Hmmmm. So a few things:
1. 40 mins for me from the beginning of the download until now, final boot to the desktop.
2. Rig restarted around 5 or 6 times, LITERALLY got the message "Doing some more things" during the install
3.
Find your password for your Outlook account that you set up Win 8 with...that is, if when you first installed Win 8 and did the 'create email to retrieve my favorite goat porn photos from Microsoft Cloud Storage" thing. You cannot continue until you complete this option, and for me, it texted a code to my phone to continue. The only time I used this username/password for Win 8 was during the install on release day...took me about 10 tries.
4. Start button....get it out of your head that it is the same as the 'old' start button. Left click takes you to the Metro screen, but right click gives you more options than before, such as the ability to shut down/sign out, power options, etc. If you've had Win 8 for a bit, you already know Win key + X is your best friend, so this should be familiar. Right click (or Win key + X) now gives you the most common selections from the control panel, very handy.
5. Boot to desktop with 8.1
http://www.pcworld.com/article/2043243/how-to-boot-to-desktop-mode-in-windows-8-1.html
6. Bypass login (same as 8, just in case you didn't know from before)
http://news.cnet.com/8301-10805_3-57457967-75/how-to-bypass-the-windows-8-log-in-screen/
7. Some light reading
http://www.techradar.com/us/news/so...ate-to-build-on-and-improve-windows-8-1131737
8. Native 3d printing support! For all of us that have 3d printers, obviously...? lol
9. More start screen and start button options
http://blogs.technet.com/b/askpfepl...-start-button-options-and-configurations.aspx