Did we all just witness Windows start to die?

[Aegis]

PC's (and Mac desktops) aren't going anywhere for the time being - especially since a lot of these iDevices (smartphones and tablets) are being purchased in addition to existing home PCs.

People will move towards using desktops less and less though as the tablets (or more correctly, the applications) become more capable. Smartphones alone will never be practical enough for the broad spectrum of PC use (yeah - I *can* write a novel on a smartphone but why would I when there's better options available?).

And that doesn't even begin to cover stuff like specialist applications - Photoshop, video editing, desktop publishing - these (pretty common) PC usages require a mouse, Wacom tablet, large screen, lots of storage - all we'll see is just the right 'tool' being used for the right job.

This will impact PC sales but it certainly won't 'kill' the PC. Regarding Windows... Microsoft is struggling to find a way to stay relevant - that walled-garden iOS strategy (and the payoff) is sooo tempting but its not what Windows is about - the Modern UI needed to happen to unify smartphones/tablets/PCs but its hopelessly optimistic implementation (that devs would shift to Metro apps and users would be happy running apps from the start screen) was misguided and heavy-handed.

I actually like Windows 8 - the start screen/charms etc. don't bother me in the slightest - and the underlying version of Windows is to me, the best yet - I prefer it to Windows 7.

But I spend 99.9% of my time on the desktop and rarely, if ever launch 'modern' apps - MS should've known this would be the outcome and realized that Metro should have been subservient to the desktop - not the other way around.

I guess in their haste to make 'touch' a selling point (which the desktop still does badly) they figured Metro had to be front and center - and it's cost them a lot of credibility which is a shame because Windows 8 really is a good OS underneath the fluff.

[Aegis]

What's underneath that makes it better?

I still haven't activated my copy, so maybe I'm missing something but the default desktop them looks like pants, and they've removed stuff (like they did when going from Vista to Win 7).

 All in all I felt I had one hand tied behind my back.

I'll try not to be too subjective (since a lot of the 'feel' of using a system depends on its specifications and configuration) but on my i7/Radeon HD 5870, Win 8 'feels' snappier, more optimized and just a slick experience overall (can't believe I just typed that )

On more solid ground, I like the changes to the file-copy system, the Task Manager - I like the Ribbon interface on Windows Explorer (just seems more accessible to me).

Installation seems quicker (something that they're continued to work on since Vista) and doing an in-place upgrade (applications and all) from 7 (or 8 Release Preview) worked flawlessly for me.

Under the hood tweaks also include some fixes to the WinSxS system (badly needed) - it's still a bloated hard disk hog but it's not as bad as it was with Windows 7 and anyone with SSD space concerns about Win 8's footprint should know that they'll save all that space (and more) with Windows 8.

8.1 is going to have some nice new features too - direct support for 3D printing has piqued my interest as well as improvements to SkyDrive and numerous other features.

The lack of a Start Menu doesn't bother me at all - I use a pretty small number of applications most of the time (3D, video-editing, Photoshop etc.) so hopping to the Metro UI or clicking on a pinned icon on the taskbar works fine for me (YMMV obviously).

Is it a huge improvement? No - and if you're happy with 7, there's probably not much reason to change. Should you downgrade from 8 to 7? Personally I wouldn't but I understand there's people that don't feel the improvements outweigh the things they've removed - for me they did.

*Edit* oh, and do I think MS was right to go in this direction with Win 8? No. As I mentioned, I think the desktop experience *is* improved (along with some of the underlying systems) but forcing Metro/modern UI on desktop users isn't (and hasn't) going to gain them any traction in the markets they're desperate to make an impact in. They needed to be smarter and instead they've taken a blunt-force approach - hopefully they'll learn from this for Win 9.

[Aegis]

I don't care about metro as I just don't use it. Which is good because I can't remember what I'm supposed to call it now.

I'm quite fond of 'TIFKAM' - or as The Register puts it: "The Interface Formerly Known As Metro"