Re: Microsoft's future riding on Windows 8
Microsoft has a real chance here, as long as Ballmer is patient & gives the OS a chance. There is real potential here. There were too many missed opportunities missed at MS partly due to impatience, partly to do with bad decision making & other variables.
The developers of Windows 8 has worked hard to bring a lightweight OS to the market, it looked like Windows 7 was going to be it. While Windows 7 is very successful, it's not for the mobile market. It's a fantastic workhorse OS for a mid to high spec notebook or PC (as Windows always has been for the last 15 years), but the low spec (a lot of mobile) computing devices needs a "lite" OS. This looks to be it, or at least the turnaround point.
Now, it's going to be up to us, the consumers, to adapt to & like it, and bring some of the competition over our way. And MS's marketing team has their work cut out for them. It can be done, reversing the sliding in the mobile market. It's just going to take some time, but not too much. The competition's number's are racking up at a fast pace. MS is going to have to work fast, but not panic. Remember, MS has a large majority of home/business/Office computing OS's, that much is in their favor.
It would be fantasy to think that any OS produced by anyone could shift the balance overnight, but MS has to grab some of the share, and soon. This is their best shot, by far, to do so.
Meanwhile, I'm starting to get used to the Metro UI. Although I despised it at first, after some hunting down tips, I'm catching on. Hopefully, something that will resemble a Start Menu will emerge for PC's and larger notebooks. This one article helped me a lot. You really have to read it all to understand, as there's some rants there, but some help & hope as well: The Four Corners.
AnandTech - Windows 8 Consumer Preview: The Four Corners
There's some good reading here. For those who are not content or don't understand the new look, this can begin to open some eyes (and hopefully) minds.
Cat
Operating System Windows XP Pro, Vista Ultimate & 7 Pro (all x64)
OS Service Pack XP SP2,Vista SP2,W7 Pro SP1 (on desktop only)
Internet Explorer Version 8 on XP, 9 on Vista/Win 7
DirectX Version 11
Computer Type HP Pavilion MS214 AIO
CPU Type and Speed amd athlon x2 3250e dual core - 1.5 GHz (anemic)
Motherboard Chipset AMD 780G
System BIOS Revision Phoenix Technologies LTD, Version 5.11
System Memory Type Crucial 4 GB DDR2 (2GB x2)
System Memory Speed 300MHz
System Memory Clocking 6-6-6-18
Video Card Type and Speed AMD Radeon 3200 HD
Power Supply Unit (PSU) 120 watt notebook type PSU
Computer Monitor 18.5 HP LCD Monitor
Sound Card Realtek HD Audio
Speakers Realtek HD Audio (2 Front Analog Speakers)l
Headset/Microphone generic brand
Storage Controller JCMicron?
Hard Drive WD Caviar Blue (320GB)
Optical Drives TSST Corp CDDVDW TS-L633M
Keyboard and Mouse Logitech K320, B100
Modem-Router Type TrendNet TEW652-BRP
Network Adapter Realtek PCIe FE Family Controller (wired), wireless optional
Printer Kodak 3250 AIO/Dell 720 Photo Printer
Network Speed 3 Mbps (minimum), 10 Mbps (max). 6 Mbps avg.
USB Controller Standard Enhanced USB 2.0
Anti-virus Software ESET Smart Security 5, MBAM Pro, SAS Pro
Productivity Suite MS Office 2010 Pro Plus
System Install Date 11/09
Computer Skill Level Average Ability
Windows Experience Index 3.0
Favorite Game don't game
Favorite Application Perfect Disk