oh well I guess when support for 7 stops I'll go Mac.

Nice. I guess the strategy was trying to get people to use the all touch interface and they are now introducing desktop like functionality. Should have been like that from the start, but I'm glad anyway.

@Sean Brendan Phelim Moore: Why?

It's been said that stupidity has a radius of about 10m. You'll understand this if you happen to be out in your local bar district at 3:00am. But the same rule applies to many aspects of life. I happen to think that Windows 8 and its awful Metro interface is completely stupid; one of many dumb decisions made by Microsoft over the years (I have a list). Therefore, I'd like to stay 10m away from it at all times.
It's entirely up to Microsoft. I'm not buying Win 8; ain't happening. Call me when Win 9 is out, and it had better be different. Meanwhile, it's more likely that a Mac is on the shopping list.

Imagine your Microsoft hot water faucet upgraded: You *now* can get hot water by lifting your left foot while saying the word "hot" three times aloud. Why? Because, brother, it is upgrade time!
Once running, you will find you can no longer turn *off* your hot water unless you get an account with your hot water provider, and log out properly. Why? Because, brother, all the added new functionality you never knew existed. Isn't that great?
Also, the old way of always getting all water to stop, your water mains, is now controlled by this handy function, the hot water user account. How is that not better, oh brother? Only communists would hate that!
Aren't we lucky to have innovative companies controlling these things? Endowing us with upgrades we never asked for, to do old things in new and unintuitive ways, and to relearn them every so often? I can't wait for them to upgrade my toilet seat, front door, and many other appliances with the potential to become great high-tech gimmicks.

Windows 8.1 is phenomenal; there are still some kinks to be worked out, but isn't that to be expected considering this is the first major overhaul of the Windows UI since 1995? In its current state, I can get more done with Windows than I ever could before. And I'm not talking about downloading some third-party app that lets me pretend I'm using Windows 7. I frequently use Metro apps in conjunction with the traditional desktop - for instance, it's incredibly useful to be able to dock a Skype chat to the right of one of my monitors while I'm doing other work.
Sometimes you have to accept change, especially when it comes to technology. This goes for all those who think that they can somehow boycott Windows 8 by sticking with the previous version: I'm sorry to disappoint you, but your misguided opinion isn't important enough to make a multi-billion dollar tech giant call for a complete reversal of all the work they've done in the past two years.
But if you instead want to fork over $2k to Apple for a machine whose primary function is looking pretty, be my guest.

Window 8 looks terrible and I have no loss of productivity by not using it.
There seem to be a few Microsoft trolls here. But what I wish Microsoft would do is start a Pro line that starts from XP and just improves that OS and UI each year until it's faster and more solid than ever and it's already pretty fast and solid.
And the idea of switching to Mac if W7 somehow goes away is not a new thought to me. I think about that all the time. W7 is bad enough. And talk about trying to look pretty -- isn't that what W8 is all about and fails at?

The only pain I've received from 8.1 upgraded from 8 was that it now wants to log in using my Windows Live account. No more PC-only accounts which I prefer to use. They are still there but you need to reinstall everything again. PITA.

What I would really like is to have XP continue to be supported and still available to purchase, but I was forced into W7 and its freaking libraries when I purchased a new computer.
If I cannot get XP, I would accept continued support for W7 with the ability to purchase a licence allowing my use of it on any new computer. It would be nice to discard libraries - I like things my way, not the way someone at Microsoft thinks I should have them. There might be hope. Microsoft have extended their support for W7 Pro and are continuing its availability for new business customers past the original October cut off.
It would like to know just how much Microsoft costs the global economy by forcing multitudes to lose productive time while they repeatedly learn to use new operating systems that they did not ask for nor need. On top of that, there must be a number of businesses who put off buying new computers because of the same upheaval.

I dont understand peoples infatuation with Windows 8. A touch screen interface is a nice idea if you are doing any type of design work where interacting with the screen improves design options, such as drawing, circuit design, etc. As a primary interface on a desktop or laptop it is highly inefficient. How is stabbing at the screen with my fingers, which requires full arm movement, more efficient then nudging my mouse?
The people, like myself, who find Windows 8 to be distasteful seem to be more interested in making their software work then dealing with a radically different and dumbed down interface. Windows is a software platform. It is designed to be the foundation that software runs on. It should be efficient and effective. It is not necessary for it to be pretty nor an orgasmic experience. Windows 8 tries to be one (or both) these and fails completely.
I use a third party menu software to remove all the charms, apps, pop-ups, tiles, etc and to give me a real Windows 7 start button. Why? All that extra stuff gets in the way of finding my files, configuring the system, accessing and interacting with my software. The 8.1 update fixed some of these problems but failed allow me to disable other things so the menu software is still necessary.
The specific menu program I use is Classic Shell. Some people think that the only choices are Windows 7 or Apple. I think that Classic Shell removes the explicit necessity to avoid Windows 8 in favor of Apple. Apple makes great machines and there are a number of things that they excel at compared to Windows systems but "it's not windows 8" is not a good reason to switch as Apple (like Windows) has its limitations. Classic Shell makes Windows 8 usable and effective. If I had tried Windows 8 before I bought a Win 8 machine, I would have bought a Windows 7 system instead. I did try Win 8 before my machine arrived and I immediately set out to find a solution to the problem of windows 8 since I didn't want to hassle with returning the computer. It was the first program I installed on my new system. Windows 8 is now usable. Try it and see for your self.
Someone indicated that the Windows 8.1 update requires a MS account. That is not correct. I run my Windows 8.1 machine without one. I dont even have an MS account.