Tried to edit but I guess it's too long after my post. I'm still learning but the new Server 2012 + W8 combo is awesome. The new remote desktop (RemoteFX) is amazing. Gone are the days of slow and choppy remote desktop sessions, bad audio delivery or just horrible media streaming in general. The tiles take some getting used to - I turned Metro off on my first W8 install (over a year ago) and it wasn't until I installed it on my TV computer that I started to use (and like) the tiles. The general feel of a remote desktop session on W8 is much better than even W7. I'm still shocked that there are so many XP users out there - but if you have the choice I'd skip right over (Vista, that's a given) W7 and install W8 in a few months, once the first major round of security updates are available.
I bought and installed WIN8. Good thing it was only $40. The start screen (Metro) is a pain in the ass. It just gets in the way of getting to the desktop. Maybe the kernel is better I don't know, hard to tell. It boots up a little faster and shuts down faster but that's about it. I would stick with WIN7 if I were you.
I don't see myself using a touch screen for trading any time soon. I'll be using Win 7 for the next few years, unless I switch to an Apple product.
I'm trying to use windows8 since a month now. It's going to kill MSFT bigtime. They messed it really up this time. I get it you want to make software to compete on the smartphone and tablet market, but why does it has to be in my face working on a desktop with 8 screens ? There is no way that somebody used to windows xp, vista or windows7 is going to be able to work out of the box with windows8, it's that bad. What a piece of shit that Windows8 is. The only thing we can hope is that it's such a disaster that they will get rid of that lunatic running MS.
Are they keeping Windows 7? I thought Windows 8 was two OS style options- one of them similar to WIN7.
How do you turn Metro off? The increased efficiency might be superficial only until 3rd party software or legacy software will require library or component that is not included in Win 8 anymore. They just got rid of many components and dll's to streamline Windows and ensure smaller footprint for low compute power devices.
I'm running the release preview edition on VirtualBox with no problems. It spent almost 20 minutes in setup, with no indication that it was making any progress (but I could see the virtual disk growing in size).