I think you will be happy with Win 7. A lot of satisfied daw users are on that OS. The folks at Cakewalk did some tests that show Win 8 to be a better performer with daws. I'm not sure about the inner technical specifics of their tests, but I would be comfortable using Win 7 and probably wouldn't upgrade for a while if I had that OS. I jumped from Vista when microsoft offered the ~$40 upgrade price to Win 8 a couple of years ago.
I'm guessing you will have to reauthorize some of your software... Shouldn't take too long for that unless you have to re install. When I upgraded from Vista to Win 8, I had to reauthorize several softwares and in some cases re install. Going from XP to Win 7 or 8 is even more of a technology jump. But it's a good jump IMO.
Bajan Blue
Just a question for you Windows 8 guys - is 8 any better than 7.
I have 7 on a number of computers and have been very happy with it - I just found someone in Europe who can supply me genuine windows 7 upgrades for the XP Computers I still have - I'm picking them up next week and then shall upgrade a couple XP Systems when I get back to Cape Town - one unfortunately has LOTS of programs so I am hoping I don't have the same re-authorization issues.
So if Windows 8 is better, can I ask in which way?
Thanks
Nigel