Has it been confirmed that win8 will be based on NT core? If not, then they will just restart the build numbers
considering XPM was designed to allow windows 8 to have less of the BC crap that Vista/Win7 has, i would assume so.
I think Windows 8 will probably be the last traditional OS if computing stays in its current state. A lot of people are speculating that within the next 4-5 years the PC as we know it will no longer exist. What needs to be done is to get MS, Apple, and the top LinuxDistro authors together to make an OS for everyone. IMO that is the best way to advance computing. Not these petty pissing matches of my OS is better than yours, or OS XYZ is faster than OS ZYX, if everyone worked together I am sure we could get an OS everyone likes that just works.