Quote Originally Posted by dilettante View Post
I'm still hoping it dies, but at the same time I'm preparing in case it doesn't.
Windows 8 won't die and I am willing to bet that there will be substantially less negative consumer press about it than there was for Windows Vista. Windows 8 is too much like Windows 7 to fail.

I'm sure that last sentence will get hammered, but let me just say that for the *consumer* the statement is very true. Yes, you start by seeing a Metro interface first (much faster than you see the desktop in WIndow 7). If you then click on the desktop icon you are back to being very close to a consumer experience in Windows 7.

Ahh.. but no star menu you say.... True, but how many consumers use the start menu versus an icon on their desktop? If you put the icon on the desktop it works just like... an icon on the Windows 7 desktop.

I won't say that Windows 8 is perfect. It's not. I will say that I get where it is going. I see what is happening to the underlying platform. I see the context in which people are using their computers. When you look at the overall picture of the industry, you see that there is a paradigm shift happening. Windows 8 is getting closer to that shift than other platforms.

I'd also say that I think it is Android and Google that have more to gain in the long run with a Windows 8 failure than Apple or Linux. While the Apple and Linux people might jump for joy, I don't think they will gain any marketshare that Microsoft might lose.