Actually, I was referring to any system with any OS. The credit goes to the SSD technology, not the OS.  If you want a marked, highly noticable improvement in speed on any hardware, old or new, an SSD is the most bang for the buck you can get. And speaking of bucks, it costs more now to get Win 8 than a quality SSD. The MS $40 bargain price is now over and done with, while SSD prices per GB continue to drop.

(and my SSD was a gift from a real friend, it cost me nothing)

My point is, I just bought 8, now I'm supposed to pay for Win 8 SP 1?

I'm not ready to BUY another OS. Blue should be a service pack.

I have to agree with reply 126.       

Bottom line folks is that none of this is important enough to raise anyone's blood pressure.  Plain and simple all these discussions are only about personal preferences when it comes to our computers.  These are personal computers, not public ones. 

For those that find they are repeating themselves, possibly an antacid or anti-gas tablet might be helpful. 

So by the reports coming in the general public says Windows 8 is a failure. Many people here say Windows 8 is a failure. Yet a few here keep arguing that Windows 8 is the next best thing since sliced bread. Guess what? You're outnumbered. If it works for you, fine. However it doesn't work for the rest of the world. 

Doc, you have talent. That's hilarious. 

I do believe I may be your favorite subject....lol.

I think that's a tad overstated.... if only by one "the".

Also: http://www.neowin.net/news/microsoft-brings-in-2049-billion-in-revenue-for-q1-2013

Hmmm... guess the rest of the world wasn't aware of what it was supposed to be thinking.

Edited. Thanks. 

Just saw this:  http://www.neowin.net/news/microsoft-brings-in-2049-billion-in-revenue-for-q1-2013

No "Blue" in there. Just green.

Windows 8 is doomed!!!!!

http://money.cnn.com/2013/04/18/technology/enterprise/microsoft-earnings/index.html

Microsoft reported a quarterly profit Thursday that rose from year-ago results, buoyed by the first full quarter of Windows 8 sales.

The Redmond, Wash.-based software giant said operating income in its fiscal third-quarter rose 19% to $7.6 billion, or 72 cents per share, for the period ended March 31. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters forecast earnings of 68 cents per share.

^ Yep.

"Microsoft's press release stated that the Windows division brought in revenues of $5.70 billion for the quarter, an increase of 23 percent for the same period a year ago. "

- http://www.neowin.net/news/microsoft-brings-in-2049-billion-in-revenue-for-q1-2013

Gotta be something wrong with the world when you can make money off a backwards operating system. 

For some perspective....

http://www.pcworld.com/article/251490/windows_8_survey_half_who_have_tried_the_os_wouldnt_recommend_it.html

Summary:

According to this survey, satisfaction with W8 is about half and half...about half like it and would recommend it while about half dislike it and would not recommend it....you can read the article to see the percentages yourself, but it is very close to a 50-50 split...

It's easy to lose perspective when you surround yourself with people that think like you do....here we have employees and customers of a company that makes skinning software, so it only makes sense that most people on this forum dislike W8 (or at least the GUI)...on the flip side, I have yet to personally meet someone who dislikes W8 (about 8 or so friends use it), but then I also come from a crowd clearly different than most individuals here...

In short, it's wrong to call W8 critics or W8 advocates "minorities" since both groups are about the same size...obviously from a business standpoint, having a product approval of ~50% is foreboding, but it is hardly justification to cast either set of opinions as moronic or extreme....

For the record, that's 20.49 billion, not 2049. That revenue figure is from all MS operations and doesn't really reflect whether Win8 has helped or hurt that number.

 "the Windows division brought in revenues of $5.70 billion for the quarter, an increase of 23 percent for the same period a year ago."  That is to be expected during an OS release year, but I wonder how much of that was purchases of Windows 7 made to replace Win 8 on an OEM install. I also suspect there are a lot of unused copies of Win 8 out there that were picked up soley because it was cheap to do so. I wonder how sales have been since the price increase? Money is money to MS  shareholders though.

Yes, that's about right, but again I'd stress the frustration/negativity felt towards 8 has nothing to do [here] about its APPEARANCE but about its ergonomics.

Yes, a GUI is "what you see" of an OS ...but more importantly it is how you INTERFACE.

8's 'interface' was/is lifted directly from a small, hand-held object called a 'smart-phone'....designed specifically for one-handed operation by touch.

A WORK computer is not a 'smart-phone' and thus requires an interface of PARTICULAR characteristics as what has [correctly] EVOLVED over decades...to a point where 7 is the pinnacle [so far]....and 8 is an avalanche down the other side....;)

Well said Jafo. Good point. 

Aye, Windows 8 - just like a Yorkshire woman... great body but a face like a bag of spanners...

8 isn't a good desktop os? i'm using it on my desktop just fine. do i have a touchscreen monitor? nope. i do have a logitech touchpad that i use instead of a mouse these days. i can make the finger swipes and gestures just like a touchscreen would enable. 8 works like a charm here.

jafo, i respect your opinion on most things but not on this. it seems you're attempting to make those of us who like and use 8 that we are wrong in doing so.

also, i highly doubt kona has ever used 8 so why was the thread posted to begin with. wait! i know. it's just kona being kona again.

And here I thought you were only kidding in reply #105.

I have Windows 8 installed. Or did you forget that point? Yes I have used it more than once. 

I love it when you're so PC, Fuzz.

LOL....at #148

...but I was thinking more like MS Bob ....;)

rather Babya System.

nothing wrong with a flat look for me. i think the latest versions of ChromeOS look gorgeous for example.

but in Windows 8 it is done so half-assed, it's laughable. did they run out of time to create a matching icon theme? why do the desktop icon texts still have that dark dropshadow? what's that nonsense with the huge window borders (they are still too small for touch anyways)? why still keeping that scrollbar buttons, does anybody use those (that chevron is the ugliest thing i have seen since a while in a default os look)? if that should be touch-optimized why is there almost no padding on the notification area icons?

nah, this is just the beta version of Windows 9.