I think the power of windows 8 comes from the new form factors that will become common place. Imagine having a laptop where the screen detaches and becomes a tablet. Imagine carrying that around with you to do "tablet-y" things. You'll obviously use the start screen and metro apps. You can still use "classic Windows" but the majority of your time will likely be in metro since it is so much more convenient.
But then, you get home and decide you need to get some real work done so you plop that "tablet" back into the laptop and you have a full fledged laptop again. You can even hook it up into a multi monitor setup or whatever you want. Now get to work!
I think that will be really cool. One computer for both fun and work.
There's the problem: I don't want to buy this new hardware. My hardware is quite good enough with Windows 7 already. And how many folks really have a docking station at home? Laptops that split the screen from the laptop? Hardly anyone has one of these.
If that's what Microsoft is betting on, I'd be concerned for their overall strategy.
Something like 300 million PCs are predicted to be sold in 2013 I think? Most of these will have this new hardware.
Just like someone above mentioned, Microsoft needs to jump first. Windows 8 is more extreme, but a similar example is that the release of Vista made 4GB of RAM become the defacto standard for laptops without raising price.
I'm sure this new hardware will be more expensive, but I would predict that less than a year after it's out, the prices will stabilize such that a split-screen laptop will cost the same as a normal one with the same specs would have a year or 2 ago.
You miss the point. If Microsoft want to make a lot of money in the mass market, then they will need to support the current generation of laptops, not the bleeding edge.
I'm not saying that splitting the screen from the laptop is not cool, as I'm no Luddite! I'm merely remarking on the fact that Windows 8 seems to have been designed for the next generation of hardware, but there is no guarantees that this sort of hardware will be adopted by a large proportion of the market any time soon.
It's usable by both. Windows 7 was not. There were many times on my touch screen laptop I wished buttons were better for touch. People act like Windows 8 is only usable on a tablet, when it's not. It will install and work fine on your desktop.
But then, you get home and decide you need to get some real work done so you plop that "tablet" back into the laptop and you have a full fledged laptop again. You can even hook it up into a multi monitor setup or whatever you want. Now get to work!
I think that will be really cool. One computer for both fun and work.