Why Windows 8 is Microsoft’s most vital launch in years | Hacker News Reader

Why Windows 8 is Microsoft’s most vital launch in years

gigaom.com

I think this article is specious.

The premise appears to be that the world is moving towards touchscreen/mobile, and thus, the desktop computing experience is going to be relegated to the dustbin of history (because, you know, its not cool anymore). This is silly. Tablets have their uses, but they're a niche compared to a general purpose computer. There are a lot of things that are just very awkward to do on a tablet; ie, almost anything involving a lot of typing or creation of content. I could get along just fine without my tablet, but without my PC I'd be in rough shape. I like them both, but it's pretty clear to me which one is a powerful tool and which one is a luxury. So to be honest, I really don't care if windows 8 ends up being a failure as a tablet OS as long as it stays a decent desktop OS.

It seems like the thing to do is to place this topic in competitive terms, where somehow the success of the tablet implies that the desktop has to "die". Why is that? We can't accept that they all have their uses? I have both a hammer and a screwdriver, but I've never really felt the need to view them as competitors.

More than that, the problem with Microsoft is how much they lose by just trying to one-up. Apple has iOS for touch devices and OS X for PC devices, and Microsoft wants to make "one for everything" in fact torturing their huge PC user base with "touch for desktop" release, thereby alienating the users they depend on. Way to go, MS.

Amazed at such headlines, they seem to show up every time Microsoft launches their new OS. It is always the same.

Sure there may have been a lot of expectations and some hype for new up and coming Windows releases but this will be the first time that Microsoft will be providing such an overhauled (design and function) OS available across mobile and desktop. It's a necessity for Microsoft to get the platform integration right in order to stand a chance against the wonderfully integrated ecosystem model Apple has really set a standard for. This is definitely, in my opinion, far from "the same".

http://gigaom.com/2012/02/28/why-windows-8-is-microsofts-mos...

The content is just as shaky as the headline, IMO.

FTA: "Windows XP was an updated but essentially similar experience to Windows 95, Windows Vista was an attempt to correct XP’s security issues but turned into a joke of its own, and Windows 7 was what Vista should have been yet failed to inspire."

XP was a pretty huge deal to anyone who wasn't already running Windows 2000 (which is almost everyone). It was the first consumer release built on the NT kernel and was incredibly more stable than previous consumer Windows releases. It may be hard to remember at this point, but XP was a huge game changer for the average user... a brave new world where a Windows app could crash without bringing down the whole OS to a blue screen!

I don't really get the Windows 7 slight. Windows 7 was a huge success, both in terms of actual adoption and critical praise.

I also found the lack of mention of Microsoft's very successful 64-bit transition (IMO this is a very undervalued aspect of Vista, though Windows 7 carried it forward to the larger masses) a huge oversight here.

This is a serious release for Microsoft since it might be the last significant desktop OS they put out. There might never be a Windows 9 for desktops. It might be strictly server or mobile at that point.

It's going to be harder to make any money when you're getting squeezed on one end by crazy low prices and a free OS like Android which could be a desktop OS with some hacking, while pressure from above is coming from OS X and iOS alternatives. There's no room for a $300 desktop OS any more. It's an anachronism.

Microsoft has been pushing metro throughout its ecosystem. Microsoft Kinect looks like the real game changer. It will change the Windows experience. A new way to interact with our PCs.

Here are my audacious claims:

I would say that Microsoft Windows is no longer relevant... and hasn't been for a long time.

The one thing that would make them relevant again, if it is true (and not just rumor), is MS Office for iPad.

It would sell like crazy, and it's really only the data that matters anyways.

Windows has 89% desktop market share. I guess if you can ignore facts like that then you can make all kinds of audacious claims.

With any luck, the Post PC era will see a lot more diversity (eg Android netbooks/PCs, docked tablets, etc), but I think it'll be a long time before Windows isn't used on the majority of desktop computers.

There's a big difference between ubiquity and relevance.

There's no arguing Windows' ubiquity, however, I'd argue that Microsoft is resting on their laurels, as far as Windows is concerned.

Mobile is where things are going, and they were late to the game. It's not even making a dent, either.

How would you back the claim that Windows has not been relevant for a long time? Windows still has around 85-90% marketshare. And that has been the case for a long time.

They have a huge business built around Windows and Office (which is available for Mac and Windows). If you really believe they are irrelevant how will adding one more platform (iPad) to the office suite make them relevant 'again'? Especially considering most people will not do major document creation on a touchscreen device.

In the early 1990s people scoffed at the idea that IBM wasn't relevant any more, and yet, despite having a huge lock on PC sales, every year their market share got trimmed back. 5% here, 3% there, it adds up to complete irrelevance.

They don't even have a PC division any more.

Nowhere near comparable. IBM succumbed to competition for PCs. There is still no competition for a PC operating system.

The PC manufacturers can have a race to the bottom all they like, and Microsoft will still continue to rake in the profits. While consumers are extremely price sensitive when buying PCs, wreaking havoc on the old guard of the industry, they're still buying an awful lot of PCs in the aggregate. Microsoft profits from each one.

Yeah, Windows is completely irrelevant. They might as well take the 4+ billion in revenue it brings in per quarter and light it on fire for warmth.

Windows Server is keeping the company going. Windows Desktop is a fading star and they know it.

> MS Office for iPad

Try this?

http://desktop.onlive.com/

(Disclaimer: I have friends who work there...)

Don't forget that Windows also plays in the server space. A solid server version of Windows 8 could spearhead intense adoption of Windows Phones and tablets in the enterprise (IT departments are crazy about security, maintainability and standardization).

Not only are they less relevant than before, but they have really bad design taste and it seeps through their products like poison.

Rumor is, that it's coming. Maybe they'll announce it on the launch day of the iPad3.

yawn inflammatory headline and zero meaningful or insightful content.

Windows ME was a joke, Windows XP was an updated but essentially similar experience to Windows 95

Um. Windows 2000 was the Win 95 UI married to the excellent NT backend. If you think that XP -- which was a somewhat optimized Win2k -- delivered an experience similar to 95, then you don't know your Windows OS history very well.

Windows 7 was what Vista should have been

Not really. Nothing is yet what Windows Vista should have been, because Vista was supposed to be Longhorn, which was going to be a radical departure from all previous Windows versions, at least under the hood. Win 7 was a somewhat hackish, superficial update to Vista, with better UAC, and (from what I recall) greatly improved deployment and scripting features for IT people. In other words, it did just enough to shut the consumers up about how bad Vista was, and it did a whole bunch to appeal to big business.

And that's the point, isn't it? Continue to appeal to the big businesses that are the source of vast income for Microsoft. Win8 is just another iteration of Windows. Nothing truly revolutionary, nothing to write inflammatory blog headlines about. Business as usual: developers aren't certain what path to follow, Microsoft providing too many APIs and insufficient documentation, and companies acting slowly to pick up the new OS.

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