is trashed by a major corporation that deems your particular market unworthy of bespoke development, but that's what user forums are for. (To figure the best way to manage the change, not complain about something you can't.)
 
As posted earlier, I'm noting reliable performance with great multicore performance, even on a laptop.  
 

CakeAlexS
Disagree. The code in Win8 could be more stable and performs better. My experience would confirm this. Code is hidden from the user. Win 8.1.1 is definately faster and more stable. Whether it is significant enough to upgrade from Win7 is another thing. It took a year for MS to convince me to upgrade my DAW environment and I'm really glad I did. On the other hand if I was still running Win7 I'm sure I would still be happy.

 
 
Both Scott from ADK and I have tested Win7 vs. Win8 out the yin/yang... across many configurations.
There's nothing at all wrong with Windows 8, but to claim it's a significant performance (or stability) improvement over Win7 is really a stretch.  Win7 was rock-solid... as is Win8.
 
 
 

 

Even New Coke was a flop.



I think the Jury's still out on this one. Theory has it, that you "forget" the taste of Coke after 6 months of not having it. In order to change your formula (Coke), you have to somehow get your customer base to forget the "old" taste before changing it. But how? Release something that, in the public eye attempts to thwart that Pepsi Challenge. When the New Coke flops, Coke will release 'Classic', returning their customers to what they perceive as the real thing, taking those Pepsi Challenges by storm. THAT, at least worked like a charm. Pepsi has never posed that challenge again. 'Ray, when someone asks you which drink is your favorite, you say,..."COKE!" '
 
Ahh, who knows. Fun stuff....

I'm running Windows 8.1 with virtually no issues.  I came from Vista directly to 8.1.  ...but touchscreen was the reason for me.

I drink BEER :).

CakeAlexS
I drink BEER :).

+1    Well, as long as it's good beer...