Will Win8 be as succesful ??

[Mark Phelps]

The title of this article is hard to respond to because of the question -- as successful as "what"? Apple iPhones?

Are we asking if folks are going to buy as many new Win8 machines as Apple has sold iPhones? If so, I think the answer is going to be no. As someone already pointed out, this is a useless comparison.

As to switching over to Macs -- come on, get real. You're moving from one commercial OS/App environment to another -- and paying a premium prices to take a big drop in performance.

As to switching to Linux -- I've been using Linux distros (primarily Ubuntu) for the last five years on a daily basis, and while it's interesting and fun sometimes, as someone already said -- it's NOT Windows. My key Windows apps (primarily Office 2010 stuff) does not run in Linux (and don't give me the Wine/PlayOnLinux speech -- been there, done that). I also use other stuff, both hardware and software, that is not supported in Linux. And, OEMs are constantly adding new features (latest being Hybrid Graphics) to their machines that are not supported in Linux. So, no, I don't see any massive jumping ship.

To me, the deciding factor is going to be what the market puts out this Fall with Win8 Tablets. If they have a lot of functionality and are reasonably priced, and have decent battery life -- I think you'll see folks flocking to buy them. BUT If they return to the early Tablet PC days with $1000-1500 devices, they're going to sit on the shelf -- and all this push to touch-screen desktops is going to backfire.

 

[area 66]

....As to switching over to Macs -- come on, get real. You're moving from one commercial OS/App environment to another -- and paying a premium prices to take a big drop in performance.

As to switching to Linux -- I've been using Linux distros (primarily Ubuntu) for the last five years on a daily basis, and while it's interesting and fun sometimes, as someone already said -- it's NOT Windows. My key Windows apps (primarily Office 2010 stuff) does not run in Linux (and don't give me the Wine/PlayOnLinux speech -- been there, done that). I also use other stuff, both hardware and software, that is not supported in Linux. And, OEMs are constantly adding new features (latest being Hybrid Graphics) to their machines that are not supported in Linux. So, no, I don't see any massive jumping ship.

To me, the deciding factor is going to be what the market puts out this Fall with Win8 Tablets. If they have a lot of functionality and are reasonably priced, and have decent battery life -- I think you'll see folks flocking to buy them. BUT If they return to the early Tablet PC days with $1000-1500 devices, they're going to sit on the shelf -- and all this push to touch-screen desktops is going to backfire.

well say..... I specially like your comment on the Wine, so true ..... As a guy whi live from computers since 30 years, I like to play with Linux , but it's not ready for everyone, especially the way you have to install some programs; just try to install the popular Minecraft for fun.

 

[lehnerus2000]

Mac OSX?

Going by the comments on this Forum, Microsoft might as well shut up shop now, nobody knows how to use Windows 8, or just plain dont want to use it.
I think we'd better all start learning Mac because I fear for the future of Microsoft. Get used to buying hugely overpriced machines and not building your own anymore. These are dark days indeed.

I'll use a LInux distro (Mint or Centos) rather than swap to Mac OSX.

Did you ever fully configer Ubuntu or any other major Linux distro and do serious work with it. I am running Ubuntu since 3 years and still have to do many things via Terminal (command line). And let me tell you, the windows cmd is a piece of cake compared to Terminal. It is fun, but not very practical.

If you don't know the commands in either OS, there's no real difference.

 

[area 66]

Did you ever fully configer Ubuntu or any other major Linux distro and do serious work with it. I am running Ubuntu since 3 years and still have to do many things via Terminal (command line). And let me tell you, the windows cmd is a piece of cake compared to Terminal. It is fun, but not very practical.

If you don't know the commands in either OS, there's no real difference.

We don't use CMD anymore, we use PowerShell, scripting with it is nice too.

 

[mart4494]

As to switching over to Macs -- come on, get real. You're moving from one commercial OS/App environment to another -- and paying a premium prices to take a big drop in performance.

As to switching to Linux -- I've been using Linux distros (primarily Ubuntu) for the last five years on a daily basis, and while it's interesting and fun sometimes, as someone already said -- it's NOT Windows. My key Windows apps (primarily Office 2010 stuff) does not run in Linux (and don't give me the Wine/PlayOnLinux speech -- been there, done that). I also use other stuff, both hardware and software, that is not supported in Linux. And, OEMs are constantly adding new features (latest being Hybrid Graphics) to their machines that are not supported in Linux. So, no, I don't see any massive jumping ship.

To me, the deciding factor is going to be what the market puts out this Fall with Win8 Tablets. If they have a lot of functionality and are reasonably priced, and have decent battery life -- I think you'll see folks flocking to buy them. BUT If they return to the early Tablet PC days with $1000-1500 devices, they're going to sit on the shelf -- and all this push to touch-screen desktops is going to backfire.

For those that have already got a fully functioning (as you like it) PC or Laptop then I don't really see what the problem is. Personally Win8 with the MetroUI is not for me so I'll stay with Win7 64bit. Agree that pricing will be all important in this and whether the apps are worth downloading plus of course whether MS can convince folks to move to cloud computing.

Linux is okay if you've got time on your hands and occasionally I have a play with the thing but you cannot run the latest Adobe software via WINE (for example) and there are always irritating hardware issues. Maybe one day but then we've been hearing that about Linux for as long as I can remember. No chance of me going to OSX as I think everything is simply overpriced - hardware & software. Plus you can achieve equally (if not better) results with Win7.

 

[lehnerus2000]

Did you ever fully configer Ubuntu or any other major Linux distro and do serious work with it. I am running Ubuntu since 3 years and still have to do many things via Terminal (command line). And let me tell you, the windows cmd is a piece of cake compared to Terminal. It is fun, but not very practical.

If you don't know the commands in either OS, there's no real difference.

We don't use CMD anymore, we use PowerShell, scripting with it is nice too.

The same thing applies.
Also the command key words are often huge in PowerShell.