[ShadowAce]

[Psycho_Bunny]

The Windows 8 Experience: “Wait...what? Why did you do that? Why would someone even think to do that? What the hell is going on?”

[tx_eggman]

Microsoft - Where Quality is Job 8.4-revA

[Jonty30]

I’m thinking that, if there are those that want Sinofsky to fail, they are probably from the old guard.

What one must consider is that Windows tried a windows experience already, on the Windows Ce phones and failed miserably.

[Psycho_Bunny]

Windows 8 = Chevy Volt.

[Portcall24]

The strategic thinking goes like this: Microsoft needs brute force to coerce a touch-based "ecosystem" into existence

If this doesn't sound like what's going on with "oil" and "healthcare", I don't know what does. I'm getting awfully tired of being told to forego the present in favor the future.

[dangerdoc]

Win 7 until this mess is straightened out.

[Scooter100]

Take it from a grizzled old computer warrior....never switch systems until Service Pack 2 is out.

[Jonty30]

I think they should keep the start button, in some form.

I don’t think it would be hard to have it invisible, but appears if you touch the lower left hand corner or something.

[Erik Latranyi]

Let me point out that Andrew Orlowski also predicted that Android would not pose a threat to RIM or Apple in October of 2010.

Let me point out that Andrew Orlowski has never written a positive article about Android or Windows, but multiple positive articles about Apple.

Put all that aside, I know many people who have tried the Windows 8 CP. They all hated it at first, until they learned how to access the familiar things they were looking for in Windows.

Therefore, there is a learning curve with an entirely new OS.

Lastly, MS has said that they non-touch users will have a way to have a Windows 7-like experience.

[RightGeek]

Microsoft has turned into a large bureaucracy (much like the US federal govt.) who can’t see the forest for the trees.

[Scooter100]

Oh, one other thing.....I suppose in Win8 they’ve changed the names on all the apps in Control Panel again, giving the illusion of something new, when it’s actually the same old, same old.

[Notary Sojac]

One thing I can hardly wait for is cleaning fingerprints off my 21” monitor as often as I have to clean them off my 3” iPod.

[killermosquito]

I remember when Gates was last at the helm when a major upgrade was taking place to Microsoft Office. He said he gave two directives: 1) do not change the file extensions, 2) do not change the menus.

I’ve gotten used to the ribbon but the file extension stuff is really annoying. xls, ppt, and doc are firmly ingrained into the heart of business. Virtually everything I create and receive are in still in xls, ppt, or doc even though we are using 2007 and 2010 version of Office. I for one miss Gates at the helm. Not a fan of Balmer in the least. Windows 8-no thanks...but I love 7.

[freedomlover]

Just like Star Trek, every other release sucks.

[catnipman]

I’m an industrial-level PC user. Have been for decades. Among other things, I write Windows optimization tools for my PC support business. And I use dozens of free 3rd party tools, and I need 1-2 click access to them constantly. So I installed W8 Consumer Preview on VirtualBox in order to get a jump on porting my applications to W8. Metro UI is a total nightmare for anything but a tablet device. Impossible to get anything done. And you can’t bypass it. Best you can do is take the extra step to go to the normal desktop. But even here, no Start button. Thus it is totally impossible to do anything at all on Windows 8 for an enterprise user! And the real irony? W8 Metro UI is a mediocre tablet interface that will run only on tablets that have 2-3 gigbytes of RAM and at least 20 gig hard drive! Anybody know about any tablets like that?

My advice? Be prepared to buy some 1 year LEAP PUTS on Microsoft if they actually release this piece of crap into the marketplace like it is now. Enterprise will shun it and mom and pop buyers at Best Buy will be so befuddled by what they see when they open up their shiny new W8 PC when they get home, they’ll probably turn right back around and ask for a refund. While you’re at it, you could short Dell, Intel, HP, and a whole bunch of others dependent upon W8. I’m serious. What you have shaping up here is the next New Coke or Edsel. Actually, I predict much worse. W8 is gonna make Vista look like one of the all-time brilliant marketing strategies! (BTW, Volt doesn’t count as a comparison because it’s not a free-market product from a free-market company.)

(BTW, I was finally able to get some work done on W8 when I installed ViStart, a free third party “Start” menu emulator. It’s not as good as “Classic Start Menu”, which I routinely use on Vista and W7, but CSM isn’t ready yet for W8, and ViStart is better than no Start at all.)

(Also, if you ever manage to find out how to get into Safe Mode (since F8 no longer works in W8) you’ll find you enter right into the traditional desktop, bypassing Metro UI. I guess MS figures if you have to go to Safe Mode, you can be screwing around with a Fisher-Price interface for 3-year olds. Still no Start menu though.)

(Another dirty little secret is MS won’t allow any apps to be installed on Metro unless you obtain a certificate from them! And supposedly Metro apps can only be written in C++!)

[Anti-Bubba182]

"..But the cost/benefit advantage just isn't there in Windows 8. Microsoft doesn't have the power to move its market in the way Apple can – the market would prefer to shun the upgrade, as it did with Vista..."

Microsoft has a built in market share that is rotting their brains.

[Vermont Lt]

I only use windows two....one on the left wall, and the other in front of my desk.