Machine #1 can take no other OS, rig #2 needs nothing more and rig #3 does everything I need it to. I have never said that Win8 sucks, only that it has little to offer over what I now use, has some features I can do without ( I don't own an Android device, a smartphone, a tablet or a touchscreen and probably never will) on a computer....... and even if I could afford to replace Win7, I see no need to do so.

I remember a lot of whining about the fat taskbar, I was one of the whiners. But nothing like the lynch mob of haters of 8.

It's my opinion that, with the help of Stardock, 8 isn't so bad. But not so great either.

7 is the best OS I have used.

I'm not trying to convince anyone either way. I'm just throwing in my experience.  

Kona, go play with your fruit. 

Wait till its been out a couple years. It it survives its first three years like Win 7 did then no problem, as long as it doesn't act like
Vista did.

By that time a new OS would have been released by MS and all these discusions will have become a moot point, well other than being a reference to make sure we cover all the high and low points at that time.  

Can you say Baaaaahhhhhhh   

You should. Android devices are fun.

I don't have any Macs in the house right now or I would.

Android 4.1 and up are fun.  The old stuff is crap.

Some of your evidence is also rather specific.  One example once again is your point with the new task manager being clumsy for 'killing off tasks'.  I again put forward that while everyone must kill off a task now and then, having to do so as often as you have stated you must, is probably not (or certainly should not be) a 'common task' for most people.

Hyper V (out of the box), Windows to Go, Secure Boot and ELAM (early launch anti-malware - first driver to load is your the anti-malware driver).  All are good reasons to move on to Win 8 and can provide additional advantages to individual security and/or the overall security in enterprise situations.

Also one of my original points of how much better Win 8 runs on older hardware.  For the average user that could prove to be a rather large and tangible benefit.

Granted some of what I pointed out above might only be useful in an enterprise environment but then some of the issues you have brought up in this thread wouldn't necessarily be issues for the average home user either.

As some one who has used Win 8 as both an end user AND as an IT person, I'm sorry, The Metro UI is just bad, I say the metro UI because all Win 8 is, is Win 7 with the start menu removed and the Metro UI forced down your throat, however, MS decided to remove certain functionality for admins such as myself, as well as moving around files, so I have to go looking for them again.

the Metro UI is useless is you don't have a touch screen. The charm bar has no widget sticking out, to let you KNOW it is there, I remember when I first tried it, I spent about 20 minutes trying to find the damn Power Switch to turn the machine off.

using windows 8 , I literally run everything from the run command now, which is, thank god, still Win + R, seriously, I run everything by command line, because I absolutely HATE the Metro UI.

Every tech person I run into hates using Win 8 and hates supporting it even more, because for what useless things Win 8 adds, it's just more stuff that breaks and interferes with existing programs.

To those saying Win 7 was MS's best OS, I will say it's good, it is the finished product that vista was the buggy Beta of.

However Windows 2000 was the Best OS ever made by MS, so much control at your fingertips, especially server edition AKA 2003, I miss it just thinking about it. Anyway, for any beginner working on PC,  2000 it was easy to understand, was very stable (for Windows), had no stupid popping up features as XP, easier administration than 98, larger variety on used HW and come on, you could play games on them! (I know, on w98 SE too)

and also more importantly, upgrading to Windows 8 pretty much turns your system into a walled garden platform, this critisicism is shared by the likes of Gabe Newell - Valve, Rob Pardo - Blizzard, and Markus Person - Minecraft, who out of protest refuses to make Minecraft work on Win 8.

-AE

Except that it still runs every other Windows app fine, so does nothing of the sort.

And Minecraft works fine in Windows 8, he simply refused to let it be certified for it.

(I just tried to shut down my WHS2011 box by going to the charms bar and...oops )

A mistake?

I'm not trying to convince anyone of anything with this old link.  People on both sides of this debate have made their position(s) abundantly clear.   Just thought it an interesting/informative read if nothing else.

http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2012/10/better-on-the-inside-under-the-hood-of-windows-8/