XP is becoming a security risk so I replaced my FIL's XP with Linux Mint w/Cinnamon. I couldn't get it to work with my printer but he never prints anything so it doesn't matter. Mint runs nice on his old comp.
Jeff, didnt you star in Away All Boats?
Kidding aside, I have to resolve the upcoming xp dilemma as well, two pcs with xp home. I have looked @ several Linux distros and am experimenting with Mint Xfce running persistence on a flash drive. Works good overall, except for special programming reqd on terminal. Cannot. get it to support one of my printers, no tax return software,slowww boot (flash?).
Will stay with xp on wife‘s pc, using sandboxie, returnil, vm sofrware. I believe MS security chicken little is overstated. If I encounter a crash & burn, I will get a refurbished Win 7. Win 8 is OUT! Btw, my android tablet works just fine, you know that Appleasshats don‘t want us glbal warming deniers investing in or with them. Sandraflukem.
I don’t know about Win8, but on Win8.1 you can choose to boot-up to the “Tile” start page or the classic Desktop.