By the strangest of coincidences, anything that will 'work' in Metro 8 will need to be purchased through the Windows Store.

They're just lusting after a closed ecosystem like Apple's, and apparently not appreciating what massive leverage they have in their installed base. I get the idea of seamlessness. I really do.  It's just that in this case it is the excuse they've been looking for to pull everything inside (pay) walls.  Walls without Windows, as it were.  Not immediately, but you'll not be able to take advantage of their version of seamlessness without paying to get inside.  May have hit on their new brand - 'Microsoft Walls'.

Mind you, there is nothing inherently wrong with them doing that.  I've owned 4 iPhones, 4 iPods and 1 iPad (so far), after all.  Who wouldn't want to be Apple?  They'll either succeed at it, or not.  We'll decide with our pocketbooks eventually.  However 'technically beautiful' the new OS turns out to be, however much they 'enhance the user experience', they are being very disingenuous about the motivation.

At first sight, it would actually be good for consumers if everything was centralized in a Microsoft App Store: think about it, everything is clean and secure, and there is only one place to search for applications.

But when you start digging deeper, you start realizing all the 'hidden' implications too: iOS is also a closed platform. Developers cannot distribute iOS applications except through the App Store, and Apple can reject their app for any reason they chose. Users aren't able to run rejected applications unless their phones are jailbroken.

See where this is going? Applications that compete with Microsoft's own stuff would never be allowed in. Looking at how IE 6 remained unchanged for many years due to lack of competition, a situation that changed only when Firefox and Chrome came along, you can already begin to understand how a 'compulsive' Windows App store would immediately stifle innovation and progress.

Applications like WindowBlinds and UxTheme patchers, which need to dig deep into the OS to do their stuff, would NEVER be allowed in either.

Well. Anyway. They have an uphill struggle against Apple and Android that's for sure. Their tablet platforms are pretty solid already and the application base is pretty big. To enter that arena with MS's consequent lack of innovation and interest what the client wants is a recipe for failure. Personally i am a disaster with linux, but Android stole my heart. It actually works without having to geek out on it. I currently run a custom rom on my Motorola Xoom which is really very beautiful.

No one I heard has ever said the metro look with the touch screen and apps aren't a good thing for phones and tablets. So Microsoft has seen the success and decided it was meant to be on a PC. All the free apps available for those won't be available unless Microsoft says so and even with that would people still give them out for free while having to spend more time making them using a windows OS. They really think they are going to make money off these 3rd party apps. On most all replies to these windows8 threads say the same thing. Not leaving windows7 for this ------------ (fill in the dashes as you wish) There will always be some who will like it but from everything I find that is a small percentage. So unless there is some good news on 8 I see no reason to continue to even comment again about 8. Is it because I like to skin, maybe. What it is really about is I like to customize the entire computer. Have a desktop full of what I want and a beautiful picture or custom made wallpaper.

 After the PC comes out with 8 on them and if sales should drop it won't be blamed on Windows8 even if that is the main reason. They just have to many other avenues to blame it on. I'm not against change in any way but change with no real meaning is just plain stupid and of course this is my opinion but might add have heard it from many sources and people. We are all entitled to use what we perfer and again I have no problem with that and if a few like 8 fine. However lets stop trying to shove something down my throat. Microsoft spends more time defending it then working on it. So in another year we should have a better feeling on how things are going with 8 but for me i'm staying with 7.

*reads Windows UI article*

Okay, I can see how MS is trying to get with the times, but couldn't Windows 8 of just been a spin-off product for mobile devices and leave Windows 7 alone?  Why does MS have to "hybridize" and make the OS designed for every computing device?  I don't want my "powerful" PC (as they put it) to run apps designed for mobile devices (i.e. Metro apps).  That's what I have my Android smartphone for. 

And I won't put my hopes up for Windows 9 neither.  By then MS will probably only ship ARM versions and shun the PC market entirely to further compete with Android and iOS. It's the beginning of the end for Microsoft. 

I'll stick with my "dated" desktop with my favorite Stardock apps and skins over "upgrading" to a Windows 8 device anyday!  In fact, my next computer will be a "dated" desktop that i'll build myself someday and run Win7 on it. 

@ Microsoft:  If it ain't broke...

This is pretty much it. They think "wow, if we combined our marketshare with apple's closed system policy we would be swimming in even more money!"

Not for a moment do they realize that the reason apple has 15% in US and below 10% globally is because its a closed system.

MS windows is the de-facto standard because most programs are windows exclusive. And most programs are windows exclusive because it is an open easy to develop platform... and because its the de-facto standard too.

But the latter cannot carry them through such a transition alone.

The thing that sticks in Ballmer's craw is that Apple is so much more profitable on that much smaller share.

And this pretty much confirms the hard-on they have (and the blinders):

I haven't loaded the beta so I have very little experiance with Windows 8. That being said, am I correct in my understanding that if a user wants to run Windows 8, none of their existing software will be compatible?

If this is true, does Microsoft really think the average user can afford to replace everything they already own?

I suddenly get the feeling that Microsoft is being run by this guy...

No, Win7-compatible software will be 'compatible', just painful to use in the manner to which you've become accustomed.

And, no, 'that guy' would likely do a better job.

Thats because of their hardware and other devices (phones, ipods, etc) not OS sales.

No...they profit through price-gouging local markets.....just as  IKEA does.

With IKEA a chair can cost 3 times as much in Oz as it does in the US....and no, it's not made in the US.....it's made in Malaysia.....and guess whose market is closer to the source of manufacture?

That's true, talt, but it's an 'accident of history' that Apple stayed largely hardware-centric and MS stayed OS-centric, Zune notwithstanding.  And I'm just wild-ass guessing what might be stuck in Ballmer's craw, of course, but envy is almost certainly a factor.

Apple practically gives their PC OS away.  Still, however you slice it, MS wants in on Apple's game, to the extent they can given where they are coming from. 

It is very odd that nobody seems to point or care that bullshit lack of sliders on this shitty new interface layed on desktop computers : even on a phone or a tablet it is just pain in the ass swiping on and on to scroll through a blog page for example, without the help of a slider allowing to position oneself nearly instantaneously anywhere in a page !

This will be the future of the new apps running on that ugly interface...

They price gouge on their hardware, not on their OS.