Windows 8

[Teaos]

Even a flop for Microsoft is a massive win for any other company bar Apple.

The problem they have is they can only afford, one, maybe two more big flops, or even medium flops, before they finally loose their strangle hold on the market.

[Captain Picard's Hair]

Even a flop for Microsoft is a massive win for any other company bar Apple.

The problem they have is they can only afford, one, maybe two more big flops, or even medium flops, before they finally loose their strangle hold on the market.

The whole point of the endeavor is that this isn't a routine Windows update meant to maintain the status quo. Microsoft seems to have sensed a changing market since Win 7 came out with the rise of tablets and the so-called "post-PC" world. As others have said, Microsoft has no foothold in these new markets at the moment: this is their gamble at remaining relevant in the changing face of computing.

[Tyyr]

The problem they have is they can only afford, one, maybe two more big flops, or even medium flops, before they finally loose their strangle hold on the market.

To what?

Business users aren't going anywhere. They've got too much invested in Windows to jump ship on it. They'll likely do the same thing they did with Vista, just stay with their current system and wait for Microsoft to pull it's head out of its ass. The whims of business dictate to Microsoft what they're going to do. If the business world looks at a version of Windows and goes, "NOPE!" then you can be damn sure Microsoft is going to react and try to fix it for them.

Home users are heavily influenced by what they know and what they use at the office. The average user wants nothing to do with Linux and likely never will. Mac's may make up some ground but people are not unlike businesses in that they are heavily invested in Windows and aren't going to jump ship easily.

Microsoft seems to have sensed a changing market since Win 7 came out with the rise of tablets and the so-called "post-PC" world. As others have said, Microsoft has no foothold in these new markets at the moment: this is their gamble at remaining relevant in the changing face of computing.

Ugh, this "post-PC" bullshit. No one is changing in their desktops for tablets any time soon. The same way that the laptop did not rid the world of desktops, tablets will not do it either. They will find a place in the continum of computing the same as other devices are. The desktop isn't going anywhere and neither is Microsoft's share of that market. It's an attempt to have their "thing" they can crow about to differentiate themselves from others in the market for smartphones and tablets. Apple has the hipsters and people who don't like computers. Android has the people who hate Apple and/or aren't terrified of the idea of tinkering with their stuff. Microsoft is going to try and market themselves as having a completely integrated range of offerings that their tablets work like your desktop which works like your phone which is a tiny tablet.

I'm honestly not convinced that anyone cares. I know I don't. I don't really need the same OS on every device I own. My droid is pretty intuitive, Apple's even more so. There's no trouble at all keeping the OS's straight. As for sharing data across platforms I'm not really feeling it. With Amazon MP3 I've got all my music available on my phone, my tablet, and my PC. I work on documents across platforms with Google Docs. I still use sync cables for things like pictures but anything that important goes into my cloud drive so I can get it anywhere. So... yay for integrated OS's? I think they'd be better off trying to differentiate the Surface as a productivity tool first and a toy second. Really push the Surface as a laptop replacement instead of what their current commercial does which is, "Pretty colors and dubstep!" Then use that as a jumping off point instead of pissing off the home PC market and making it highly unlikely their business customers will want it either.

[Captain Picard's Hair]

I suppose I could have stated that better: Microsoft certainly isn't going belly-up overnight and the PC isn't disappearing entirely anytime soon. Some number of basic users may choose a tablet over a full PC and there may be some cannibalization in the lower end of the market. However much fear Microsoft may have of stagnation in the PC market if not rapid shrinkage they surely wanted into a booming tablet market, be these devices complimentary devices for many or not. As of the launch of Windows 8/Windows RT Microsoft was a virtual non-entity there. They really can't count on a PC market that grew as fast as it had in the past decade or two anymore to bolster Windows sales (or Office for that matter), except in still-developing nations.

[Tyyr]

Well here's the thing, first they aren't really going aggressively after the tablet market. The Surface, with the nifty keyboard they love to show, is on par with an iPad in terms of cost. Second, they much be banking on integration because how else do you explain foisting Windows 8 on the desktop market?

[Atekimogus]

Here is my two cents regarding Windows 8:

They reached their peak interface wise with XP. Everything before was crap, everything after it is crap.

I install XP and after 5 minutes ordering my stuff I can use it. I install 7 and I spend the next two hours knocking the damn interface in a shape I actually can use and Windows 8 looks - sorry - like somehing produced for a three year old.

(Yes I am a bit strange, I am one of those guys who started their PC adventure freeing up memory to play games and making start-discs so I bloody hell like to know exactly what the hell is going on on my PC and who knows what kind of crap is actually hiding behind all those APPS and buttons.)

And I positivly want to bitch-slap everyone who makes a case for the oh so easier to use interface of the newer versions when all they do is moving buttons around and hiding stuff I actually want to see. (Like the new office interface......it's not a damn bit better than the old one, there are EXACTLY all the same functions, they just hid them better, switched buttons around and rearranged it randomly.)

There is pretty and there is functional. Ever since XP and Office 2000 they moved away from functional and towards pretty. If I'd want that I'd buy me a Macbook.

[Captain Picard's Hair]

So the Windows 7 taskbar (inherited by 8 ) isn't more functional? Pinning and jump lists in the "superbar" aren't great tools? I also prefer the ability to use breadcrumbs navigation in the newer file explorer windows since Vista. Your patterns might not agree with it but these are features that can make usage more efficient when used.

[Reliant121]

Since I'm not really a power user, I prefer the consumer basis of the new interface. I can do around 80% of my pc usage from apps installed on the Modern UI (Chrome, Skype, Twitter clients etc). Its just games that I have to pop into desktop mode for and thats not really a problem for me.

[Tyyr]

I honestly prefer Windows 7 to XP. Not by a lot but the functionality of the task bar is much greater.

As for the Ribbon, not a fan, even a little bit. I've been using it for years and I still don't like it.

[IanKennedy]

For me the whole system took a nose dive when that started getting rid of the menus. Office and IE because almost unusable overnight. Attempting to support the apps over a phone is simply a nightmare.

[Tyyr]

I don't understand why they elimated menus all together. Why the ribbon isn't default but leave the menu's intact and available. My new laptop at work has Windows 7 (yay) and Office 2010 (shit). Now given the amount I use things like Word and Excel at work just what a pain in the ass the ribbon is is being put front and center again.

Fucking design students. Yeah menus aren't pretty, shut the fuck up and let the rest of us get some work done.

[IanKennedy]

I couldn't agree more.

[Reliant121]

Maybe they should provide the option to switch between them?

[Tyyr]

They could, but they've been adamant about forcing the change on people. Heck, there used to be some legacy code in Windows 8 that allowed modders to put a Start button back in. No way to do it in Windows 8 normally, you had to mod to do it. As soon as those mods became popular during the beta Microsoft found the code and deleted it. They are doing their best to force their customers to adopt what they want them to.

[IanKennedy]

Maybe they should provide the option to switch between them?

That would be nice. Or even have both available at the same time, but no MS has decided and that's the way it's going to be.