I HATE Windows 8. This is the worst OS ever invented.

Welcome to the club Richard.  I couldn't agree with you more.  Windows 8 is a complete abomination. 

The sad thing is that from what I have been able to see, Windows 9 will be nothing much more that Windows 8 + Start Menu.

Same square tiles, same flat, dull blank look and feel (based on a nearly 100 year old, Bauhaus design), Windows Store will still be mandatory, the Metro environment will still be there.

Other than fast start up times (which even by itself, is a big reason), just how is Windows 9 going to be more desirable to use than Windows 7 ?  It will be easy for it to be better than Windows 8.

Would Microsoft really offer different themes?, not just different sets of colours, but full different themes for those of us who do not appreciate flat and boring 2D worlds which remind us of when first started our computing experience some thirty years ago. Hey, we want to move on from then, not go backward to revisit it.

Welcome to the club Richard.  I couldn't agree with you more.  Windows 8 is a complete abomination.

How in the **** does anybody operate in this environment. I now have 20 windows open and can't figure out how to close a damn thing. I know the weather in Paris and couldn't give a ****. This SUCKS!!! This is an improvement? Can I get Windows XP or 7 back? This SUCKS!!! I can't get around. I can't close a window. I can't update any of these stupid tiles. This SUCKS!!! Any advice from anybody else out there? Frustrated beyond belief, John

if you really want to hate your pc buy windows 8.... WORST EVER OS

HP still offers a few systems with Win 7 on their web site.

For using the Surface for Word, I have a SD card in my Surface RT and save my stuff to it. Or to Onedrive in some cases. One USB port can be limiting, but there are ways to work around it. Install a 32 or 64 GB SD card, and you'll have lots of space to store documents.

I have a Surface, not a Surface Pro.  Here are my issues with the Surface.  First, of course, is Windows 8, which automatically drains productivity in anything you do.

Second, the on/off button is both slow to operate and defective.  Sometimes it works, and sometimes it doesn't.  When it doesn't, you have to go online to find a process to get it to work.

Third, the Surface does not play well with other manufacturer's devices.  I bought a wireless HP printer to use with the Surface, and it would not work, period.  After well over an hour on the phone with HP support, we found that the Surface simply would not print to the HP wireless printer.

Fourth, the camera function often goes on all by itself.  The computer will be sitting for a few minutes, and all of a sudden, I am looking at a live image of what is in front of the surface.  Totally bizzare.

Fifth, One port. I have a keyboard for the surface and like to use a wireless mouse, so I plug the wireless transmitter into the only port which the Surface has.

The reason I got a Surface rather than an I-Pad, was that I could load Word onto the Surface.  But the Surface has limited memory, so when I create documents I want to save them onto a flash drive.  The problem is, I have to unplug the mouse to install the flash drive, because there is only one port.

All in all, the Surface is a low quality, poorly designed device, operating on the worst operating system ever brought to market.

Just bought an HP envy laptop to replace it, but it also has that garbage OS Windows 8.  I actually need three more laptops, but I refuse to buy any more products which have 8 as their OS.

Once I get my free time, I remain determined to switch over to Linux, and be free of the Microsoft