And I will say it once again. What about those that choose not to use Stardock software?

I didn't think the default Vista or Win 7 GUI's were all that bad, especially Win 7. It's the boring monotony of the same one every day that WB's cures completely.

for the non-users, if you don't to use it, please don't. it's just that simple. all this grumbling reminds me of when xp was released and some people thought it should run just fine on their rigs that had 128 mb or less of ram. people didn't want to upgrade their rigs but they eventually did. as for win8, i'm not one who accepts change all that well (chalk that up to old age. i'm now a grandpa, btw. she's gorgeous!) but i'm getting accustomed to the win8 interface. i'm still trying to find someone with a rig the runs 32-bit win7 so i can get the classic card games on my win8 rig but once i get that done, i'll be fine with W8.

anyway, if you don't want to run W8, don't. whatever your reasons may be, you're entitled to them just like the users who have adopted W8 are entitled to theirs. personally, i didn't build my rig to appease anyone here or anywhere else. i can run whatever os i want. so can you. feel free to use 7, vista, xp, 98, linux, osx or any other os. it's all good.

It's not about the OS, it's about the paradigm shift. W8, if you take away the Modern UI is just Win7 cleaned up a bit with and with some minor extra facilities build in.

Nothing major there. Easy to live with. You don't need a stardock application to get rid of the hideous interface, the net abounds with 'solutions'.

The big difference is the going for the Apple tablet route on the pc. A proprietary system where you can install only applications via a tightly controlled 'store'.

Why is that so hard to understand/see?

Step 1: Metro Modern UI which forces the applet system on your desktop.

Step 2: Applets only installable via MS store. Applications still via normal channels.

Step 3: Prohibit 'unknown' installation channels for applications. Add regular applications to MS Store.

Step 4: Start price hiking.

Once in the near future: Scrap Win32 support completely.

You don't need to be a visionary to understand the game plan. MS has no choice, since it is quickly losing their fixed revenue streams which kept their profit margins so absurdly high and shareholders so deliriously happy.

Apple is already pushing the 'Cloud', so there'll be no counting on it as an computing alternative, will there!

Oh, and remember who started with this "walled garden" concept to begin with....

.... 'twas Apple, right?

Nope, the added value is derived from being fully accepted by the 'in-crowd' down at the internet cafe if you're an Apple owner... beause you're treated like a leper if you've got an Android device... or so my niece thought. Or should I say it was what she was led to believe.  Hmmm what a superfical bunch [a lot of] uni students are nowadays.

She doesn't care anymore, though.  These days she uses an Android pad and knows who her true friends are, that an apple is just a fruit she eats for lunch in the park, rather than junk food in a cafe with a bunch of yuppy arsewipes. And is she any less clever than the rest of them?  Nope, she is top of her class/group... streets ahead of even the nearest apt pupil.

Well, i am not going to take the risk. Evidently there are a shitload of gullible people out there voluntarily helping this coming to pass. The problem is once you go down the 'all new never seen before except many times' honeytrap you are stuck there. You can't revert without formatting your drive and losing all data created with the applets.

And be careful which PC you buy, because many are now bioslocked for W8 so you can't even install anything else. MS's dream coming true, total control. All your data are belong to us.

So far (at least) Apple is cool letting you decide what to keep in the cloud & what not.

My impression, FWIW, is that MS's intent is to take everything to the cloud whether you want it there or not.

If faced with a forced choice between those two cloud paradigms, that $300-$500 'Apple Premium' suddenly has significant value to me (clearly not a member of that 'in-crowd') that wasn't there before.

In the long-running war game between MS & Apple, MS could ironically make Apple more 'valuable' by trying to emulate them.

If they both end up going the 'cloud-only' route, some company or combination of companies will find a way to fill the void and meet the market demand for personal control of one's personal data, even the product of the use of a 'controlled' application.  I think that market will remain large for quite some time.  And I retain some hope that the government would at some point step in and, through anti-trust activity or regulation, preserve individual property rights.  Some.  Not necessarily a lot, but some.

Here is a article that makes some good points.

http://semiaccurate.com/2012/11/14/microsoft-has-failed/

Demerjian makes my argument very eloquently in that semiaccurate.com article, kona.  Thanks for the link.

There's gonna be big money in enterprise-level alternatives to Windows, probably sooner than later.  Things are coming full circle as MS is IBM'ing itself, something I vaguely recall even Bill Gates predicting.

If I were Brad Wardell, I'd be pulling out my old version of OS/2 & giving it some serious thinking.  What's to lose?

I.ve been using the RTM since it came out 8/15/2012 I have a TechNet account.

I'm happy with windows 8. For me it works' for some it won't

I use it for

1. Software development' Scripting

2. Video' editing.

3. Gaming.

4. 3D graphic rendering

I think it's going to be one of the os's you ether love or hate no middle ground.

Good luck with paying through your nose: 

Windows Blue looks likely to replace Windows 8 as early as next year, according to Microsoft insiders.
According to unnamed sources speaking to a Chinese news site, first spotted and translated into English by ZDNet, Microsoft is planning a major update to its operating system towards the second half of 2013 - and it is likely to keep doing so every year thereafter in a serious change to its release schedule that will see it brought closer to Apple's operating model. 

http://www.expertreviews.co.uk/software/1296226/windows-blue-to-replace-windows-8-in-2013-sources-claim

in reality:

both OS upgrades and software (from Apple and third-parties) have become cheaper since the Mac App Store not more expensive. simply for the reaseon that more quantity of the software is bought as the App Store makes it convinient for the customer to buy.

It's only partially 'the OS itself' - I'm sure they've improved a number of things over Win7.  It's the direction they are taking the entire platform that I object to.  I don't want a 'really good' terminal emulator on which I can only rent productivity apps and can't have private control of my own data.