My job at Microsoft, in this space, is primarily two things:1. Help developers write for Windows, and help them accelerate their development.2. Make sure the pro audio and creative music experience on Windows 10 is top notch. (By getting your feedback into the team, and by helping them shape features and updates.)Especially on the audio side, we're working more closely than ever to make sure that's true. As always, there will be some lag between OS release and driver updates, but we're working to minimize that whenever we can.Also, we've fixed some audio-related bugs, tightened up MIDI timing, and fixed a few bugs there as well. None of that is in the public preview right now, though. We're also looking at other things we can do to make the Windows 10 experience better for musicians. Even things that might not make it into 10 itself are being closely tracked on our backlogs. In fact, I have a meeting in an hour to help prioritize those.We've even gotten some very good timing data and other feedback from some folks here. You might be surprised how much GS feedback has made it into justifications internally.Along those lines, if anyone talks to a pro-audio vendor/manufacturer that makes stuff for Windows (apps, drivers, etc.) or who wants to build on our platform, and they aren't yet in touch with us, feel free to give them my email address:. I'll also be at NAMM reaching out to a lot of the ones I haven't been able to get to via phone/email.As to the question about whether or not to go with 7 now or 8.1, I've found 8.1 to be great for my DAW use. On my desktop, I boot directly to the desktop, keep my most-used apps directly on the task bar, and synchronize all my projects (dev, music, etc.) via OneDrive. If the start menu is a deal killer, there are some good and inexpensive third-party replacements for that. But do research your applications to be sure they have Windows 8/8.1 drivers and/or work under 8 or 8.1.Pete