My first reaction to Windows 8 was with the Surface RT. Being an iPad user, I initially found the Windows 8 interface extremely unintuitive and I would generally say, that if you are a happy iPad user, you probably won't like the Surface/Win8 combo.

That being said, I recently built a new high end desktop and decided to go with Windows 8 x 64 to force myself to learn the new way, as I work with computers alot and figured I may as well bite the bullet now. At first there was a lot of frustration as I found myself Googling how to do things I instinctively knew on older versions. Simple things, like, how do you close a Win8 App? There is no little X in the upper right hand corner. (Regular programs still have that of course.) However, once past the knee of the learning curve, I have to say that I actually like the interface, and think it will be important for this reason. Touch screens are likely to become more common, even on desktops. In the short term, we are already seeing many laptops with touch screens built in. Then there is the new breed of "hybrids", which are essentially ultrabooks or laptops with screens that can be flipped in a way to be used like a tablet. I see this as a market that will grow.

Microsoft clearly sees a future here for touch screens as well, and I wouldn't count them out just yet. http://news.softpedia.com/news/Micro...o-333672.shtml

It remains to be seen whether Windows 8 will be a marketing success or not, of course. I suspect that the desktop market is going to shrink, giving way to other/smaller devices that focus on the social networking aspect. Between that and dedicated game boxes that stream video and provide home theater capabilities, the majority of people will not need a traditional desktop. Furthermore, I don't think there is a compelling reason to upgrade to Windows 8 from 7 on existing hardware. The interesting thing will be what ratio of new desktop and laptop sales are sold with 8 vs. 7 going forward.

I've shown a few people how to use the touch interface, and so far, none have reacted negatively to it. The response is usually, "Oh, ok. That's not so bad." I think the hurdle for Microsoft is that most people are so familiar with doing things the old way that they will be frustrated trying to figure it out on their own.

Having both the Metro interface and the Desktop available on the same system doesn't really bother me. And, if you really want to make it act like the Win7 desktop, there are ways.