Someone on another forum wrote up a GREAT post about the benefits of Win8. As for me, I just had to switch to Win7 to do my taxes and I immediately noticed how pokey everything seemed with all of the same hardware. Give me Win8 or give me... cookies.
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And improvements to the Windows 8 Desktop experience? Improved multi-monitor support, native USB 3.0 stack, reduced boot time, significantly lower memory footprint, Storage Spaces (virtualized storage pools), a new files system (ReFS), improved SSD support and performance, built-in antivirus and spyware protection, improved automatic updating system (less frequent reboot required updates), built in support for creating system images and full system restore, built-in ISO mounting, built-in VHD mounting, built-in PDF support, automatic cloud based backup of system settings, personal files, and Metro applications, a new Apple Time Capsule like interface for Shadow Copy, Windows Store sells desktop software as well, drastically improved task manager, drastically improved file management allowing you to pause file copying jobs and finish them later, Windows 8 has basically become rootkit proof when combined with UEFI, Hyper-V, and various reviews of the beta candidate builds confirm noticeably improved performance over Windows 7 SP1. And that's just a small sample of the various desktop related improvements. And it's still PRE-BETA! Many of the future major software applications haven't even been publicly shown at all (Media Player and Media Center [which are both expecting some HUGE changes], and how Office 15 will tie in with Windows 8). Anybody claiming that Windows 8 brings no improvements to the desktop experience is simply ignoring the facts. And I promise you that even the most dedicated desktop proponents will dip their toe into Metro every once in a while once the Windows Store gains some steam. Anybody that owns an iOS, Android, or Windows Phone device knows how addicting and effective these micro transaction application stores are. Once one is available on every desktop in the world it will be hard to resist jumping into it every once in a while.