Verdicts so far:

Dad's Laptop (pseudo Clean Install from Vista as offered from Upgrade Assistant)

If you still use Vista, just get 8 right now. Some might say you're going from one pile of junk to another, but we say otherwise. The performance differences between the two operating systems were night and day, even on this older mobile Core 2 Duo processor. He's gotten used to the interface changes. He hates some of the apps though (well, the People and Skype ones), but I've seen him using the Mail one once in a while. Most of his work is on the desktop, though. We both agree that Microsoft should at least be given credit for trying with the Metro platform so far, and we think they'll smooth out the edges eventually.

My new desktop computer (Clean install, on hardware designed for 8)

After using the final days of 2012 to assemble it, my first custom-built computer took its righteous place in my workspace on New Year's Eve. ASUS P8B75-V board, Intel Core i3 3220 (3.3 GHz, Ivy Bridge), 8GB of RAM, two 1TB hard drives, and Windows 8 of course. The ASUS UEFI update for Windows 8 compatibility gave the OS perfect integration with its firmware: I got fast boot (Literally 10 seconds flat. Nice job), secure boot support (which I chose to not enable, primarily because I heard that it forces certain modes that might not be supported by all hardware), and the UEFI Firmware Settings link in Advanced Startup, etc.

Meanwhile, its very responsive, the new desktop theme kinda grows on you after a while, the start screen is a little easier to organize then the classic desktop (I actually rarely used desktop icons, just using the start menu instead through either search or pinned applications), and some of the apps are actually pretty decent. In particular, the only apps I really use are The Weather Network (Canada's most accurate forecasts, plus notifications on the live tile for Environment Canada bulletins), News Bento (its an aggregation app that behaves just like the start screen), and TuneIn Radio (mainly cause I got it on my phone too). Everything else I do is primarily on the desktop, though. Some of the games I've tried that aren't already on my phone (i.e. not Angry Birds or Jetpack Joyride) are actually not that bad; the adventure mode in Minesweeper is surprisingly addictive. Plus Xbox Live integration: I never thought I'd get to see THIS on Windows (okay, apparently those Games for Windows - Live games could do that too, but still):



Achivement Unlocked
25G - Figure Out The Damn Thing

In real-word use, get around or used to the nuances and quirks, and Windows 8 is actually quite a solid operating system. This is only the beginning of a new era for Microsoft, they just haven't ironed out all the wrinkles yet (perhaps the biggest wrinkle is Windows RT. It's good in concept, poor in execution.)

Brother's desktop (Upgrade from 7)
My brother's desktop is just a refurbished HP DC5750 small-form factor business workstation. It started with Vista, but then got upgraded to 7 before we bought it, and we later added a GeForce graphics card to it (coincidentally, the same card that was in my old computer) as well. The upgrade, despite taking a little while longer than expected, actually went quite smoothly. He also swears that his games (which, among other things, include TF2, Terraria, Skyrim, and Minecraft of course) actually run more consistently on 8 than they did on 7.

The only pitfall issue I've found could be viewed as a Good Bad Bug. I've encountered a somewhat rare bug that causes the stock metro apps to not install (except for IE and PC Settings), and the store not to launch at all. Its no cause for concern right now, because all the desktop stuff still works, and Steam is pretty much his app store. I don't think he (or me for that matter) would be interested in some of the Windows Store offerings just yet to begin with.

I think I'm going to call this bug the Gabe Newell bug; cause well, my brother uses Steam, Gabe hates the Windows Store, and this seems like the type of sabotage he'd do, despite this occurring to others who have upgraded from 7 too.

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