Sadly, given Microstuff's track record, i doubt the RTM will be much different than the consumer preview. Sure...they may tweak it here and there but in the end same ole bleh!

quoting:  "sooooo use the dev preview instead of the consumer preview a lot to 'prove' your point do you"

I have neither as I currently don't have a PC to spare a test run, I grabbed a screenshot from the web.  Many reviewers have commented on the garish colors. I simply attached a description to that, calling it the Fisher Price interface.  I used to call XP the Crayola interface because of its use of primary colors but it was no way near as ugly as Metro.  I've read reviews and seen video demos and know how it generally looks.

However, beyond its appearance, forcing desktop and notebook users into a touch screen interface is stupid.  The x86 and ARM versions are already incompatible enough they could have simply kept Metro for tablets and the old desktop for keyboard based PCs.  My first reaction to Metro was a Facebook post I made, "Microsoft porting its ugly and failed Windows 7 phone interface to the desktop."

One would hope MS tweaks it enough to make the standard desktop the default UI on PC editions, with Metro as an alternate for the handful of people who like it.  However, it is doubtful and I won't hold my breath that MS is watching the negative towards Win 8 threads plastered all over the internet. 

The other thought one would hope MS has, and that is towards its hardware manufacturing partners/RTM's.  If Win 8 is a dead set flop, which it seems likely to be given all the negative feedback to date, then all those PC's with Win 8 pre-installed will largely remain on the shelf, thus risking profits and jobs right across the industry. 

There may be some sales from those who have no choice but to update their hardware, but me thinks it will be much like in the days of Vista, when users promptly had XP installed on the machine as soon as they got home.  In this case, those users will revert back to Win 7 and wait for an improved Win 9 -10 or 11... without Metro, or they'll switch to a Mac or Linux.  In any event, I can bet the other developers [Apple - Linux] are rubbing their hands with glee over this Metro disaster.

Have you tried the Windows Live Mesh, part of the windows Live Essentials Pack

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-CA/windows-live/essentials-other-programs

GigaByte69

Windows releases go a bit like Star Trek sequels, except it's the even-numbered ones that suck.

Wake me up when they ship Windows with time-travelling Borg.

I'm holdin' out for Win 13. That should be the one what melts  our lappies and desktops into slag. Then we can all gang up on Microstuff and demand restitution. As unlikely as that sounds.

Sorry to have found this so late into the thread. Might help folks decide which version they might want/need:

So no direct upgrades from Vista?  For the Vista to 7 upgrade, MS was a little loose in the use of the word "upgrade".  Yes, you could upgrade from Vista Ultimate to 7 Premium, meaning you paid the upgrade price, but it was a clean install, not an upgrade installation.  That meant every app had to be reinstalled.  That's the main reason I didn't upgrade from Vista to 7.  With 2 Ultimate PCs, the upgrades would have cost $438, unless I was willing to reinstall everything.

Depending on your equipment (age, cpu, RAM, etc), and the fact that clean installations are better than upgrades, you might be better off with a clean install on a new system rather than a sluggish, strained system...

From what I've read, there will be a direct path from XP and Vista to 8 using online installation. There might also be DVD's available but MS hasn't mentioned price.

The online option will supposedly drop installation time and number of clicks: The latter by 82%. You won't have to wrestle with a 25 letter/digit key using the online installation.

I wonder if "No bloatware/trialware" will be an option.

I understand a clean install is preferable but I don't have a week to reinstall all my apps.  It's absurd that MS still treats its users as if they're buying their first OS.  There's zero reason why they can't do the equivalent of a clean install of the OS while porting the apps.  Laplink can do it, why can't MS?

I used the dev preview and the consumer preview, and I've yet to see this mythical 'touch only interface'.

Although the dev preview UI was pretty awful, and the consumer preview could use tweaking for large monitor/high resolution users.

At any rate, can't wait for the release preview.

Stupid ballmer signing off on stupid UI- this is what happens when you put someone who doesn't no jack shit about computers and software to run a software and hardware company.. Hes no Steve Jobs.. and this metro bs is the worst innovation in software history--hes such a muppet. 

@Savug, I did not mean the interface only works with touch screens but it is obviously designed for them first and foremost.  Forcing a mouse user to do endless horizontal scrolling was a bad choice.

Customise win8 to what you want when it goes rtm!. So far from what I have seen it's faster than win7 with slightly better interface. Dont like metro?? swap it out for the desktop that your more familliar with.

It's still in beta last time I looked

Just saw this video in my list and had a good laugh.

if he can't figure it out what  hope have I got hehehehe, nah I am sticking with what I know and that is windows 7 I don't like 8

Somebody over there at Redmond has access to youtube. There's no way they can miss it.

[quote who="Hawawaa" reply="40" id="3143313"]Just saw this video in my list and had a good laugh.

@Hawawaa jupp but he had proven his point after 3 minutes and he could have just helped him out - to be honest i hate that cast ...

sorry

It's still pretty much interface FAIL if there's no obvious way to navigate back to the interface.

Should I reserve a seat at the Improv? They roast stuff like that don't they? Better stock up on some popcorn.

By what measure is an interface that hides numerous common functions found readily in Windows 7, a better interface?  Adding Metro didn't force MS to make the standard desktop less functional and intuitive.  They purposely chose to make it that way for whatever reason.  You start Windows Explorer and want to return to the program launcher?  Clicking X doesn't do it.  Nope, you have to move your mouse to an invisble point and wait for something to pop up that you have no idea should be there.  Want to close an app?  Hover your mouse near the top of the screen, grab the thumbnail that appears out of nowhere and drag it to the bottom.  Wow, way more intuitive than clicking an X isn't it?