Hey Ev – just discovered your blog – love it. Recently bought some new hardware for the biz this year, so can give my two cents. I thought Windows 8 would be a disaster, and hated the idea of a touch screen for business purposes. I need the ability to use a mouse for precision point-and-click – constantly updating spreadsheets all day and what-not. Started using Windows 7 earlier this year, thought it was a huge upgrade from my old XP environments (skipped Vista and all generations in between). Then purchased a Windows 8 preloaded Dell laptop with touch screen, and then a Windows 8 Dell without touch screen. Did NOT want Windows 8. But after a few weeks, behold, I actually LOVE Windows 8! I have learned just enough tricks to get around, and must say that I find myself using a combination of touch screen gestures on my laptop along with the mouse, for my Windows 8 touchscreen laptop. For my Windows 8 laptop without touch screen, it actually took a little longer but now that I figured out how to use the swipe gestures the right way, it really is quite easy to navigate and most importantly, I feel it increases my productivity. I am most concerned with 1) stability of system (no crashes) and 2) ease of use leading to better productivity. I can say that Windows 8 makes me very happy on BOTH accounts, whether I’m using a touch screen laptop or non-touch screen machine. I am quite amazed that I feel this way, as I have been a hater of Windows for many decades. But as I am Mac-adverse and need Windows office products for biz, I am forced to constantly use Microsoft products. Ultimately, I’m so happy with Windows 8 that I recently purchased a Microsoft Surface Pro laptop/tablet, and I can tell you in a different post how much I am thrilled so far with this purchase.