Well, since it was only $40, I upgraded from Windows 7 on a whim.
The installer BSOD'd on me and left me without a working operating system. So, about the worst beginning you could imagine.
Luckily, I am technical, and had a working iPad that I could use to search for my problem. Apparently the AMD AHCI/RAID drivers for a lot of chipsets are having issues in Windows 8. So, I found an ISO that a friendly forum user slipstreamed in some working drivers. Installing from that worked fine.
So, once I did get it up and running, I had to ask myself what I was doing. I liked Windows 7, and nothing I heard about Windows 8 excited me all that much. And I still don't get it. I'm just a little lost, trying to figure out why the very successful Windows desktop needed to change in this way. Obviously, bridging the desktop and tablet to a common workflow would be a huge win for MS and their tablets. But, in order for that to happen, the desktop workflow has to change substantially. I feel out of my comfort zone on Windows 8. If nothing else, it will interesting to see how successful this is.
I came across this guide, which is incredibly helpful. Honestly, without the guide, I don't know how else I would learn how to do some very basic actions (like closing an App...)
http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/window...iew-32555.html