

Windows 8 on a laptop in-depth preview (video) - nextparadigms
http://www.engadget.com/2011/09/16/windows-8-on-a-laptop-in-depth-preview-video/

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nextparadigms
I think they made a mistake combining the 2 OS's. Microsoft, like any other
incumbent, they prefer to continue to work _on top_ of the old technology. And
that pretty much always turns out to be the wrong strategy when disruption
happens. It's like Nokia deciding to improve on Symbian instead of going full
force on Maemo or Meego later on.

The Windows7/desktop mode is creating problems and confusion for the Metro
mode, and the Metro mode is frustrating those who want to use the desktop
mode. This is why it's never good to combine the 2 worlds: the dying one, and
the new one.

This is something Steve Jobs also saw, and it's why he kept Mac OS X and iOS
separated: one OS for the old world, and one OS for the new world. As the old
one fades into the background, the new one gets more and more popularity.
That's how you make disruption happen, and how you can embrace it. But
Microsoft seems to repeat every mistake in the book. I'm not saying they're
not on the right track with Metro, I'm just saying they're choosing the wrong
strategy for it, and it will probably ultimately fail.

I found Windows 7's learning curve bad enough coming from XP (never used
Vista). I used to know where everything was in XP, and I still don't know
where a lot of stuff is in Win7, and I've been using it since beta. Imagine
how bad the learning curve will be for a "normal" user when they get all that
plus the Metro stuff being forced on them, when all they expect is "Windows".
Microsoft is in a very vulnerable position with this paradigm transition. It
would've helped if they kept them separated.

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viscanti
Windows' biggest asset is their software library, and it's turning out to be a
giant anchor preventing them from innovating like they need to. If they could
find an elegant solution that leveraged their legacy software library into a
useful touch-based experience, they'd have a great shot at succeeding. It
appears they took too long to move (iOS and Android both have large software
libraries already), and aren't able to leverage their legacy software in a
meaningful way. They've just strapped "legacy" support on top of Metro, and
are only providing it for some hardware. It was possible to "do everything for
everyone" in the PC world, when that just meant hiring more people to provide
driver support. It's not possible now.

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arkitaip
Wow, I'm actually getting excited about win8. Microsoft has really made a
radical change to the GUI and seems 100% dedicated to Metro. So far I'm not
_that_ impressed with how widget centric win 8 will be but I'm assuming there
will be an option to completly turn it off and use win 7's GUI.

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nextparadigms
So far they haven't provided one. At least not one that is user friendly.

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pearle
Yeah, it seems to be only possible with registry hacks at the moment.

