Perhaps just my semi-ignorant non-techie perception, but my opinion of every new MS product that I've played with is that they take the same functionality, move/hide all of the icons, change the UI, and call it new. I still struggle to find features in Office 2010, yet I haven't encountered anything that I see as an improvement. Windows 7 wasn't a drastic departure from XP once you turned off some of the stupid features (User Access Control anyone?), sounds like Windows 8 is embracing the philosophy of adding confusion instead of content.

I had a PC with Vista for several years. I've replaced it with a PC that's running 7. Frankly, I can't see what all of the ire is about. My Vista PC ran fine. I like my 7 PC, but I don't think it's better because it's running 7. Vista and 7 just don't seem that much different to me and the stability of the OS wasn't an issue on Vista for me.

I would say, no, you shouldn't need to upgrade.

The only time I upgrade a OS is when I change computers. I still have a copy of Windows 386 (Win 2.11) in my closet. It is on 5.25 inch floppies. I bought a Microsoft mouse that has a steel roller ball and two big green buttons and it was a wide serial port connection.

I have skipped many versions through the years. I do like the Win 7 64 bit speed with PhotoShop. That was worth the pain of changing.

Yep. A problem MS has is for the most part, XP works. Office 2008 works. And this is very bad for the price of stock. Windows 7 is better, Office 2012 is, well, they moved/hide all of the icons, change the UI. (I suspect that office 2015 will be software/apps that you can only rent, not own. This way they still get revenue even if you dont upgrade.)

20+ year IT guy and I suspect that windows 8 / server 12 will be the next step, once you have a touch screen. If you are not one of the 1%ers, sorry could not resist, and are still running a mouse, the OS is not good.

I did download a program that adds the start button, but leaves the windows 8 features, and this removes a huge annoyance. Now I can try to figure out what the OS does, not cuss just trying to get it to do anything.

I upgraded all of our PCs to Win7x64. It works and was a worthy upgrade from Win XP-32.

We are still running Office 2003, with the file converters. I'm considering putting Office 2010 on one PC and see if I can get used to it.

I cannot fathom using Office 365. What happens when you lose your internet connection? And the data is not kept on you PC or server, it is held by MS? No thanks,

An interesting take:

Microsoft Surface RT: The Sad Treadmill Of Overhyped Expectations | TechCrunch

Widebody, that graphic is ridiculous. I was there.

From the Windows RT thread on Win8 debut..

Good article but I have to disagree with this "I find Win8 to be a solid OS and an amazing step forward. General acceptance will be slow, but the value proposition, especially in unifying the Win8/WinPhone worlds, is there."

Explain the value position when you have to sync your PC and phone over MS' cloud service...This will not take in the Enterprise but it may take with consumers, right up until their account is compromised or MS has another "cloud crash".

Just my humble opinion

^^^ Interesting article.

Tablet PC's combo's really are terrific for biz / traveler's. I've maxed the mileage out of an older AMD dual core HP TX2 Touchsmart PC- tablet 12" screen, running 64 bit Win 7 Ultimate + XP virtual mode but sadly smoked for good. It was lousy when I first had Vista Ultimate but transformed into a great running / practical workhorse once upgraded the full Win 7 Ultimate. In time, I cooked thru 3 mutha boards... due to my fault over running it plus sometimes pushing a dual monitor set-up. My next tab / PC combo will likely have the Win 8 and for that machine, would hope its decent.

Just ordered in two other brand conventional notebooks but only with Win 7. They'll get the Win 7 Pro upgrade but after I specified what I wanted with Win 7, funny to see the retailers stock dwindling fairly quick and them pushing the Win 8 o.s..

I guess for the future and if one's not happy with Win 8, on a conventional laptop, probably format the drive and start fresh with a Win 7 o.s. version.

Other- I actually like some of the cloud freebie's. I don't get what the stink is as I still run auto backup's on a home network drive.

I think the “value proposition” is not in where the data is stored but rather having one basic underlying OS: Phone, tablet, PC; and a common set of productivity tools such as Office. It helps MS by maintaining / developing a single OS versus 2 or 3, and for the user with a single interface regardless of platform.

Umm, that was because Win95 was a good product, a REALLY good product.

I installed Win 8 launch day...removed it the next evening. If I were on a touch screen interface it would have been a keeper...on my current PC it was just cumbersome. My PC is new, works great with Win 7 and appears it will maintain that OS. I also use vmware to run Ubuntu for some programming...the two OS's meet my needs.

We were compelled to switch to Office 2010. It took about a week to get productivity in Excel back to prior levels. Outlook seemed pretty much the same. Not noticed anything tricky about Word. I can find no advantage to Office 2010 over Office 2003, but the switch is not that hard. Just pointless.

As for Win 7, I also find it a very good OS.

I used Office 2007, back when it came out. I didn't care for it. I've been forced to use 2010 a couple of times wth "weird" spreadsheets that would not load under 2003, even with the converters. I have a new laptop for a conference room which came pre-loaded with the trial. I might convert it to full.

There are a few features we might use, if we used an Exchange server for our e-mail. But since we're not, it just seems silly to upgrade. And I can find legal copies of 2003 for something like $50 or less!

One of my neighbors does CRM and he was "shocked" to find we're not using office 365. Really?

I still use Office 2003 at home for my MBA coursework, and will continue to do so until file compatibility becomes an issue. There's just no good reason to switch that I can see.

I just finished cleaning up an older laptop for my 8yo daughter. Toshiba Qosmio G35. More of a desktop with a battery than a portable notebook. 12lb beast of a machine. Dual drives.

Added an Intel 330 SSD and installed Win 8. Went with 8 Pro since it is only $69. Left Win 7 Ultimate on the other drive and installed a dual boot program called EasyBCD.

So now she has a dual boot machine with 7 and 8. I played with 8 for about 5 hours and at first really hated it since you basically cannot do a damn thing without creating a Microsoft Account. Once I caved and set it up all went fairly smooth.

Windows mail integrates guite well with Gmail as long as you set it up as an Exchange.
The tiles on the main screen are kind of cool if you are used to smart phones with notifications on the opening screen. The Mail tile and Calendar tile will get used a lot by the typical user.

When you boot up the machine, you have to click on the first screen, enter your password on the second screen and then the main screen opens - kind of silly but not that big of a deal. Access to the traditional desktop is available with another click. To do any real computing you have to hover your mouse in a corner to access the new Start menu.
The new Search feature is nice - I actually prefer it. Will post a pic later.

Its really not that bad once you get used to it but does seem like they added a bunch of extra steps just to get rid of the orb on the bottom left corner.

To shut down, you have to hover in the corner, click Settings, click Power then choose Shut Down. 4 steps vs the traditional 2. Not sure why MS did this.

Overall I think the younger generation will like the new system. It is more of a PC OS than a workstation OS.

Regarding speed, if you haven't switched to SSD you should. Best bang for the buck if you want to turbo charge your PC.

Boot times with Win8 on SSD - 23 seconds. Win7 with HD - 100 seconds.

Pin the RUN button to the Task Bar. Then to shut down, click on RUN, and type shutdown /s /t 00. If using multiple users on it, RUN, and type logoff.

[Tinfoil hat activated, check]

Dormant cameras and microphone inside your home= NSA access.
Microsoft and Skype set to allow backdoor eavesdropping | memeburn
How NSA access was built into Windows | Telepolis
Same with Kinect and other products.

Sorry, I'm a little selfish and don't like "sharing" 24/7.

Backed up what little data I had on my Windows 8 Pro install and it's getting formatted tonight. My FPS rate for video conversions in Handbrake is about half what I could get in Windows 7 and I have 100's of DVD's to convert yet.

Secondly having gaming issues with my SLI Nvidia cards, Nvidia says its an MS issues, MS says Nvidia, same old same old.