I do believe those are covered under asset production.

I for one don't do asset production on my computer. I run business software (quickbooks, excel, word, cad viewers, etc.) and need multiple programs on my screen at once. Not to mention, I also game while I work (I'm the boss), so many times I'll have a window of CivV or some other game running as well.

At least with Modern Mix Windows8 is now an option for me. Prior to that, I was not going to "upgrade" to Win8. My plan was to go back to building computers and installing Win7 on them.

I completely understand MS wanting to have this new format available. I have no understanding whatsoever of how they try to block us who need or want the more productive older format.

You can run multiple programs with W8, no need for third part software...it is just like windows 7...

You can have games like Civ V run in one window and have other problems run in another...you can quickly get side-by-side windows just like you can in Windows 7...you will have no problem having multiple Excel, Word, etc files open and on screen at the same time...

The only things that cannot be displayed onscreen simultaneously are the W8 "apps" which you probably would not be using anyway...these are the special apps designed for people on phones or tablets, and include things like a special "mail" app or "weather" app (the same things you would see on an iphone or ipad)....

W8 is not a failure of software, it is a failure of advertisement...for example, people read statements like "you can't have 2 apps open at once" and immediately think W8 does not allow you to run 2 programs on the same screen (one could not be farther from the truth)...Microsoft has not failed in creating a solid product, but rather has failed at being louder than the W8 critics who have made false or ambiguous claims....claims that, unfortunately, have facilitated misinformation....

Absolutely the tanked economy is in my opinion a much larger reason as to the overall decline in PC sales.  People are 'making do' these days, where pre 2008 they might have upgraded.

The computational landscape has also changed.  I personally do the least of my production on a desktop these days.  With smartphone/tablet data plans finally good enough to even be able to stream movies while on the move (driving to/from the lake for instance) it is no wonder that people choose to be more mobile these days.  The hit to overall performance while using these 'smaller devices' is often mitigated by the fact that (save for a few specialized applications where the larger the screen the better) one no longer needs to sit behind a desk at all. 

I predict the future doesn't hold a resurgence of PC sales at all.  Keep in mind I'm not suggesting that PC sales will decline into nothing, I just believe other newer tech and tech-options will continue to take their place in the marketplace, leaving less and less room for the venerable PC to occupy on its own.  Regardless of what new OS MS is dreaming up for us next the PC is no longer enjoying the computational landscape on its own as it once was.

Thanks for the correction, I did indeed believe that. So it would seem the only thing I really need to like Win8 is just start8, and I suppose ModernMix if I were to end up using any apps.

I would still stand by my claims of not giving us a choice of not loading the tablet-centric looking main screen. Hell, make it the default even, just give people who don't like it an available option directly from MS, rather than having to go to Stardock for a fix.

You do not have to use the applets. you use your own software. I don't know where people are getting the idea that you have to use metro app's.

The start menu is nothing more than a start menu that's all. The only time I see the start menu is when I open a program that I do not have a shortcut for it on my desktop.

Every program I used on windows 7 "except windowblinds" I use on windows 8. when you click a program icon it takes you back to the desktop just like the old start menu. unless you are using the applets. Me I uninstalled every applet as soon as I installed windows 8. so nothing on my computer runs but real software.

windows 8 runs the way you choose.

I started with MS DOS 3.0 in 1984 and have upgraded to and used every version of MS DOS and Windows since then.  My computers normally run 24/7 and I have not had a OS Systems crash since the release of Windows XP.  

Over the years I've heard a lot of negatives about the different versions of Windows. From my experience, I have found that most of them have been false.  Maybe it is because I have never tried to run an OS on a computer that wasn't way above the required specs.  Maybe it is that I research how to do something before I complain that the OS can't do it.  

I have been running Win 8 Pro 64 on 2 computers, since it's release date. Ive been able to do everything that I want to do with it. Win 8 loads faster and it allows me to use all 32gb of ram as ram which Win 7 64 would not do. I can boot up to desktop and open as many windows as I want. My wife missed the start button, so I spent $5 at Stardock and purchased Start 8, which works better than Win 7 start.  If you want to run the Modern Apps in separate windows, Stardock sells Modern Mix for $5. 

Win 8 has not failed.  Users have failed to keep up with proper hardware and/or have become too lazy to learn how to use the software (good thing you didn't have to learn MS-Dos. If I would have listened to all these Doom-sayers, I would have missed out on some great OS's.     

I'd never trash 7, it was great.  Maybe Vista deserved the hate, maybe it didn't.  I liked it.  It had a rough start though.  XP though?  The amount of features it's missing now and the amount of work since into using more than one core, networking, app/driver/OS stability and new features like D2D/D3D11...long past time to ditch XP.

Maybe 8.1 will right at least some wrongs.

Exactly right, Win 8 is a great OS and betters Win 7 in both speed and stability.  Trouble is, it suffered the same fate as Vista, with media and various 'experts' shooting it down in flames during the beta versions, and from there Win 8 had an uphill battle to gain ground with a public that had taken the so-called experts words as gospel, many of them without even trying it.

As for being too lazy to learn new software/new ways of doing things, a lot of the time it comes down to: "I've been doing it this way for x amount of years now and I'm not about to change for anyone."  Sometimes it comes down to a fear of change, but more often than not it comes down to arrogance: "What I got ain't broke, so don't bother trying to fix it for me."

I will admit there are aspects of Win 8 I'm not fussed about, the stripping of Aero, for example, but on the whole it is a solid OS and I've learned to live with those small inconveniences... they do not prevent me from doing anything important, so obviously they're not deal breakers.  In fact, I've heard numerous complaints about what Win 8 can't do.... bla, bla, bla, but there isn't anything I could do in Win 7 that I can't do in Win 8.

Okay, So I can't apply WindowBlinds as yet, but I recall there being waiting periods for Vista and Win 7 compatibility. I can still perform all the tasks I could in Win 7 so it's not like the end of the world and I can wait.

Haha makes you wonder where that knowledge from those experts came from...

I followed the win8 release from day one, I’m always exited when a new generation of OS knocks on the door.
Therefore I also watched a dozen of those expert (hater) videos on the Ytube aswell.
A good example would be: A guy from youtube with a high pitch voice and nerdy glasses "that is great with computers" showing of hardware and overclocking (explaining why the CPU cooler is way better than the one that is currently holding top rank- and then getting a BSOD when showing of the so called better one on the same settings. Makes sense to me that a guy like this is not capable of understanding how to navigate through the NEW START
He was one of those who made Win8 look bad, many like him took family members and sat them in front of a windows8 beta system and did not explain a word to them about it.
Of course they were unable to use it.
I understand that he wanted to show, that without any tutorial or explanation/Help many will not be able to use it... But on the other side they shouldn´t  have used people that barely use a computer.
Why because these poor guys have a system setup with shortcuts for their own needs and don’t even know how to install a program or register themselves on a page in the WWW ( ok that might be a little over the top ) 
So its a combination of both that contributed to this crooked tag of EPIC FAIL
And i don’t blame only these Tubers for it i also blame MS for it. Simply because they did NOT took the time to make a tutorial for the second beta -for a OS that had dramatic changes.
Even while it was announced by several folks as flaw that a tutorial is missing.

I also watched a video of a guy ( superadmin ) using win8 the first time ( the Dude was on START trying to find the desktop... needless to say it was a 5 minute video )
My first thoughts were: how did he get a job like that.

Like i said before bad propaganda + the missing tutorials in betas from MS made it such a claimed disaster in the first place.
I’m sure if there had been a tutorial during installation explaining the very basics + a advanced tutorial that you could click after the installation was finished things would be different now and more folks would use it.

All i can say is I’m very glad that i bought it right away, it was one of the cheapest solid Windows releases i have ever bought- saved money received the WMC for free and Hyper-V + its running flawless and i love it. Even a bit more than windows7 simply because i like the new start menu and it fits my personal needs a bit better than Windows7 and i think it has a fresh new way of doing things.

It's really good there's some people who actually like 8 .

It'd be quite sad if all that hype and effort was for nowt.  Poor little MS....diddums.

Thankfully it wasn't a total loss....

...oh, and Stardock likes 8 quite a bit too...

I'm going to preface this with a note that I really don't like Windows 8.

And while my own personal experience has been poor with Windows 8 (basically fighting through the new UI to get things going how I or those I'm helping want it), I have to say that article and the claim is pushing things a little.

I mean, the very article itself mentions a pile of other legit reasons why the numbers are down:

"Increased demand for mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets have also played a role in this decline"

"PC demand for business users has declined as well. According to Chou, companies now buy computers every four or five years as opposed to every three years."

Those sound like some serious detriments to PC purchasing right there... it's hard to turn around from that and say "But yeah, Windows 8 totally slowed the market."

"Not buying PCs this year" and "Buying new non-PC technology" are some pretty serious sounding contributors to me that would deserve more focus than the LOL M$ sucks! vibe I read in that article. And I'm normally keen for M$ finger pointing...

Actually I believe Windows 8 has failed. People are telling Microsoft that with there wallets  Has nothing to do with being lazy. Has to do with the fact that MS took away key parts of Windows and replaced them with an annoying Metro UI. 

Win 8 seems to be a total bust with the exception of Starkers and a couple of other people who find it appealing.

As Kaisoku posted just above you, there are plenty of more legitimate reasons for the decline in PC purchasing than suggesting Windows 8 is the reason.

That article is filled with more bias than the views of the users on this forum, of course nothing else is to be expected from a source such as FOX NEWS (aka 'the comedy network' as we Canadians refer to it!  hehe).

You and others who dislike Windows 8 because of the UI are obviously entitled to your opinion and can choose to not like/use it all you want, as long as the detractors of Windows 8 also understand that the advancements of the new OS under the hood (and no I won't link articles to those advancements since I've already done so in 3 different threads with no real responses) do make it a worthwhile upgrade for others.

I don't buy a new OS because of the look/feel of it.  I buy a new OS because it genuinely has 'advanced' in x, y or z area.  The UI of an OS is really the least important thing to me (and I suspect there are others out there like me).   Since the first Windows versions on through 3.11, 95, 98SE, XP Pro, Vista Business, Win7 Pro and now 8 I have never customized even one aspect of the UI of the newer OS.  I have been a command-prompt guy since before Windows and remain so.  For tasks I happen to perform within the UI I have simply adjusted my way of doing so from OS to OS.

But feel free to carry on........Windows 8 has failed......M$ sucks ass.......down with windows......down I say.....    Hey I know.....we should all move over to Linux, where the UI is the most user-friendly, most visually appealing and so intuitive.  Hell....maybe if we all started running Linux, PC sales would rebound gloriously and we could all laugh at M$ even more!  

The command prompt is usually half of the screen so even changing the wallpaper seemed pointless.  Also in windows versions pre Win8 I found myself using the desktop as little more than a dumping ground for misc files.   So I really like an OS that allows for performing UI tasks without the desktop (ie. running the apps like mail etc.)......not tempted as much to just dump crap there (on the desktop).....hehe

EDIT:

The complete truth is, I just can't be bothered to change the UI in any OS.  I can't explain it other than I have never felt the need/desire to 'make a system my own'.   I have various systems I use on a day-to-day basis and I just use them for what I need them for.  I guess I just don't make a personal connection with my computer system.  To me it is just a tool running another tool (the OS) with which to get certain tasks done.  I don't really know how else to explain why I never even bothered to change that cloudy sky and field default wallpaper (bliss I think?) for XP to something else for the years when I was using XP.