I'm starting to think that MS may simply keep Win 7 as a long term offering which will supply the more serious and business users, while Win 8 will be available as an optional OS offering for the consumer .

I think that may be the best bet for MS....

I think that is the ONLY way they are going to keep everybody happy.

It seems clear that Win 8 is designed for the casual and nontechnical user and that even using start on Win 8 to get the traditional desktop will be somewhat of a hassle.

Thoughts.

I say MS should keep them BOTH offered side by side.

It makes sense to me since Win 7 has only been out for over two years and has lots of useful life left in it.

It's called Downgrade rights and it is nothing new. So you idea is what micsoft has been doing since 2006. Nothing new here to talk about.... so... yea...

@Beta:

So do you think that Win 8 is going to keep that awkward start set up?

If they changed it so the user can make the default choice selection to the traditional desktop (and other functions) like Win 7 I would have no problem with it. But almost making it difficult to get to the desktop is a deal breaker for me, and you know it is going to be the same for a large number of other potential users as well.

It's just to early. The ver. of Windows 8 that is out is just for developers to get there feet wet. We will not know what they will do until the Bata comes out. Mostlikey they are forcing the new UI so developers get forced to use in and to work with it for new programs. Just wait until the beta to start worrying.

Originally Posted by Beta

Just wait until the beta to start worrying.

That's about the size of it.

The dev preview wasn't geared towards desktop usage.


If that nasty start menu/UI is still like it is in the beta, we can then justify our worry.

yes, but that UI is going to stay although there may be some minor changes in it. MS is not going to part with it after putting so many efforts

Originally Posted by paarkhi

yes, but that UI is going to stay although there may be some minor changes in it. MS is not going to part with it after putting so many efforts

Of course is going to stay, no matter what happens it'll be the UI for mobile devices. That doesn't mean it'll be the default UI for desktops/notebooks, at this point we can't tell for sure. Personally, I don't want any of it on my desktop, but for now it's just wait and see.