[TorqueDog]

I've been pretty absent from this thread, owing to the fact that I had yet to install Windows 8 on anything beyond a VM that I wouldn't really use much.

So yesterday afternoon, I did a full image of my production work notebook, and installed the following:
- Windows 8 Release Preview
- Office 15 Technical Preview
- Lync 15 Technical Preview

Yeah. Recipe for disaster, right?

Well, here's the kicker - it's the end of day 1, and I am not ready to restore back to my backup of Windows 7 yet. I like it.

I'm running an HP 8440w with a solid-state hard drive, Core i7 processor, and 8 gigs of memory. I use a docking station with two 22" HP monitors. The machine is joined to a domain. I did an UPGRADE instead of a fresh install.

So far, I'm VERY impressed. I'm under NDA so I cannot tell you anything about the Lync/Office 15 product, but Windows 8 is all sorts of killer. The Mail, Calendar, and People apps integrate seamlessly with my Exchange mailbox. The Metro Start screen really isn't that intrusive. The only adjustment is that I have to take icons for newly installed applications (that I don't need regularly) off the Start screen, but that's as simple as right clicking a bunch and then selecting 'Un-pin'.

As a Windows Phone 7 user, it was really easy to get the hang of the interface. I will say some experiences are still quite disconnected. The two different Control Panels will take some getting used to. Changing the settings in an application isn't terribly obvious and it took me Googling to figure out that 'Settings' corresponds to each app, not the system (use Metro and you'll understand this comment a little better).

The multi-monitor experience, I really don't mind. I like that Metro apps can be stuck to the side of the display so you can always have, say, the Mail app visible.

The OS is fast, works with nearly everything I've thrown at it*, and all in all I'm impressed so far.

*VMware Workstation 8 does not work with it, but this is moot since Windows 8 includes Hyper-V. Also, the Cisco AnyConnect VPN v3 does not work out of the box, but will work with a small change in the registry (the virtual interface name is incorrect).