Is anyone going to upgrade to Windows 8? I like to keep up with the latest software so, when I saw the price on Microsoft's UK site was £24.99 (+ V.A.T) for the Pro version, I bought it.

I had a few programs listed as incompatible by the pre-installation advisor but when Windows 8 was installed, I tried them to see what would happen. For instance, there was a message saying that CorelDraw X5 was incompatible but I chose the option to run it anyway and found that it worked OK. Sandboxie is another program that W.8 advisor said was incompatible but that works too. Once I found the programs worked, I ticked the box for not showing the message again. No more problems.

All in all, Windows 8 took a little work to get running smoothly but it seems fine now. It also took a while to get used to the Metro interface but having worked with it for a couple of days, I've come to quite like it.

Personally, I won't upgrade to Win8 unless I get a touchscreen device of some sort. I don't see the point, as that's what it was designed for. I actually still use XP, but when I get my next OS/computer it'll have Win7.

There are aspects of Windows 8 that involve more than the user interface. Regarding this though, it can be used with a mouse just as easily as using the touch method. I can't say that with certainty however because I don't have a touch screen. I'm OK with using a mouse on a Desktop computer.

The £30 paid for the upgrade is much less than a night out these days and the new OS will provide an interest for ages. I'll perhaps also be able to write a little about it when the occasion arises.

Some who have upgraded to Windows 8 are using third-party utilities to return the Start button and menus but I like to get used to a new OS 'as is' rather than try and return it to a previous style. The new interface feels OK to me now.

I just got a hp g7 Notebook PC with Windows 8 on it. I shunned going to W8 but TW, your input that older programs run on it helped make up my mind and here it is over half a year later than your posts so there's every reason to believe that more bugs have been ferreted out and fixed with my edition. I'm still playing with learning the touchpad techniques and skills needed (lots of solitaire). I've located the simularcum of the old homepage with task bar but I haven't found the Start button on that page. It has been moved to an entire page of its own. It looks like its trying to level the playing field divide between PCs and ipad formats. I've watched a few DVDs on its HD screen. They work well. I'm going to try to see if the optical drive will handle blu-ray and DVD-HD formats (and I think I noticed a toggle to switch regions of DVD formats so my Region 2 discs may now be viewable, as well as opening UK sources for disc purchases).
I intend to use that machine to run my hand held x1-40 microscope (ergo the dynamite video handling abilities) and I'll need a good database building program to organize it. The g7 comes with a limited time sample of MSOffice. Isn't there a free online Integrated software package that does dB, spreadsheets and word processing. Is Open Office still out there and will it run on a 64bit processor?
Learning tap, tap tap and double-tap, tap and drag and where to tap are the first grade course for now.

The best free program is LibreOffice - http://www.libreoffice.org/

If you have any interest in making 8 look like 7 (or earlier) you can check this site out: http://www.classicshell.net/

That, I would say, is the most commonly used free Start Menu replacement software out there.

Thank you for the inputs!