As an artist and a skinner the most important thing for me is the issue of customization... CAN you skin it and HOW MUCH ?

If all those boxes frames and backgrounds are indeed skinnable it probably would look really awesome if someone did a " Win 8 Out-of-the-box Blind" for it. If the more "regular" look is skinnable as welll......I´d buy it for sure !!

I think they are trying to please the tablet/touch market, where they are playing catchup at the moment.

For me Windows 7 is running fine and I can't see me moving to 8, it would have to have something I really need(which it doesn't yet) for me to upgrade.

As long as I can use a desktop how it's design to be used I'm happy. If Windows is going to a all Metro interface, which is useless for me, I will be moving to OS X for my next computer.

Metro is ugly, GEOS with eye straining colour blocks

And that is why Win 8 will be an epic fail.  For one, regular desktop users will abhor Metro as the default GUI.  MS is trying to marry separate disciplines that seriously do not belong together, and the change will be too drastic for many... a phone interface does NOT belong on a PC.  And two, catching up, where Apple and Google have too many miles head-start, will be futile.... because [butt ugly Metro is being ill-directed toward PC's rather than the phone/tablet market, where it belongs.

I know Metro has its supporters and those who [strangely] like it, but Vista will be a huge success story in comparison.  Win 8 will have an difficult and ugly birth, and for mine, in its current form, should never have been conceived.

It's pretty obvious that you're spreading FUD from a thoroughly uninformed position, based on a very limited sampling of the OS for touch/tablet markets only.

Windows 8 is based on the Windows 7 kernel, but will include new code support for new CPUs, new hardware, and new optimizations like every Windows version before it.

Everything in Windows is customizable, with or without the permission of Microsoft.

Of course you can install applications from other sources.  Only Apple locks down their ecosystem in the way you describe.  Microsoft never has and never will.  They are just preparing a mom & pop-friendly store option for new, less savvy users, like children and grandparents.

Every version of Windows becomes faster than the last.  The Vista transition was needed to develop a new kernel and some of us found it plenty fast.  Regardless, Windows 8 is going forward not backward.

Your assumption of Windows 8 only for "on the go" people has no basis in fact.  Therefore you conclusion is likewise flawed.  Only the metro interface is designed for touch interfaces and personal devices use.  The core OS is still a desktop one.

Microsoft isn't stupid.  They won't be abandoning the desktop in any way, shape, or form.

To say more would violate my NDA, but it's clear to anyone with even a rudimentary grasp of the development of Windows and the PC over the past three decades that Microsoft isn't going to abandon what has made them one of the most valued and successful companies in the world.

DisturbedComputer that was already possible in the developer beta with a simple registry tweak.
+ I think i have to mention this since many dont understand the concept of this...
Its not final but as far as ive heared the final version will have the start metro design but you will can switch to the desktop ( the one we are having atm with the taskbar and startmenu ) + you can simply reopen the metro start surface like you can blend out everything in windows 7 by hitting the very right of your taskbar...
I think many many people dont realize that you are not forced to a metro look you never have been not even in the developer beta version.
Even while i took a registry key to unlock the normal desktop i doubt that they will force you to the metro and lock the normal desktop.

even if the Metro looked like JC screen shot I still don't like it, too much crap on the desktop [/quote]

First of all its not just a bunch of crap that I have there just for the fun of it. It is all practical information that is right there if I need it. I can add or take away what I like. As far as the shot goes it is a lot less cluttered then some screenshots I have seen. Its all organized and I personally do not think metro looks as bad as some are making it out to be.

Also what is the big deal as far as what the screen looks like anyway? How much time does someone actually stare at their desktop? This works for me and if a blank screen is what you like then that is fine too. I just do not get why some people are dumping on the visual of metro. So what it is a bunch of square boxes but so is much of the skins that are designed on this site and no one complains about them. I guess maybe I did to some degree in the past but I have seen the error of my thinking and now I feel square works best for a lot of things. 

For me Windows 8 will be the OS I will use if its user friendly and efficient. With any new OS people want to knock it before they try it. I suspect that was the case with Windows 7 and I heard people say they would never use it. But then some of the ones who said they would not upgrade tried it and they realized it was a decent OS. For me only time will tell. 

I updated my shot some.

I think it's safe to say that MS will offer multiple versions of their operating systems.

Some will be called something like Home and some will be called something like Professional.

And that's only one way MS could have either interface the default.

But I think it's more likely that it will become one of the options you choose at install OR more likely, the de factor choice of the OEM based on the hardware it comes preinstalled on.