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Windows 8 is just a Service/crapware pack for Windows 7

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40hz:
I am with Innuendo. I've had no doubt that MS will NOT make Metro the default UI for all computer systems. It just would not make sense.
-Josh (March 23, 2012, 04:33 PM)
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I wonder if that's really that big a concern. ALL their marketing and industry talk is about "how excited" they are about Metro and Merto apps. What they do say about the traditional desktop is far from encouraging. The whole push is for "new" whether it fills a need or not. Just like the ribbon, it's primarily something different for the sake of difference. (And probably patents as well.)

My sense from what I've seen in the industry and partner channels is that the desktop is going to be gone as soon as they can make it disappear. They do not want a repeat of Windows XP where you have huge numbers of people still hanging onto an "obsolete" version of Windows when two completely new versions have been released in the meantime. It's embarrassing if nothing else. Sure Vista was a complete dog. But you could talk your way around that one. But Windows 7? That one is pretty nice - and has demonstrable benefits for switching over.

No. Microsoft wants the desktop gone. I think the following sums up Microsoft's current attitude:



 8)

Carol Haynes:
I don't want to reopen the can of worms but I really can't see why people are still upset about ribbons. Having been using then now for 5 years (!) I have to say I wouldn't want to go back to the bloody silly toolbars in Office 2003 and earlier. If you needed access to lots of features in older version of office you ended up with a whole bunch of cryptic toolbars that were hard to use and took up even more real estate. If you don't like losing the space just hide it!

Sure they seem to be adopting ribbons in places that perhaps they seem superfluous but then one of the things people complain about is lack of consistency!

Ineresting parallel the demise of Portal 2 vs. the demise of Windows desktop.

Ultimately it is MS's intention to get out of the home computer market altogether and move as many people as they can on to an annual purchase of tablets and phones like Apple is gradually doing.

I really don't think they have actually thought about productivity! Do they really think people are going to do desktop publishing, video editing or photography on a tablet?

superboyac:
If Windows gets rid of the desktop, does that mean Linux will have to be "it" as far as personal computing goes?  I can see us holding on to Windows 7 for a few years, but then what?  I think I can be ok with that, given enough years to adjust to finding replacement software, but from my other thread, Windows is still far easier to use than Linux once you factor in third-party tools that are available.  What do the Linux people have planned as far as unified distros or third party tools that will work across all distros?  I've now read a few blogs and videos, and I know we are far away from that kind of goal, but I also get the sense that the Linux community doesn't care as much as I do about the unification bit.  If that's true, that means I better get comfortable with command line stuff and linux scripting, whatever that involves.

But I'm not alone.  I can see a community forming of people like me who want the traditional windows experience on linux.  I just haven't heard the linux community be quite as passionate about that kind of goal as I am.  Most of them are more like "the scripting is good enough" type of people.  But I also think they will quickly be in the minority once the Windows desktop is gone.

Carol Haynes:
I think Linux is doing the opposite of unifying - every time someone sneezes there is a new distro released. There isn't much logic to it.

Ironically I think Apple might well take up the desktop mantle .... especially as many software title are running on both. I haven't seen any evidence yet that Apple is trying to unify OS X and iOS (but then I haven't been looking).

Innuendo:
I am not so sure that the Consumer preview is that far from the beta - they have to get a beta and a RC out pretty soon if they are going to hit the much leaked October release date.-Carol Haynes (March 23, 2012, 08:30 PM)
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What a lot of people forget (or perhaps don't even realize) is that Microsoft has multiple teams working towards an OS release that leapfrog one another with releases till RTM. What we have seen in the Consumer Preview is the result of the work of one such team. When Beta 1 hits we'll be seeing the resulting work of a different team who have been working months towards that release & will most likely have implemented code and features the Consumer Preview team didn't have access to for inclusion in their release.

As going far back at least as far as Windows 2000, people have always proclaimed that the sky is falling when Microsoft releases their preview releases. By the late betas the panicked masses have an "Oh, okay" moment of realization when they realize the preview release was nowhere near feature-complete.

Microsoft learned a valuable lesson with Vista that they vowed would never be repeated as well. Now, if things haven't changed by Beta 2 or 3 then I'll happily join all the nay-sayers in screaming towards the heavens. :)

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