I concur.

Originally Posted by A Guy

The anticipation surrounding Microsoft's upcoming launch of Windows 8 is running high. The company's operating system is easily the biggest departure from earlier versions Microsoft has ever launched, and it could very well be the answer to Apple's iPad and Android-based tablets in the mobile market.

Still, there are many people in the industry who aren't sure if Windows 8 will have what it takes to be successful. The operating system is, as mentioned, substantially different from preceding versions of the software, and considering IT budgets are still tight, there's a chance companies won't be ready to adopt the new operating system when it launches later this year. To make matters worse, Mac OS X is selling extremely well, prompting many consumers to turn their backs on Microsoft.

But despite all those challenges, Windows 8 will still be a winner this year. From everything Microsoft has shown off and everything the company has promised, there should be little doubt that Windows 8 will be a success this year and beyond.

Source

A Guy

Well, all products by Microsoft have been a "success". There is little doubt that Win8 will sell dozens of millions of copies. But it would not be because millions of users will be lining outside the stores to buy it. Quite the contrary. It will be because Microsoft has the agreements it has with hundreds of OEMs. As they roll out new computers, each one of those will be equipped with Win8. It does not matter if they sell or not. This would be a sale for Microsoft. Vista, although a disaster for Microsoft in many ways, it was a "success". In its first year, Vista sold more copies than XP in its first year!!! This is the magic of having agreements with OEMs.

However, I seriously doubt that Win8 would be a real winner. First of all, we hardly know the competition it would be facing in the mobile space. The iPad3 will be announced soon and we have not as yet seen Android 4 tablets (never mind Android 5). Win8 tablets will be pricier than the competition (at least the Intel-based ones) and they would hardly have anything close to the ecosystem enjoyed by Android (and variants) and the iPad. Furthermore, with "Metro-style" apps depending on a new programming paradigm (mostly C++) and abandoning the previous coding base, there would be very few apps available. In addition, Zune music services is partly deficient and there is no bookstore. Overall, the ecosystem is poor.

As far as the desktop goes, it remains a tossup. Microsoft has already announced that it does not except any revenue from upgrades. How the enterprise would react is quite uncertain. Of course, MS could continue selling Win7 licenses there but this would be a "defeat" at some level.

I remember using Windows 7 build 6589 and just think Wow! I havnt quite got the bug this early with windows 8. Hopefully the beta will give me the bug.

Originally Posted by Joan Archer

Same here, I've not jumped on the Windows 8 band wagon yet. I still haven't exhausted 7 yet, I have a long way to go, plus probably wont have the money for another OS for a few years yet.

First of all, if you do not have a tablet or aching to touch your monitor, there is very little that Win8 would add to your computing environment. In fact, much of what it is expected to add are going to be an impediment, not a help. Thus, staying with Win7 makes very good sense. If you need a mobile solution, you have various solutions. For most productivity applications, both Android and iOS (iPad) offer highly compatible solutions. Both of these operating systems offer Office suites that are fully compatible with Office 2007 and Office 2010. Thus, the need for Win8 in tablets is illusory, at best. If there are Android tablets at $200, these would offer a richer ecosystem that anything Microsoft can assemble at this time (apps and stores of all kinds). So, the possibility of success is remote.

As if the android tablets are flying off the shelves...

Windows based tablets on x86 will have a tremendous advantage over anything that is available right now. Those on arm will not be left out, as the development envirornment is superior to the competition, so the chance that there will be loads of metro apps well before launch is great. As to your remark that win8 doesn't offer anythng worhwhile on the desktop I can only assume you didn't take the trouble of informing yourself properly. It offers faster boot times, secure boot, numerous improvements in various fields and to boot a type 1 hypervisor, that alone is reason enough to get win8 asap.

By the way, which fully office compliant apps are available on Ios, and how usefull would such an application be on a device such as the ipad, considering the fact that we are talking about touch here, and ther isn't a real viable way to use it as a hybrid laptop, something that will be fully possible, easy and cheap on future win8 tablets.

Originally Posted by sjaak327

As if the android tablets are flying off the shelves...

Correct, they do not. This is because the users do not understand how to use them. However, when presented with a solution such as the Amazon Kindle Fire, then they buy them in huge number. Users want solutions, not powerful hardware. I think that the Android tablet manufacturers have learned the lesson

Originally Posted by sjaak327

Windows based tablets on x86 will have a tremendous advantage over anything that is available right now. Those on arm will not be left out, as the development envirornment is superior to the competition, so the chance that there will be loads of metro apps well before launch is great.

No, the development environment is not superior. Forcing people to develop in C++ is not a very good idea in signing on new developers. I strongly disagree that Win8 based tablets with have any advantage. In fact, they would only have disadvantages. Microsoft cannot offer an ecosystem that it is even comparable to what is on offer by Apple, Google and Amazon. And these are powerful competitors, we are not talking about the little league here. Microsoft is way behind and it will be even more behind by the end of 2012. Its tablets will cost more than the Android ones and they would be on par with the iPad pricing wise. On that basis, consumers will buy the iPad (especially since the iPad 3 is going to be a substantial advance over the iPad 2).

Originally Posted by sjaak327

As to your remark that win8 doesn't offer anythng worhwhile on the desktop I can only assume you didn't take the trouble of informing yourself properly. It offers faster boot times, secure boot, numerous improvements in various fields and to boot a type 1 hypervisor, that alone is reason enough to get win8 asap.

I am well aware of the "claimed" advantages. They are minor. The "faster boot times" are minor in most systems, secure boot imposes certain limitations that I do not want to deal with including the imposition of a mobile OS ontop of the desktop one. Sorry, no sale here (actually, I already have 5 Win8 licenses, but I do not plan to install this OS).

Originally Posted by sjaak327

By the way, which fully office compliant apps are available on Ios, and how usefull would such an application be on a device such as the ipad, considering the fact that we are talking about touch here, and ther isn't a real viable way to use it as a hybrid laptop, something that will be fully possible, easy and cheap on future win8 tablets.

Oh come on, you are surely kidding. There are a tone of keyboards sold with the iPad. There are number of office suite that are fully compatible with the file structure of Office 2010/2007/2003 and, in fact, you can have access to the full Microsoft Office 2010 (the full desktop applications) with OnLive Office. Where have you been?? Check it out.

OnLive Desktop for iPad on the iTunes App Store

Thus, as you can see, an iPad3 would likely be a far superior product to any Win8 tablet humbered with an immature and poor ecosystem and a few apps.

I have been here all the time. I own an ipad2, they are a toy nothing more and nothing less. I still need to grab a laptop for even medial consumption tasks. The device has problems with some youtube vids, doesn't do silverlight or flash,without jailbreak only does about one video codec natively. There is nothing superior about the device for people that want to do stuff beyond consumption, that you can get a bt keyboard is nice, but doesn't get around these limitations.

How you come to the conclusion that a win8 developer is forced to code in c++ is beyond me, the truth is that a developer can code winrt apps in c++, any .net language (like vb or c#), html5, javascript and xaml. I'm sure I forgot a few here. For the win32 api, again most of the previously mentioned languages can be used. And to think you mention this as a disadvantage over Apple's objective c !

You seem to think that Microsoft is a small company, as I don't see why they couldn't offer an eco system like the one from google (minus the privacy invasion) or amazon They already have an ecosystem in place for xbox and wp7, they have an excellent cloud solution already in place, and design software that runs these clouds and partially run the Apple icloud by the way (azure).


As regards to your last paragraph, you must be joking, That apps is a cloud based solution, which will never be as good as a native app, as far as I can read, they are using an rdp based solution to run office, whilst an win8 tablet can simply run it natively, without any internet connection, the advantage is huge. You also seem to forget that an x86 tablet can run ALL windows applications, one tip here, that number is massive in comparison to whats on offer on the apple app store !

Oh, how you figure that win8 is a mobile os is beyond me. There is not a single task or program that I can run on win7, thatI cannot also run on win8. Win8 is very much a desktop os and a touch enabled mobile os. Of course this comes after extensive usage of the product concerned.