I´m gonna say something here...

Nobody in this thread -(Forgive me if someone did and I missed it)- has mentioned anything about how the goodies for skinning the OS has been taken away.

The "Blur", Aero, DWM transp. etc.

I am an artist & a Skinner foremost so to me THAT makes win8 Suck ! BigTime.

I used Win 8 home for about 3 weeks and personally thought it was an extremely ugly version of Win 7 without the startmenue with the MetroUi "on top" of it.

Maybe it´s faster, but that is of no relevance to me if I can´t make it look as good as I want.

Windowblinds 8 is around the Bend & if Neil somehow Magically made all the Glass etc reappear on 8 then I will prpbably make a U-turn on the subject, but as for now.

As a Skinner I have to agree with the OP.

 

MS Office 2013 Pro does actually make use of some of the connectivity-always-first principles Win8/RT is built around.  For instance it absolutely rocks with basic SkyDrive integration but it also brings SkyDrive Pro to the table should you wish/need to make use of it.

 

not that shocking. why would the Office team spend time and resources to develop for a not existing market after all.

so when would you expect a Windows Runtime Office? the next version should be 2016 or 2017 if they keep their release schedule. or will they just ignore WinRT as third-party developers most likely will?

actually i like some approaches of WinRT (single-folder install, no access to file system by default). i just hope nobody at MS considers it to be "finished".

 

it has cloud integration. that's fine. if it would be Google Drive instead of SkyDrive it would still have nothing to do with Android or ChromeOS. 

Good point Andy but MS never was good at design ok the job with Aero was good or better said exeptable we will have to wait for Windowblinds like you said.
If you take a look at IE it has always been maxugly and currently its a nightmare when it comes to pageviewing since its so broken that you cant even access your routerconfig with it and insert your router password just had that yesterday... But i think in terms of making the OS more pretty we have already seen magic when deskscapes8 was made to OD sub beta... it is running with 0,3mb and is the lowest resource in my taskmanager and brings eye candy to my desktop and is running without any problems and starts into animation after coldboot in about 2 seconds, also decor8 is amazing and a true enhancer even if there is a lot of things that i would like to see in future point releases that would include skinning.already have a post about that would like you to jump in it some day if you find the time and insert your thoughts since you have truely your own style and therefore maybe additional ideas.
But personaly i dont miss Aero that much its a matter of taste but it could or can be reimplemented with some workaround.

 
 

I certainly hope so

I'd never say it's perfect for everything, but for little apps that run in the background (IM or music) it wastes a lot less resources.

And for games it's fantastic.

Exactly.  Sarcasm.

Honestly?  I don't expect a WinRT based Office at all.  Certainly not anytime in the near future, and 2016 or 2017 isn't in the near future so there is that.  OneNote is already available for it so I could be wrong.

Of course they don't.  Was win32 finished twenty years ago? 

Actually, I want less communication between devices. Just from a security pov, the apps might not be as secure as one would like, and while they might only [virus/trojan] affect one device, they can be transmitted to others via the synced devices.

Linux Ubuntu has a great deal to be said for it, not least of which is customizability. Hankers runs and loves Ubuntu... and that's a very good recommendation for me... especially since one can run many Windows programs (not so great with Ps) on Windows within Linux.

 

What's wrong with the default look of Windows? I like it. Always have since XP.

The same thing that is "wrong" with a plain white car with no hubcaps or nice rims. Nothing, if all you want is to get there. Some folks just like to get there with a bit more style.

Yes, but we know you have absolutely no taste...

Wincustomize.com is ALL ABOUT GUI skinning....aka altering/correcting the existing MS inability to demonstrate aesthetics.

It's plainly obvious that the people at Redmond, when regarding 8 as a desktop OS simply looked at the people at Michigan and said 'no worries....they can always fix it for us....' ....

I think that's where the disconnect comes in...

Some people who want to "get there in style" think their ride looks like this:

 

 

When the rest of us see this:

 

Except it's the first pic that actually DOES have the 'style'.  In fact ...you could compare collectible/resale prices of each and get a clearer idea....

'most' horrid car modding is done by pre-pubescent idiots infatuated with the NFS franchise.....

 

That's the joke... Some people may think they have a stylish sweet ride with some rims and hubcaps, but in reality everyone else sees a terrible thing. The first car that popped into my head when thinking about great style was a '66 Goat, so there you go...