Windows 8 can't boot to desktop, in-app purchases on Windows Phone 8 only

We're now less than three months away from Microsoft releasing Windows 8, and details continue to surface on exactly what kind of experience they can expect from the radical upgrade.

Now that Windows 8 has been released to manufacturing, the final build of the operating system is turning up a few "gotchas" for end users.

One of the biggest surprises for legacy users will be the inability to boot Windows 8 directly into the safe, familiar desktop environment - the shortcut used in test builds will no longer work.

This means users have less than 90 days to get used to the tiled experience of the new Start screen.

Mobile developer woes

It's not only desktop users feeling the blues this week, with Windows Phone 8 developers also getting equal parts good and bad news.

On the plus side, mobile developers now have a shiny new Windows Phone Dev Center to call their own, with Microsoft ditching the creaky old App Hub.

While the switch-up adds four times the number of countries and adds PayPal as a Microsoft-approved method for getting paid, the change does come with one small dose of reality.

Developers looking to cash in on in-app purchases will start from scratch with Windows Phone 8, with Redmond confirming the older Windows Phone 7 (including the upcoming 7.8 compatibility update) will be denied this lucrative feature.

So much for cashing in on freemium games with the existing base of Windows Phone users.