I'm an avid Win+{Key} user, so I won't have problem adapting. My family, though ... I'm not so sure.
I'm a Windows developer, and I confess that I haven't tried Windows 8 yet. I'm usually eager to try new OS's and learn new things, but this time I'm not. I think it's a sense of dread about having to spent several hours learning an environment that just seems tedious.
I guess it's not really important. Many companies and consumers will stay for Windows 7 for a while and Windows 8 will enter the markets primarily via tablets. By the time Windows 8 SP1 or Windows 9 we'll see how that strategy worked out, and they'll probably tune the experience to make it an acceptable desktop operating system (either on real desktops or docked x86 tablets).
That said, I have used Windows 8 out of curiosity for some weeks (as a UNIX user since 1994), and I have to admit that I quite liked it. I didn't really use Metro, except for checking Facebook and Twitter every now and then. Of course, I am not a regular Windows user who has learnt usage patterns over the years, but I think there's also a lot of inertia.
Microsoft has a 90% desktop market share. How many new PC's are sold every year? Win8 sounds like a solid product so I think the adoption rate will be good. Is there really a really to ask for Win7 on a new PC after Win8 is released?
I've been scouring the internet for an MSDN iso to go with the key. On certain ocean-theme based web sites I see people activating Windows 8 by the automated phone option. Assuming this is legitimate, is it a bug from Microsoft's side?
Strategically, since this represents a paradigm shift I can't help but have this sneaky suspicion that MS is going a bit lax on pirates. I mean, they are trying your new PC OS, aren't they? Once you've got them converted, you can milk them in the future directly (when they buy Windows phones/tablets) or indirectly (when they recommend the entire Windows eco-system to their family/friends by bragging about how they got their copy and how awesome it is).
Even without a paradigm shift, it is not uncommon for companies to try and become the market with loose piracy protections. If I recall correctly, Microsoft and Adobe are on the record saying they would prefer people pirate their product than use a competitors.
>Many companies and consumers will stay for Windows 7 for a while
The company I work at is just starting to upgrade to Windows 7 (from XP) to our 40,000 employees, starting with the IT Department. I'm sure we're not the only ones who have been hesitating.
Same thing happening here. There are so far a total of 12 Windows 7 installs in the building I work in (not counting the test machines), 18 across the entire campus, and less than 400 world-wide... out of over 100,000 employees.
I mean this article is targeted at what, the top %15 or so of Windows users? Look at how long this article is! For us!
In all honesty, how the hell can someone not just say "By a mac pa/ma" at this point. I mean the recent patent thing makes me want to spit in Apple's eye, but wtf Microsoft. Who can pretend this is a reasonable alternative for anyone who isn't pretty computer literate?
They are obviously betting on the merging of tablets and laptops in the future, but seriously, this shit better have a 30 minute tutorial and 30000 minutes of M$ tech support budgeted in.
I wouldn't say the article is insane. It's positive in nature, but Scott Hanselman has always struck me as an upbeat guy who isn't prone to overt cynicism. However, I noticed that the article does focus on working around Win 8 instead of with it, so (unintentionally) it's not a huge endorsement.
> how the hell can someone not just say "By a mac pa/ma"
The median household income in the US is just under $50k. Mac's are not priced for the masses.
More to the point, Windows 8 is bound to be less confusing to the average Windows user than a Mac. Aside from the Explorer ribbon, UI changes to existing, mainstream functionality — whether you like them or not — are mostly cosmetic.
I haven't used Widows 8 for any significant amount of time, but I can't help feeling that this is just a repeat of the Gnome3 debacle that went on in the linux side of computers. With the benefit of hindsight, the Gnome3 predictions seemed way overly appocolyptic, and it now seems like an interface that would be easier to learn for someone with 0 computer experience.
Having said that, it looks like both Gnome3 and Windows 8 were designed with ease of use as a higher priority than workflow efficiency, but with that argument, we should move back to the command line.
BTY, as someone who uses the compute 8+ hours a day, I use the Awesome WM with a-lot of command line apps.
If, like my family, 90% of what they use their PC for is Word, browser, Outlook then they wouldn't need these tips or care about why you would want to use them.
They'd never need a menu option to shut down Windows because they've already been using the power button for the last 10 years.
I'm a Windows developer, and I confess that I haven't tried Windows 8 yet. I'm usually eager to try new OS's and learn new things, but this time I'm not. I think it's a sense of dread about having to spent several hours learning an environment that just seems tedious.