Will Windows 8 be a success?

It is an OS designed to be optimized for Tablet devices

will it be a success?

by the way, the Android Honeycomb, which is another OS designed to work on tablets, and based on Linux, has been a true disaster

Thanks a lot, experts on Linux Questions!

Define "success". Even obvious bombs like ME or Vista sold a lot of copies if for no other reason than most computer buyers simply put up with whatever trash the vendor ladles onto their machine.

What I find really weird about Windows 8 is Microsoft's bizarre obsession with using the same interface in all circumstances. Windows phones largely bombed because MS tried to force the XP desktop onto a phone, and it simply didn't work. Now with Win 8, they are going the other way and trying to force a phone desktop onto a PC. Is there some problem with having different interfaces for different devices or is MS simply incapable of developing/supporting more than one interface at a time?

A very long time ago I made a very bad mistake. I saw a book full of dos programs. I mean there were hundreds of them available for sale from companies for almost any task. I said, what kind of idiot would get programming skills, might as well be a keypunch operator.

Then windows 1.1 came out. I thought, what kind if idiot can't type in WS or whatever name of the program they need.


So, word to the wise. Never underestimate the skills of the average Joe or Jane.

I have no idea if anyone would buy it but if it appeals to the stupid people in the world, then you can bet it will be a money maker.

You need to ask this question on some stupid forum. The people here are too smart to evaluate it.

Success is irrelevant because when people buy new desktops there's always a windows OS on it.

I, of course always wipe off a windows's install each time I get a new desktop.

Microsoft will sell the new version .. of course they will. But they've lost the race and they'll never get it back.

"The world of personal computing" is never again going to be dominated by any single company, nor will it be based on a single proprietary vendor technology. That was an awful business mistake that has since been outgrown and that will never be repeated.

Microsoft's original "grand strategy" has backfired on them in a rather curious way. Because they sought to "own it all" and believed their own PR that they actually did so, they ruefully recognized that the Internet was a threat to them but in regarding that threat still completely overlooked its secret-weapon characteristic. Open Source software was so different from their world-view that they simply could not take it seriously (they still don't). Their operating system runs on basically one type of hardware; Linux runs on more than twenty-seven. (Translation: "you won your battle but lost the war.")

But ... don't count them out. Some incredibly brilliant software engineers up there in Olympia land. They might come to their senses some day (they have the technology right now), and if they do, watch out. They know what to do, if they can persuade themselves of the imperative to do it. Do not tickle a sleeping dragon.

Good question

Both Microsoft and Apple are tailoring their next OS around the computer's mobile counterparts.
I mean the next OS X will have a very similar interface to the iPhone's/iPad's iOS. And from what I've seen on the web of Windows 8, it's heading in a similar direction.

Will I be buying Windows 8? No. Until recently I've used Windows 7 on both my PC and laptop. Kicked Windows from my laptop to try out Linux. And Mint has been happily running since. I'm keeping Windows on my PC, cause I'm using that one to play games on. I see no reason to upgrade to Windows 8 when Windows 7 works just fine here

Fancy stuff which might work for a cellphone, does not necessarily have to work for a PC.

Call me oldfashioned. But no disco on my computer

I think it will be a 'success' in the way Windows ME and Windows Vista were a 'success' - only because it'll be what comes on new computers. Having used the developer preview (which was awesome after turning off the MetroUI, and IMHO is the type of system they should be releasing as Windows 8) and the consumer preview (which was awful), I think we'll end up in a situation where Windows 7 will be used and supported for about as long as XP was.

Originally Posted by spudgunner I think it will be a 'success' in the way Windows ME and Windows Vista were a 'success' - only because it'll be what comes on new computers.

I'm not persuaded that it will continue to be "what comes on new computers."

And here's why I say that: what, exactly, is "a new computer" these days?

It's a phone. It's a pad. It's a laptop. All of these user-interface strategies are converging, and Microsoft Windows is very frankly dealt out of the game at this point.

Microsoft is in one sense "racing to catch up," but they're still trying to do that from the perspective of "taking back that which is rightfully mine," without seriously recognizing that this is just not true. You no longer own anything. You are not "entitled to" anything. You do not call the shots. You can be a player in the game but you don't own the casino. You do not have a monopoly position and oh by the way you never did. No one does. If you can "grok" that as well as everyone else does who's already sitting down at this table, then you are welcome to play on those terms ... and, if you want to, you can win many rounds.

• I don't know
• I don't much care

but neither of those are going to stop me giving an answer. Well, actually, several answers.

Originally Posted by puppymagic will it be a success?

Whether it is what you would consider the successful success, or the other kind, there is no question but that someone (Steve Ballmer, usually) will turn up at all sorts of conferences and give emphatic speeches decrying anyone who doesn't agree that it is the most successful success in the history of history as a fool and a poltroon. This means little, apart from that Steve Ballmer is the kind of person who does that kind of thing.

In fact, the more that this happens, the more it would be an indication of failure. Not only that, but the numbers that support the powerful assertion of success will be the kind of numbers that would be achieved just by the whole market growing.

At the moment, I wouldn't go against the 'Russian PM' theory of Windows releases. Russians believe that they have an alternation of 'hairy' and 'not-hairy' rulers, going back quite some time. Windows seems to have an alternation of 'cr*p' and 'not-so-cr*p' releases, and I'm not going to bet against that continuing.

Originally Posted by puppymagic It is an OS designed to be optimized for Tablet devices

Is it, or does it just have a GUI optimised for tablets? Of course, that may nay not make much difference if the supplier imposes the same GUI on all instances of the OS, but they don't have to do that.

Originally Posted by puppymagic by the way, the Android Honeycomb, which is another OS designed to work on tablets, and based on Linux, has been a true disaster

OK, so what parts of what has happened is a 'true disaster'? I think even Google would admit that Honeycomb was always conceived as a stepping stone on the way to ICS. So, I don't really know what about what has happened is a signifier of a disaster.

I'd be quite happy with the argument that the way that Google has handled OS transitions has robbed value from the end user, but that has been going on for ages (and has nothing to do with tablets) and is essentially down to how Google wants to run its business rather than the OS itself. It may mean that the 'Google model' is essentially unsustainable in the longer run, if Google's approach doesn't change, but that of and by itself doesn't make Honeycomb a disaster.

The inference of what you seem to be saying is that you believe that any 'OS' designed for a tablet must be poor when used on other devices. This may or may not be what you mean, but I certainly do not believe that an OS designed for a tablet (well, designed for a tablet as one of its physical embodiments) will always be a disaster on devices of other formats. It would be easier to argue that if you optimise the GUI and its input methods too heavily for a device of one format, it is difficult to run with the same optimisations on devices of quite different formats and input methods. But, as there is no necessity to have the same optimisations and as there is no necessity to have the same GUI, so that doesn't seem to mean all that much.

I am sure people will get used to it over time just like they get used to Gnome 3. I used Gnome 2 and when the third one came out I switched to Xfce and then to IceWM. I watched videos about Gnome 3, saw screenshots, read info and I know how it looks and to some point how it works. But I didn't try it and probably never will. Same with Windows. I have Seven in dual boot for some Windows rubbish and I check out how web fonts look in Windows 'cause I do some web development occasionaly. I am pretty aware of what Windows 8 will be and I will not install it on my PC, no way! So after Windows 7 goes down and won't work no more - no Windows for me, just like no Gnome, no KDE, no DEs at all. To me this whole modern thing goes completely wrong direction. I will have to drop one thing after another just to keep my system oldschool and logical.

Vista did not entice consumers to go out and by a new computer so the hardware manufacturers kept the demand for XP high.M.S kept up the production and took note of this trend. Gnome decided to drop out of PC development but tried to avoid the fallout by suppling a D.E for a Tab. that would work on a Desktop/Laptop as well.Ones size fits all. Gnome should have out of respect for their abandoned masterpiece used a different name for their Tab. D.E. in my opinion but kept it for marketing reasons much like the BMW Mini which would not sell without the connection to the British Icon. Getting everything your psyche needs from a semiconductor that resides in the palm of your hand is a social trend leading toward absolute stupidity and this impetus has probably more energy than we can imagine. I would not doubt that a third party might sell a D.E to slap on 8. The other possibility is that serious M.S users will become serious Linux users and install Xfce or Lxde. If consumers keep the demand up for 7 , 8 will be deemed a failure by its creator and Windows 9 will be right around the corner.

Not in my house.

As has been said, as long as people are buying new, pre-built PCs (I see no reason to), people will be buying Windows. However, as far as complaining about it goes, I think that either the general public will really like Windows 8, or really hate Windows 8. If they really hate it, then once again we have a "Windows Vista" situation in which the mainstream discontent with Windows will allow Linux to have at least a fighting chance in gaining a wee bit 'o' desktop market share. It's also equally possible that Windows 8 will be loved by all and things will stay the same.

Originally Posted by jarubyh It's also equally possible that Windows 8 will be loved by all and things will stay the same.

No, I don't see this.

There was already a same thread by TigerLinux.