Sure. I've tested W8 in a VM and had a horrible experience. The OS is optimized for tablets and touch-based devices, not desktops.

Also, Windows 7 is perfectly fine at the moment.

I'm using Windows 8 in a VM, and I'm liking it just fine. I just think of it as: instead of a Start menu, we now have a start screen - that's it. Most of the time (ie. when you don't need to access the Start menu), you never see the Metro side of it at all, so it just looks like W7 to me. But, yes, that means there's no reason to upgrade to W8.

I'm in the same boat. I really like W8, and I think it's a shame it's getting a bad rap because it's different. I'd give it a shot with an open mind for a day or two.

It's fantastic on a multi-monitor setup; the start screen and full screen apps can be anchored to one screen. So if you want to read a PDF full screen, for example, while doing desktop work on another, it works very well.

Also, you can have multiple task bars on multiple screens if you want. And you can do almost everything with the keyboard that I used to use the mouse for.

If you miss the start menu, try this: hit the windows key and start typing the name of the program you want to open.

I would have to say that everything you described as a positive for Win8 can be done now in Win7. Well, unless they introduced new keyboard shortcuts. Not to discredit your opinion on Win8 though, if you like it then that's cool.

It can be done, but it's much faster in Win8, for example. The start menu search in Win7 is noticably slower.

And there are new shortcuts, like "Windows-x." It's the closest I've come in a while to feeling as productive as in my old FVWM setup.

Can't speak for the original commenter, but even if there is no degradation I personally don't see enough advantages to justify upgrading my gaming PC.

Same for me, I just recently built a new gaming rig with Win7 and my past machine was WinXP. I have no reason whatsoever to go to Win8 anytime soon. They could probably give me an update license for free and I probably wouldn't bother.

I build my Windows boxes, which I use for gaming and productivity, and I will be skipping Windows 8 because the interface is much, much more poorly designed than Windows 7. The Start screen is a pain, Metro apps are less useful than their non-Metro equivalents on a large monitor, and they spilled ribbon all over my Explorer windows. I'm happy to use Windows 7 until MS comes to their senses and releases Windows 9 Classic Desktop Edition.