I would argue that no one would say their desktop/laptop is easier to use than their phone. The desktop moving to a simplified, streamlined experience is preferable to me. I was without a proper computer for about 4 months and I used my ASUS Transformer TF101 as a laptop replacement quite efficiently. Windows 8 is definitely the right directions where the OS recedes into the background.

When I report a bug to Microsoft they don't tell me to fix it myself. I'm grateful that adding new hardware to Windows is an automated process and Microsoft doesn't tell me I need to recompile the NT kernel if I want my USB camera to work. I'm particularly pleased that my integrated graphics card is supported by the OS and every application I use on it.

That's worth money to me.

How about you send me an email with the correct INI file attached, then I drag and drop it to the appropriate directory? How about I copy the correct INI file statements off a website and paste them into the correct INI file? How about I restore an INI file from the backup I have on a CD?

Of which Linux has no standard repository for INI files. Even Mac OS X has a "Preferences" folder. I can't tell you how many times I tried to hunt down where the fuck Linux applications store all their fiddly bits. It's more than INI files applications shit out, they seem to think the entire file system is designed for them to squirt files into every possible directory they can.

I found iWork to be more usable than Office until version 15 came out, but absolutely NOTHING opens iWork documents. Basically everything on the planet opens Office documents to some extent and half the planet will save to Office to some extent. It really has very little to do with the format and the fact that MS Office has no competitors.

The biggest issue is that MS (so far) has not let any kind of third-party desktop app run on RT. Even if they created an API that was more secure and limited, it would still make RT more udseful. I have a Samsung Series 7 Slate that I have been running Win8 on since RTM and I love it and I almost exclusively use it with keyboard and mouse docked to a TV. As a former Mac user, I find mouse gestures a welcome addition to Windows, since Macs have had them for probably 5 years or more.

I also love the fact that it is a tablet with all that means and then I can plug it into a dock and have a real computer. This is such an attractive idea I can't believe Apple didn't do it first.

I would drop x86 and get a Surface or other RT device if it was just possible to get future versions of desktop apps on ARM.

Not so great? It didn't have email or calendar! I mean, WebOS had THAT and it was a flop.

Java is garbage. It's a PITA to write and debug and it DEVOURS RAM. Dalvik just makes it worse. You can, quite literally, do the same app native on iOS and Windows Phone for a half to a quarter of the RAM.

If Java were any good, it would not have been abandoned by every desktop platform and basically every smartphone platform.

Qt on ARM is looking to be the future for mobile OSes and the added benefit is that Qt is pretty much available for every desktop platform including legacy systems like OS/2.

Well, you can always switch to Linux or Mac, I hear both of those are more much responsive than Microsoft when it comes to meeting expectations about what a customer wants. /sarcasm

It goes beyond adding features; it's also about allocating resources to build compatibility for multiple versions of the OS, test on multiple versions and support multiple versions. "The new shiny" is not the issue. Windows 8 is Microsoft's upgrade path, if you want to continue to be current, you upgrade. Windows 8 has not made Windows 7 obsolete, it just means you need to be happy where you are.

Unfortunately it has been discovered that DNA has a half-life...and it's not really that long.

Apple has always been their fans and not the other way around. Originally Apple's fans were tinkerers and engineers, so Apple was all about that until the MCA, them artists were all about Apple so Apple was an artistic company devoted to making a better experience for the user. Then the damn iPod came along and ruined everything. Suddenly Apple's fans were a bunch of assholes who thought they were superior to everyone else because they all listened to the same awful noise they swore was music. Now it has become so horrible that every time I have to go into an Apple Store I feel like I am in an episode of a new Sartre TV show called "No Exit"

Feel free to browse my user profile and see what a massive fan I used to be of Apple but that was the old Apple. In August I bought a Samsung Series 7 Slate and I have had RTM on it since.

I now know what women who leave abusive relationships must feel like.

Corporations are people.

According to countless research, no one multitasks between 5 apps well. Factually, the human brain can only "multitask" between 2 things with any skill, add more and productivity drops dramatically. Anyone who says otherwise is lying.

  _.-* The More You Google.

Actually, we don't know the answer to that yet either way. In the end it will most likely be up to what a developer does and if MS links the stores together.

http://www.engadget.com/2012/06/20/windows-phone-8-and-windows-8-share-lots-of-code-nt-kernel/

I am not a Microsoft fan (search my comments) but I am a HUGE Metro/Modern/RT/Windows Store App fan. I agree with MS that the real-world metaphors shoehorned onto computers have limited their usefulness and I LOVE the total embrace of Fitt's Law.

Windows app developers choosing closed source doesn't have anything to do with Microsoft any more than Mac app developers choosing closed source has to do with Apple. Both Microsoft and Apple contribute a large amount to open source projects themselves.

Windows RT runs on x86 and x64 in addition to ARM. ARM has everything to do with energy consumption. Intel is just not getting there with x86/x64. The future is battery powered and frankly, Intel needs the competition of ARM to get them moving even if ARM can't touch raw performance of x86/x64.

If people didn't care so deeply about MS Office there wouldn't be an OpenOffice or an iWork. It's also asinine to insist that only Office keeps people on Windows. Intensely extensive hardware support, Exchange, Active Directory and many other things that other operating systems don't even try to compete with are also MASSIVE factors.

Windows on ARM already had an "ecosystem" it's called Windows. USB has delivered on its promise. Bluetooth has delivered on its promise. This is not Android, iOS world where connecting anything other than a memory card is both frowned upon and difficult/expensive.

I will give you that Windows Phone 7 was a failure by all accounts. I have an HTC Titan that I love and I am crushed that it will not receive proper system software support but I understand why Microsoft did it. There is a level of hardware features that every WP device must have, in both WP7 and 8. This lets Microsoft declare things like taking pictures on Windows Phone is both faster and easier and not mean "just the Nexus Windows Phone". Live tiles blow notifications and most widgets away in my opinion and you can search my posts on XDA under Dragon_76 to see how long and extensively I have used Android (I had a G1 and left Android Phones at Moto Atrix).

Windows 8 is going to make everyone ask why Apple didn't do the same thing with Mac OS/iOS.