Oh, yes! More consistency in Aero, in the new post-CP builds. This was bothering me the most with Windows 8, some places still have / had their Vista look.

http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&ie=UTF8&prev=_t&rurl=translate.google.com&sl=auto&tl=en&twu=1&u=http://win8china.com/html/655.html

Bottom image is from CP. Top image is what will most likely look like in RC. Most of the gradient colors and rounded corners are replaced by sold colors and flatter buttons / corners.

I doubt that's going to happen as the whole new design philosophy revolves around the flat look and straight corners (just look at the new Windows logo).

Windows Media Player will not come with the codecs required to play physical DVDs, and Media Center will not be preinstalled on any version.

Those that would require the codecs to play DVDs or want to use Media Center will have to buy the pack through the Add Windows 8 Features tool.

As a result, it is expected the base price for the OS to go down even further.

Also, Release Preview is set to be released in June.

That's... that's...

That's so stupid it HURTS

Why? It is great, for me at least! I haven't used a physical disc in a year or two now, especially for movies.

Let's say 7 was $100, fully packed. 8 would be $80, and if you really want to, you could get the required stuff for $20 more.

EDIT: Of course, best of both worlds would be to keep that functionality and lower the prices, but they've gone away with quite a few royalty-locked stuff lately in many of their products. Similarly to why the OS doesn't support BluRay, it would increase the price, and not everybody wants to pay for that functionality when they won't use it at all.

This! And I hope win 7 will be a downgrade option for a long time :D

I say Windows 8 will be a flop in the desktop world like M.E.

Depends how much they make from all that DLC in the app store.

buy all the copies of win 7 you can get your hands on, as soon as win8 appears they will be worth their weight in gold ;)

I thought the whole selling point of Windows 8 was to be easier for the average user. Having to buy separate content packs in order to get ordinary stuff to work doesn't seem to help that cause.

I see this thread is still going courtesy of kavazovangel the resident Win 8 fanboi :P.

Metrics say that the average user doesn't watch DVD movies on his computer.

I'm a bit on a fence on this. If it is something not-so-widely-used functionality for which MS has to pay license fees elsewhere, I'm probably fine that it is excluded from the base package in order to lower the price. I'm unsure if watching DVD and Blueray movies fall to this, I personally am not going to watch Blueray movies on my new PC, in fact it will not even have a BR drive, but a DVD-RW drive.

But if it is something that MS does itself, or is widely useful and used, or seems like an artificial restriction just to push the sales of more expensive editions of Windows (like restricting the number of incoming connections unless you buy a Server Edition), then I'm not fine with it.

For example, I would have very much preferred that the "Windows XP mode" would have been offered to all Win7 editions, unless there is really some technical reason it can't be provided to Windows 7 Home users. As it is, I presume the restriction is there just to push the sales of more expensive editions.

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/virtual-pc/download.aspx

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows/shop/windows-anytime-upgrade

Like with all Windows version, they won't be worth switching to until at least the first service pack