I just can’t shake the feeling that Windows 8 would be better off as two separate operating systems.
Bingo. Apple succeeded in mobile because they were forced to break entirely new ground. Frankensteining Metro and the old desktop UIs together makes about as much sense as WIMPing the XBox.
The desktop is a fallback. Same as 16-bit mode, low graphics mode, XP mode, or the Classic Mac emulator in early versions of OSX. It's not going to be in Windows RT, and it won't be in Windows 9.
Microsoft can't just up and cut all support for programs designed for the previous versions of their OS.
Microsoft can't just up and cut all support for programs designed for the previous versions of their OS.
I'd go further: they should leave Windows pretty much as it is for the foreseeable future and treat mobile like the separate market that it is.
They shouldn't even think about deprecating the Windows WIMP UI until they've got something inarguably better for the average desktop/laptop user. Not even Apple is that reckless.
The thing is, I'm not sure that mobile is a separate market anymore. How many corporations are doing a BYOD initiative? Personally at the company I work for, all the salesmen (a few thousand) are getting tablets instead of laptops for the next refresh. It just makes sense. Likewise, instead of handing out corporate laptops, they'll be giving employees a stipend to buy whatever device they want as long as it fits their needs.
When corporations (even IBM) start adopting bring-your-own-device and that includes mobile, mobile is no longer a separate market. It's time for mobile to evolve, something it hasn't done since 2007.
Apple really didn't have any legacy support or enterprise clients to speak of. Apple also included a Classic Mac emulator in early versions of OSX to allow programs to keep running while developers created new ones, similar to the classic Desktop mode.
When iOS was introduced, Apple had existing OSX customers. Microsoft does not have so many tablet enterprise clients that have to drag the desktop metaphor along just to appease them. Their enterprise clients didn't have to dictate what the XBox was. Tablets could be just as free of legacy as it.
Bingo. Apple succeeded in mobile because they were forced to break entirely new ground. Frankensteining Metro and the old desktop UIs together makes about as much sense as WIMPing the XBox.