8.1 or Blue, or whatever MS wants to call it. Will be a major update for Microsoft's future imo(and yea they have plenty of money to do whatever they want with). But, a lot of people where put off by the whole Metro UI, and the obviously tablet oriented features being forced on the traditional desktop users. It has lead to a lot of bad reviews, and negative publicity. When in all honesty the desktop mode of Windows 8 (minus the lack of a start button) is a more refined, and in my experience so far, better performing OS then 7 was.
I got Windows 8 about 6 months ago, on my girlfriend's laptop, then a little later when I built my PC. As a desktop only user Windows 8 has been a great OS. I have had a few blue screens, and other issues. I think more related to my HDD then the OS. But, it is really dumb imo that you almost need to get Start8, and ModernMix for the OS to "feel" right on a desktop machine. If anyone is new to Windows 8 I would very highly recommend getting both programs, they are both from Stardock and fairly cheap. Start8 is obviously the start button only you can actually customize the menu's, and the actual look of start orb its self. And ModernMix allows you to run Metro apps on the desktop just like any other program. Run them in a window, or full screen. It also adds the Windows 8 style minimize and close buttons in their traditional places. Along with placing them on your task bar like any other currently open program would appear. Finally my personal favorite part of the package, you can completely disable the hot corner nonsense if you want, and boot straight to the desktop. I personally have all them turned off. And only the charm bar active when I am in the Metro UI itself.
Microsoft really should take at look at what third party software devs are doing. And see how successful they are. These two programs are in my opinion two very basic features that Windows 8 should and needs to have built in. If they want to focus on tablets that's fine. I love my tablet. But, don't force a tablet experience on my desktop PC please.