You could always do what many others in the industry are now doing and going over to a Linux system. Its not that hard to get used to particularly with the latest ones that have the feel of Windows and best of all most are either free or very low cost.
I do agree with your views though having just tried Windows 8 and that is the biggest load of crap ever released. No wonder the download is a mere 25 quid according to the email offer I got from them.
I presently run Win XP Pro, Win Vista Ultimate, Win 7 Premium as multiple boots cos some of my programs will not work on later ones and also Linux versions Mint and the Windows lookalike I am presently trying out Ubuntu Zorin. Up to now I like Zorin.
As time goes on there will be more and more programs available for Linux and because it is an open scource operating system you can adapt any version to your own needs if you have the knowhow.
Go on....have a try. You might just be surprised. 
Anyway....Linux boots and closes down way way faster than the godawful minutes it takes windows and there are no almost constant 'updates' that require you to shut down and restart.
No wonder Bill Gates got out when he saw the writing on the wall..........
I'm already heavily into Linux where all the websites I develop use this and I've been configuring and using my local and public Linux servers for the last 12 years. But for these where possible I use the shell.
The next desktop PC I build will definitely be duel boot with Linux and I'm not sure what flavour I will use yet along with Windows 7 or 8. I will ask on here for advice at the time.
I'm going to wait for the comments from real users on Win 8 before I make a decision, but I have got the feeling I'm going to really hate it even more than Vista and Win 7, but I've got an open mind and I'm I willing to give it a try.
Once an operating system is not transparent then to me it fails as that is its job. An easy to use intuitive interface from which I can launch programs to get a job of work done, that's what I want and need. MS has been steadily deviating from this path. Now if they had had any sense with Visa and 7, instead of just hiding everything, so a 'tard can use it, they would have had three complexity settings:
1 Basic - The current default so even the Microsoft marketing department understand how to use it.
2. Average - Useful settings enabled to allow the average business person to be able to quickly get the job done.
3. Expert - Everything possible turned on.
Setting 3 may have saved a Windows 7 PC or 2 ending up in TB's bin. 
I would be interested in TB's comments on Windows 8 once it is released as he normally likes MS products and thinks they are the B's & E's.
I don't think Vista/Win7 options are hidden. There are more of them, so Control Panel is pretty full, but the NT6 mindset of doing things is search. So, to adjsut laptop screen brightness, Windows + "screen brig" + Enter will take you to the exact place. Faster than Windows + Control Panel + Hardware and Sound + Power Options
I think most of Vista's problems were stuck-in-the-mud journos too lazy to spend a bit of effort learning a newer, faster, more productive way of working, instead finding it easier to just say "its crap".
TBH, it was the same in the W2K to XP transision, although many used missed that, and did a W9x to XP transision. Dodgy driver incomaptibilities aside, even XP must have been a welcome relief from the dire Win9x... ...yet I know people now you still stick with W98, as they don't like XP
Win8 adds a new twist on using Windows, as it tries to create a combined tablet and desktop OS. First time I saw it, I hated it as much as I hated Vista initially. Stick with it, and learn the new ways, and you start to "get it", and realise there are some very good things in it. I know some will struggle over the fact there is no Start button, but that was deprecated in Vista in reality. I think many of the better IT journos (which rules out the ones writing in magazines you see in a Newsagent) are now starting to get to grips with Win8, and understand it, rather than the laziness "its different, and I'm a God, so why should I learn it".
Win8 has been a difficult transision for me, as so many apps and utils in my collection seem to fall over with it, including some very key ones for me. Which is understandable for Pre Release software. Most now seem to work, due to a combination of MS fixing things, and the application developers getting their stuff to work with the new OS.
Will I upgrade? Media Center, definately not. MCE is a chargable extra for Win8, in addition a key piece of (now abandonned) software I use on it is not Win8 compatible. Desktop? Possibly, although more likely I'll wait and get a new desktop with Win8, as my old Dell is getting long in the tooth (Core2 Quad). Laptop? Its running Pre Release Win8 anyway. It will probably go back to Win7 again, as I'm sure the Pre Release licence runs out when the new OS is released. For same reasons as the Dell, I'd probably buy a new laptop to replace this aging one (Core2 Duo) which has seen far to much action in its life
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Thus, at this stage, I don't think, unlike the pre-order for Win7, I'll be taking MS up on their £50 pre-order Win8.... ....hmmm, then again, it would mean I have a cheap copy should I need a licence...
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Topic: When computing goes backwards (Read 4772 times)