Tried installing VMware Tools for 98?
Can you please share any official or unofficial info on Windows 8 related testing?

No VM solution offer 3D acceleration for DOS/Win9x/WinMe, at most they offer some integraition with the host (clipboard sharing, shared folder, drag-and-drop), but even that is fading as they stop supplying or updating the tools. I'm not sure they do HW acc'd 3D for Win2k either, maybe only XP and up.

Glad to hear it. I thought that was a bit of an extreme requirement given how new it is (at least in terms of available commercial sector motherboards that actually use it)

why spend $100 - $200 dollars for something that only offers a marginal performance boost?

DirectX 10 was a negligible increase over 9, and 11 is just extra post processing options that not all games even use.

it would be nice to be able to increase the ram capacity in my machine, and AMD has pretty much dropped support for XP based machines so it would be nice to get drivers that actually work ... but the extra cost isn't worth it when my HD4850 crossfire rig can already rip most games apart and wouldn't even see the benefit of DirectX 11.

besides, I fucking hate the new UI and how I have to fight through multiple layers of "accessibility elements" to get at my files .... it is kinda funny whenever I have to talk to tech support and their first scripted response is "have you tried running in as Administrator?"

always a great sign when you have to bypass your systems security as a basic step to operating your software.

Actually I find UAC pretty clever, if you don't need it, you're able to turn it off and get rid of issues with it, and if you can't turn it off, well you probably DO need it :D

I've tried to install Windows 7 twice. Both times it crashed a lot due to outdated drivers and outdated hardware. Plus, I didn't really care for it anyway. The font looks like crap and I have to hack in a third party theme that changes the font to even make it usable at all.

Maybe give the Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor a try, might list the problems prior to an install. . . =)

I know what the problem is, it's my old video card. I thought the second time I would try different drivers and it did raise the time-to-crash from minutes to hours but that's still far from acceptable.

I haven't heard of any VM solution that offers pass-through to the GPU.

I can give you some unofficial info on this :) I have installed Windows 8 on a Netbook, and so far all DosBox Games are running fine. As the Netbook itself is shit (you can't call that a graphic card that is installed there), I was only able to try out DosBox games yet... but might try other games soon as well.

I'm quite capable of using the search function syntax, thank you - I just fucking hate the way it operates and is overly dependent on the indexing functionality.

But then, I think if your choice of response to this is going to be puerile insults then then I'll just leave it at that.

Yes, XP is old, outdated, etc. I wouldn't buy a new computer with it as the main system. Hey, as mainly a MacOSX user (Linux too...), XP support allows me to use Virtual Box, Parallels, even Wine without much hassle. I don't like the mess that came with Vista, and is still here in Seven. XP configured to looks like 2000 works well enough.

That, but the main problem with upgrading is that licenses are way overpriced. OK, OEM are cheaper, but OEM isn't legal without a new computer. How many GOGames can you buy with just the money needed for a retail version?

More, XP can't use more that 3 Gb RAM, but as it doesn't need it, having it in a virtual machine allows the main system to keep most of the resources.

Hmm, You do know that at least some gamers don't use Steam at all? Like gamers who hate any form of DRM? Or gamers on dial-up or not having their gaming computer connected to Internet.

This survey is representative only of Steam users who participates in surveys... and I'm betting a significant part are kids playing on newest Grandma's word processor PC when she doesn't use it. A lot of PCs are shared between family members - most of the times the OS is the one that came with the computer.

Most supermarket consumer PCs are not great, but good enough to play. Any PC with decent RAM and recent GPU can play most if not all newest games at max settings, so I don't think the distinction between gaming PC and work PC matters that much.

What is a gaming PC? A PC that can run WoW? A PC that can run GOG catalog and most console emulators? A PC dedicated to newest FPS only? I don't have a clue.

There are still XP users here. It declines, but they won't disappears overnight, as long their computer works good enough. Hey, all newest PC games I bought looks great on my Mac with XP...