I picked it up yesterday and spent the better part of last night exploring Win 8 and seeing how I like it.

Other than the whole "let's tie your Windows OS to your MS Live account" I'm a fan. It's a lot better than I expected.

Think I'm staying with it, so far I've only found one game that did not work with it, and that was Sacred 2. Other than that, for gaming, it seems fine.
~Cym

1) Connecting Galaxy S3 caused Windows to deactivate itself. Trying to activate it again resulted in a failure until I disconnected the phone.

2) USB 3.0 worked with 2.0 speed until I physically disconnected and reconnected the device (external HDD)

That's it so far.

I am downloading windows 8 now. (crosses fingers)

Is there a way to disable the windows key only when in a full screen application? I've gotten the impression that you pretty much need to use the windows key to comfortably navigate the metro UI, but I've disabled my windows key since I always accidentally press it during games.

Nah, I'm just gonna progressively migrate to Linux.

Get a keyboard with a switch to enable/disable the Windows button, like the Logitech gaming keyboards?

I'm on a laptop so I'd prefer to use my laptop keyboard.

Oh, somehow I always forget those are becoming more and more common even as primary computers.

Get an IBM Thinkpad then (no, not a Lenovo, they added the Windows key when they took over the brand).

In my case it's necessary since I don't have the space required for a desktop. Anyway thanks for the suggestions, but I'm looking more for a solution on the software side of things.
Turning the button on/off is just a matter of deleting/adding a registry entry, so I guess it's possible to create a script that does that when I start and close a program. I'm just not sure of the specifics. I could probably find a guide on scripts somewhere.

Yeah, it was more of a joke.

AutoHotkey is a fairly simple scripting language with the ability to build self-contained applications, using the RegRead and RegWrite functions, you can create an application that just toggles the relevant key on launch and then quits.

only issue so far is I had to set printer sharing on for both my Live id and my local id... small gripe though

I guess, you've mixed together two different things - developer license and sideloading product key. Developer license is free and it works on both 8 and Pro, but it works only for 30 days, you need to renew it all the time. Sideloading key works only on Pro and costs $3000 for 100 keys bundle. See http://www.zdnet.com/the-enterprise-sideloading-story-on-windows-8-its-complicated-7000006742/

With 64 days on my current dev key it doesn't seem to need updating...

Wow, for some reason I don't see my employer jumping to Win8 anytime soon, if ever. After all, they are still in the process of getting rid of the last of the last WinXP machines here (mostly some god-old laptops that couldn't run Win7 or newer anyway). It takes time to migrate all IT to a new OS.

I recall there was a Windows Vista pilot here a long time ago (long before Win7 came out) where some people could attend (ie. they'd install Vista on your work PC), but in the end my employer decided to skip it altogether and wait for Win7. Maybe the same now happens with Win8.

I wonder what Win9 will be like? :)

So i upgraded my win7 to win8 yesterday, and so far I am really happy...its basically win7 with some upgrades and a new coat of paint. I think its lame though that my xboxlive arcade games that are the same as windows store games they want me to buy again.( I am looking at you Pinballfx2) so I defiantly am not going near Microsoft's music, games and videos services unless they have 99 cent blow out or something. I do like the start page and I having feeds and so forth so I do hope they expand with that but knowing Microsoft's track record on abandoning support for anything not profitable (gadgets and stuff, old microsoft music,zune ect....ect) i don't know.