Windows 8 was simply created to sell more copies of windows 7.

[Maximilian]

Microsoft's marketing strategy is very clear to me now, they know they have a goldmine on their hands with windows 7 so they are peddling this POS windows 8 to turn windows 7 into the new windows XP in the sense that people will use windows 7 for years and years to come giving microsoft enough time to create windows 9!

This is clearly a long term strategy aimed at destroying the remaining XP/vista userbase and ushering them onto windows 7.

By the time windows 9 is ready 95% of all windows pc's will be windows 7 and they will call windows 9, windows eX or windows technicolor or windows porridge, it will not use a number and will therefore seem shiny and new enticing the windows 7 population to upgrade. This OS is the real deal for people looking to upgrade from windows 7, looks like its a ways off though.

 

[Zaap]

Haha!

As terrible an idea as Metro is, I'm actually inclined to believe you.

But you have to remember- this IS the same company, with many of the same people, that thought the Kin was a great idea. That think Windows Phone is a serious contender against Android and iOS. That thought BoB was a good idea. That came out with ME and Vista.

Don't make the mistake of overestimating Ballmer either. He's positively one of the worst CEOs of a major corporation in modern history. He brings to Microsoft an almost unfathomable culture of corporate lameness that can take what should be good ideas and turn them into absolute turds.

So, while I think your theory may end up being a side-effect of the fallout, I don't think the current 'braintrust' at Microsoft is even capable of planning anything so grand. No, they REALLY think Metro is a great idea, just like they REALLY thought anyone was going to throw a Windows 7 launch party in their home, and just like they REALLY thought people's teenage kids were really so lame any of them wanted a dumb-phone for the price of a smart phone that couldn't even send texts. Ballmer et al really think people are as lame as their lamest ideas.


What will happen with Windows 8 is one of two things: people will find a way to remove the stupidity of Metro from their systems, the patch for it will spread like wildfire, and everyone of a mental age above 7 will axe the crap right out of their system. A few tweaks, start menu replacement, and Win8 minus Metro is perfectly usable.

This will happen, then Win8 will gain more acceptance- OR- Microsoft will bleed money and jobs again as they did in the darkest days of Vista, have to swallow their silly pride, and come out with a service pack that makes Metro optional like it should have been all along.

And yes- Bill's old team is soon to be hard at work cleaning up the mess from Ballmer's hacks with Windows 9- as they do every other OS cycle.

 

[Gonad the Barbarian]

I actually think Windows 8 will be rather successful due to tablet sales. Microsoft will see this as a validation of Metro and us PC users will continue to be stuck with tablet-centric OS's for the foreseeable future.

 

[hhhd1]

I doubt that will happen that way.

If people didn't like win8 enough to the level of accepting an older operating system, then why not just keep using xp or vista.

 

[F1shF4t]

Windows 8 is great, it finally gave me a good enough reason to give Linux a serious try. Outcome is in sig

 

[hhhd1]

Windows 8 is great, it finally gave me a good enough reason to give Linux a serious try. Outcome is in sig

ubuntu 12.04 is great, and i still currently use it on one of my installations, but i also suggest you try the latest mint, which is just an ubuntu 12.04 with some little additions, and a different desktop environment.

ubuntu have made the bad choice of moving to a tablet friendly desktop environment about a year or 2 ago, luckilly, since its open source, linux mint took the new code, and changed the desktop environment to something that is more user friendly.



hopefully with more people leaving windows and looking for alternatives, the creators of different famous applications and games could start doing it for more than just windows.

 

[techs]

Windows 8 reeks of desperation.
Microsoft looked at tablets and figured out that they are as powerful as a computer that ran WinXP eight years ago and realized that WinXP did everything 98 percent of people wanted to do on a computer(except for huge amounts of storage). In addition they could process HD video.

There has been no killer app since the Internet, if you can call the Internet an app.
So, without a new software breakthru to drive the need for more powerful hardware a tablet is sufficient for most people.

So Microsoft has panicked and decided they needed to get into tablets in the worst way. And they did.

 

[hhhd1]

I think 'probably' this is the real story:

Microsoft is intentionally trying to get bad reputation for windows 8 now, and then they release it with the metro style fixed/made optional, and this would make people appreciate it even more.

I think they learned their lesson from vista, they over-hyped it with talk about it before release, and then at release, people didn't think its 'that good', so every one got angry at vista, even though vista sp2 is pretty good. ... so MS are trying to do the opposite.

 

[Nothinman]

Windows 8 reeks of desperation.
Microsoft looked at tablets and figured out that they are as powerful as a computer that ran WinXP eight years ago and realized that WinXP did everything 98 percent of people wanted to do on a computer(except for huge amounts of storage). In addition they could process HD video.

There has been no killer app since the Internet, if you can call the Internet an app.
So, without a new software breakthru to drive the need for more powerful hardware a tablet is sufficient for most people.

So Microsoft has panicked and decided they needed to get into tablets in the worst way. And they did.

Except that MS got into the tablet market a decade ago with XP but it never went anywhere because of the size of the devices and the fact that XP's UI was still designed for a precision pointing device like a mouse or pen which made them a pain to use. Now that Apple's made tablets cool, MS is trying again with a new interface and trying to also duct tape on enough backwards compatibility to entice businesses into buying them.

MS isn't intentionally trying to sabotage anything, they're just confused about how to exploit their existing PC dominance to get into and take over the tablet market. They're not stupid, they just don't want to make the app support concessions that Apple did with iOS.

 

[gsaldivar]

Windows 8 is great, it finally gave me a good enough reason to give Linux a serious try. Outcome is in sig

 

[stevech]

WIndows 8 and tablets... Knowing Microsoft's revenue by product (Office, Server, pro services, then there's Windows)...then Win 8 for tablets simply must be a couple of Executives that can't control their ego when intimidated by Android and IOS who purse the less lucrative ($$$ wise) consumer market with low margins.

 

[dagamer34]

No amount of pleading to businesses will get them to upgrade their desktops to Windows 8. Might as well ignore them for now. They pay yearly for service level agreements anyway, the real key is to get them off XP so they can finally stop supporting it without businesses howling.

Consumers are going more and more mobile, with cloud computing taking over the backend storage of documents, pictures, music, videos, etc... Honestly, Microsoft sees the future in the next 10 years where most if not all of your needs are met by a tablet for the average person. Who needs a keyboard when you can dictate your messages to respond to email? And everyone loves the 10-hr battery life of the iPad. That fear is REAL, not imagined, otherwise the Windows 7+ everyone on AnandTech keeps asking for is what we would have gotten.

Nearly everyone will admit that Windows 8 and Metro works best on touch devices, whether it be all-in-ones or tablets, or some convertible, etc... but not traditional desktops/laptops. I would just caution everyone not to make the silly assumption that traditional form factors will always be top sellers. Just like Nokia and RIM got toppled because they ignored the iPhone and Android, if you are not trying to reach for the future, you will be left in the past.

To end, what happens when you get an ARM tablet with the same kind of power in your laptop today. I'd argue we are 2-3 years away from that. What about in your phone? Does your average person really need more power than that to go on Facebook, work on Office documents, or respond to e-mail?

 

[hhhd1]

Reaching out for the tablet market is fine, and they are doing it a bit late,
however doing it on the expense of regular desktop users is ridiculous.

I just hope that the RTM have some extra settings to allow it to work normally for a desktop, I do not think that would be very hard, but it would make many people happy, and NOT doing so is really stupid.

 

[wirednuts]

i would have been fine if they said "the next windows will be win7 tablet edition" but they cant because they need some suckers to buy it for their desktops too.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Reaching out for the tablet market is fine, and they are doing it a bit late,
however doing it on the expense of regular desktop users is ridiculous.

I just hope that the RTM have some extra settings to allow it to work normally for a desktop, I do not think that would be very hard, but it would make many people happy, and NOT doing so is really stupid.

THIS!!!!

 

[arod]

No amount of pleading to businesses will get them to upgrade their desktops to Windows 8. Might as well ignore them for now. They pay yearly for service level agreements anyway, the real key is to get them off XP so they can finally stop supporting it without businesses howling.

Consumers are going more and more mobile, with cloud computing taking over the backend storage of documents, pictures, music, videos, etc... Honestly, Microsoft sees the future in the next 10 years where most if not all of your needs are met by a tablet for the average person. Who needs a keyboard when you can dictate your messages to respond to email? And everyone loves the 10-hr battery life of the iPad. That fear is REAL, not imagined, otherwise the Windows 7+ everyone on AnandTech keeps asking for is what we would have gotten.

Nearly everyone will admit that Windows 8 and Metro works best on touch devices, whether it be all-in-ones or tablets, or some convertible, etc... but not traditional desktops/laptops. I would just caution everyone not to make the silly assumption that traditional form factors will always be top sellers. Just like Nokia and RIM got toppled because they ignored the iPhone and Android, if you are not trying to reach for the future, you will be left in the past.

To end, what happens when you get an ARM tablet with the same kind of power in your laptop today. I'd argue we are 2-3 years away from that. What about in your phone? Does your average person really need more power than that to go on Facebook, work on Office documents, or respond to e-mail?

I actually think (and I've said this here before) and now is the perfect time to make this transition because win7 is an entrenched as it is. As much as it is about the metro UI its also about the new winRT app platform which fixes a ton of issues with apps currently and gets their store going. They can use win8 to learn what metro does well and what it doesn't to fix in future versions and get a bunch of new hardware out there ready for touch over this generation.

 

[gmaster456]

Windows 8 is definitely growing on me. At first, I immediately felt "helpless" and jumped onto the "Windoze 8 sux omgzz" bandwagon but after some time, it's definitely not that bad at all. Especially once you learn how to use it. In the age of apps etc. I think it will definitely be a home run for most home users. I plan on installing it on my moms laptop at some point. I still don't see the need for it in a business/managed environment and I think putting metro in server is silly.

 

[Puddle Jumper]

I'm the exact opposite, the more I use Windows 8 the more I hate it. Several times I have had to resort to Google to figure out how to do some basic task that was never a problem on any of the past versions on Windows. I never had to do that when I switched to 7 or Vista.

 

[jhansman]

Especially once you learn how to use it.

OMG, not that! No, instead let's trash it without ever having used it or bothered to read up on it or actually know anything about it. Never have I heard such a bunch of whiny, luddite candy asses in my life. All of you haters just need to go back to XP; best place for you.

 

[wiin]

Love Windows8. Gonna buy several when it is available. Jst love the new features.

Microsoft's marketing strategy is very clear to me now, they know they have a goldmine on their hands with windows 7 so they are peddling this POS windows 8 to turn windows 7 into the new windows XP in the sense that people will use windows 7 for years and years to come giving microsoft enough time to create windows 9!

This is clearly a long term strategy aimed at destroying the remaining XP/vista userbase and ushering them onto windows 7.

By the time windows 9 is ready 95% of all windows pc's will be windows 7 and they will call windows 9, windows eX or windows technicolor or windows porridge, it will not use a number and will therefore seem shiny and new enticing the windows 7 population to upgrade. This OS is the real deal for people looking to upgrade from windows 7, looks like its a ways off though.

 

[gmaster456]

OMG, not that! No, instead let's trash it without ever having used it or bothered to read up on it or actually know anything about it. Never have I heard such a bunch of whiny, luddite candy asses in my life. All of you haters just need to go back to XP; best place for you.

 

[hhhd1]

People keep saying that the metro style is bad and intrusive, and the main counter argument is:
"but windows 8 has another nice feature like ...[put a new feature here]..."

I personally like many of the other changes, however,
The new metro style adds an extra unnecessary layer of complexity and requiring to learn to do the basic stuff, it is just not right.

If a learning edge is required to use an OS, why learn windows 8 ?

I'll wait for the RTM, then most of my testing is going to be related to how to minimize the effect of the metro style in the regular desktop activities, with the least possible changes or without using a 3rd party tool ... something that would work for most users.

For my father, who was using windows since 3.11, the transition from windows xp to 7 was confusing enough, I will simply not give him windows 8, I'd rather leave him at windows 7 or give him one of the newer free linux with many of the basic requirements for day to day use and free office suite.

 

[gmaster456]

People keep saying that the metro style is bad and intrusive, and the main counter argument is:
"but windows 8 has another nice feature like ...[put a new feature here]..."

I personally like many of the other changes, however,
The new metro style adds an extra unnecessary layer of complexity and requiring to learn to do the basic stuff, it is just not right.

If a learning edge is required to use an OS, why learn windows 8 ?

I'll wait for the RTM, then most of my testing is going to be related to how to minimize the effect of the metro style in the regular desktop activities, with the least possible changes or without using a 3rd party tool ... something that would work for most users.

For my father, who was using windows since 3.11, the transition from windows xp to 7 was confusing enough, I will simply not give him windows 8, I'd rather leave him at windows 7 or give him one of the newer free linux with many of the basic requirements for day to day use and free office suite.

Linux will have just as much, if not more of a learning curve as Windows 8.

 

[dagamer34]

Linux will have just as much, if not more of a learning curve as Windows 8.

Last I checked, there is no Start Menu in a Linux distro.

 

[Gonad the Barbarian]

Last I checked, there is no Start Menu in a Linux distro.

A static picture doesn't do it justice either.