Is there any info about the grey classic Windows theme still being included with Windows 8?
And are there any public numbers on how many people actually use it, like there were for the usage of the start menu?

On my notebook, which has not the best screen with its really huge pixels and low resolution (1368x768 at 15"), Aero just doesn't look that good and takes up too much space.

Originally Posted by stobbart

On my notebook, which has not the best screen with its really huge pixels and low resolution (1368x768 at 15"), Aero just doesn't look that good and takes up too much space.

Um... Are you a resolution freak? I am running the same resolution at 15.6" and it seems fine...
But in regards to what you said, I can't find the "Windows Classic" Theme on my installation. Just has Windows Basic, and the High Contrast options... So I'd say they're trying to leave legacy behind (at least for personal installations), it's still there on server versions.

I think that was the name given (I don't think by MS) to the classic theme in XP, later carried on to Vista/7. I haven't tried it, but it is probably the "basic" theme

I do not see any real reason that they would remove that since the servers versions still have it. What does a server need a fancy user interface for? They will keep it for many years to come.

Originally Posted by Avalon

I just tried it, and the Windows Basic we've been given is kind of like Classic, but it's colourised and it looks a lot nicer.

True, "Basic" looks a lot better than it did in Win 7. And the default theme also improved, especially the minimize/maximize/close buttons. Classic would be nice, because it simply uses less space, especially vertically. But maybe with the Metro version, especially Metro Internet Explorer that's not that important any more, because the Apps run in fullscreen anyway