On the HTPC:
Metro looks a lot nicer on 42" of TV than the Windows 7 Desktop does. Hands down, I'm very pleased with it. Navigation works well with remote+keyboard. My only desire is for more apps that have full remote control versus mouse driven apps. I think that will come with time.
On the Server:
I have a dozen drives built in Storage Spaces using the following drives: 3TB, 2TB, 2TB, 1.5TB, and 1TB. Most drives are non-redundant (movies, TV shows, etc) while some are smaller and mirrored (music, documents, backups etc). The system is reliable and error free, and I know I can move the physical drives to a new PC or a new copy of windows 8 and they will keep their content.
If you actually read through the thread in question, you'll find that it was accurately addressed. The guy tried to make a 3-way mirror with a 2TB drive, a 1TB drive, and a 320GB drive, and was surprised to find that he had only 320GB available to him.shunx wrote:Some users have complained about potential problems with the new Storage Spaces feature:
http://social.technet.microsoft.com/For ... f99a40eea/
In addition, boot up is very fast, the interface is snappy, file copies are drastically improved and the task manager is improved. I've removed non-useful icons from the start page, and replaced them with stuff a server will use - computer management, shortcuts to folders, uTorrent links, etc. Also, I fully expect that excellent server apps will come to Metro soon, which will make server management even easier in the future.
On the PC
Its not that much of a change to press the Windows key and see a whole page instead of a menu. You can still type to search, and the results are immediate and presented as icons - easy to see and pick. You can navigate with mouse, or arrows. You can switch from searching apps to searching settings by pressing win+W. You can disable charms and use keyboard shortcuts instead. Look at this: http://blogs.technet.com/b/kennymaita/a ... tcuts.aspx
Oh, and a tip: You can put a desktop link on the start page. You can also put a shutdown link, reboot, sleep, whatever - see http://www.howtogeek.com/74331/how-to-c ... wn-perhaps. Personally, I never shut my PC down.
In my mind, an app store is a requirement for a modern OS. Windows 8 having a store is not 'ripping off Apple', it's simply the correct thing to do. I'm fully confident that there will be many apps available, as developers can produce one app for 3 platforms:PC, phone, and tablet.
Give it some time and try it for more than 30 minutes. How long did you have to play with Ubuntu before you were comfortable with it? Or OSX? Or Windows 7? Or Windows 3.1?