I'd still be using 98se if it had better hardware support/fewer limitations, just sayin'.  Lean and mean...

If I could have 98SE with 64 bit support, etc., without all of the 'bloatware' that has crept in since 98se, I'd be a happy camper.  This trend of increasing the OS footprint just because larger memory configurations are available is just silly.

But then I'm a pretty basic user, that generally turns a LOT of stuff off using msconfig.  Other than antivirus, etc. of course.

Oh, and tablet interfaces belong on tablets, not on PCs...

/rant off

Using Vista currently.  Will pretty much HAVE to go with 8.1 when I replace my 'desktop replacement' laptop in the summer.  My other laptop is XP, but is a fair bit slower so I don't use it much these days.  The hybrid drive in my Vista laptop helps performance significantly.

What demise?

Give that man a cigar....;)

Windows8    the best OS i ever had

Exactly right ! I think people forget about the energy that is released in the form of heat from high performance computers. It takes a lot of cooling power and you just can't squeeze that into a tablet , or a laptop, for that matter. Also of course , high performance computers are an absolute must in this new age of cutting edge design and developement. The desktop PC is not going anywhere , and from what I have been seeing , the design technology for the latest and greatest desktop PC's continues to get better and more advanced. Oh , and let's not forget about those wonderfully large desktop monitors ,everybody loves those !

Ace.....you are not entirely correct........

I just recently had to replace an aging notebook and since there really are two choices in the notebook segment (ultrabook = for mobility  or  desktop replacement/gamer = for performance) I opted for the 'desktop replacement/gamer' notebook.

I have to say.  This new notebook of mine kicks some serious desktop ass........and then not even breaking much of a sweat (heat etc.).

Notebook specs:

Core I7 4700

32 GB RAM

3 GB NVidia GTX 770

multiple HD (regular 1TB HD for data and 240 GB SSD for Windows 8!  )

Sure I could have built myself two desktop PC's for the money but I already have a few gaming 'rigs' (desktops) downstairs in the dungeon, and I felt like being able to 'game' in other places in the home for a change.  Not to mention the POWER CONSUMPTION of those desktop machines is a hell of a lot worse than that on my new notebook it has very quickly become a 'no-brainer' for me.

Like I said, sure you can build a desktop that will eat my 'gamer notebook' for breakfast.  But with my notebook (which by the way runs things like BF4 on high+ settings with no issues) at least I'm not sucking the wall-socket dry.  For this 'Desktop-PC-gamer' the need for a 'desktop' system has all but dissolved.

EDIT:

To me it's sort of like the gas guzzling raw power of an american muscle car vs the fine-tuned 'engineering' of an import!      I suppose it might come down to personal preference in the end but then when it comes to personal electronics what doesn't?........hehe

Only when they make one with a 27" monitor, 30" would even be better

As long as my next desktop replacement desktop can run GalCivIII, I'm a happy camper.  I'm not really a bleeding edge performance guy, but it's time to replace my circa 2007 laptop.

Unfortunately, I have to wait a few months for Kaveri to hit notebooks (the new innovations intrigue me).  Yeah, I know Intel laptops are da bomb, but I've been supporting AMD religiously for many years now, mainly because Intel abused their market position back in the day, and hence does not deserve my business.  Plus, somebody has to support #2, to keep #1's prices down!

BTW, the requirements for my next D.T.R. Laptop

17".  I have a 17" now, and LOOOOOVE the extra screen space.  Plus my vision isn't what it used to be... 19" is too big for the side case on my bike, though, so 17" is the practical limit.

Two hard drive bays, for an SSD and a separate HDD.  Yeah, I saw the WD combo SSD, but cost/performance ratio is too high.

Some OS that works/looks like the Microsoft OSes of yore (i.e. none of this fancy tablet interface stuff - Start8 is probably in the cards here), and that will still run my Photoshop 7 (REALLY not liking Adobe's new software sales model).  Plus my old games!

AMD powered/Kaveri.  With 'generic' Catalyst driver support.  My current laptop has 'discrete' graphics drivers that Toshiba hasn't bothered to update since say 2007.  And Catalyst detects the discrete drivers and hence won't update them.  Grrrr.   I don't want to depend on my laptop manufacturer for my video driver updates ever again!

Besides, Mantle sounds really cool, so I want a laptop that can do Mantle!

Hopefully a nice keyboard.  These keyboards I'm seeing on the laptops at WalMart/Best Buy look pretty cheensy to me...

So, I'm thinking it'll be the next generation MSI GX70 with a Kaveri in it, plus a discrete GPU.  Really, the discrete GPU part isn't that important to me (I'm generally a bit behind on the gaming curve), but the rest of the MSI specs have appealed to me.  Especially since dual drive AMD laptops are rather hard to find...  Plus the multicolored glowing keyboard is purdy!

Back on topic, I'd like to thank Stardock for that Start 8 widget.  Should make my upcoming Win8 experience a little more tolerable.  Plus there are supposedly performance gains to boot, we shall see.  Who knows, maybe Microsoft will release 'Win 8 lite' with a smaller footprint and the old Start Menu (yeah right!).

Using a Laptop for Gaming yeah things changed unless the small display size these things became beasts sure they don’t run SLI or triple SLI…but who needs to run triple SLI these days anyway?
But they do can kick butt take the Asus G750JX-T4167H for example more than enough power under the hood to play everything that will be released in 2014 on ULTRA And the biggest Bonus it has already Windows8 installed - that’s perfect for Gamers. 

benmanns just one thing you overlooked, we are all not gamers and even if some are they also use the computer of other things than just gaming.  

Ok sorry, a while back (half a year or so, maybe one year at the most) I read articles about yearlong declines in PC sales, from e.g. HP. And I've read that many people who used to buy a PC just for browsing or playing simple games, nowadays buy tablets for that. Or they use their smartphone. It made sense at the time but I could be wrong, journalists tend to exaggerate.

It sounds good for the makers of tablets and smartphones but those items will not replace the PC, desktop or laptop, at least in the foreseeable future.  Each device has a market, cross over will occur but not currently at the level of eliminating one of them.  This of course is just my own opinion.   

Meanwhile MS switched the popup mouse over Start button to a solid one in 8.1 (i don’t know why) It was still at the same spot as in win7
How could folks not find it?

There are multiple solutions to get that highly praised and honoured start menu back, even free solutions!
That way nobody using 8 would never ever have to use or look at the New one again.
ALL there is left, to use it fully, is Modernmix or similar and BAM everything is happening on the desktop.
(Could be also done by making shortcuts) And for the price back in the days that would be a very cheap very much improved Windows7 you got.
(Even for office compusers)
But some still hate. That’s just ignorant.
Most let themselves blind by the interface and overlook the possibility’s windows8 has to offer. And to my knowledge that’s wrong.

I would bet money on it that if MS would integrate the old Start menu back in an upcoming point release and leaves the NEW one for people -like me who like it, folks would still complain and stomp their feet until it is then forcefully removed.

Don’t get me wrong, if people don’t like it because they don’t have the old start menu and they have windows7 why would they even complain. Or not just grab many of the free solutions or the "promo"
Start8 The superior Startmenu solution , brings back the old Startmenu, it lets you change your Startbutton and use skins!!! GET IT NOW!!!
and calm down.

If I would hate windows8 I would just stick with windows7 and stop the silly bash of a perfectly fine OS, that I know is in some cases superior over its predecessor.
I would not try to make a fool out of myself and hate on it because I’m not willing to install a free solution to my problem (the interface).
I know we are on Wincustomize and customization plays a factor, I do refer to general users with this text, folks that run windows in Aero or in classic, these guys do not spend hours inspecting the start menu, for wrong margin settings or bad cropping like some of us here do and did, after the point of opening it, they will launch the executable and their mission is done. OK and they shutdown.
I seriously hope that some bury the hatchet and stop the complains.
I need to learn to shorten my texts
  

It won't run FSX on ultra/anything. [and that's almost a decade old]

Nothing does....;p

Skinners are not 'just' interested in changing graphics....we have always been heavily invested into the concept of modding the actual GUI functionality too.  Windowblinds [for example] does/can do a heck of a lot more than paint pretty pictures on GUI elements....if that's all you think it does you're selling the proggy short.

BECAUSE skinners are closely involved with the OS GUI they will rile at ANY absurdity/stupidity that MS imposes on the User.

Alternate Shells exist because even the 'normal' GUI isn't necessarily ideal.

Amongst this bunch here on WC you'll also find a very high percentage of people who DON'T use the file managing component of Explorer.exe.   They'll choose a 3rd party alternative....because again they are seen as an 'enhancement'.

Sure we can all sit here and ONLY shake our heads at MS for ruining 8 with a mobile-phone GUI...and stick with 7...

...or we can correctly call MS 'fucking idiots...get it right' and provide a voice of expert competence that demonstrates exactly why 8's market share is so plainly pathetic.

Isn't that making an assumption as well that nothing else aside from MS 'getting it wrong' contributed to slower uptake?   I mean I'm sure there are plenty of reasons for that '' so plainly pathetic " market share not just what some may see as 'getting it wrong' on the part of MS.  Not the least of which I'm sure had something to do with 'the economics' of the situation for many when asking themselves (especially if none of the very real 'under-the-hood' improvements of Win8 actually apply to them) whether they really need/want to upgrade to a newer OS.

There is still a huge difference between laptops and desktops.  I like my desktop because it can work for games, I can use it for my writing projects or for working on images, and my screen is sitting at a nice comfortable height for any of those.

Don't get me wrong, I love my netbook too, but that is mostly for web surfing, reading and writing when I'm away from home.  And yeah, if I could have afforded it I would have gone for a model with a bit more power, but I couldn't so I didn't.

what I find funny when some people bash windows 8. they complain about the start menu. It is well known that the start menu is not a good way to efficiently use applications in any windows environment. To add on top of that im sure most people rarely use it to begin with only for the odd app that they rarely use. 

when i switched over to windows 8.1 i had gripes with metro and the app system coupled with how window swapping worked and all the popups with mouse hovers etc. but after using it for a couple of months i cannot go back to windows 7. the biggest problem with people giving negative reviews is that they choose to not adapt to how the devs intend you to use the OS. The design of the OS is smart and pretty intuitive. it doesn't take much effort to use common sense with the GUI and you will always find what you are looking for. windows 8.1 made everything even easier as you can default to desktop mode on start (which was needed badly). As mentioned in a earlier post. it handles multi monitor much smoother than win7. the only gripe i have is when the taskbar is mirrored on both monitors the notification bar is forced on the right monitor and you cant choose (atleast i do not know how). Windows 7 is not any better here as well.

the biggest problem with every new OS regardless of the dev. people are slow to embrace change. Microsoft did a good thing in making windows 8 homogeneous with a tablet OS, desktop OS and phone OS. And with windows 8.1 the tablet style interface can be suppressed almost entirely while still giving easy access if its needed.

the only problem windows 8 has with 8.1 is the stigma that all the blind sided reviews have fed the PC community and most people who do try it now have the mindset of not wanting to like the OS instead of trying to like it and embrace the changes.

Oh, yes, the 'devs' know best.

All people wanted 'designed' was a horse.....what the 'devs' gave them was a camel. [just a horse designed by a committee].

You can always 'try' to like a camel as a horse....got the right number of legs...and you can ride it... but no amount of 'liking' will make it a horse.

And 'good thing"?  In whose mind was/is forced standardization between totally dissimilar hardware seen as a 'good thing'?

Packaging economists at MS?

Yes, maybe MS thought...."now is the time we can release this Metro GUI....at a time when people might just blame other causes for poor adoption rates....so we don't have to 'fess up and admit we got it wrong..."

So I'm a cynic....sue me....;)

I'm right there with you Jafo. Couldn't agree more.  

Linux keeps trying at least.  1.73% and hanging on...

Linux does much better on the servers though. 31.8 'Officially', with the Unix-like OSes accounting for 66.8% of the Server Market Share.

Go Linux go!

Not to worry. The way things are headed, phones and tablets will be that large by years end. Just what I've always wanted, a phone with a display larger than my television.

So we take the TV with us and leave the phone at home. Cool.

I have been running Win 8/8.1 since the 1st public beta and have never looked back.  Purchased my 1st retail copy for 40 bucks, but have since paid full retail price for another copy for my 2nd rig... being it impressed me that much.

And yeah, Win 8 better utilises resources than previous Windows editions.  With my UEFI mobo and fast start enabled, I have a usable desktop in about 6-8 seconds after pressing the on button.  In fact, everything is so much faster/efficient under Win 8/8.1.

As for the desktop PC going away any time soon... bullsh!t.  Portable devices [phones, tablets, phablets] are just that... portable and incapable of processing the kinds of high-end tasks a desktop PC can.  While useful for the low-end tasks they were designed for, and I don't give a stuff what the iCrowd or so-called industry experts say, portable devices will likely never possess the power required to complete serious video production or editing, etc.

Long live the desktop PC.... and my next build will be a doozy. Ive been using AMD's for my last few builds, but my next is an Intel... a liquid cooled i7 4770K on a Gigabyte GA-Z87X UD5H mobo with 32Gb of Kingston 2400mhz DDR3 RAM.. and Win 8.1 on a 512Gb Samsung 840 Pro SSD.  I got a large chunck of the cost saved already and will start building in late Feb early March.

And this is the beasty of a tower it'll be going in....