Windows 8 - is it any good?

[johnb]

It's worth bearing in mind that Windows 7 will probably cease to be available, possibly as soon as later this year.

However, as I mentioned, Windows 8 Pro comes with downgrade rights to Windows 7 Pro and PCs are readily available with Windows 7 Pro pre-installed through the Windows 8 downgrade rights. These PCs will come with the Windows 8 DVD should you ever want to install it.

I'm not sure how a factory restore would work, so it would be wise to take a backup image of the Windows 7 Pro system as received.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Every time a new version of Windows is launched, there are cries that it is inferior to its predecessor. But who would seriously suggest that it's getting worse and worse?

Nevertheless, Windows is a highly flawed system that appears to be a series of "fixes" to mask the accumulated problems. The best operating system ever was probably RISCOS, used by Acorn Computers and its successors, but diverted for use in Pace set-top boxes. The entire OS was so well written that it could be stored in a 4 mg chip and could never crash.
I still use the system, alongside my work PC laptop and an unopened iMac that arrrived yesterday.

[johnb]

Every time a new version of Windows is launched, there are cries that it is inferior to its predecessor. But who would seriously suggest that it's getting worse and worse?

I'm not sure that is true - Windows XP and Windows 7 were (and still are) well regarded. Windows OSs seem to alternate between being thought of as well regarded and ... errr ... not so well regarded.