These kinds of articles are supposed to make us feel better about Microsoft? I'd suggest not celebrating until they have actually DONE something. Lets see if they actually improve anything - there is a good chance they will make things even worse!

This isn't the first time they have screwed over their customers, and the sure as hell isn't the last.

forced to use Microsoft's now obsolete Windows XP and Internet Explorer 6

Microsoft Internet Explorer 6 is only just now obsolete? No, it has been obsolete since sometime around 2003 when Microsoft let it stagnate.

This is what happens when you put something "on the web" that doesn't need to be on it. It sounds like the user base for this is now small enough the people who need this should just contact them in person, or by telephone, or perhaps just good old pencil and paper.

But no, it has got to be "on the web", in a database, on a computer, with XML, and object oriented. And then they won't spend any money to update it to the constantly evolving/devolving changing rearranging web "standards", and then it just sits out there and rots.

Most of the "news coverage" right at the start could have been replaced by a 5 second looping animated GIF.

Worse yet, a few hours later some of the stations around here were showing repeating footage clips of people running and screaming with no obvious indication it was recorded earlier to try and make it seem like it was still happening.

An interesting "full circle" given the history of the PC that the main reason given now for keeping it around is that is corporate inertia.

Exactly, take a look at the software that made companies buy IBM PCs in the first place. These were spread sheets, word processors, databases, financial programs and such. Those needs may seem mundane today but they are not magically going away, and they are just as critical to businesses as they were then. And those are not the sort of things you can easily do on a toy phone or tablet.

I wouldn't count on this change until the final gold images are pressed and on store shelves. And even if it is there, expect it to be some hidden registry key that only exists for "legacy" users and the whispers will suggest that it will "go away" at some unspecified time.

Furthermore, both the Windows 8 metro and desktop have many other things wrong with them that Microsoft is not likely to fix. Even if you start up in a desktop, what happens when some accessory you used is now only available metro-ized and pops up full screen covering all your work?

Microsoft have gone too far down this road now, they can't fix things without doing a complete 180. And I don't think I have ever seen Microsoft do that before.

The reason PC sales are down is because computing power has reached a point where we don't need a new computer every 2-3 years.

Wrong. The reason PC sales are down is a combination of
A: Nobody wants Windows 8
B: Their old computer is good enough
C: The people who only use computer to look at pictures of cats have found they can make do with toy phones/tablets.

It is not a single simple reason. And you imply it has nothing to do with Windows 8. If Microsoft had stuck with a similar Windows 7 UI, then there probably would not have been such a sudden drop off.

There are plenty of people who would be in the market for a new desktop or laptop, but cant find what they are looking for without Windows 8.

Soon Microsoft is going to point and say that that Desktop PCs are failing because CONSUMERS don't want desktops any more, they want "phones" and tablets instead. When the fact is that nobody happens to want desktops WITH WINDOWS 8.

Go back to the beginning of what made the IBM PC great. It was spreadsheets, databases, word processing, and boring financial programs. These were, and still are very much critical to businesses. These needs are not going away!

An operating system package that is only optimized for looking at LOLCats and clips of Family Guy, is not going to go over well with any business that has a clue. And Windows Blue shows Microsoft has no intention of backing down on this.

So what happens when you need to do a desktop oriented tasks and there are no desktops left because Microsoft killed all desktops?

Mac's are light years ahead of Ubuntu and Ubuntu is moving backwards. There's only one realistic answer to that question.

Yes, ReactOS! :]

It's been nice to have people ask, "What other choices do I have?"

An even better question they should be asking is "What other choices WILL I have?". Obvious to some, it is becoming more obvious to the masses that Microsoft has no intention of backing down from what it has done with Windows 8. Windows 9/10/11 etc, will be more of the same if not worse.

What options will you have 10 years from now when you need to do a critical desktop computing oriented task - tasks such as spread sheets and word processing that were what brought about the revolution in personal computing in the first place - but there are no more desktops because Microsoft killed them all?

> It's not going to work when it gets riddled with malware because of unpatched remote exploits.

Take a look at whatever latest OS you are currently running. Is it bug and exploit free? If you think it is, then come back in a year and there likely will be a long list of vulnerabilities found during that time. And they didn't just magically appear, most of these vulnerabilities are in your OS RIGHT NOW and there is a good chance the bad guys have known about them for quite a while too.

Even a brand new Windows 7/8/Blue or Mac or Linux shouldn't just be thrown on the net without some extra precautions.

With good practices, and and extra precautions, even Windows 95 can be "secure". Many people will choose to take this path, manage security themselves, and continue to happily run Windows XP.

> News at 11...

Right after a dozen graphic "news" stories about shootings and other violence just like any other day.

But first the 9 O'clock movie featuring people shooting at each other and getting blown up in various ways with blood and guts everywhere.

Yea, video games are the problem. :P

I bought my vacuum cleaner more than 10 years ago and I don't have to worry that it will suddenly stop working because some mega corp flips a switch and says I can't use it any more. I fully expect it to work for another 10 or more years if I take care of it.

Good luck using an internet DRMed game that long after release. I certainly wouldn't buy a vacuum cleaner if it could stop working like one of these games. You have to be pretty stupid to even buy something DRMed like that, but the world is full of stupid exploitable people.

Is there any chance Opera would consider open sourcing Presto since they plan to drop it?

Slashdot really doesn't know how to monetize their assets. If they had any common sense the "decoder" would require a "free download" and bundle spyware/adware/malware/shitware.

-insert SEO blogspam here-

It's looking even more like Windows 1.01:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zLcPbsfF3qI

How far we have come... backwards.