> Just how many programs might work well with something like
> DosBox or the like

It's called Wine (http://www.winehq.org). Unless you're running something that needs kernel-level access, or direct connection to a USB device, it will probably do anything you need. And the USB support is being worked on.

It seems that companies that don't want to move to Win8 (or even Win7 if they happen to have licenses kicking around for it) should consider supporting the Wine and/or ReactOS projects, rather than continuously submitting to the dictates of MS.