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Comment by corporalagumbo | Hacker News Reader

You might be right - like I said, I think they will try to smooth the desktop-metro split, which was handled clumsily in Windows 8. Again, I think it's a start of a long transition for Microsoft (and the industry in general) and so I don't think it is surprising that there were rough patches.

As far as the "consumers have spoken", perhaps they have, but I don't advocate Microsoft staying the course out of some teenage idea of not admitting failure. I advocate it because the potential OS that could evolve from the foundation started with Windows 8 is the only feasible long-term option if Microsoft is to remain competitive over the next ten years.

Consumers are short-sighted, and currently the problem for Microsoft is, in a nutshell, maintaining legacy support gracefully while continuing to progress towards the new paradigm.

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I sell Windows desktop software, so I decided to check my visitor stats for the past month. It's been 7 months since Windows 8 was released and less than 5% of my Windows visitors are running Win8. I checked the same time frame after Windows 7 was released, and roughly 13% of my visitors were running Win7. If i had that big of a sales drop, I'd be looking inward, not outward.

Windows 8 may be a visionary change taking Microsoft into the future. The problem, though, is that it's a tablet vision being applied to a desktop system.

I'm a Windows consumer that doesn't like Windows 8. I don't think I'm short sighted. I'm just trying to get work done.

This is horrible analysis: comparing Vista to windows 7 changes to windows 7 to 8 changes.

Vista was arguably Microsoft's worst OS. Windows 7 arguably the best. Obviously the changes you mention would be better. In fact, with 5% I am amazed and think that is rather impressive.

Just thought I'd share this.

11.65 percent of Steam owners used Windows 8 in April

http://www.neowin.net/news/1165-percent-of-steam-owners-used...

"As far as the "consumers have spoken", perhaps they have,"

"Consumers are short-sighted"

If only consumers could see the true beauty that Microsoft has created. If they only knew what was best for them.

You're arguing against a strawman, not me. Try reading my other comments in this thread.

Those are direct quotes from your comments. If you want to retcon them, fine. All I see is a huge set of assertions from you, and now a lot of backpedaling as your arguments are being dismantled.

No, you're completely mistaken sorry.

I don't understand why you say "A company like Microsoft... has really, really carefully thought through its plans... [but?] the desktop-metro split... was handled clumsily in Windows 8."

I'm connecting whole thoughts of yours unfairly to show how fundamentally contradictory those two thoughts are. The desktop-metro split was, in my opinion, absolutely the most important part of Windows 8, that they HAD to get right, and upon which its entire success or failure would be based.

Do you disagree with my assertion that the desktop-metro split was the most important aspect of Windows 8? Isn't Microsoft the kind of company that "really, really carefully [thinks] through its plans"?

So then why was it handled clumsily?

It was handled clumsily because the Windows team had to move fast and break things. Windows 8 has a lot of pretty important under the hood changes. And it's no trivial feat to try and develop and implement a future-proof new UI style that can be layered over the old system. Anyway, this comparison is apples to oranges: Microsoft's top level long-term strategic vision compared to the Windows' team's short-term execution.

You might argue that the Windows team dropped the ball and didn't get enough right with this release. I would agree that they didn't get everything right, but long term I see the specific success of Windows 8 being of little consequence to the company - simply because future releases will continue to build on every aspect of Windows 8, as, out of the current Cambrian soup of a halfway OS, confused consumers and eclectic OEM devices, a new consensus about how computers should work is forged.

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