And nothing exploded.

So far, not bad. Steam gave me some issues about installing a system Service, and it looked like it was crashing, but after a couple attempts it just stopped fighting with me. This is the first time since Windows 98se that I have PAID for a version of Windows. And I only did so because it was $50. Note to Microsoft: if ever you needed proof that your OS has always been monumentally overpriced, here it is. Despite EVERYONE having plenty of negative things to say about Windows 8, they're all going to buy it because it's not $250.

Fortunately for folks like me who are not at all fond of the Tile setup stolen from Microsoft's not-very-good phone OS, your old desktop is still where you left it. It's just that instead of a small popup menu in the corner, the "start" menu is now a fullscreen overlay with tiles. Taskbar stays, quick-launch, system tray, clock, all of that stays.

My biggest complaint with the Metro tile bullcrap is that there's no obvious way to CLOSE an effing program. You can SWITCH or MINIMIZE, but to close them you have to Alt+F4, or use the running-programs manager accessed by moving your mouse to the top left corner. And the process is not intuitive: grab the thumbnail preview from the list at the top and drop it at the bottom...who the Hell thought that one up?

I upgraded from Win7. No fresh install this time, I did not see the necessity and didn't want to reinstall hundreds of programs.

There are actually a couple of improvements already noticeable: multimonitor support is what it should have been all along: two taskbars, separate wallpapers on each monitor. I have my wallpaper set up to rotate images from a certain folder. In Win8 each monitor gets a separate one, and rotates separately. Kind of neat. Certainly not important or worth upgrading in itself, but it's one of those "it's about time" things. And even when viewing the Start screen, the second monitor shows the desktop, complete with taskbar.

I was also able to link my Google account (which, being a reasonably fanatical android user, is where all my contacts and other portable info is kept). So the "People" app brings up my Google contacts. I haven't tried doing much aside from looking at them, so I'm not sure how robust the Talk and Voice support might be.

Also, the task manager is much better laid-out and intuitive now. AND upon running MSconfig I was redirected to the task manager where I was able to make changes without being forced to reboot! So that's an improvement.

I'm still not a fan of the flat-sharp-squares look. It reminds me of Windows 3.1.1 (Which is running on my laptop in the other room). And I miss the fancy transparencies from Aero, as nonfunctional as they may have been.

I'm off to play some games to see how badly they disagree with the new OS.

My last attempt at 8 was when it was still in beta and had more bugs than Borderlands 2 has guns. Didn't help I was on a touchscreen toughbook I suppose. I think it had potential to be cool, but I wasn't 100% convinced on it. Has it made improvements? And I'm very curious to see how certain games react to it. Hopefully most are compatible with little to no drama.

I installed Windows 8 on a spare laptop and after a few minutes trying to use the mouse (no touch screen) I shut it off. I let Chris (4DSC) give it a whirl and he didn't care much for it either.

Might be fine with a touch screen.

I've honestly tried to be optimistic about it--if only because most other diehard PC gamers could be more pessimistic about it.

In the end, the fact remains that every single GOOD thing about Win8 exists DESPITE the bad things. The bad is still there, stubbornly (and, in most cases, jarringly). The bad is so harshly at odds with the good that they're both sort of exaggerated in effect. You notice both more, and the bad feels like it's in the way more.

Also, no matter how much I "get used to" the bad aspects of Win8, I still find myself shocked at how unintuitive they've managed to make some things. Even the stuff that you learn and adjust to doesn't feel "right." Like steering with your feet. Yeah you could build a car that way? But why? Just to be different? Good job. Meanwhile the rest of the world is busy making PROGRESS with stuff that MAKES SENSE.

I played with Windows 8 during the beta. Honestly, I just don't care for it. Granted I said the same thing about Windows 95 when I first laid hands on it. Man that was a long time ago.

I think MS went overboard with the redesign and tried to go too much on the mobile aspect of an OS. I'll just stick with 7 for now, granted Steam now has native Linux support. They just need to work on getting my games in Steam ported. I do like to play more than TeamFortress 2. :P

I don't like change much. Running Windows 7 Enterprise is change enough from Win XP-Pro x64

Not to mention getting 64 bit software that's support by XP 64 is nigh impossible.