and

"We architected our approach to ensure that software and peripherals can all benefit from the diversity enabled by the ARM architecture, along with the choice of form factors and manufacturers, and the openness of the platform."

seem to be in conflict. How is my being unable to install an OS a good thing? These comments (along with later mention of UEFI and some other things) cause me some discomfort.

Well, looks like Apple won the hearts and minds of consumers--we now are looking at a future with much greater integration of software and hardware and much less freedom. Thanks folks.

EDIT: To clear up potential confusion, I'm not saying that what Apple did was not good business or that their success was totally bad--I merely am pointing out that the tight UX pushed by that company (and then aped to varying degrees by others) has out of necessity driven things in this direction.

EDIT2: "In fact, WOA only supports running code that has been distributed through Windows Update along with the full spectrum of Windows Store applications." Oh goody.