"In a presentation at Ubuntu Developer Summit currently going on in Denmark, Drew Bliss from Valve said that Linux is more viable than Windows 8 for gaming. Windows 8 ships with its own app store and it is moving away from an open platform model. Some other points from the talk..."

"Steve Jobs piqued consumer curiosity when he unveiled the iPad and declared "the post-PC era has begun." And now with the imminent release of Windows 8 RT tablets—low-powered slates running a touch-friendly version of Office—it might seem that perhaps the world actually can live without desktop computers.

"Newell said Windows 8 is "kind of a catastrophe for everybody in the PC space". He said he fears that some top tier PC manufacturers will exit the market due to destroyed margins. Valve sees Linux as part of the solutioin and is keen on making sure it thrives.

"Microsoft said then that only Windows 7 PCs are eligible for a full upgrade to Windows 8, one that retains applications, data files, user accounts and Windows settings. Windows Vista and Windows XP machines can be upgraded to Windows 8 -- assuming the hardware meets the system requirements of the new OS -- but cannot bring along all the bits. Vista users who upgrade will retain user accounts and files, as well as Windows settings, but not already-installed applications. XP-to-Windows 8 upgrades preserve the least amount in a move: User accounts and files only."

"In Windows 8 it looks like the ChkDsk utility will get a revamp to speed it up. Microsoft also tweaked NTFS, the Windows OS file system so that the NTFS "health model" conceived the machine's hard disk as a single unit that was either well or damaged, and took the machine completely offline and made unavailable to the end user while ChkDsk ran. In Windows 8, however, the NTFS scans for problems in the background while the system remains online, and an initial attempt to fix problems on-the-fly."

"We've built two new features in Windows 8 that can help you get your PCs back to a 'good' state when they're not working their best, or back to the 'factory state' when you're about to give them to someone else or decommission them," said Desmond Lee, a Windows program manager. Hitting the Reset button will remove all personal data, apps, and settings from a PC, and will reinstall Windows from scratch. Activating the Refresh mode also reinstalls Windows, but preserves the user's personal data, most settings, and Metro-style apps.

"After months of near silence, Microsoft is starting to talk publicly about Windows 8. Earlier this week the company started a new "Building Windows 8" blog, and Windows Live Division President Steven Sinofsky provided the first concrete information about the operating system in a post on Wednesday."