Right, now I can actually post again, my moaning colonial friend, I'd like to direct you to this.
I have purchased Windows 8 for the princely sum of £14.99 or $87.35 in your foreign coin and it'll be going on my new pc build in the near future. This is following some time with it in a test lab at work. I can agree with the fact that it's an, at times, nasty mix of touchscreen holdovers but generally I like it and the way Metro works.