Windows 7 was the best version so far

[Welly Wu]

I made the mistake of upgrading from Microsoft Windows 7 64 bit Ultimate Edition Service Pack 1 to Microsoft Windows 8 Pro 64 bit last month. Curiosity killed the cat in my case. This is not to say that I am in a world of hurt with Windows 8. I only had one problem during the upgrade process while trying to preserve my old software applications, settings, and user files so I ditched it for a clean upgrade.

Windows 7 64 bit still makes a lot of sense even in late December 2012. Getting a traditional desktop environment to work properly on a daily basis is challenging enough. Windows 8 Desktop is a mess. There are too many hot corners and pull-down or swipe across side menus. The Windows 8 Modern UI is pretty clever. It's pretty functional and smooth in action, but the Windows Store lacks compelling apps. It makes the Modern UI seem lacking in high quality apps right now.

If Microsoft had just devoted itself to making Windows 8 all about the Modern UI and they completed ditched the desktop, then it would have saved them a lot of trouble down the road. The days of the traditional desktop PC user are fading fast if you are a Microsoft customer. Windows 8 is an early preview into the future. Traditional, locally installed, software applications are out of fashion and a curated Windows Store and cloud centric apps with in store payments and subscriptions are the future.

Microsoft may release a new version of Windows annually starting in 2013 with Windows Blue. This is not yet confirmed. If it is true, then they may charge a nominal fee for the privilege to upgrade to the latest and greatest Windows versions annually. I don't know how this is going to sit with their enterprise customers that demand conservative stable production environments, long term support contracts, and predictable future.

Windows 8 is not catching on too quickly, but it's early right now to say for sure. There aren't enough Windows 8 developers to make the Windows Store appealing enough right now. The operating system itself is not a killer app.

If you have Windows 7 and you are happy with it, then stick with it. It may be the last version of Microsoft Windows that you will want to keep using until the end of 2015 if you don't like major changes to your desktop.

[KiwiNZ]

I have moved all my Windows Machines to Win 8 it was completely without drama and they all work superbly.

[Welly Wu]

Windows 8 Pro 64 bit works smoothly on a daily basis, but the Modern UI lacks apps and it's going to be the future of Windows Blue if it is released in the first half of 2013.

It's all too confusing to me with the hot corners and the pull-down menus and the swipe across side-menus and the Charms menu and the two versions of Microsoft Windows Internet Explorer 10 and the Control Panel and the Personalize menu. I can figure it out, but I had to get a Windows 8 book to learn how to use the new features. It still makes little sense to me now.

The Modern UI is slick and it is cohesive. Get rid of the desktop despite the huge backlash and it would make sense on its own. Put the Modern UI and desktop to work together side by side and it's too confusing.

It was a mistake for me to upgrade to Windows 8 Pro 64 bit. It's too different and the learning curve is too steep.

[andrew.46]

I will admit that I only run Windows 8 in VM but it has been pretty plain sailing so far. I could not work with Metro but I found a wonderful utility called Classic Shell which enables me to turn Metro off and on very, very easily + many more options.

Perhaps give yourself a bit longer?

[drawkcab]

Win7 will be the last windows release that I'll install. Win8's stupid metro interface and app store coupled with the fact that I can now use MS office, steam and netflix on ubuntu mean that I no longer need windows except for the bizarre task once in a blue moon.

[MadmanRB]

Personally I say windows 2000 was the best version, I actually really miss it

[desktorp]

Everyone knows that Windows ME was the best operating system ever conceived.

[flavouride]

I have to admit that I've never been tempted to try out those Win Store Apps yet nor had I linked my Win8 account to my outlook.com account.

I'm just using it like Ubuntu or Win Vista: that is just to install every "legacy" programs I need and run anything on demand.

Being a Unity user for quite a while I definitely appreciate the Start Screen Search which is like a Dash Button for me.

Have not encountered a problem yet and Win8 runs my OEM Vista Cyberlink video editing/DVD burning softwares perfectly.