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Is Windows 8 Microsoft's Riskiest Bet?
Microsoft has rolled out many new products and many revisions of old products over the past couple of decades. The releases haven't always gone well, as in the case of Windows Vista, but Redmond has managed to ride out the rough patches. However, Windows 8 is an even more dramatic revamp of one of Microsoft's top products than Vista was. At the same time, they're piling their tablet hopes onto Windows 8 as well. Does this make it Microsoft's riskiest bet ever?
"Thus the problem facing Microsoft: How to convince Windows users to rush out and buy an upgrade of a perfectly good (and relatively new, at least by Windows standards) operating system? Compounding the issue is the new Windows 8 design, with a Start screen that discards the traditional desktop interface in favor of a bunch of colorful tiles linked to applications. That revamp is supposed to make Windows 8 more touch-screen friendly, and thus optimized for tablet use; but it could turn off consumers who don’t like change, not to mention businesses that shudder at the idea of retraining their workers in new ways of doing things. ... if Surface and the other Windows 8 tablets fail to make an impact on the market, then Microsoft will have lost a major chance at seizing the new paradigm, which is centered on mobility and the cloud. Meanwhile, that same paradigm shift is drifting the center of peoples’ computing lives from desktops and laptops to smartphones and tablets—which puts Windows’ traditional center of strength at long-term risk.
I think it is an educated risk, Windows 7 is well done and robust, and still has a future, much like XP lived all those years. So they are throwing Win 8 to see what happens.
Sig? Heil
I recall the angst surrounding Windows 95. Pretty much everybody had the same idea - it's the end of Microsoft as we know it. On top of that, the world was ending, Carter was a failure, the Russians were winning and we're all gonna die.
Nothing to see here, move along.
Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!
For those that want an unbiased review of what to expect with Win 8 I've run DP, CP, and RP on nearly a half a dozen different machines here at the shop so I'd say that makes me at least qualified to give the review, along with watching my customers look lost and get frustrated on the win 8 CP I've had running on the shop floor, so here goes...
Do you ever actually tell your customers where to find the start menu? Because Microsoft does as much when you log in for the first time. Seriously, it takes one sentence to figure out the UI: "Move your mouse to any corner." Tell your customers that one sentence and you'll probably be met with a chorus of "oooooh, ok." With that one sentence you've now told the user how to access the start screen, how to share files and webpages, how to manage devices, how to switch apps, and how to manage settings.
Then you probably only run one app at a time and your screen is low res enough win 8 will look fine. Are you gonna buy this on a tablet or smartphone? then i'm sure it'll work fine there as well. Do you never ever install more than a half dozen programs? Then the new tile UI won't make you want to pull your hair out.
You've just described about 90% of computer users right here. My parents have a 23" 1080p display, and the first time they booted up the PC they forced it down to a lower resolution because it's more comfortable for them (I then opted for the higher resolution but higher DPI which they liked as well). They also have only about a dozen programs installed and ever use one or two at a time. Microsoft's own research shows as much, and the hundred million or so iPad users will probably agree as well.
Since the PC was introduced, most people have been completely afraid of it. People I know treat it as this fragile, delicate machine that if they press the wrong button, they'll completely destroy it, and as a result they don't get the full utility from their machine. Apple came around and introduced an easy to use, friendly, consistent, yet limited interface and normal people have been lauding it ever since. The limited aspect is all people on Slashdot are focusing on. Most users have always felt trapped by the classic windows UI, so this "limited" UI will probably be very liberating to them.
For everyone that doesn't fit that description? RUN
Why? Just install a classic shell or launcher and boot to desktop. You have the traditional UI with all the benefits Windows 8 offers. Windows 8, by most OS measures, is an excellent OS. It's fast. It's stable. It's secure. It's compatible. It's extensible. The only real point of contention for this community is one aspect of the user interface, which is completely optional and can be shoved aside if you so desire. Seriously, visit any Slashdot article even remotely pertaining to Windows 8 and every comment is about metro. No one is talking about how unstable it is. No one is talking about how it's a dog on old hardware. No one is talking about gaping security issues, or rampant driver instability, or application incompatibility as we were 6 years ago with Windows Vista. That's because Windows 8 is by all accounts a good OS in all of these respects. What we're left bitching about is probably the most personal and subjective element of the OS, the UI, and subsequently the most easily customized and replaced element as well.
Because the Tile UI quickly becomes a huge mess when you add programs so soon you end up with this multiple page PITA UI
The start screen is for you to customize, not an installer. You choose the color, choose the background, choose the tiles that are pinned, choose their size, choose how they are grouped, and choose whether they display live updates or not. That's a lot of options for customization. No longer is an installer supposed to install a launcher, an uninstaller, and docs + utilities to your start screen like they did with the start menu. That nons