However, I'd point out that Windows 8 gives you a choice the first time you open a picture or video of switching to the traditional desktop viewers.

WSJ: Mossberg's Mailbox: A New View on Windows

Projects like Arbreole, intelligent lights that react to your movements powered by an Android phone, OpenVibe, a brain to computer interface allowing you to control a video game, Evolving Cities, an open digital platform designed to help create resilient neighborhoods, and SAMI, an innovative multi-function, mobile semi-humanoid robot created by the CRIIF, all received funding from Cap Digital but were also chosen for their potential to be commercialized.

FORBES: France Showcases Digital Future At Futur-en-Seine

And, even if you haven't opted to do so, you can always right-click on a picture or video, choose "Open with" and use the traditional viewers.

WSJ: Mossberg's Mailbox: A New View on Windows

The same goes for getting video out and onto portable devices -- you're being totally shown up by open-source projects like iTiVo and pyTiVo.

ENGADGET: Ten years of TiVo: how far we haven't come

When you have a mainstream PC manufacturer and the leading digital distribution platform for video games both championing Linux, open-source proponents are bound to start cheering.

FORBES: Dell Slashes Alienware X51 PC By $100, Adds Ubuntu Linux Option