In Windows 7, I use a HTA script as an active desktop (see snapshot).
Not shown are a couple of menus that are activated with a mouseover.

I built this to replace the active desktop I had on my Windows 2000
machine and which no longer worked with Windows 7 because the active
desktop option was removed. So my question is, will my HTA script work
in Windows 8, or is Microsoft going to take that away, too?

snapshot: http://crash.thedatalist.com/temp/desktop.jpg
--
Crash

"Bureaucracy is a giant mechanism operated by pygmies."
~ Honore de Balzac ~

   I tried some things on the Win8 RC and everything
seemed to be the same as Win7. It's my understanding
that MS is maintaining compatibility as much as possible.

  I tried my own software. I think I also tried HTAs. I
don't remember for sure, but I don't see how MS could
break HTAs. They're really the only functionality left for
simple scripted GUIs, and they were originally aimed at
corporate IT people who want such things on their
intranets.

  Of course, that all applies only to the actual Win8 Desktop.
Nothing will work in the Tile UI that's been glued onto the
normal Desktop UI. That window represents a limited, sandboxed
API wrapper that seems to be something like a browser kiosk
window. It may be that some tweaks will eventually be found
for that, but it seems unlikely. MS is trying to move toward a
non-customizable services UI. The only fixes I know of at
this point are "unapproved" 3rd-party utilities that will provide
a replica Start Menu and/or block the Tile UI from taking over
at boot.

   A more intriguing question to me: What could it possibly
be that's inclining you to install Win8 in the first place?  :)

PS - I think the Beta is good until January, so you could probably
still try that out if you want to. But be careful if you do. Later
versions of Windows can't be trusted to install only to a single
partition while leaving other partitons and the master boot record
alone. Also, Beta 1 is more flexible than Beta 2. (They have wacky
names that I don't remember now; something like Release Candidate
and Consumer Preview, I think.) I got the former to install on an
HP with 500 MB RAM, while the latter insisted on not only more
RAM but also a multi-core CPU! So I never actually tried the 2nd
beta.

At this stage and at this price, I will just buy it if I decide to try it.

--
Crash

"It is not necessary to change. Survival is not mandatory."
~ W. Edwards Deming ~