MS had to do this. As many point out there already are alternatives and it's clear mobile devices are the future. MS made the tough choice. Will it hurt them in the near term? YUP. It's an unpopular, bold move but I think the correct one. Kudos to Balmer for having the gonads to push the company in this direction. We're looking at maybe 2 years before Win8 takes hold.

For what it's worth, I think Win 8 acceptance will be molasses slow. Win 8 will affect Android's share not Apple's. I have a newer ICS tablet and I still prefer my IPad Gen 1. ICS feels slow despite having a much faster processor.