Will they continue to support Windows 8 as it seems to me to be quite good for hybrid laptop/tablet devices?

So they are skipping '9'?

MSF just gets more out of touch. Bring back XP.

They usually get about every other release right. I'm not sure if skipping 9 is a good thing :)

Daishi. Agreed, but they do seem to be dropping the ball more often.
Perhaps this is just their way of giving their market away to their competition in the same dumb way that HP stupidly handed over the technology to B. that cemented his monopoly.

YYYYYYYEEEEEEEEESSSSSS!!
That's exactly what I missed so dearly about Windows 7. The start menu is what made it great just like every other version of windows. When it was removed I didn't know what to do. I'm glad to see this back in the next windows. Windows 8 had many great aspects but now that Windows 10 has this i'm sure it's going to rock the OS world.
Oh, Also where's 9?

From what I saw about the new OS they are allowing "metro" style applications to be run windowed in classic mode so in a way its a step forward and another step back. I want nothing to do with metro.

Since I bought Windows 8 I met real problems. I also had to activate it before I actually could use it. This version of Windows is so very user unfriendly. I ever started with Windows 3.11 and used all versions. I could not return this Windows 8-software only because it was already activated.
I took me a lot of time to get it working (a little bit) and I decided to never buy software like this again. Microsoft doesn't understand it's customers.
Next time I'll get familiar with Ubuntu (Linux). Then I do not have to pay for rubbish.

Windows 8 End of mainstream support on January 9, 2018 End of extended support on January 10, 2023

And so it is that the business world faces yet another loss of productivity while its staff learn a new operating system. If a company buys a fleet of new cars, it is almost certain that those to whom they are allocated will be able to jump in and drive off after the briefest of time spent orientating themselves regarding the controls.
Wouldn't it be nice if Microsoft provided as standard emulation of previous operating systems hot switchable on demand? That way, if an employee has some urgent work to do, they can complete it as per normal and then switch back to the new version when they have time to get up to speed.
Also, Mr Microsoft, how about having a choice regarding such features as libraries and the like? I doubt that I am alone in wanting the way XP operated and was fed up when 7 appeared. I had no idea where the originals of my files really were. Choosing to disable libraries would have really been nice and saved a lot of swearing. I am a big grown up and can fasten my own shoelaces. I don't need Mother Microsoft to make me do things on a 'mummy knows best' basis, especially when I really don't want to do things their way (And that goes for Office in all of its components and their iterations, too.)