@GregGuida - The PRO version of the surface will be $900-1100
the ARM surface will be $500 - Right inline with the iPad
When I first saw Win8 I did a WtF that will never work, but once I got the betas and RCs installed I don’t think I can go back and will be upgrading all my machines day 1.
What I personally hate (and won’t forgive Microsoft) about Windows 8 are the missing APIs in WinRT especially for creating executable memory - which is effectively necessary if you want to write a JIT compiler.
For further information I refer to Mike Pall’s (developer of luajit) rant about this issue:
http://www.freelists.org/post/luajit/FYI-No-JIT-on-Windows-8-for-ARM
P. S.: Of course I know that Apple disallows executable memory for external applications on iOS, too. That is one of the reasons why I still don’t own any iDevice.
A week after installing Windows 8 CP I just removed 80% of the metro apps and start using the start screen as a glorified version of the start menu (nothing wrong with that) on my laptop and it’s working exactly like Windows 7 was, but faster.
I just didn’t find anything great on the marketplace yet, even being an Xbox and Zune Pass user, it’s a preview after all.
Meanwhile I’m just happy to know Windows 8 can be used exactly like Windows 7, you will not need to downgrade a new machine because it’s impossible to do whatever you’re doing.
This is a great article, and while I appreciate the points you raise, I don’t think I agree. The changes from Windows 3.1 to Windows 95 were drastic, but at the same time similar concepts existed between the two, so it was not such a steep learning curve to figure out how Windows 95 worked. The big “START” button didn’t hurt either.
But I’ve tried Windows 8, and I’ve found it so frustrating that I eventually gave up and booted into Windows 7 again. And I’m a .Net developer, so I like to think that I am on the adventurous side of trying new software and ideas. Saying that, I don’t have a Windows tablet device and was running it on a regular PC. In my opinion it was rubbish if you don’t have a touch interface. Maybe I need to spend more time learning the user interface, but I shudder to even think about trying to teach my parents how to use it. Especially with a keyboard and mouse.
On the other hand, we have a very well established OS that runs on the iPhone and iPad that my 3 year old figured out how to use in about 2 minutes.
I think Microsoft missed the boat on Windows 8, and I don’t think it will gain any kind of traction in the tablet market. Not for a very long time at least.
They are trying to be a jack of all trades, and sadly mastering none.
I predict that Windows 7 will be the next Windows XP… hanging around well past its end of life date.
Windows 8 seems absolutely awful to me, unless you’re on a touch device. Metro is a touch UI (and a good one) but Windows 8 on standard PCs will be a miserable failure IMHO.
I’m amazed Microsoft has gone down this path. Perhaps Ballmer had a stroke or something.
To anyone who thinks Windows 8 will be a failure - try Fresh Paint. Casual computer users will love this thing! It’s really a killer app. I really believe that app alone is enough for Surface tablets to fly off the shelves. Oh, and the OS rocks.
Agreed. Small typo: “upgrade from Windows 8”.
Robert Scoble: Was this sarcasm or serious?
I work for hours at a time on my iPad.
Even when I have a laptop sitting right next to it.
The iPad is far superior for many tasks (like:
interacting with books
not work
media
not work
typing short emails
not work
and Facebook statuses,
not work
At least for most people who use computers for work.
For the average Windows XP/7 user, the flashy Metro interface will likely be turned off by the IT wonks. And touchscreen interfaces - even multitouch - are largely for media consumption and artistic endeavors. (Few, if any, people are actually doing real business-grade work on an iPad.) Office workers don’t need touchy-feely - they need a solid keyboard and mouse to use with their legacy apps written by companies who only just got around to updating their apps for XP and IE 8 (maybe) a couple of years ago.
At this point, Windows is entrenched. It doesn’t have to be especially innovative, it just needs to keep working with newer hardware.
I can’t believe you liked Ribbonized Explorer UI. Windows 8 reminds Windows Vista.
Windows 8 may work well as a tablet OS, which seems to be the focus of your post. As far as a desktop OS, though, I’m gearing up for disappointment, given the reviews I’ve read elsewhere. For those of you who think the desktop is dead/dying/obsolete, no need to read any further…
…for everyone else, I invite you to commiserate about what we’d like in a new version of Windows, and what we’ll actually get. Here’s my own take on it.
What I’d like to see in a new, desktop version of Windows:
Unfortunately, I’ve lost hope that I’ll ever get this from Microsoft. Here’s what I wouldn’t be surprised to get in Windows N (where N = 8, in this case):
You are the 100th person that has described Metro as beautiful. It’s about the ugliest thing I have ever seen. Primary colors with white icons? This is practically Hot Dog Stand 2012.
So stop showing bad taste, that is ugly. Second, it has no real functional purpose, (Metro), I can see no design sense or rationale behind the layout or sizes of the tiles which will all end up being ads anyway when you buy one of these things.
I agree with the notion that MS needs to be awakened from its doldrums, but wait do I really? Why would I want a typewriter manufacturer in the consumer space where it doesnt belong?
MS builds garbage for corporations who eat garbage for lunch and pay a high price for it. Im happy with them continiuing to do that, while I use innovative stuff.
MS has nothing to offer me that I will ever want besides an Xbox and thats pretty much that.
“Just start typing”…wow what a great plus for using metro. I can type shit I shouldnt ever have to.
is Metro a command line interface?
By trying to serve 2 masters (mouse and touch), Windows 8 creates an UI abomination.
Try changing the keyboard layout from Metro? You’re sent to the Desktop. Try watching a video from the desktop? You’re sent to Metro where the video will take 100% screen real estate and pause whenever you need to do something else.
The Weather app is everything that is wrong on Windows 8. The mouse navigation is awful (at least on my computer) and beside the tile, this application has no meaningful purpose compared to the old desktop widget.
When I first met Win8, I was quite excited. After 2 betas, I went back on Windows 7 (that’s too bad, there are some very nice desktop improvements, and metro as a program launcher is much better than the Start Menu).
I don’t want to give developers the idea that I will support the Windows 8 ecosystem (on a non-touch device) with my money.
I agree with those saying there is some polish missing. I don’t like the fact that I’m snapped out of desktop and into Metro with some things.
But I’ve been using Win8 for my primary OS on my netbook for months now, and it’s awesome.
Granted, it probably helps that this is one of the Acer touch-screen netbooks that they gave out at PDC in 2009, so the touch interface of metro is far more usable. But when I find that I’m on the keyboard and mouse, I haven’t struggled at all to adjust. 99% of the time, Metro is great even with a keyboard and mouse. Desktop is a WIN key button away, and the performance improvements are almost mind-boggling.
Whatever about Windows 8, I completely disagree about Win95.
Windows XP was revolutionary, as it at last merged the consumer (W95/W98) and enterprise (W2000) platforms, and for the first time consumer machines needed a spec >= that of enterprise machines.
As a result, hardware prices dropped dramatically (at last I could buy a laptop with enough memory to run a 32-bit OS for a reasonable price), and XP was so good that there was no longer any compelling reason for further OS upgrades.
Your focus seems to be on UI design ("…a stream of mostly minor and often inconsequential design changes in Windows") - but these are mostly just fashion fads - Aero is cool, Aero is old hat …
Yawn …innovation? Badly unfinished combination of iOS and (I am sure Microsoft engineers tried it, even though you may not know about it) Gnome 3/KDE 4. I had the similar (and I would argue better integrated) desktop experience for couple of years already. It is pretty cool, …
2013 will be the year of Windows in the tablet and the year of the Linux desktop… see the irony?
“the super hard totally incompatible iOS/OSX divide in Apple land”
Because MS strategy is much better: Windows Phone 7 (or is it 8 now?), WinRT and Win8 all of them completely unable to run apps from the other. At least Apple and Google are consistent on the mobile side.
I think Microsoft is marketing Windows 8 a bit wrong.
I heard this one statement at an Microsoft event, which sold Windows 8 for me:
“Use Metro for consuming content, use Desktop for producing content.”
I hear a lot of people talking about how Metro is “all or nothing”, but i think it’s an valuable addition for the user.
For example, of course you can create meetings and appointments in your Metro Calendar App, but it might be much more comfortable doing it in Office Outlook on Desktop. But during the day, if you just need some information about your next meeting, you can look it up in the Metro App.
This “content-first” approach for Metro is new for the Home-PC and something the industry is seemingly moving towards.
I don’t need multiple windows or applications simultaneously on my smartphone, where i just want to read a few feeds or browse some sites on the web.
But when i’m on my desktop firing up Visual Studio, i also have the browser open for documentation, i maybe want to look through some log files or edit some SQL scripts, all “at the same time”.
So, as i said, i think Metro is more an addition than a replacement. But Microsoft maybe didn’t make it clear enough with focusing the marketing on Metro only.
Interesting article, and the blatant fanboyism of various comments aside, it does seem like an interesting time for Microsoft. Personally having used both Apple & Android tablets, I found none of them to be ergonomic or well designed (and almost never consistent). Conceptually they’re good, but we’re a long way from a good user experience in my view. Perhaps I just have very high standards 
I’m not really expecting Microsoft to change that, mind you, but I feel more competition is only ever a good thing.
What I found intriguing was that we’re all lauding the concept of the tablet as something great because it abandons thirty years of cruft, without asking the question of just what we’ll be doing in thirty years time at the same point, when tablets themselves have accrued all that cruft (or we’ve run out of raw materials to make them because idiots buy a new tablet every year and don’t recycle them). What will we do then? It’ll be fun to see where this new technology goes.