'Not even Santa could save Microsoft's Windows 8'

Want to know how much I hate Windows 8?

I hate Windows 8 to the tune of just over £2,000 as that's what I've just dropped on a 27in iMac.

Now before anyone takes the Michael (as if you lot would?!) at spending much money on a PC, I've admired the iMac range for a long time, I've saved up the money and it'll probably be my last ever computer so I wanted it to be a good one and one that could be used (or at least worth something) after I don't need it.

Windows 8 annoys the he'll out of me and the final straw was when my wife needed a new laptop and decided to get a W8 one from HP. She was prepared to give it a try but when I tried to connect Microsoft's latest OS to my Windows Home Server 2011 guess what? It can't be backed up! W8 is installed using a EFI / GPT disk partition that WHS2011 cannot handle.

So yes, I maybe mad for spending so much of my own money on an iMac but its one of the things I wanted to do before I depart this earth!

Failure / Supposition / Baseless waa waa here.

It's really getting a little dull all the "Windows 8 is a failure" nonsense - based on nothing of any meaningful substance.

Yes, it's different. That's right. Different. Because what worked in 2002 isn't working in modern IT. But if you stopped moaning for 5 seconds about the mildly different "start screen" part, there's little different in terms of "doing what you did before" - but there is a boatload of "can do more than you did before" stuff.

As someone who is ACTUALLY using Windows 8, in all its forms (eg Windows 8 RT on my Ideapad Yoga, Windows 8 Enterprise at work, and Win 8 Pro with media Pack at home), and with both touch and non-touch devices, I can't say I've had any real problems at all.

If anything life is easier now - my home PC and ideapad now share settings - so I setup my e-mail on one, and voila, both have it setup, my stuff is sync'd and shared quite nicely, even down to colour schemes. For work, I can use all the latest everything (and do, including Office 2013), but my old apps (even my preferred e-mail client that is really really really long in the tooth) work just like they did before.

So I've lost nothing, but gained a lot, and we're finding lots of customers adopting Windows 8 too (especially at home). I suspect Surface Pro will be popular in business, cause like, y'know, it's a tablet which is all the rage, but actually more like a laptop too, runs all the stuff you already have, want to run and know, but gives you the flexibility of tablet style use with the power of a normal laptop, and the ability to use it like one of those too. I can think of a zillion different use cases. For me, the yoga makes more sense - one device, multiple use options (tablet for sitting reading browsing, laptop for doing work, e-mail, intensive input stuff), and nothing is removable - plus I like the long battery life and lightweight etc of the RT Yoga.

I reckon with the right hardware options for your intended use, Windows 8 is ace.

Bought a Samsung Chromebook and it's brilliant...

It's also right at the top of Amazon's Best Sellers list, which may surprise many...

Windows 8/ Windows Phone 8/Surface/Zune/XBox/Kinnect all a massive string of disasters, how much longer can Microsoft continue to churn out crap?

Windows Dominance

@Matt

I think your assertion that Microsoft needs to "Think differently" could be expanded on. The problem, as I see it, is that Microsoft tried to create an interface that works for both desktop and tablet computers rather than creating two separate interfaces optimized for each task. They should have provided a way to active switch between "Desktop Mode" and "Tablet Mode" with a clear desktop oriented interface based on what has worked historically for desktop mode and the new Notro interface for tablet mode. This would have made Windows 8 into an OS that could easily slot into a wider set of usage scenarios. Instead by trying to create this hybrid interface they've done the opposite, narrowing the effective usage scenarios.

Desktop users want a Desktop OS not a tablet OS and this new interface suits tablets to the exclusion of effective desktop use.

Optional

Microsoft's problem is the same now as it always has been - they lack the ability to innovate.

The entire company is based upon the theft of others' work, abuse of its market position (or the purchase of smaller companies that do innovate.

QDOS, WIMPs, disk compression, PowerPoint, Access (R:Code), etc, etc, etc.

Give it time

Windows 8 will be in almost every home and office. Not out of choice, but due to the fact it's pre-installed and you have no choice. You will have Windows, and you will like it. Unless of course you are rich, in which case buy an Apple and enjoy a different walled garden.

Phantom Windows 8 sales

I bought a new PC over Christmas and it came with Windows 8.

I bought it because the hardware was good for the price. But an OEM copy of Windows 7 went on it. So it never once actually booted Windows 8, despite it having Windows 8 stickers on the tower and registering as another happy Windows 8 user in Microsoft's sales books.

Am I alone? Unlikely. And what about all the people who keep Windows 8 because they can't justify the cost of a Windows 7 licence but install things like Classic Shell and tweak it to hell until it resembles Windows 7 as soon as it's out of the box? technically they're Windows 8 users and count toward the number of 'happy users', but in truth they've gone out of their way to make their PC effectively Windows 7, giving a big thumbs-down to Win8.

Seriously, MS have made a cottage industry out of the Start button. If that happens when you remove a feature, it's clear you've made a mistake and people are genuinely unhappy, rather than just moaning at change for the sake of it.

And removing DVD support was just a trick to save money. They know that most off-the-shelf PCs come bundled with some kind of DVD creation software that the manufacturer pays for, so why include their own licensed DVD software. Just leave it to the manufacturers to deal with, though don't lower the cost to them.

It's the Apps, Stupid!

People don't care about what operating system the thingy uses, all they want to do is get a job done, and be able to share what they do with others. if there's an app on iTunes or marketplace that does it, then they're happy. Corporate will succumb to this too, as soon as they realize that they can do it, too.

I quite like . . .

I quite like Windows 8 . . once you have everything to hand it works. Obfuscating the start menu seems a strange thing to do but life is much easier without it once you get your head around it.

I actually think it will work wonderfully on a tablet. A Windows 8 RT tablet is now on my shopping list as I think its gonna make a much better experience than an Andriod one (girlfriend has a Transformer).

Anyway - write Microsoft off at your peril - its not so long since Apple nearly went bust and Sony were top of the world.

Cannibalize your own market or someone will do it for you

Apple declined 6% in unit sales. Like Windows PC's 11% drop, that is likely because of people using tablets and smartphones for some of the tasks they used to use their Windows PC (or second PC) for. The sales decline for Macs hasn't hurt Apple, they're still raking it in with the sales of iPads. It does hurt Microsoft and Intel, because they aren't participating in the sales of tablets or smartphones to a degree that matters - certainly not enough to replace the sales they have lost and will continue to lose in greater numbers as the PC market continues its two year long decline.

Interesting that Apple saw a $100 increase in ASPs. That's almost certainly due to the product mix favoring the higher priced Retina Macbook. People like to complain about Apple's high prices, but Apple produced a product that's even MORE expensive, but obviously consumers believe the Retina screen and other features present on that model are worth the upcharge as they are buying it in great enough numbers to push up the ASP $100. PC OEMs would sell their firstborn for a $10 ASP increase, they can only dream about a $100 increase.