Windows 8 has been out for 2 weeks now, and for many people the jury is still out. I think the sticking point for most people is whether they can accept the Metro interface on a desktop PC (okay, they call it “Modern UI” now, but we’re still going to refer to it as Metro, since that’s what everyone who doesn’t work for Microsoft calls it).

This article is not going to address the UI itself; plenty of bloggers have done so already. But I will say this – it really doesn’t matter whether you like it or not. I have been using Windows 8 since it launched, and to me, it is simply two interfaces tacked together. Or more accurately, Metro is tacked on top of the desktop UI. If you prefer, you can use Windows 8 practically without ever looking at the Start Screen or any of the Metro apps. Miss the Start button? Install Classic Shell, a 600K app that will give you an even more useful Start button than before. It even runs Metro apps, if you want to use them (I actually like the new Music app and Smart DJ has helped me discover some great bands based on my current collection) and apps downloaded from “Store”.

Aside from the interface that can be ignored, there are plenty of new features added to Windows 8. But again, that’s not the goal of this article. All we care about today is performance. Performance in desktop applications, and performance in gaming.