Any word on a beta yet...???

Getting more and more frustrated with 8 each passing day.

Just curious, but what makes you think that you'll like Windows 9 more than 8? I suspect 9 is going to incorporate many of the same features as 8.

I suspect that 9 will offer a clear choice, standard desktop environment, or metro.

Sounds good to me and hopefully Microsoft will see things the same way.

Not really sure if I can endure another round of the nonsense that surrounds 8. Life is just too short to be spending so much time railing against changes to an OS. If they insist on continuing to try to force metro on users, then I will force myself to learn linux, and simply never look back.(while I still have enough remaining gray matter to do so)

What do have against Windows 7? If I hated Windows 8 as much as you I would have stayed with 7, until I saw what 9 looks like.

I have both 7 and 8 installed on separate SSD's in my system, but work mostly with 8 nowadays. With the addition of Classic Shell I can't really tell much of a difference between the two. With 8, Defender is integrated into the OS and I don't feel the need to install a separate AV, which is nice. Windows 8 also is more responsive in almost all aspects and has a smaller footprint on my SSD than 7, even with the same programs installed on each. The desktop purists hate the fact that the start menu is not integrated into 8, but I personally don't have any problem with installing something like Classic Shell. I guess its all a matter of "to each his own".

A fair number of people agree with you and that's fine. But what I don't get is trashing Windows 8 as a viable OS, just because it doesn't have the old start menu. Like I mentioned before, Windows 8 works well for me and I have found it to be very stable, even more so than Windows 7.