[the_tyrant]

Windows 8 is the next vista, there is no doubting that.
Even Microsoft themselves understand that.

Now what is the defining trait of vista? Little to no enterprise adoption.

Sure, there are a vocal group that hates it(I never really hated it), but statistically, a tiny number of people actually downgraded their pcs that came with vista back to xp. (enterprises bought volume licenses, and are not counted.)

Now on this front, 8 is at best a vista. My school is just about to roll out 7, just like many other large organizations. No way are we moving to 8, we will probably just move to 9.

Fundamentally, windows 8 has many big advantages over 7. The oems have been screaming for a long time that 7 is no longer competitive against os x mountain lion. Windows 8 strikes back against mountain lion in every way imaginable. OS x has the dashboard, a collection of "light", iPad like apps, windows 8 has metro. Windows 8 has touchpad gesture support that is just as good as OS X if not better.

I think there is a learning curve, it will take maybe a day or two to get used to. But it has made my workflow much, much faster.

In fact, I would actually argue, that windows 8 represents the trend for the future. Every single desktop environment is moving towards the same direction. KDE, OS X, Gnome, Unity, etc.

The big thing about windows 8 is "glanceability", aka imagine this usage scenario:

I'm working on a spread sheet in Excel. And suddenly I get a facebook message.

On windows 8, I would be notified by a notification, and in one glance, I would get a good idea of the message, who its from and the subject. allowing me to make a quick decision within seconds, not even needing to lift fingers off the keyboard.

On windows 7, I would have to periodically login to facebook to check my messages. breaking my workflow, and requiring multiple clicks and possibly a login.

Or, consider that in windows 8, with one hit of the windows button, I would get a quick view of my email, latest news, latest weather, stock quotes, facebook updates, etc. and with another hit of the windows button, I would be back doing exactly what I was doing.

In order to do the same thing on windows 7, it would take me 5 minutes, visiting a dozen sites, and opening a dozen programs, completely breaking my concentration.


The concept of glanceability is one that all modern UIs are working towards. KDE had a pretty good implementation with its widget system, but I have to admit, it is much cruder than the windows implementation.

PS: windows store also sells desktop apps. Plus, it takes a much lower cut than traditional brick and mortar stores, and if your app is a big seller, Microsoft takes a 20% cut instead of 30% that apple takes.