Though I haven't had much of a chance to check it out today. I did get a brief look into the improving world of Windows 8. For an opening pre-beta preview, I'm surprised how well it works with everything compatibility wise. I had one issue, and a quick Windows Update search solved it. Although reasonably stable, I still must say, the user interface is a massive let down. I couldn't find any options to change these, so I'm going to assume that either they're in a really poor location, I'm blind or they simply don't exist.
In my first glimpses of the thing, I've found it to be considerably subpar to 7. Windows 7 is primarily designed for my desktop. Windows 8, in my first impressions of it, is designed for a mobile phone... Sure, when you get back into Windows Explorer, it starts to become more familiar. But hitting the start button takes you to a very Windows Phone/iPhone like opening menu with a display of apps and whatnot.
The Start Menu has been replaced with this if you will. And to be honest, I hate this. I think it's the single most unnecessary and ugly interface I've ever had the misfortune to run across. But because it's seemingly unnecessary, I suppose I can forgive it's annoying intrusion. I do however find it increasingly annoying when for the last... since I started using Windows as a small child, conditioning means the start button opens the start menu, you pick what you want to execute and life was good and simple. You didn't get flipped to a screen seemingly designed for a Windows-like-iPad that is, as far as I'm concerned, a pain in the ass to use.
It's clearly designed for a touch-screen environment, which is something I just don't operate on. Even the apps I tried out were giving me instructions in how to use them with my fingers. "Tap both fingers on the screen" is very useful to a guy with a keyboard and mouse. I thought I was clever when I pushed both mouse buttons at the same time, but that got me nowhere as well. In the end it turned out to be the mouse wheel scrolling. But I digress.
Speaking of UI abominations, that god-awful Ribbon UI is also prevalent all over Windows Explorer. Much like the Start Menu, I like my menus short, simple and too the point. The Ribbon UI is not that. I actually have to search across my window to find what I'm looking for instead of just whipping my eye up or down a menu and finding what I need. This is increasingly annoying as time continues to move on. I would definitely call the use of this UI a major factor as to why I would or would not update from Windows 7. 
I stopped using MS Paint as a basic image editing tool shortly after purchasing Windows 7 and discovering it was using that abominable UI. Perhaps I'm a stickler for the old days, afraid of change, but I like to argue more that I've been using Windows since '95 and have been grossly conditioned to the way it has pretty much worked from the beginning. Even in Windows 7, the "Personalise" menu when you right click on the desktop in place of the "Properties" menu was a bit of a stretch. But now we're moving into gripes about the over complication of things to make them prettier, which is a subject for another time.
However, my little escapade into Windows 8 didn't end there, I also managed to discover the new Task Manager I had read about. Another major factor in deciding whether or not to go through the hassle of updating when it comes time to. And I must say, I'm in love with it.
Look at it. Beautiful in it's simplicity. Once again brining back to the afore shrugged off argument about simplistic being better. And another positive point for the argument about toggling. This task manage is the single most user-friendly task manager I've ever seen. They didn't really change them much from Windows XP onwards from what I remember.
That was about as far as I'd got in my little explore of the interface of Windows 8. I spent the rest of the time getting my hardware to work at decent capacity.
Ultimately though, I do hope Microsoft does decide to remove or toggle the Ribbon UI. And hopefully learn that desktop PC's aren't mobile phones. I prefer my simple start menu over some fancy doo-daa with "apps".
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