The most important message I want you to understand is this: Windows 8 is not Windows. Although Microsoft calls it Windows, and a lot of Windows code may still be present under the hood, Windows 8 is a completely new operating system in every way that matters to users. It looks different, it works differently, and it forces you to re-learn much of what you know today about computers. From a user perspective, Microsoft Windows is being killed this fall and replaced by an entirely new OS that has a Windows 7 emulator tacked onto it.
There's a range of possible outcomes from the Windows 8 launch:
1. Windows users adopt Windows 8 enthusiastically. I turn out to be a whiner. Most Windows users don't miss the Start menu, and they fall all over Windows 8 in glee. Microsoft gets a nice revenue bump from all the upgrade sales, and the Windows licensees, sensing big opportunities, jump in with great new convertible tablet designs that make the iPad look tired. App developers create astounding new Metro programs that make things like Office and Photoshop obsolete. Microsoft's online services become dominant because of their ties to Metro. The aura of success around Windows 8 drives increasing sales of Windows Phone, rescuing Nokia from irrelevance. Android tablet is obliterated, and sales of Android phones stall out as customers start to choose Windows Phone instead. The big Asian phone companies recommit to Windows Phone and move their best engineering teams onto it. Wall Street analysts short Apple's stock, declaring the era of iEverything over.
2. Windows users cling to Windows 7 tenaciously. In this scenario, Windows 8 becomes the new Vista. Microsoft's anticipated revenue from Windows 8 upgrades does not materialize, hurting the company's stock price and forcing layoffs to maintain earnings. Microsoft's hardware partners are left with big stockpiles of unsalable Windows 8 PCs which they have to write down. This accelerates the share growth of the Asian PC makers, who can best withstand a price war. HP kills its PC division, and Dell is in deep trouble. Developers who bet on Metro have to live on canned tuna and string cheese. Nokia, stuck with a minority platform that European operators don't want to carry, wrestles with huge cash flow problems.
3. Windows collapses. Millions of Windows users, disenchanted with the changes in Windows 8, decide to switch to some other computing platform. Microsoft's revenues drop alarmingly, and Windows 8 is labeled a failure, causing even more customers to migrate away in a self-perpetuating collapse of the Windows installed base. Windows Phone is swept aside, turning Nokia into the "Finnish RIM". Microsoft survives as a fragment selling Office and some server software.
The interesting thing about these scenarios is that the Windows installed base will choose the winner. If the Windows users are enthusiastic, Microsoft prospers. If they're passive, Microsoft suffers. If they turn negative. Microsoft dies a gruesome death. So you'd think that Microsoft would do everything in its power to make current Windows users feel comfortable and excited about moving to Windows 8. Instead, they're being confronted with deliberate incompatibilities, indifference toward their needs, and a preview campaign for Windows 8 that has already disenchanted some of the most enthusiastic Windows users.
If Start is still there, Windows users could live for years without learning much about Metro. But with Start gone, Windows users will have to use bits of Metro now, and Microsoft believes they'll naturally embrace it once they've been forced to use it.
Speaking of miscommunication, Microsoft didn't clearly tell users that the Windows 8 preview is a one-way installation. The word "preview" implies to many people an advanced sample that you can play with for a while and then toss aside. But unless you have the original installation disks that came with your computer, the Windows 8 preview replaces your current OS and can't be removed. Even if you do have those disks, on many PCs (including mine) the factory install disks wipe the hard drive and do a new install from scratch, deleting all your files and applications.
It is absurdly difficult to turn off Windows 8. So difficult that there are entire web pages devoted to tutorials on how to do it. CNET wrote an unintentionally hilarious article (http://news.cnet.com/8301-10805_3-57389397-75/how-to-uh-turn-windows-8-off/) detailing four different ways to turn off Windows 8, each more baroque than the last.
Here's a feature that is custom designed to win friends and influence people:QuoteSpeaking of miscommunication, Microsoft didn't clearly tell users that the Windows 8 preview is a one-way installation. The word "preview" implies to many people an advanced sample that you can play with for a while and then toss aside. But unless you have the original installation disks that came with your computer, the Windows 8 preview replaces your current OS and can't be removed. Even if you do have those disks, on many PCs (including mine) the factory install disks wipe the hard drive and do a new install from scratch, deleting all your files and applications.
Yeah, that would make me happy. Happy to get a firearm and go looking for someone to ventilate.
My desk top operates XP Pro flawlessly. XP Pro is still in use by
some of the largest medical centers and science centers around.
I'm sure there is some arcane application that requires the latest
system but not I.
I have not had to go through what I used to have to do when I had Windows-only machines. That would be the annual (and sometimes semi-annual) backing up of data, formatting the main hard drive and then reinstalling all programs and data and then waiting while the OS installed endless updates. I would have to do that to restore the machine to some semblance of normalcy. Without that process the machine would spiral down and down into slower and slower operation.
For really sensitive surfing (or espionage) I use a Linux CD - I just run from the CD. There's no personal identification associated with me so it is completely anonymous.
For really sensitive surfing (or espionage) I use a Linux CD - I just run from the CD. There's no personal identification associated with me so it is completely anonymous.
I've tried that, but haven't had much luck on my laptop. Which version of Linux are you running?