Having tried Win 7 and Win 8 I have a dual boot XP with Win 8 with Start Menu and XP mode. The choice is yours but Win 8 takes some beating.

Microsoft provide a virtual machine running XP called 'XP Mode' - I use it for unsupported software on my Win 7 64 bit system. Free and no need to worry about transferring your old XP license.

I dreaded losing XP, but new computer had W7 Pro. I installed the virtual machine XP Mode - that was 2 years ago, and I've never had the need to use it.
It will of course depend on what programmes are needed.

In reply to a post by Pipexer:

Is this for a new PC?

Go with Windows 8 and save yourself the bother.

Quite the opposite. Most of us skipped Vista, Gone with W7, 64bit if you can.

Don't bother with W8, wait for Micro$oft to get it right next time.
Martin

In reply to a post by TrishaH:

I dreaded losing XP, but new computer had W7 Pro. I installed the virtual machine XP Mode - that was 2 years ago, and I've never had the need to use it.
It will of course depend on what programmes are needed.

I use it to scan docs from my old HP multifunction as HP haven't released the full suite for Win7 64bit, only the drivers.

In reply to a post by johnjburness:

Purely my own personal perception (I'm certainly no expert):-

Home or Pro?
I personally cannot see the benefit of Pro in a Home situation - unless you have extensive Servers at Home.

There is a physical memory limit on Windows 7 64-bit Home premium of 16 Gigabytes.

It sounds a lot but now most new motherboards have limits of 32 Gigabytes or more for physical ram., Also we are seeing the next generation of graphics cards coming with 6 Gigabytes of memory on board.

It might be in the OP's best interest now if he is intending to stick with his new computer for a while to go for Pro as Home Premium will be looking a bit restrictive soon.

Windows 8 is far superior to Windows 7. Rather than talking a load of [censored], perhaps come up with a reason other than "I don't like the start screen" as to why you think Windows 8 isn't "right".

I'm starting to have the opinion now that anyone who says that Windows 8 is rubbish clearly doesn't know much about computers.

Having used both Win 7 ands XP i personally prefare XP if you are a gamer and have a lot of older games that are DX9 stay with xp, unless you also have a pci sound card ,and one that provides DX9 support in win 7 , as win 7 is DX10-11
Although your games will probably run, the in game sounds will be lacking/broken in various ways, Oh and i have tried the Realtek sound back sware, still the same problem,
But in win 7 once you disable all the nonsence that prevents the owner from having full control over the os, it's ok, It manages memory better than xp does, And it looks nicer, but if they had included DX9 support or created an xp mode so you could of played older games without any issues , but this is microc**p we are talking about after all, As for the support for xp is ending , is it the end of the world? no, As for third party vendors ceasing to support xp too, maybe some will, but not all of them

In reply to a post by Pipexer:

I'm starting to have the opinion now that anyone who says that Windows 8 is rubbish clearly doesn't know much about computers.

TBH I haven't tried it, but you tend to be a lone voice in the 'for Win 8' camp, at least on here. Rather than go all negative about others, make the case for Win 8, and see if people refute the points.

Also...are you using Win 8 on a desktop?

Windows 7 - 64 bit. You really don't want to be using XP as the main O/S on a new system. It is already obsolete, nearly unsupported and will become increasingly dated and vulnerable over your system's lifetime particularly if you intend it to last 10 years. If you have some really old apps that just won't run under Windows 7 your options are to buy the Pro version which comes with 'XP mode' or use Virtualbox (free) with your unopened copy of XP Home.