First the bad news, the list of people who can't update.
Unlike MacOS 7.6 users of computers with a 68030 chip as the native chip in their computer can not run MacOS 8, even if you have a PowerPC upgrade. (This is Apple's official position, unofficially some cards work, check out this page for the story.) Of course all non 32 bit computers (those that have 68020 or 68000 chips) have already stopped being able to work with the latest system software after the release of MacOS 7.5.5 (making 7.5.3 the most up-to-date operating system that worked with these systems). For those people unsure of the processor in their computer Micromat develops a freeware program called Techtool which will give you a complete run down on your computer, including what CPU you have. (Techtool Pro is the commercial version of the program, scroll down the page to find the Techtool download). Also A history of Apple Computers lists most models of computers and their hardware characteristics. (Note not all computers are called the same thing all over the world, as an example the Power Mac 4400 is called the Power Mac 7220 in Australia, and this site uses U.K. names).
Now the good news. MacOS 8 has had its finder rewritten to make it more PowerPC native, therefore users of PowerPC equipped Macs should have a speed increase of about 10-15% for finder functions (coping files, formatting disks, emptying the trash and searching through your hard drive). This finder speed increase should also be noticeable in programs that rely heavily on the system. Also Apple has used the rewrite of the finder to implement some needed new features, such as finder level multi-tasking (doing more then one job at a time, i.e. format a disk and empty the trash and copy a file) and an improved file manager.
For those people that have never actually seen the need to empty their trash can at the same time as they move a file, the New MacOS has a completely new interface look (well, new if you have never used the shareware programs Arron or Kaleidoscope, in which case you'll wonder what all the fuss is about). The new interface just makes your Mac's desktop look more 3-dimensional.
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