Five Reasons why Windows 8 will be dead on arrival

[ILikeTobacco]

1 reason Windows 8 will not be dead on arrival that trumps any argument that says otherwise. Microsoft will make contracts with computer manufactures which results in millions of computers with Windows 8. /endretardedthread

[PyX]

Linux is rock solid and awesome for web servers and stuff like that, but it still lacks in the desktop marketspace. It's ok for some stuff but still needs more work and a lot of the community keeps arguing instead of innovating.

I've tested over 30 distros...

When Linux will focus all their efforts on one single distro, good marketing and accessibility for usual computer tasks for any average joe, it will be a winner choice.

Until then, even if Windows 8 fails, Linux?s market share gain will be ridiculous as opposed to Mac OS X?s.

[V23]

The vast majority of computer users have never even heard of Linux, let alone viewing it as a viable alternative operating system.

[remixedcat]

When Linux will focus all their efforts on one single distro, good marketing and accessibility for usual computer tasks for any average joe, it will be a winner choice.

Until then, even if Windows 8 fails, Linux?s market share gain will be ridiculous as opposed to Mac OS X?s.

agreed. stuff is wayyyy tooo fragmented.

[PGHammer]

The mere fact there is so much controversy about the changes shows that there is a great deal of doubt about its success. Personally I feel that Windows 8 will be a dud and Microsoft will be quick to backtrack with its successor.

The doubt is because Immersive is a reboot, to be honest - a lot (in fact all) of the post-XP additions to the default menu have been culled. The menu has gone back to the roots of 9x/NT4 in its simplicity and minimalism - and due to the larger font size (which makes sense due to larger screen sizes - and not just due to touch displays, either; the default resolution for notebooks, and especially desktops is *how tall* these days?) folks are thinking that it was meant for tablets and slates.

The very reason for the seeming *oversizedness* is due to the screen size (and resolution) of the typical tablet or slate

The *base* SAMSUNG Series 7 has a 1366x768 11.6" display - my traditional desktop, however, has a 1920x1080 23" (also landscape) display.

One other reason the Metro menu looks larger is a change in the point used by the default typeface - it's larger than the default in Windows as a whole pre-DP. While both are a form of Segoe (Segoe UI vs. Segoe WP) - the change in points of the font is what causes the seeming size disparity. Smaller screen sizes, with the same pitch fonts, make the type itself seem larger. 7's default Segoe UI has a 9-point pitch, for example. To match the type size (in comparison the the screen size of a tablet or slate), I'd have to scale the Segoe UI (or Segoe WP) to *at least* 16-point type - who wants to ADMIT htey need type that large?

[techguy77]

How can it be dead when it hasn't come out yet?!

Like Windows Vista, it was dead before its release. Early version of Windows Vista were clear indication of it. It is not a rocket science.

1 reason Windows 8 will not be dead on arrival that trumps any argument that says otherwise. Microsoft will make contracts with computer manufactures which results in millions of computers with Windows 8. /endretardedthread

Sure like they did with Vista which has same market share as MacOS or like Windows 7 which still can't beat Windows XP. A lot of people will actually remove Windows 8 and install Windows 7 from computers they buy. I am talking about Desktops. Windows 8 will take over Windows 7 as far as Tablets goes and i think Microsoft aim are Tablets and Phones not so much Desktops and everyone knows that. I call Windows 8, Windows 7 Tablet Edition.

The Desktop PC has never really moved beyond it's original, jack of all trades purpose -- the same basic hardware can be used for a server, an audio workstation, gaming etc... Yet the other half of that Jack of all trades thing is: Master Of None. More specialized hardware is & has been inevitable, whether you're talking cell phones or entertainment devices/hardware or refrigerators. MS would like to be an essential part of all that -- after all more people buy more new cell phones for example than they do PCs. Metro is a step in that direction, one that can work across devices/screens. On PCs it's also something than can, & often will be turned off.

With that in mind, I don't think MS is pushing anything down anyone's throat -- as I said in my earlier post, it's all carrots & no sticks... I can boot into XP Pro on this rig, & haven't seen any penalties from Microsoft because I was using their 2 generations old OS. My wife likes so-called casual games, & while she can boot into win7 64 whenever she likes, she prefers Vista where she feels they run faster/better -- she hasn't seen any penalties from Microsoft for using Vista. So if anyone doesn't like Metro, turn it off -- if you don't like having to trun it off, run win7. :)

I don't think there will be option to turn Metro OFF. I am not sure how deep Metro runs and is it possible to even turn off at this point.

[Dot Matrix]

Sure like they did with Vista which has same market share as MacOS or like Windows 7 which still can't beat Windows XP.

Windows 7 is clear ahead of XP in all the major markets, and has been for quite sometime now. The only thing holding XP is China, and they don't really count.

[Nashy]

Im sorry please go learn what good design is before calling metro ugly.

I say this to everybody. Do you know why you are even calling it ugly? Its understandable that Desktop users want free moving widows as apps not Immersive apps. That does not make metro ugly. U need to get your eyes checked. Or please search the web for definitions of a good design.

Design is about alot more than those 2inch boxes showing data. Design is about ease of use. Design is about easy recognition. Intuitiveness. function and form. Its about the ease with which you can consume data in this perticular case. Its the ease of setting up the screen for ur day to day usage.

I talk alot about Ribbon UI because its a function over looks design. I believe there should be a balance between the two. Metro is the balance. Aero in its form is more over function than asthetics. But Ribbon is pure function so its really out of balance and thats why i find it ugly.

U cant call metro ugly unless it really makes u throw up. Whats the best thing about metro is that the boxes (the big icons and everything) It goes to the background after a few days of usage. What stays infront is just the data on the livetiles. I own a WP7 device. It was basically just to support MS. But metro works way better than anything else for touch input.

It makes every task simpler.

My request to MS would be to treat Desktop as a backend of Metro for power users. Or bring full metro to Desktop. There can not be this halfbaked Aero anymore. It just doesnt go with it. They have plenty of time to make the transformation.

Also Windows 8 will never fail. It will sell very well on tablets. Desktop users might take time to see how it works before they make the jump. MS are making sure desktop users get what they always wanted in windows 7. And there are plenty of mouthwatering features in Win8 for us desktop users.

I wish them best of luck with this. But no Windows 8 will not be DOA.

I've got more certificates in graphic design than you can poke a stick at. So jump down off that high horse. It might come as a surprise to you, something that is a good design in your eyes, may not be in another's eyes.

In my eyes. Metro is a steaming pile of ****.

[Shadrack]

I'll probably update my home desktop to Windows 8 when it comes out but I'm a nerd that way.

[satukoro]

I find it funny, how if anyone bashes metro, people jump all over it. Yet if someone praises it, everyone pats them on the back. Metro/Tiles is about as useful as a screen full of rectangles and squares of different colors that really don't help me in any way.

The point behind it is that it's simple, functional, and fast. There's no excessive eye candy to get in the way or bog things down.

i approve this thread and as ive said i may just skip w8 and stick to osx lion and w7 as a backup. im almost certain w7 will get a 2nd service pack. im tired of microsoft pushing metro down our throats, it's a horrid user interface IMO. windows did not need a refresh already, they had it almost perfect with w7.

Let me guess, you also used XP until last year?

[Dot Matrix]

[Xtreme $niper]

Any time someone says "Too little, too late" for anything like this, I want to just stab them in the eye.

It's never too little, too late. Or did you just want to discourage everyone from coming up with new and fresh alternatives to the same old tired products you've been using for years?

For the same reason why I still think RIM's BlackBerry has a chance to come back blazing (and should be encouraged to do so), I fully expect Microsoft to pull off something great with their phones and tablets. We need this kind of diversity in the industry for fear that we all become peons to one monopolistic giant.

So "too little, too late"? You must really hate technological advancements.

[mudslag]

That's up for the consumer market to decide, but so far there is a market for desktop touchscreens. Windows 8 might be the fuel it needs to take off.

A very limited niche market. POS terminals are the biggest user of these types of systems. You wont be using Win 8 in them for the most part and if you do its in a very limited manner. They are still limited in terms of over all use. You would be using touch to play pc style games any time soon. General business use will still function better with a keyboard and mouse in many if not most cases. Dont forget that even to take advantage of touch desktop, you need a touch based monitor, which is even less popular.

Windows 8 is being designed with tablets in mind, not touch based desktops. Just thinking in basic terms, a normal desktop pc usually has the monitor between a foot or more away from the user. People wont like reaching across the desk to move a cursor or click on a link when a keyboard and mouse is far more efficient. Touchscreen desktops are not the future for any foreseeable time.

[smoledman]

Ballmer's arse is on the line here. If Windows 8 isn't a massive hit right out the gates, he'll be fired in 2013.

[Melfster]

Ballmer's arse is on the line here. If Windows 8 isn't a massive hit right out the gates, he'll be fired in 2013.

LOL I really doubt it.... The only one who can fire Ballmer is Bill Gates.

[BajiRav]

I still can't understand the metro start screen hate. If you don't like it, just pin all shortcuts to taskbar or add the startmenu folder to taskbar and you will (almost) never see the metro screen on your "high resolution bazillion inches big desktop! (FTR, metro adopts to screen resolution by showing more/less tiles).

FFS, this is the worst whining I have seen for a new Windows version yet. :p

[mudslag]

LOL I really doubt it.... The only one who can fire Ballmer is Bill Gates.

The board could ask him to step down.

[techguy77]

https://skydrive.live.com/redir.aspx?cid=07326b2443567702&resid=7326B2443567702!134&parid=7326B2443567702!133

If you take a look at this picture can someone tell me since Start Menu is gone from Windows 8 where are all these shortcuts in subfolder from start menu are going to be located?

[smoledman]

https://skydrive.liv...B2443567702!133

If you take a look at this picture can someone tell me since Start Menu is gone from Windows 8 where are all these shortcuts in subfolder from start menu are going to be located?

Another example of the Windows 7 superbar where you can pin all your legacy applications. I would figure that for those of us who use lots of existing productivity applications, you would be logged in and in the "Windows" application all the time. You would rarely need to go to the Metro start screen.

[remixedcat]

more screenshots please

[Dot Matrix]

https://skydrive.liv...B2443567702!133

If you take a look at this picture can someone tell me since Start Menu is gone from Windows 8 where are all these shortcuts in subfolder from start menu are going to be located?

Techguy, Start menu = Start Screen. All the functionality of the Start Menu has been incorporated into the Start Screen. But instead of "browsing" through the menu looking for XYZ, you're going to search instead much like you do now with Windows 7. There also seems to be a way to display all installed apps, as per this screenshot:

[Jose_49]

. im almost certain w7 will get a 2nd service pack.

Why it wouldn't? I bet it will even get an SP3.

[Jose_49]

Then came the abject marketing failure that was Vista... At its core Vista was a great OS -- the hugely popular win7 is more-or-less Vista SE afterall -- but MS failed miserably when it came to marketing, which includes making sure what you're selling & what customers buy are for the most part the same thing.

+/- 1

Yes. We could say 7 was a SE of Vista with much more improved core settings and nice additions. But MS never failed marketing Windows Vista, for the contrary, they injected a vast of money (not the same as 7) in pure marketing, but it didn't work out.

You could do the best marketing in the world, but in terms of users you won't be able to beat them. If someone doesn't like something and promotes it, others will despise it as well.

Furthermore, OEM crap, which is even more bloated than today's, was the main reason for Vista to fail as an OS. Hell, the first thing you saw when you turned on your new OEM PC was "Device X has stopped working". SEEN by my OWN EYES!.

[~Johnny]

+/- 1

Yes. We could say 7 was a SE of Vista with much more improved core settings and nice additions. But MS never failed marketing Windows Vista, for the contrary, they injected a vast of money (not the same as 7) in pure marketing, but it didn't work out.

Their key marketing "failure" was marketing Vista as capable to run on computers that were simply not good enough to run it. A 1.2Ghz Atom notebook with 512MB should never touch Vista... but after being coereced by Intel they decided to drop the minimum requirements, and that in turn hurt Vista a lot. Heck, Windows 8 requires a lot less resources than Vista, and still has higher requirements.

[Zain Adeel]

I've got more certificates in graphic design than you can poke a stick at. So jump down off that high horse. It might come as a surprise to you, something that is a good design in your eyes, may not be in another's eyes.

In my eyes. Metro is a steaming pile of ****.

i lost faith in academics to prove ones skills long time ago.. Im not on any high horse. I know each one has its own opinion about things like design. Colors or stuff.

But calling Metro a steaming pile of ****?

Just to point a few things.

It works.

It is asthetically pleasing (moderate elements, good use of negative space, aligment of items and elements, tracking of the text and other stuff really works). MS always used this weird rendering for text. That pretty much tells they worked alot on it.

It is simple and straightforward.

Go on tell me u also hate WP7's UI.

Ill be honest. WP7 is very flat. After a few days that quality actually becomes its strength. Windows 8 on the other hand is not so flat. There is a little more eye candy and that should actually please people like you.

Calling it **** is just wrong.

I will say Metro in Windows 8 is not mature enough. The design still needs to evolve to enter the desktop space and merge the two (desktop and startscree) together. This may happen with Windows 9. But thats all it needs to direct itself towards maturity.

Other then that tell me whats wrong about it.. Like real problems of Metro. Can u?