Always love a Mad reference, lol.  And Xbox 8 sounds bad when its just the 3rd one.  Hell, I don't really like MS, but they can use my "NeXbox."  Won't even charge them.  Well, maybe a little.

@ OP

Have to really see the whole thing to make a judgement, not that a splashscreen makes a bit of difference.  But, it could be decent looking in the end.

Xbox 8 sounds a bit weird :/

I've used it more than most people, I am a former defender of Window's Vista, and Window's 8 is the worst OS Microsoft has released since Windows ME ...

It is a bad system based on a broken concept, that the user interface of an operating system should be consistent regardless of the platform it is operating on. What works on the desktop, server, mobile device, and game console is very different and trying to make one UI to suit all of these needs results in one awful UI that meets none of these needs.

At work we have a few test/trial systems of Windows 8 to evaluate it and to test our products against it, it doesn't matter whether someone is in QA, Development, Project Management or Sales everyone thinks it is an awful system. As a mobile OS it is far less useable than ios or Android, and the best comparison to it is the slow, buggy and unstable version of QNX that RIM used with the Playbook; as a desktop OS it feels like Microsoft consistently made design decisions that undermined the desktop environment in the hopes of improving the mobile UI.

As I have said before, it feels like they got the Metro UI working and then stopped.

That being said, I still think it's a workable OS.  The first problem they need to solve is making the Start menu available as an option.  They've always offered a classic view, since Windows 95.  The next problem they need to solve is a single task switching/manager function (Service Pack).  Next, drop the desktop (Win9?).  If applications require a "Desktop" environment to run, run them in a desktop emulator within the Metro UI.  Next, use views on the Start screen, similar to the Xbox 360. 

I think that would help people bridge between old and new Windows.

The challenge "New" windows will have going forward is making mouse and keyboard friendly applications touch friendly.  For those who hate them, I apologize, but I think Microsoft has a winner in the ribbon bar and honestly I hated them the first time I used them.  I wrote a VERY terse response to Microsoft when it asked my opinion.  I think ribbon bars could actually facilitate touch scenarios.  Furthermore, detect between touch and mouse scenarios and automatically present the UI based on whatever the user is using. 

There has to be a way to allow the installation of a Metro application without downloading it via the Windows App store.  If Microsoft honestly wants Metro apps to take off both as a development effort or use, then it needs to address this gorge as well.  Developers won't have any interest in using "Metro" features unless they have a desire to get on tablets.  If I'm a corporation, and I build applications for my internal use, and I want to take advantage of Metro, I don't want to be putting my apps up for everyone in the world to see. 

But I still think as it currently is, it's a usable OS.  And while I agree with your Vista opinion, I don't necessarily agree with your Windows 8 one. 

Windows ME was flat out broken, where I'm not even sure.  It was the first OS where were (beta testers) were told to specifically install in clean install scenarios.  However, consumers were able to install it via upgrade.  That ultimately was were many of the problems lay.  That, and in time, the OS performance would degrade.

Windows XP Home/Professional is what some of the beta testers at the time assumed Windows ME would be, but it became clear after a while that it would be stuck somewhere between Windows 9x and NT.  Fully 100% incompatible with everything. :D