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Win 8.1 is better than XP in nearly every aspect. The only real negative after you install something like Classic Shell is that it does take more space on your HDD. The difference (which by the way is less than that for Win 7) is worth it in my honest opinion. This is coming from somebody who absolutely loved XP.
Well I can't speak for win8.1 having never used it, but I have win7 on my netbook and for me I have to question who actually own that win7 system me or Microsoft. There are absolutely lots of things that I can do on XP Pro that I'm constantly hassled in relation to permissions/ownership, hence my comment 'who the hell owns the system.'
Whilst win8.1 may be better than 8.0, I won't be buying it, I would be more likely to get win7 Pro on my next system upgrade. But with so many users keeping away from win8 and MS talking about win8.2 and some thoughts that win8.2 won't happen and go straight to win9.
Who knows my next OS change could be win9, but that still leaves me probably having to change a lot of software at the same time, so any System/OS upgrade isn't something to take lightly.
I'm in no rush.