I don't like the sound of it, to be honest. I don't want windows to take control of everything, I don't want everything to be integrated together under Microsoft's umbrella, which is one of the reasons I don't use the horrible GFWL or the LIVE services at all, except for the rare occasions I have to access my Microsoft certifications page. It just sounds like an extra layer of annoyance.
Definitely sounds like a skip year for Windows. I'm guessing Windows 8 is going to see pretty low adoption aside from tablets, so it probably won't be a big deal. What WILL be a big deal, though, is if Steam can get gaming started on Linux.