Ed Bott
Yes, it can be saved
No, it can't be saved
Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols
Best Argument: Yes, it can be saved
Audience Favored: Yes, it can be saved (54%)
The moderater has delivered his final verdict.
Opening Statements
Intelligent design and evolution, together
Windows 8 isn’t static code in a shrink-wrapped box, like Windows XP or Vista. It’s a living organism, made partly from familiar bits that have evolved over the last two decades, with several new strands of DNA tossed in.
It’s part of a much larger hardware-apps-services ecosystem with roots that also go back decades.
Windows 8 lays the groundwork for some huge long-term changes: big shifts in the user interface, a brand-new app model, and deep connections to online services like SkyDrive, Outlook.com, and Office.com.
Those services have evolved significantly since Windows 8 launched six months ago. Windows itself will make another big set of changes this summer with Windows 8.1 (Blue), which is much more than a service pack. New Office apps for Windows 8 will arrive this year as well.
Those are big changes. But the Windows 8 system you use today will include all of them by the end of the year.
Windows 8 doesn’t need to be saved. It just needs to evolve.
This is not a debate. This is an autopsy.
The formal question may be, "Can this OS be saved?" But, we already know the answer. It's a dead OS walking.
This isn't a matter of opinion. The numbers don't lie.
Windows 8's market numbers are even lower than Vista's pathetic ranking at a similar point in their sales cycle. Even if you buy the most optimistic reading of NetMarketShare's numbers, Windows 8, after being in the market for
six months, has just 3.31% of the desktop marketplace—that's just over what Vista had with 3.02% in
three months.
You can—and we will—argue why this has happened. The cold hard sales numbers mattermore than any arguments we can make. Looking ahead, IDC and Gartner ) are going to overwhelm Windows-based PCs in the next few years. But, there's nothing new there. Goldman Sachs and KPCB already have Windows far behind Apple's iOS and Google's Android.
You can think all you want that Windows 8 can be saved, but unless you start buying Windows 8 PCs, it doesn't matter. This is capitalism, not democracy. It's your dollars that count, not clicking a like button.
Now, onto Windows 8's causes of death. First, we cut into Metro with Stryker saw...
Talkback
Windows 8
+1
I feel sorry
Anyway Microsoft is too preoccupied with their marketing messages to hear them. Creating such a monumental failure takes a lot of time, effort and meticulous planning…or simply some really bad management.
Those OEMs have tried introducing Lunix into their products multiple times.
Just trying…
Like Samsung that is using Android and then adds a whole set of apps on the top to make it more relevant to the user’s needs.
But I agree with you that this is not an easy task and it needs time and perseverance. At the end of the day Microsoft does “help” the situation with gems like Vista and now Windows 8 :P
Pointless arguments.
Translation
"Android means loss for Microsoft, Windows 8 means business for Microsoft".
And the untold
"Microsoft fans of the world, unite! Buy your Windows 8 license today!"
If Windows 8 really meant busines...
The voting system is not working.
You have Windows functionality now!
Is that what you want? Well you have it now.
I have run Windows 7 next to Window 8 for 6 months running the same Desktop programs, there is no difference, but 8 seems a little faster.
Just do three simple things:
3 easy things to do to get back the Start menu and to make you realize that it is just a faster, more responsive Windows 7 with a Modern front end that you never have to see unless you want to see it. Also, the front end is useful even if you don't want to use Apps.
1. Download the Classic Shell Start Menu and choose Windows 7, Vista, or XP style and choose if you want the Windows Key/MS Key to bring up the Modern Menu or just bring up the Start Menu like it has always done.
http://download.cnet.com/Classic-Shell/3000-2072_4-75553853.html
2. Download a new free Picture Viewer like Windows Photo Viewer or other free photo viewer program like Google's Picasa, or IrfanView (both great programs). That is so when you click on a picture, you are not shot back to the Modern front end to view the picture.
3. Automatically load any Windows 7 type program at start up, I happen to use StickyNotes. That way you will bypass the Modern front end on start up and be right at the Desktop (you could also create a task using task scheduler. Step by step directions here:
http://www.techrepublic.com/blog/window-on-windows/make-windows-8-boot-straight-to-the-desktop/6976)
That is it. You can use the Modern Start Screen to have you less used programs and techie programs available a tiles so you don't have to search for them and you can play with some apps and see if you like any of them.