I will preface this by saying I am a Mac/Ubuntu user and have installed versions of Windows 8 in VM to play with it.

It does seem quicker so some under the hood improvements are nice.

The switch between the desktop and Metro(Modern UI) is jarring.

There are fucking ads in the Metro apps that ship on the machine. Unacceptable.

Hot corners are a hot mess. I shouldn’t have to Google how to shut the computer down.

Metro apps and Desktop apps don’t share data. It is confusing when you fire up the Metro IE then switch to the Desktop one and they don’t share the same info. They have the same fucking name!!

My mom is happy with Windows 7. I upgraded her from XP and never had to help her with anything. The same wouldn’t be true with Windows 8. Unfortuanatly things haven’t changed much since this video.

Pros – faster boot time. More secure operating system. The desktop is a lot cleaner looking without the “aero glass” look.

Cons – need extra software to play DVD’s. Need to pay for media centre to watch TV. The modem UI is pain in the butt on a desktop. (I uninstalled all the metro apps, force a boot to desktop and use a 3rd party app to mimic the start menu)

i suggest you to wait a bit for all essential applications that we use works perfectly in windows8…

My limited experience is that the quicker boots are not worth the hassles. The UI makes unacceptable seem preferable. Basic functions are missing. While some of the “under the hood” changes are nice, but if you want to ditch Win7, go Linux or OS X and avoid the catastrofuck.

I was against Windows 8 when I was using it for testing at work, but since I’m required to use it I figured I may as well go ahead and upgrade. The upgrade process went through without any problems, so that was good.

Aside from a bit faster booting and performance, I haven’t noticed much of a difference. Desktop stuff still works as it did. I haven’t had any issues as yet. The Modern (or Metro or whatever) apps can be interesting too look at and maybe use. I couldn’t imagine using them on a single monitor, though.

The only downsides that I’ve come across is that Microsoft forgot that a number of people use more than one monitor. Win8 isn’t built for it, isn’t designed for it, and doesn’t work well with it. That being said, it’s more of an inconvenience that I don’t have an easy choice as to what screen full screen games run on. Or what screen the M* apps run on.

Otherwise, it’s just business as usual, just with two ugly interfaces to work with.

GA @jerv for “catastrofuck.” This will become part of the Crash vocabulary IRL.

Also, agreed now is the time to go Apple.

They make conversion as painless as possible, including assistance in person at an Apple store.

Do it, life is just too short to spend fiddling with windows and the resulting brain damage.

I’ve heard Start8 eases the pain, but coating a watermelon in Vaseline doesn’t change the fact that you (probably) don’t want it shoved up your ass. YMMV (both on Start8 and the watermelon).

@Crashsequence2012 Those of us who cannot afford double-priced hardware, or who game and need a desktop-grade GPU instead of a laptop chip, have our options a bit more limited. That is where WINE comes in. Then again, WINE works for Linux and OS X. That way, you can have Windows compatibility without leaving your OS of choice.

(For reference like others have given—I’m a definite PC person.)

If you were still on XP, I’d say upgrade for sure. But since you’re on 7—the capabilities between 7 and 8 really aren’t different, and 7 isn’t as old as XP.
How you do things is different, sure: the start menu is now the start screen, various activities are accessed by the edges of the screen, there is a focus towards touch and keyboard hotkeys, etc; once you get used to new habits, you’re honestly just as productive.

8 is a zippy OS, and visually it’s fun. I’ve used the beta; personally I like it. I don’t think it’s obviously either better or worse than 7, it’s just different.

The major difference is the app store, and while it will grow, most apps in the other platforms seem to be mostly games, or gimicks, or attempts at mimicking Office—that’s my opinion, though. I haven’t found most apps (for iOS, but it’s all the same concept across) to be particularly useful, just some convenient. I’m hopeful that with 8’s push towards a productivity-focused tablet-laptop/tablet-desktop, this will change.

Basically, I’d recommend 8, but an upgrade isn’t a dire necessity, it’s a preference.

- If you want to get 8 at some point and keep your new machine, I’d recommend getting it before the upgrade discount expires… I think that’s in January some time, but you’d have to double check.
– If you want to get a new touch machine, I’d recommend waiting a bit; most PC manufacturers, while they do have new laptops and tablets and convertibles out right now, have better ones coming (some new styles, some same-styles that will run Pro instead of RT, etc). That’s what I’m doing (my current machine is old, was a good-price buy, and its hardware on the decline).

A friend of just bought a new Toshiba loaded with Win 8. There were so many ads and commercial choices on the splash screen it took a while to figure out where the desktop was hiding. Turn on the PC and right there is Amazon, Netflix, Hulu, ..... but try to find the desktop or figure out how to turn it off an you need to use Google search. (It was a logo with Toshiba on it.) Ridiculous.

There’s a difference between stock operating systems and ones that come from the manufacturers who insist on loading it up with stuff nobody wants.

Also, if anyone doesn’t already know this, [Win]+i and [Win]+x are your best Windows 8 buddies.

If you have a new computer and can take advantage of the $15 upgrade deal, you should. Microsoft is strongly moving in this direction whether you like it or not so it’s good to at least future proof yourself for cheap. In that case, your Win7 License will still work should you want to switch back like I did.

Pros: It’s FAST. Bootup time for me cut by 60%. Interface is nice and clean which I really like. While the app store isn’t really fleshed out yet, it has enough to get things done. since I went for the upgrade, I didn’t get any spam or crapware that other people are complaining about.

Cons: The interface, while beautiful is jarring for desktop users. It’s not that intuitive. I had to google on how to do certain tasks. It doesnt’ make sense that to close an app you grab the top of the screen and drag it to the bottom as if you were “throwing it away”, Right-click doesn’t consistenly do the same thing, sometimes it will give you context menus, other times it will give you the application menu bars or in IE, the address bar. IIRC, IE10 doesn’t really have an option for viewing and sorting favorites easily either. The charms bar and all the other hospot sensitive corners that are supposed to substitute for swiping are not as responsive as they should be.

I had a bugged installation somehow that wouldn’t let me open apps so I did a “refresh” which is supposed to reset user settings without doing damage to data. The refresh uninstalled pretty much every app I had on there.

Oh and one really big problem. After that refresh, it completely broke my application to factory restore on my hard drive. Even though I went back to windows 7, the restore app just doesn’t do anything anymore when I tell it to wipe the disk. I have to manually go to the command prompt and force the hard drive to boot the restore partition. Not sure if that’s Microsoft’s or Lenovo’s fault though.