[FutureShock]

Thanks for the news JH. As usual you covered every single imaginable base with this.

The early purchase sure sounds sweet, but I just can't get past Rainmeter's Omnimo with all its configurations as the way to go for me. I've really been on the edge of using the Windows 8 transformation pack, but it's very Windows 8, and I still very much prefer the desktop experience of Omnimo...

Seriously, I can't hardly believe it's almost here. I guess I'm extremely skeptical of the future of 8. I'm especially worried about what's going to happen if/when businesses try it. Oh brother, could that be bad. IDK, it just seems so inefficient to me as an interface...

The million dollar question...you guys going to 8?

[FutureShock]

Hey, JH. Glad to hear your positive experience with 8. As you know, I have been the worst against it, and I would say I still am not a fan, just because of the idea of where MS is trying to drag business. I just don't like the directional thinking. It wasn't just the interface...more the proprietarism built into the apps, etc. Not that I mind MS making some money, but to me MS should be searching for solutions to make Works and Money, which have both been buried (unbelievable to me), relevant rather than cooking up an OS to make a few bucks on apps.

I seriously like the Windows 8 transformation pack. It's a similar experience to what you have mentioned. It's seriously a cool break from the boredom of the straight desktop. However, I'm not really looking for anything interesting from the OS per se. I'd rather have a standard OS and focus on working on an interesting life . So I use Rainmeter with Omnimo. Yep, it's all on the desktop, so it's not so interesting as the start screen, but that's what I like best for a PC.

I just wish MS hadn't dragged EVERYONE down this road. I can see how home users will like it who don't use their computers in a serious way to earn money. I think, though, it would have been smarter to just give up the ship of trying to make an OS anything but a means to income. Income is where the potential of computers is. MS could have led the way into a real revolution in business, and everyone could have been focused on extending the boundaries of their office to their home and beyond, too. Looks like we'll get a clever scheme instead from MS. Definitely don't think the tablet is in any sort of way the answer MS is saying it will be=>stripped down lame excuse for Office..

Still think someone will come along and bring out the income boosting potential in PCs. Just don't think 8 is even close to being that, even though it is clever and interesting for most uses.

Overall, it's sort of like MS has shut down the Louvre, taken the least important art from there and put it in a cheap building because it costs less to keep there and because more people will be able to pay to see it and then just trashed the most important art that are the only reason some people ever cared about a museum in Paris anyway. It's a long term mistake I think. Not so much a problem with the program in this case but with the strategy of MS reflected in the program (there aren't any options...)...I guess only time will tell how this strategy works for MS. In the mean time, looks like the only way to look at it is the way you are. Once again, credit to you for being bringing home the positives in 8. Thanks for that..

[FutureShock]

Yeah Jim...I agree with you on the fundamentals. Just would prefer they had gone down a different road with improvements to Windows. You have definitely earned the last word on this MS release, however.

Only thing I would say is that with 8, MS has lost me for sure to the first OS maker that can securely put my bank and investment accounts on my desktop and can put together an office bundle that is 100% thought through...not because I don't like the interface (it's not for me), but because it's not the serious business I would have expected from MS at this juncture...

That said, as always, your thinking is rock solid...

[jayesstee]

Thank you Jim for your positive review. I know from much following you on FBB and DCT, that you "tell it, like it is", i.e. no B/S!

I have been struggling with the decision on whether to put my head in the sand and ignore Win 8 (and therefore infinitesimally ‘punish’ Microsoft) or whether to ‘future proof’ myself while the offer of a $40/£25 upgrade is available. In spite of it will be counted as another vote for Microsoft, I think I will succumb. Don’t worry; I won’t blame you (much) if I then find I hate it.

Thanks again for your rock steady approach to these topics.