I think this is what will make Windows 8 the least popular OS version in the past 12 years. The interface is so different, most users will feel uncomfortable switching to it. If they want to sell Windows 8 they'll have to evangelize it and its interface to users, just like they need to do it with WP7. Users will not accept it by default just because it's the next Windows, especially with all the inconsistencies between the "Windows 7 mode" and "Windows 8 mode".
I believe most will keep using Windows 7, just like they kept using XP when Vista came. It's actually worse now than it was when Vista came out, because people were already getting tired of XP back then, but still didn't switch. I doubt too many feel tired of Windows 7 already.
I just don't see people running away from Windows 8 as much as I see them running towards it. The mass market is absolutely looking for a Metro type experience.
For everyone else, you get into Desktop mode by clicking on the desktop tile, that's right there in your face after bootup. One click.
The desktop is now an application in itself, but I'm not sure if I'd call the desktop a legacy app for legacy apps. There are plenty of workflows, stories, and apps that simply can't be reduced to a Metro type use-case.
The other thing people don't think about is the form factor of the Samsung Series 7 x86 tablets. You can use the Metro UI when on the go for basic navigation and switch back to desktop when you dock it. The Metro UI should also make it easier to navigate for people remoting in with tablets.
There is an unavoidable fragmentation between the tablet, and the desktop. Please show me an OS that does both better? It is unifying not fragmenting. I'd really like to hear what people think MS should have done.
From a desktop perspective windows 8 IS just like windows 7, except it has replaced the start menu and uses ribbons (can be disabled). The metro UI works reasonably with a mouse, and power-users will no doubt search with the keyboard -- exactly like they do now.
On the touch side, it will be possible to use your 'pc' with a touch interface and it will work. Which is obviously a big change from a windows 7 tablet. Instead of trying to force the desktop experience they have embraced things like full screen apps, and it is all still usable with mouse/keyboard. It is not a 'drastic change' for consumers who have been lapping up iOS and android devices.
If MS don't make a move then they will lose the touch world to android and iOS.. which will eventually become the laptop market of today (ie the mainstream). Their WP7 attempt shows that people aren't keen on a new, separate OS, even though it is often said to be good. So now is their chance to leverage their ecosystem (whether it be recompiled apps for arm or intel actually becomes common in the touch space), or lose that advantage. This, IMO, is the point of windows 8.. MS isn't going to care if you stay with windows 7. 8 is about not being shut out of the touch market. ie the survival of windows and it's advantage.
The post content for those that can't read because of my server problems:
As many of you already played with Windows 8 beta, and if you didn’t at least you know it well from tech sites, it’s already a fragmented OS and in my opinion it’s more fragmented than Android. Maybe a lot of things will change when the final version comes out, but I don’t think this will happen.
I’m talking about the two OSes that come on the Windows 8 pack. One has a Metro UI with all the new and cool stuff borrowed from Windows Phone and built for a tablet, since it’s very bad to use that interface with a mouse. The second is the good, but old, Aero interface which we all know is perfect for a mouse. If you want to have a complete new interface you should use it across all the apps. On Windows 7 I could run any app built specifically for XP and it would have the same Aero look as any other Windows 7 app.
Now imagine at the user side, someone that is just ok about computers and think that OS = Windows. This person will need to relearn almost everything about Windows all over again and deal with apps that must run on Metro and others that only run on Aero. Having to switch between them over and over will make the user feel uncomfortable about the OS because it doesn’t have the consistency to stay in a single type of interface.
And what about Windows on ARM? Of course apps compiled for x86 won’t run on ARM-based Windows machines, and vice-versa. This will add another layer of fragmentation on Windows, maybe more work for the developer too if it the ARM version of the SDK has limitations.
Microsoft is fragmenting Windows before it even gets released.
I see WP-Super-Cache there and doing its job, and your site responds instantly most of the time. Then all of a sudden it hangs.
It's probably a bad Apache configuration... you're allowing more workers/threads to spawn than you have RAM to run on that system, and a high KeepAlive timeout (15 seconds) tying them up on connections that aren't needed anymore.
If you configure it right, Apache on an old box with little RAM can easily handle HN-level traffic for a static site (which a cached blog is).
I don't see Microsoft's problem here being fragmentation. Sure, some versions of Windows will run the Aero desktop and some won't, but everyone will have access to the same touch interface in Metro UI. This is markedly different from the Android ecosystem in which every device has its own spin on the interface. Further, it was clear from Build that MS is clearly propping up Metro as the future of Windows, regardless of whether you prefer mouse and keyboard. I think it's safe to say that need for the Aero desktop will decline over time.
The real problem Microsoft has then is not fragmentation, but getting users to accept its vision.
I believe most will keep using Windows 7, just like they kept using XP when Vista came. It's actually worse now than it was when Vista came out, because people were already getting tired of XP back then, but still didn't switch. I doubt too many feel tired of Windows 7 already.